Unstoppable Athlete - Mental Resilience for Teen Athletes
Jun 23, 2026 · 37 min · 9 segments
Fresh off a weekend of graduations, Sara and Michelle reflect on the relationships, life lessons, and lasting impact that sports can have on young athletes. What begins as an emotional conversation…
Yeah.
How are you doing, Sarah? How are you feeling?
Yeah.
Wow, all the feels.
I think it feels so amazing just 'cause with all the effort, the work that goes into it, to have it happen and have it complete is amazing.
And yeah, I had just so many of these touch points.
This was the group, right? Last year when I had a couple athletes graduate, they had only been with me for a season.
They had kind of come in...
It felt like they came in fully formed, and we were just a performance season, and we...
This group was the group that started it all with me.
It started with my daughter and then a couple girls came in.
I mean, we had the full team, and then as ones have moved and have picked other sports and have all of these pieces, and here we are with the final four, the ones that went from the beginning to the end.
And it was such a sweet moment to feel really part of that end for them, and not the end of volleyball, but this point where they're gonna transition adulthood, into adulting, into whatever's next for them.
But it was just such a sweet celebration.
So-
Mm-hmm
... yeah, all the feels.
Well, I was driving my daughter and another of the girls this morning, and we got talking about we're gonna have five, five seniors next year, and maybe w- maybe one of the tournaments when we're in a big city, we're gonna maybe go do some grad dress shopping, and then I was almost crying already.
And they're being all excited, and I'm like, "You guys aren't g- allowed to make fun of me for all the times I'm gonna cry next year as our babies-"
Yeah, yeah.
So it was pretty amazing to witness them as they are stepping into this place, celebrating the end of their school journey with their friends, but also talking about what's next, and that's so exciting to see all these touch points where we've talked about, "Okay, it's not just about the volleyball.
It's not just about the volleyball." And as I'm witnessing them, I'm like, it wasn't, it was never about the volleyball.
Yeah.
You know? It was about the relationships.
It was about seeing something in each of them and...
Yeah.
How are you doing, Sarah? How are you feeling?
Yeah.
Wow, all the feels.
I think it feels so amazing just 'cause with all the effort, the work that goes into it, to have it happen and have it complete is amazing.
And yeah, I had just so many of these touch points.
This was the group, right? Last year when I had a couple athletes graduate, they had only been with me for a season.
They had kind of come in...
It felt like they came in fully formed, and we were just a performance season, and we...
This group was the group that started it all with me.
It started with my daughter and then a couple girls came in.
I mean, we had the full team, and then as ones have moved and have picked other sports and have all of these pieces, and here we are with the final four, the ones that went from the beginning to the end.
And it was such a sweet moment to feel really part of that end for them, and not the end of volleyball, but this point where they're gonna transition adulthood, into adulting, into whatever's next for them.
But it was just such a sweet celebration.
So-
Mm-hmm
... yeah, all the feels.
Well, I was driving my daughter and another of the girls this morning, and we got talking about we're gonna have five, five seniors next year, and maybe w- maybe one of the tournaments when we're in a big city, we're gonna maybe go do some grad dress shopping, and then I was almost crying already.
And they're being all excited, and I'm like, "You guys aren't g- allowed to make fun of me for all the times I'm gonna cry next year as our babies-"
Yeah, yeah.
So it was pretty amazing to witness them as they are stepping into this place, celebrating the end of their school journey with their friends, but also talking about what's next, and that's so exciting to see all these touch points where we've talked about, "Okay, it's not just about the volleyball.
It's not just about the volleyball." And as I'm witnessing them, I'm like, it wasn't, it was never about the volleyball.
Yeah.
You know? It was about the relationships.
It was about seeing something in each of them and...
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