46 | MindStrong Spartans: Building Mental Health Advocacy in College Athletics

[00:00:00] We're just getting rolling. I think a lot of athletes still don't know about us, really. I think a lot of people knew about Damn Worth It due to certain events that we would hold. But I think a lot of what we're doing is creating events where people don't have to think about sports. They don't always, sports isn't always going to be in your life or sports isn't, it's not supposed to consume your life. So we have just events that we're going to do that try to relax you.

[00:00:29] And you get to socialize with your friends and not talk about your sport if you don't want to.

[00:00:35] Your activities that are related to mental health. Soon we're going to do a workshop series with our sports psychologist and another psychologist that is on campus that loves to work with athletes.

[00:00:47] So they're going to be doing workshops on journaling and mindfulness and meditation.

[00:00:52] Hello and welcome to Catching You, a dad and daughter softball journey. I'm Rusty, a dad who's been in the dugout and on the sidelines.

[00:01:01] And I'm Lacie, the daughter whose journey through softball has been filled with incredible wins, tough losses, and so many lessons both on and off the field.

[00:01:09] For the past 16 years we've navigated the highs and lows of softball together. From the local field to national tournaments and everything in between.

[00:01:17] From the challenges of recruitment during COVID to the mental and emotional rollercoaster that comes with being a student athlete.

[00:01:23] We'll be sharing the perspectives of both the parent and athlete and first-hand experience of the impact of sports on mental health and the importance of support from the sidelines.

[00:01:34] Welcome back everybody.

[00:01:36] Teching you, my name is Rick Coz, Rusty Ham with me, my beautiful daughter, Lacey. Lacey say hi.

[00:01:44] Hello.

[00:01:45] Lacey you are in the middle of fall. I think you have one more weekend. Yeah. Two more weekends.

[00:01:50] Of 20 hours?

[00:01:52] Of fall softball. Yeah.

[00:01:54] Yeah.

[00:01:55] Yeah. Our, our last fall games against Cal State Bakersfield are November 1st. So after that we'll go back to eight hour weeks.

[00:02:04] Okay. Cool.

[00:02:06] And the head coach of Cal State Bakersfield used to be your pitching coach at San Jose State. So it'd be good to see her again.

[00:02:12] Yeah. I like seeing her and then Jimmy, who is also our assistant coach is also the assistant coach there. So both of them come up when we play them and they wanted to get warm last fall ball game in and they want to go all the way. We both to San Jose's.

[00:02:28] Good for them.

[00:02:29] Perfect.

[00:02:30] Yeah. And you guys are playing well, you guys are pointing nothing against JC's, right? We've talked about that before and that's in yes, JC's those are quality softball players as well, but you guys are doing some damage, right?

[00:02:42] You guys are hit.

[00:02:43] Yeah.

[00:02:44] You guys had a few home runs this past weekend, right?

[00:02:47] Yeah, we had a few. Our first, we played two JC's and then Sonoma State, who was a D2 on Saturday and the girls were hitting pretty hard.

[00:02:56] I don't know them too, but they were both San Jose City College and West Valley City or West Valley College are both pretty well known Bay Area JUCOs.

[00:03:08] Yeah.

[00:03:09] That have a lot that transfer out into pretty big schools. They both have really good programs and the coaches are like esteemed as well.

[00:03:18] Yeah. And you're liking your new pitching coach cause you're doing quality innings and you have intention behind every pitch.

[00:03:26] So how did that, how did your quality innings go?

[00:03:30] Yeah.

[00:03:32] So I pitched five innings on Saturday and I threw four out of five quality innings. The one non quality inning I had every column was a no.

[00:03:45] I accepted one, except one, except one, it was runs. So the runs is either one or zero. So I gave up one. So that was a yes.

[00:03:53] Right.

[00:03:54] That was the only yes column, but I just threw a lot of balls. I think my strike to ball ratio was below of what I really wanted.

[00:04:04] I was still getting people out, but I was getting to three, two, two, two, and not really staying ahead in pitchers counts.

