Words of Softball Wisdom From Amanda Scarborough

We get a little star struck by some of the girls who have grown up, and grown this sport…And when it comes to Amanda Scarborough, we have to be honest, we think she is amazingly great! What a wonderful role model, and catalyst for softball players everywhere! And as we trolled her Instagram yesterday, we came across some words of softball wisdom from Amanda Scarborough, that we just had to share. It’s really LIFE WISDOM…

So we reached out to her, got permission to share her words, and sincerely hope that it helps or impacts someone else. Upon reading her post, we immediately felt that THIS was something that needed to be shared, not just for our softball players, but for EVERYONE out there trying so hard to create their ‘best life!” 

Words of Softball Wisdom From Amanda Scarborough

Be sure to Follow Amanda on Instagram for more of her posts! 

“The best way to predict the future is to create it, no matter how old you are. 

Do you ever look back and think, “how did I get here?” After I put up my cleats, I realized I wanted to create my own ‘thing’ and continue to build on the full-time job I had kept my whole life – Softball Player. I soon realized that creating my own thing didn’t start the day after my college career ended, it had actually been building my entire life. 

To get to this point, there wasn’t an official job interview, no typed out resume, and no how to book. 

The “job interview: had actually already happened with every coach I’ve ever had, every teammate I’ve ever played with, any team meeting I’ve shown up to, every person (literally every person) I’ve ever had a conversation with. I realized after college that every conversation I had taken part in was an opportunity to show someone what I was about. And it didn’t matter the age of the person I was talking to, every conversation with coaches, teammates, parents or strangers, it was an opportunity to make an impression, just as you would on an official job interview. Can YOU communicate? Are YOU a good teammate? Can YOU be trusted? Do YOU listen? Are YOU coachable? Are you capable of making changes? Do YOU work hard? 

The resume was every year I had dedicated to playing softball, every trophy won on any team I played with, any accolade I was every given, any fundraiser I ever participated in, any injury I battled back from, and even any (and every) social media post I had ever made. My resume had so much job experience without me even knowing it. 

It’s hard to believe that even in my senior year of college, staying in the game wouldn’t have been on a Top 10 post-college jobs list. 

As a senior, I was burnt out, and ready for the next thing OUTSIDE of softball. I remember sitting in Coach Evans’ office at one point and telling her about this job fair at the Mays Business School that I went to, and how I got a job interview for some insurance-type company. I told her how this job had an awesome starting salary, and these people thought I would be a good fit. 

What I didn’t tell her was how excited I thought I was to envision a future WITHOUT softball anywhere in it. (HA!!) You should have seen her face after I told her. It was the same face we would get a pitchers when an opponent would hit a homerun off of us and coach asked where the pitch was, and we said we hit our spot. (Newsflash: we definitely didn’t hit our spot, didn’t intend to lie, but we definitely didn’t hit our spot.) She looked at me in that way because she saw something in me, I had yet to see in myself. 

I got injured and was unable to play for 3/4 of my senior year. At the time, it had seemed like the worst thing that happened in my life. Looking back, it stands to be one of the best. I will always see it as a major turning point in my life. Through my injury, I learned there was no chance I was stepping away from the game; the game was for ME, it always had been. 

Fast forward to NOW, on a plane, when someone asks – “So what do you do?” I say, “ANYTHING WITH SOFTBALL!” and I laugh to myself every time, thinking how 10 years ago I never would have believed that coaching softball, and broadcasting softball, would be somewhere on my job radar. I’m telling you NEVER! But now it feels like I never want this job to end. Now it feels like it really isn’t a job at all…. 

I think back to how I was being promoted before even knew what promotion was. Rookie turned all star!. All star turned travel player. Travel ball player turned varsity player. Varsity player turned college player. 

Through your own journey, remember PROMOTIONS are earned. Everyone’s promotion will look a little different, but all promotions come from hard work mixed with passion – you’re not going to work as hard on something if you aren’t passionate about it. BUT, just because you’re passionate about something and willing to work hard, doesn’t mean it will be easy, and it doesn’t mean there won’t be times when you stop and think, “is this really for me,?” If you really love it, you won’t mind the time it takes for your promotion to happen, there isn’t a set time for every single person. 

Whether it’s creating your OWN path, or sliding into a path, that is already created before you got there, there’s no right or wrong answer, if you listen to where your heart is guiding you to take your future.

Just remember with every decision YOU make you are filling up your resume. Be responsible for your choices. 

Remember that with every conversation you’re job interviewing – take care of the impressions you leave behind. 

Remember, be open to new possibilities, you never know where they might take you. 

You’re the one in charge of your own journey, control your destiny. You are in charge of figuring out what makes you happy. Listen to your heart…really listen, then boldly stand behind your decisions and the direction you take your life. When you know that direction, BE ALL IN!”

NOW, if that doesn’t JACK YOU up and Make you feel like you can do anything, we question your post. 

Big thanks to Amanda for letting us share her wisdom!