Summary
In this conversation, Lacie and her parents discuss her recent 21st birthday, her growth in softball, and how she dealt with a pitching slump. They also recount a traumatic incident on Father's Day when Lacie was hit by a line drive during practice, resulting in a serious head injury. The conversation explores the impact of parents on Lacey's softball journey, the relationships formed with other softball parents, and the support received from the softball community during Lacie's recovery. The chapter titles reflect the main themes discussed in each segment of the conversation. In this conversation, Russell, Lacie, and Emily discuss Lacie's recovery process and the challenges she faced in high school. They also touch on the emotional vulnerability experienced by Lacie and her family.
Takeaways
- Dealing with a pitching slump requires mental resilience and the ability to make adjustments in practice.
- Support and communication between parents and players are crucial for a positive softball experience.
- Injuries can be traumatic, but with proper medical care and support, players can recover and return to the game.
- The softball community is a tight-knit and supportive network that rallies around players in times of need. Recovery from a traumatic event takes time and ongoing effort.
- High school can be a difficult time for individuals dealing with physical or emotional challenges.
- Expressing vulnerability can be a powerful and healing experience.
- Support from loved ones is crucial during the recovery process.
A couple of years ago, as a family, we created family core values. One of them is, "We face challenges with optimism while displaying a growth mindset." We wanted to tell our story so others, who relate, can navigate through these challenges better. Contributing to our Podcast will show we're on the right track and we're making a difference to those who have similar stories. Buy Us A Coffee
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[00:00:00] Mark, he was so like, white-hearted.
[00:00:07] Like, hey, you shouldn't have left the change-up
[00:00:09] over the plate.
[00:00:10] Yeah, like, literally first thing he said was,
[00:00:15] like, you're gonna be back.
[00:00:18] He's like, you're gonna pitch again.
[00:00:25] And like, I just knew that I was gonna come back. on mental health and the importance of support from the sidelines. Welcome back everyone to Catching You. I am your co-host Rusty Ham. With me is my other co-host Lacey Ham and we have a surprise guest. My wife Lacey's mom Emily. Emily say hi.
[00:01:43] Hello. Lacey's growth through
[00:03:02] as a softball journey.
[00:03:03] Um, yeah, you know, when I was throwing the ball back they were dessert platters. Like they were just hitting it so hard and I was walking people. And, but for a slump, I think I would, I would define it as a long-term, like doing or performing not your best for a longer period of time, which is kind of
[00:04:22] what happened last year, especially when I get to conference, something
[00:05:25] into, I went to the field on Monday, the following Monday after Colorado State, and I pitched in the cages for like two hours.
[00:05:28] And I just did my regular drills that I always do and I slowed things down and
[00:05:34] I focused on the little things.
[00:05:36] And then we played Fresno State that next weekend and I pitched a whole seven
[00:05:41] innings and I was striking people out left and right and my pitches were working.
[00:05:46] And I was backizing last year when I pitched against Fullerton And then I say, Oh, then. Okay. So, um, let's go back to, let's go back to, let's say first year twelves and Lacey's pitching on the side and I'm throwing the ball back as hard as I can do her. Cause she's missing her spots from my body language is this absolute war woman dropping
[00:08:21] my head and moping, having to go get the ball across the street.
[00:08:25] Uh, and then she comes to you and I'm sure and tell him you're not helping the situation. So was that healthy back on for to tell you, cause I'm not sitting there catching sitting here, seeing you react to her and I'm seeing her reacting to you. And that was not a good combination.
[00:09:41] So I thought it was important for her to go back and talk to you and
[00:09:45] tell you how you really felt.
[00:10:43] have any experience with that, when I was that age.
[00:10:44] Right.
[00:10:44] Yeah. You didn't know what I handle it.
[00:10:45] So I appreciate you doing that because then I changed, um, I backed off.
[00:10:52] And I think our relationship has grown since then.
[00:10:55] Um, so we're on Chris's team.
[00:10:59] We're in these attempts, you know, these, we're going to use really
[00:11:03] big tournaments, intense tournaments.
[00:11:06] Where, where would you watch the games?
[00:12:01] Yeah. I couldn't help her.
[00:12:02] I couldn't fix anything.
[00:12:04] I just had to kind of, I don't know, send off some sort of good vibes.
[00:12:11] Like come on Lacey, you can do it.
[00:12:12] Come on.
[00:12:13] No, please don't strike.
[00:12:14] Please don't strike.
[00:12:15] Please don't walk this girl.
[00:12:16] Please don't walk this girl.
[00:12:17] You're like, because sometimes there'd always be times where say, mom, you would take me
[00:12:22] to tournaments or, and daddy would stay home with Jesse or opposite.