[00:04:13] Yeah.

[00:04:13] I mean, it didn't get me in like huge trouble. Like we would get out of the inning, but I was just like, I'm doing a lot of pitches. Most of it were balls. They're getting out. They're like grounding out or I had a few strikeouts as well, but they are like maybe three or four foul balls before that. So I had to really work hard at getting maybe a swing and miss or even just, uh, let the defense work.

[00:04:41] What I like about this quality is you're a perfectionist. You don't like to, A, you don't like to lose. Number two. Number two, um, you want, you think every pitch should be perfect.

[00:04:53] And I think last year is this year's frustrated because things weren't working and, but now you have intention behind each one and then you have quality. So like you said, we had, you felt like you had a lot of balls, which sounds like you, it was a one to one ratio.

[00:05:08] You probably had as many balls as you had strikes. You got out of any, right? Last year you had a ton of three O's, right? You get to three O and then you battle back and they would turn into a walk or hit or something like that. And that would be frustrating.

[00:05:24] So yeah, we definitely want to get ahead. Obviously it counts, but you also don't want to throw a rate down the middle. So they can hit it very hard.

[00:05:30] So there's a refine line too. We were also having some problems with the umpire and he was caught. It was just the average. What are you doing? Type thing. Like calling strikes at the knees, but also calling strikes under the letters.

[00:05:48] I usually see umpires pick a level and stick with that level. He was switching in between high and low. Yeah. Just not ideal for a pitcher because he want to stick to one level, especially at the low level. If they're giving you the low level, then that's perfect. If they're giving high, technically you don't really want to go there. You want to stay at that low level and just have them try and swing at them. But he was all over the place and I didn't understand that.

[00:06:17] Yeah. It's one thing, right? If umpire calls a certain way and then you pitch and adjust to that way, right? But if he's changing it midway, it's tough to see him report.

[00:06:28] And it's funny when my teammates notice it as well. So I do my thing when I catch the ball and I walk around my circle and I'm looking at everyone and they're all just as confused as I am really.

[00:06:39] Yeah.

[00:06:39] Because there was one where he rung up Raina on the inside drop ball, screwball maybe, and it was super low. So we rang her up. And then the next, or when I went out there and pitched to another righty or whatever, I threw my drop in at that same level. Pretty good drop ball. And Anissa frames it.

[00:07:01] And he's in Raina was like, what is going on? But yeah, it was weird. Because it did rob me of some first pitch strikes, which is what I was going for the whole time was first pitch strikes getting ahead. And he robbed me about of about maybe four. So that got me behind like immediately.

[00:07:23] Yeah.

[00:07:23] And so that was just like.

[00:07:26] All right. At the end of the day, four out of five quality innings, which is awesome, even though you see a lot of balls, right? So you're going to have those days, but hopefully you have less this coming year and it doesn't hurt you. Right. Let's pivot lace to what you're doing.

[00:07:43] And sort of not necessarily outside of softball, but within it relates to softball. It relates to all the sports. It's called Mind Strong. Is that something that you made up? Is that something that you found like on the internet? How did you come up with Mind Strong?

[00:08:00] So I used Handy Dandy Guy. Yeah. And I went on chat GBC and I typed in what like the overall consensus was of what I was trying to create. And then they came, it came up with different names.

[00:08:18] And that one.

[00:08:19] I sent them to my stack advisors and we went back and forth and she's like, I like this one. And we liked Mind Strong Spartans.

[00:08:28] Okay. So talk about, you alluded to it just now, what you wanted to create. So what are you trying to create? And then like how to, because in a freshman year, you, you were part of an organization, but what, what? So talk about that first. What now? What are you trying to create?

[00:08:49] Let's take a quick break.

[00:08:50] If you want to leave us a message, use the link in the show notes. And if you want us to respond, leave your name and email address. Also, please rate us and or leave a review as we're trying to grow the show every day. Finally, Lacey and I both love coffee. We would greatly appreciate any contribution to the show. That link is also in the show notes. Thank you. Take care.

