Jennie Finch- Chronister

Jenny Finch, a successful softball player, shares her journey and lessons in her book "Throw Like a Girl." She faced challenges, such as being told she wouldn't make it, but her dad encouraged her to never give up. She learned the importance of rest and self-care, as well as embracing her body and breaking stereotypes. Jenny emphasizes the importance of mental health and staying true to oneself. She also discusses leadership and the impact of positive comments. Despite setbacks, Jenny achieved great success and fought to bring softball back to the Olympics. She retired in 2010 after having her second son. Welcome back to this week's Sports Literature Podcast. My name is Katie Connoisseur. And we will be focusing on the book, Throw Like a Girl, How to Dream Big and Believe in Yourself, written by Jenny Finch and Ann Killian. This week, we'll be focusing on Jenny Finch through her book. And she was born in September 3, 1980. She began playing softball at age five. She lived and grew up in La Morada, California. But her grandparents lived in Iowa. And she spent a lot of summers there with them. Her mom's name is Beth and her dad's name is Doug. She grew up with two brothers, Shane and Landon Finch, which those were the people that inspired her to play softball since she grew up watching them play baseball. Her first travel team was the Firecrackers. And they were very well-bonded. So it was really hard for her to fit in with that team. And that coach told her at age 12 she would never make it anywhere. And that really got her down. But her dad never let her give up on herself. She left that team learning that life isn't fair and she has to control what she can. So she went and joined the Batbusters. Funny enough, this team ended up playing the Firecrackers at the Nationals last minute. It was raining and it was really bad and it was dark. And Jenny just really didn't want to do it. But her dad told her she had to. And that really helped Jenny to realize that she can do anything. She just had to remove the obstacles she made for herself. Jenny also played college softball at the University of Arizona. She got offered many scholarships, but she decided to go play for them. She had a lot of opportunities after she graduated from there, including broadcasting the ESPN Women's College World Series. Jenny was terrified of public speaking. She even dropped a class in college after she heard about how many speeches they would have to give. But Jenny knew she had to do it for softball. There were so many young girls out there counting on her to create a pathway for girls to be important in sports. Jenny learned to like the butterflies she felt because that showed her that she was out of her comfort zone and trying. As a young girl, Jenny's dad never let her slide. She always had her up and working out early in the morning. And she appreciates that now because the strong workout habits she learned at a young age led to successful workout habits she has now. She went through a lot of injuries since pitching was something she did all the time and that's just really hard on your shoulder. So she learned that she has to rest sometimes even when she doesn't want to. And that rest would cause her to come back with a reignited fire for the sport because it's really hard to sit and watch. Jenny growing up had a lot of body image issues at age nine. She wanted to quit because she had one arm that was larger than the other. So her dad built her a special Finch windmill so her arms could be the same size. She, even though her body was chubby and she was really tall unlike a lot of other girls around, she learned to appreciate her body because that's what she needed to be the successful pitcher she was. During her first year of college, she gained 20 pounds as a freshman and that's what taught her the hard way, how to eat a healthy balanced diet. Instead of eating the quick filling accessible items, she learned that she needs to eat healthy food that will fuel her body in a really good way. She's even the chairman of End Play Now, which is a program that teaches kids about obesity. And it also plans physical activities in low income areas. Jenny had a lot of experience in softball with stereotypes. People would always try to put each other in boxes and would peer pressure them then to conform to these boxes. Jenny would always put ribbons in her hair growing up and one of her teammates and her would put perfume on their jerseys. But being the amazing pitcher she was, she was seen as a tomboy. So she had an internal conflict about who she was, whether she was a tomboy or a girly girl. She now collaborated with Mizuno to create a fiercely pink line so that she can show girls they can be both, which is breaking the stereotypes in our modern world. She had to be really mentally tough during this time though because she couldn't let the comments of people trying to put her in those boxes shake her. Jenny also thinks it's really important to pick friends wisely and don't always flee to popularity. Pick friends that'll help you make good decisions and do things that you think are good for you. When Jenny was 14, she received her first of many to come college offers from UCLA. That helped her to realize that all the sacrifices she had been making growing up were worth it and they were paying off. Instead of sleepovers when she was younger, she'd have hotel sleepovers with her team. And instead of having