[00:12:26] So sometimes my mom would be with these intense games, because she's like, well, I think that was on a number of occasions where we were out in the outfield and I picked her up and we were just so excited. So on that note, speaking of parents, so describe our relationship with parents. We have talked to you about a couple of parents on gonna lose Tennessee. Kaley. We're never gonna lose PGF memories. Stocked in memories. Even back to All Stars with Chris and you bringing your cleats and me having to go to Dixie. I mean, there's just
[00:15:02] really good memories that we have together because of was hard. It was definitely not easy. It was not easy going to that 14th team with a bunch of different parents that we didn't know.
[00:16:26] And we came to know you and I as parents were like, oh my God, that has a lot of pressure. So we get the second year 14, so we get, we skate through
[00:17:41] first year 14. I think a couple girls on And at first Mark says, we're just going to keep it simple today. We're going in the cages and then you guys can go. So us pitchers are like, all right, we're just going to help out around the cages. Maybe do some soft toss and then we're out of here. So after the cages, he goes, you know what?
[00:19:02] I think we need to get some live hitting in.
[00:19:04] So me and live are like, I thought we were done.
[00:19:07] This is, this is crazy.
[00:20:01] transferred to Baylor. So go ahead. Sorry.
[00:20:07] Yeah, so she's not Baylor where this, I mean, this team's pretty close too. Like I, it's a close comparison to Chris's team.
[00:20:11] I'm close with a lot of the girls.
[00:20:13] And so this is the, this is the days where wearing a mask was not cool.
[00:20:19] It, it's definitely more recently that girls are like, I'm going to wear a mask
[00:20:24] and actually wanting to wear a mask. In our organization, if you wear a mask,
[00:21:27] I don't really remember it hitting me, but I remember my vision going kind of like brown. Not necessarily like black, but kind of like brown.
[00:21:32] And then my, like, it's like my ears are ringing and I can hear, I can hear Mark.
[00:21:38] Like literally the only person I hear is Mark.
[00:21:41] And he's telling me to like sit down.
[00:21:45] Like lay sit down, you stay home. It's father's day.
[00:23:00] I'll take her.
[00:23:02] Um, so what were you doing?
[00:23:05] Um, I was standing up and gate to allow the fire trucks and the ambulance to come to the field. I remember, I think somebody called you, a I'm like, oh my God, it hit me. Or my faith, I don't know what I was thinking. Yeah, so at first I was like, I didn't know what to think. I couldn't process it. And then the emergency medic said,
[00:25:40] oh, I don't know if she might have a concussion,
[00:25:43] she might not.
[00:25:44] They didn't take it very seriously.
[00:25:47] So I'm like, no, like blood. Yeah. Stomach. And then they took, they took you for an X-ray. Well, Amber came. Yeah. And she came in, she's the first to see me. She was in shambles. She from her mom and her.
[00:27:03] I mean, it have an ice pack on my head after getting a hundred mile per hour line drive to that. I have an ice pack and I get the X-ray or a cat scan. I thought it was. No, you didn't take a cat scan in the ER.
[00:28:21] It was.
[00:28:22] Yeah.
[00:28:22] And then I remember, I don't remember, I'm out of here. Yeah. I think the nurse kind of, she's like, she's going to be transferred to a very good children's hospital in Long Beach. They took care of everything. I remember calling Cynthia Flexin and telling her we were balling together. I think like prepping things. Right. And I'm like, oh my God, this is not happening. And I remember this one nurse and I'm literally like five minutes from being like told that, okay, surgery needs to start.
[00:31:02] Five minutes in and that nurse comes up to my side table.
[00:31:05] She grabs my hands and transferred to the ICU. And then the ICU is that that's when everything was coming out. That's when I shared all the news because Lacey's teammates were just like, what's going on? And Marduk was the first person that showed up. Yeah. Dad, you can talk about it.
[00:32:20] Of course.
[00:32:24] So I don't know.
[00:32:25] You guys can't see it.
[00:32:26] If you're listening on a podcast, you shouldn't have left the changeup over the plate. Yeah. Ben was like, literally first thing he said was,
[00:33:40] like, you're gonna be back.
[00:33:43] He's like, you're gonna pitch again. The Texas teams, the Georgia teams, everybody was just reaching out, supporting family. It was great to see that the softball community is a community, it's a family. You guys are competing against each other and you want to beat each other. But in the end, the softball community is actually really, really cool because they're
[00:35:03] just so supportive.
[00:35:04] They understand the process.
[00:35:06] I don't want think like I'm something like this tough lady and Really not I cry at commercials You do I do I cry and use Dog movies yes dog movies cockwebs, but I'm not as tough as everybody thinks all right so I
[00:36:22] appreciate everybody listening and give us give us five star review give us give us some