[00:09:19] My freshman year, a senior water polo girl introduced, it's called Dam Worth. It's an organization that was created out of Oregon State by two student athletes because they had some peers who passed away due to suicide outside Oregon State within a matter of, I think it was two out of in three months. And so they started Dam Worth It.

[00:09:47] It was like, because the beavers, it was like D-A-M, Dam Worth It.

[00:09:52] They're a real play on words, right? Beavers, Drake Dam, so get it.

[00:09:56] So basically it revolves around student athlete mental health and getting, raising awareness about the stigma of athletes asking for help because if they ask for help, then you're considered a week.

[00:10:10] Like basically it's the stigma and the last thing an athlete wants to be seen as weak.

[00:10:16] So Dam Worth It, outside of Oregon State, they started branching off or creating branches outside to other schools.

[00:10:24] So other schools included University of Kentucky, Crumbles, well, then us.

[00:10:29] We created our own branch.

[00:10:32] And so I was a part of it with like maybe 10 other athletes my freshman year.

[00:10:38] And it was super fun.

[00:10:40] We did like different events for people to go to.

[00:10:43] We had an Instagram that we would post about the local resources, like our sports psychologists or the mental health resources on campus as well.

[00:10:55] And then, so I did that my freshman year, sophomore year.

[00:11:00] And then my junior year, I was the vice president.

[00:11:04] And so every single year, participation dwindled a little bit from our student athlete community.

[00:11:12] And then outside in the Dam Worth It organization, it started becoming more of a, the mission was lost, I think.

[00:11:22] And it was becoming very businesslike.

[00:11:25] And we didn't really, like what, we're just trying to promote awareness.

[00:11:29] That was all we wanted to do.

[00:11:31] I didn't, we, we didn't think we would need permission to do certain things.

[00:11:34] I think it was just, let's just do it and see what happens.

[00:11:38] But that's where it started leading up to.

[00:11:41] And so I really wanted to, the president of Dam Worth It for my junior year, she was graduating.

[00:11:48] So she didn't really, she wasn't really having a say or, but she talked to me and was like, I don't know what to do.

[00:11:56] The participation's really not there.

[00:11:58] Funding wasn't there.

[00:11:59] You had to have permission to enter.

[00:12:01] Yeah, so we had to raise all our own money and we did one Chipotle fundraiser and did have a hundred dollars, which is not enough for what we wanted to accomplish.

[00:12:10] So for my senior year, I talked to two of my good friends who were in the organization as well.

[00:12:16] And said, what if we made it more San Jose oriented and very just in our bubble, basically.

[00:12:24] And I'm a part of SAC, which is the student athlete advisory committee.

[00:12:27] Like I'm a representative for the softball team.

[00:12:30] So all our SAC representatives represent their teams.

[00:12:34] And then we represent student athletes that go to like the Mountain West.

[00:12:38] And we go to the Mountain West and talk to them about our problems we have at San Jose.

[00:12:45] So there's branches underneath SAC.

[00:12:50] And so when I went and talked to them about Damn Worth It and how we're trying to make it more San Jose oriented, they considered making it a branch, like a SAC branch, its own SAC branch, which now we call Mind Strong Spartans.

[00:13:06] So I'm the chair of that branch.

[00:13:09] And then my two good friends are the vice chairs under that.

[00:13:12] But basically we have the same, it's like the same mission type thing.

[00:13:16] Okay.

[00:13:17] What's that?

[00:13:17] Our mission statement is to elevate student athlete mental health through advocacy and awareness.

[00:13:22] Okay.

[00:13:23] Yeah.

[00:13:25] Yeah.

[00:13:25] And we've talked about mental health, right?

[00:13:28] In the past.

[00:13:29] We talked about, again, it's considered a stigma.

[00:13:34] In fact, I'm part of this.

[00:13:36] I'm in this Facebook group called Fast Push Talk, right?

[00:13:40] And there's a mental health performance coach that was complaining.