weekends to do fun activities with her friends, she'd be at softball tournaments every single weekend. And it was a lot, but it's helping her to realize it was all worth it. And she talks a lot about how your college decisions have to be based off your lifestyle and not just picking based on a sport. And it's okay if you make the wrong decision because there's ways to transfer out of whatever you pick. It just will help you learn what's best for you by learning what you don't like as well. Growing up, Jenny had a lot of pressure on her. Her team was always counting on her and everyone's always watching the pitcher. So she really had to learn how to deal with that pressure and embrace it. And her dad always had a black and white view on life. And now being a parent to both Fiesel and Ace, her two sons, she realizes how important that view of black and white is just to show that you can't let other people get to you and you have to queue up to your standards. I think it's really important. Jenny's parents never let her quit on things. They believed in follow through and whatever she started, she had to finish. And that's just really taught her the importance of sticking with things throughout her life. Mental health is truly just as important as physical health. You have to control what you can control and don't let everything else get to you. If someone has made you mad, they've already conquered you mentally and you can't let them in or else they're just gonna bring you down. A lot of people are jealous and self-conscious and everything in this world and you can't let them impact you. You have to be who you are. Moving into leadership, Jenny thinks that the best leaders of a team will come up naturally and it's not a good idea to appoint captains. The captains of the team will show their true colors through how they act and how they take about challenges. So I felt that was really cool. Jenny also thinks that for every five positive comments, well, if you're gonna give someone a negative comment, you should add five positive comments in it because then they're much more likely to listen to you. It was really interesting to me that Michael Phelps is one of the most impressive people to Jenny because he has to motivate himself and it makes sense now that I think about it, but every single 4 a.m. workout he has to get up for, every single time he has to go train, he has to do it alone and that really just shows Jenny how much she appreciates her teammates to push her to be her best self. When Jenny first got to college, her grandpa had just passed and she spent the first few nights sleeping on his sleeping bag, crying on the floor and that just really showed her that life doesn't always go how you think it will. She also had her son, not what she had expected and she had to get ready for the national team by six weeks postpartum and that just showed her she had to find inspiration in small places at times. She had to turn to her husband and just the joy her son brought her and she always felt guilty she wasn't doing enough, but she just had to keep pushing and know that she was doing her best. In Jenny's sophomore year against Arizona State, they had lost to, Arizona lost to Arizona State, which was the first time that had happened in years and Jenny promised herself that would never happen again. So they went on a 60 game winning streak and they lost one game, it was her last game ever playing for them and it broke her, but she really was proud of all the games she had helped them to win. Jenny always says it's a privilege to have pressure and I think that's very true. Jenny is also very fond of the golden rule. As a kid, she went to a game to see one of her favorite players and the player disregarded her at the end. So now Jenny will stay hours after a game to sign until every single kid there has gotten what they wanted from her. Jenny also went to a conference in Washington D.C. about sports and that is when she realized she really had to be more vocal for a change in women's sports. Jenny's been to the Olympics multiple times. The first time, they had a game the next morning so the veterans of the team decided not to let them walk which really made Jenny upset at first but she realized they were doing what's best for the team. The first game of that Olympics, she tweaked her oblique and she had to rest for a little bit and it was really hard for her to see her team play but then when she came back, she was still not 100% but she was still able to throw a one hitter against Canada and that helped her really to remind her about how important rest is. She had to support the team even though she wasn't able to play and that really helped her to see how her highs and lows in life are intertwined. She got really upset that softball was taken out of the Olympics and she really fought to get it back in. They said it was taken out because the USA was doing too well and it wasn't a competition but Jenny believes that the Olympics are to show off the best talent so that isn't a great reason. Jenny retired in 2010 right after she had her second son. She now has the owner of a softball academy in New Jersey and she lives in a ranch in Southwestern, Louisiana. I would rate this book an eight out of 10 and it has some good advice and good lessons but is it a bit redundant at times? I would recommend it most for younger girls and softball or baseball players who are interested in the novel. See you next week.