[00:13:46] I had this parent reach out to me on Instagram.

[00:13:49] And she was saying that her daughter gets anxiety in tournaments and what, what can I do?

[00:13:58] And the coach says, how about we hop on a 30 minutes free coaching session?

[00:14:05] And maybe I can give her some tips and help her out.

[00:14:09] And she, I think she felt like maybe it was like a scam or something.

[00:14:14] And she goes, oh, that's okay.

[00:14:15] I'll pass.

[00:14:16] Which is weird, right?

[00:14:17] You get free advice from a mental health performance coach.

[00:14:21] Yeah.

[00:14:21] You know, but I think it was 30 minute free.

[00:14:25] I think she was like assuming that if we did more sessions, she would have to pay.

[00:14:29] And there.

[00:14:30] Which most likely.

[00:14:32] Yeah.

[00:14:33] But people study and graduate and get their degree in these sort of things, which is like

[00:14:41] what I'm pursuing.

[00:14:43] And I'm not graduating and getting a degree and getting my certification to do it for free.

[00:14:49] That wouldn't be my job.

[00:14:51] That's my career.

[00:14:52] Right.

[00:14:53] For you to assume that I would do sessions for free for something I worked so hard to get.

[00:15:00] Right.

[00:15:01] The other, any other job that you would, any career that you go into.

[00:15:06] Yeah.

[00:15:06] So that, so here's where the conversation went with is okay.

[00:15:11] And we're talking specifically softball, but it can relate to any sport.

[00:15:15] But softball, you go to hitting lessons.

[00:15:17] So you pay for that.

[00:15:18] You go to pitching lessons.

[00:15:19] So you pay for that.

[00:15:20] You go to fielding lessons.

[00:15:21] You pay for that.

[00:15:22] You work, you do these workouts.

[00:15:24] You pay for that.

[00:15:26] Why not invest or pay for a mental health performance coach?

[00:15:33] Right.

[00:15:33] Because there's a stigma behind it.

[00:15:36] What are some of the things with Mind Strong Spartan?

[00:15:40] What are some of the things that is available for the student athlete at San Jose?

[00:15:47] We're just getting rolling.

[00:15:49] We're just getting rolling.

[00:15:49] I think a lot of athletes still don't know about us, really.

[00:15:52] I think a lot of people knew about Dan Worth It due to certain events that we would hold.

[00:15:56] But I think a lot of what we're doing is creating events where people don't have to think about sports.

[00:16:05] Sports isn't always going to be in your life or sports.

[00:16:10] It's not supposed to consume your life.

[00:16:12] So we have just events that we're going to do that kind of relax you.

[00:16:16] And you get to socialize with your friends and not talk about your sport if you don't want to.

[00:16:22] Do activities that are related to mental health.

[00:16:25] Soon we're going to do a workshop series with our sports psychologist and another psychologist that is on campus that loves to work with athletes.

[00:16:34] So they're going to be doing workshops on journaling and mindfulness and meditation.

[00:16:40] So informing them about resources that they could use if they are dealing with certain things.

[00:16:49] So yeah, that's our...

[00:16:52] Okay.

[00:16:53] So it's your senior year, right?

[00:16:56] So you're basically not in charge, but you have these co-chairs, vice chairs.

[00:17:02] What are your hopes?

[00:17:04] Because obviously you said it's starting out slow and you're going to create these events.

[00:17:08] And eventually you'd want it to grow within the San Jose State athletic community so they can have that resource, that availability to maybe learn how to journal to get their thoughts down.

[00:17:23] Because that's super important, right?

[00:17:25] I think journaling would be huge for...

[00:17:28] Especially...

[00:17:28] Some people don't know how to journal.

[00:17:30] They don't...

[00:17:31] You'd say, yeah, why don't you journal it?

[00:17:33] And they're like, well, I don't know what to say or I don't know what to write down.

[00:17:36] So that would be a good thing for student athletes to, you know, be able just to sit down and write down their thoughts.

[00:17:42] So just to then get those things out of their head.

[00:17:45] What are your hopes as far as...

[00:17:48] Because it's your senior year, right?

[00:17:49] You're going to create this and you're going to be like, okay, here we go.

[00:17:54] Really hurts.

[00:17:55] I just think it's...

[00:17:57] Like before I even got to college, it's just, it wasn't something that people talked about a lot.

[00:18:05] I think I've said it in previous episodes that like, I for sure had PTSD after my head injury.

[00:18:14] But I had no knowledge, no...

[00:18:18] Like I didn't do...

[00:18:19] I had no...

[00:18:19] How do you call it?

[00:18:20] No knowledge.

[00:18:21] Like people, we never...

[00:18:22] No one ever talked about athlete mental health when I played in high school and travel ball.

[00:18:28] Like it wasn't offered, right?

[00:18:30] You know, like you come back from this injury and they're just expecting you to pick up a ball and start throwing it again.

[00:18:36] And...

[00:18:37] Yeah.

[00:18:37] Okay, Lace, you're trying to strike this girl out and you have a ball whizzed by your head, you know, make sure you duck or...

[00:18:44] Yeah.

[00:18:45] ...lock.

[00:18:46] But they didn't say, hey, try going to this person if you do have...

[00:18:52] If a ball does whiz by your head and you start having some anxiety about a ball hitting your head again, how about you look for help?

[00:19:00] And here's where you can go.

[00:19:01] That was an offer to you.

[00:19:02] You know, and especially with the organization I played for, wearing a mask for a long time was considered a weakness.

[00:19:09] Right.

[00:19:10] Who knows what...

[00:19:12] If I said, I'm struggling mentally.

[00:19:17] Who knows?

[00:19:18] Like that's all part of the stigma that we're like talking about.

[00:19:20] Mm-hmm.

[00:19:51] Yeah.

[00:19:51] It's...

[00:19:51] It sucked to think about that for years I was having...

[00:19:56] You witnessed like me having panic attacks on the field.

[00:20:00] And I didn't know...

[00:20:01] I was like, something's wrong with me.

[00:20:03] Like, why am I feeling like this?

[00:20:05] And I just brushed it to the side because I was like, I kind of...

[00:20:08] I can't...

[00:20:09] I have to push through it.

[00:20:10] Like, I have to keep playing.

[00:20:12] Or I can't really show people that I'm having panic attacks while I'm pitching because I need to...

[00:20:21] At that time, I was like, I need to get recruited.

[00:20:23] I need to get committed.

[00:20:26] I have to finish school.

[00:20:28] I'm in the middle of a pandemic.

[00:20:33] I have no social interaction.

[00:20:35] All this stuff.

[00:20:37] Yeah.

[00:20:37] It's almost a suck it up type of attitude, which is not...

[00:20:40] Back in my era, the Gen Xers, it's just suck it up.

[00:20:44] Deal with it.

[00:20:45] You know, don't rub dirt on it and move on.

[00:20:47] Things have changed, right?

[00:20:48] You got to...

[00:20:49] I quoted the other day, for Moneyball, you got to adapt or die, right?

[00:20:53] Things are changing and people have to adapt to change, which is mental health is there.

[00:20:59] It is an issue.

[00:21:00] Again, we're not kumbaya.

[00:21:02] It's not...

[00:21:02] We're not like saying, oh, these things are triggering me and I need a mental health day.

[00:21:07] And we're not saying that.

[00:21:08] I know there is a fine line between...

[00:21:11] Getting...

[00:21:12] Break it up with your boyfriend and going in this deep depression.

[00:21:15] When a ball was by your head and you're going to have flashbacks and you're going to have some mental health issues,

[00:21:23] you need a place to go or you need a place.

[00:21:25] You need someone to talk to you, right?

[00:21:27] Or you need strategies to deal with those type of things, which for you, you didn't have that available, right?

[00:21:35] Yeah.

[00:21:35] I didn't even know what was going on until I got to college, which was what?

[00:21:40] Maybe three or four years later?

[00:21:42] Yeah.

[00:21:43] But for you, seeing me go through that and break down and you're like, why are you bawling your head off?

[00:21:51] Yeah.

[00:21:53] Did you think anything was going on or were you also in the dark about mental health as well?

[00:21:59] Yeah.

[00:21:59] Great question because I was a head coach or I was a coach for 30 years.

[00:22:05] And I've seen my fair share of kids that quit.

[00:22:09] But again, I grew up in an era which is a dirt on it and move on.

[00:22:14] I figure it out.

[00:22:15] Suck it up.

[00:22:16] That's what my mom did.

[00:22:17] My father passed away when I was six and she had no time.

[00:22:21] She had four boys.

[00:22:21] She had no time to, to go to some mental health person.

[00:22:26] Right.

[00:22:27] And she just, she had to find a job and go to school and provide for the kids.

[00:22:32] So there wasn't that.

[00:22:33] So I had that mentality, which is, and then to come back to you, which was, and this is probably, I don't want to say it's bad parenting, but I didn't, we didn't look for someone to help you out.

[00:22:51] Cause like you said, you were, we were in the middle of a pandemic where you were trying to get recruited.

[00:22:56] Maybe as a parent, I was where we brushed and decided to say, okay, let's just deal with it.

[00:23:00] Just so you can get back on, get back on track as far as colleges look for you.

[00:23:05] I don't know if I was in the dark.

[00:23:06] I just, maybe I just, maybe it was just my generation where I just said, wait, he's got to suck it up so we can figure this out.

[00:23:13] And I like, you guys have always been those kind of parents.

[00:23:17] If you fall, you're fine.

[00:23:18] Get up.

[00:23:19] That's fine.

[00:23:20] Especially when I started playing for Chris, you hate complaining.

[00:23:27] I do.

[00:23:28] He's a, you're a big on not complaining or excuses, like no excuses, no complaint.

[00:23:35] There's two things.

[00:23:36] There's two things in this world.

[00:23:37] There's excuses and results.

[00:23:39] And I expect results.

[00:23:41] I don't want any excuses.

[00:23:42] Now there's strain having mental health issues and complaining about a bruise on your knee.

[00:23:51] And it's not necessarily I was complaining about breaking down.

[00:23:56] I just didn't, I really didn't know how to interpret it, really.

[00:23:59] But it's going back to Mindstrong Spartans.

[00:24:03] It brings to light all these different issues that people may face.

[00:24:10] So our group is full of, we have softball, we have tennis, we have gymnastics, we have water polo, baseball, golf.

[00:24:23] Like this array, like various sports where every difference, every sport has something different that they deal with.

[00:24:33] So like gymnastics, if we go back to and look at, I always go back to Simone Biles having difficulty.

[00:24:42] Like she didn't even know where the ground was.

[00:24:43] And that's a common thing that gymnasts go through when in the, when they're in the air, they have to know where the ground is.

[00:24:49] So they know how many times to rotate or do things like that.

[00:24:53] But Simone Biles, the best gymnast in the whole world did not know where the ground was and was going through something that she could, it could possibly get her injured.

[00:25:03] Or like golf is just a whole nother story.

[00:25:07] That's probably 80, 90% mental game.

[00:25:09] But we all have different stories.

[00:25:12] And I think talking about it makes a huge difference.

[00:25:16] And because people don't want to talk about it.

[00:25:18] And they're like, if I don't talk about it, then it's not real.

[00:25:21] Or my God, that's the opposite effect.

[00:25:25] Yeah, by just brushing under the rug and then, you know, hopefully it doesn't come back.

[00:25:30] Yeah, it makes it even, it makes it just way, way worse.

[00:25:33] Yeah.

[00:25:34] Around.

[00:25:34] What I like about what you're doing is for incoming athletes, again, it's not just softball, it's for incoming athletes.

[00:25:42] They have, you can direct them.

[00:25:44] Like the coaches of each of these programs say, hey, here is this program on campus.

[00:25:49] If you're having some struggles mentally, seek out these people, right?

[00:25:54] So I think it's cool that you're doing this because you're going to leave a legacy.

[00:25:58] Like we talked about that when you're in high school and high school is leave a legacy.

[00:26:03] I think it's cool that you guys, now you don't know what direction you're going into, but maybe that could be a direction.

[00:26:08] It's okay.

[00:26:09] Each coach or you talk to incoming freshmen and your mind strong Spartans has a, some sort of rally or whatever.

[00:26:20] Or you can, these incoming athletes can, has a place to go and they got, you know, because these incoming freshmen, I guarantee you at some point.

[00:26:30] Like they had some sort of mental breakdown and so now they're coming in and they're coming into a college and they're going to have to wear, you know, they're going to have to perform.

[00:26:39] You're, they're getting money to go to college, to play these sports.

[00:26:43] Now there's an addition, additional mental stuff that they're going to have to go through.

[00:26:49] And then now they have a place to go and it's not a stigma.

[00:26:52] It's, Hey, we're here for you.

[00:26:55] Like just, it can be anonymous or whatever you guys can, but you can come on in.

[00:27:00] And we can talk it out.

[00:27:01] And then you guys can talk about your stories and the, and that all resonate.

[00:27:04] Yeah.

[00:27:05] And it's such a culture shock when you arrived to college.

[00:27:09] I was calling you guys pretty much every single day in the dorms.

[00:27:17] Yeah.

[00:27:18] And it's such a whole different environment.

[00:27:23] And the dorms are, you either, you like it or you don't.

[00:27:27] I think.

[00:27:28] Okay.

[00:27:29] And I'm one that.

[00:27:32] I love my personal space.

[00:27:34] I love getting to decorate my room and, and I didn't have that.

[00:27:39] And it was just, it was so odd.

[00:27:41] I felt like my environment was it.

[00:27:43] To me, it felt like living in a hotel for a whole year.

[00:27:48] And that kind of messed with me a little bit.

[00:27:50] I felt very confined, maybe claustrophobic a little bit in my living situation.

[00:27:56] And I know that like my room at home, I can just see the progression of with the little hearts on the wall and painting over it.

[00:28:05] I loved having that little space for me to go to and calling my parents every single day.

[00:28:12] Like my mom was like, go do something.

[00:28:15] Like go out with your friends or what are you doing on a Friday night?

[00:28:19] Yeah.

[00:28:20] Yeah.

[00:28:20] It's a right of passage.

[00:28:21] I think that's why they have all freshmen stay in the dorms at some point.

[00:28:25] Right of passage.

[00:28:26] You were super lucky to have a whole roommate.

[00:28:29] Jules is a great roommate.

[00:28:31] So I think that helped.

[00:28:34] Not everyone can get to great roommates.

[00:28:36] So that you could add a different experience or you had a never roommate.

[00:28:41] Remain a yard drift.

[00:28:43] So that's awesome.

[00:28:45] Lace, I am super proud of you.

[00:28:46] You're going to do some great things, not only with Mindstrong Spartans at San Jose State, but beyond.

[00:28:54] When you are done, you're going to do some great things.

[00:28:56] And I'm looking forward to catching you do those things.

[00:29:01] Thanks.

[00:29:03] Awesome stuff.

[00:29:04] Thanksgiving is just around the corner.

[00:29:07] Looking forward to seeing you then.

[00:29:09] Then we got Christmas.

[00:29:11] We got a little, I think we're going to maybe drive the coast and do some sightseeing.

[00:29:20] That would be cool.

[00:29:21] Can't wait for that.

[00:29:23] We have to where we are.

[00:29:25] Okay, we'll do that.

[00:29:26] And then you have your last season as a San Jose State Spartan.

[00:29:34] So looking forward to it, babe.

[00:29:37] I love you.

[00:29:38] Love you.

[00:29:39] Catch everyone else on the other side.

[00:29:41] Bye, everybody.

[00:29:42] Bye.