9 years of silence, 3 years of celebration.
9 years of scratching and clawing my way into roles, wearing exclusively mens clothing I was given that I would take to the tailor so I didn’t look more sloppy than I already did, walking long distances to use women’s restrooms and umpire changing rooms, sitting on concrete floors outside of clubhouses and encountering a now unimaginable amount of blatant discrimination— I was the only woman in the building for the majority of 7 years before there was more than one of ‘me’ working with players every day. Loneliness is real.
To be honest when I think about the first 10 years my career, it was fucking hard. That’s really all that comes to mind. Not fun. Good moments and great relationships, but in the background, just straight up grueling.
3 years ago something crazy happened-
All of a sudden, the conversation turned from silence to celebration. The first time I ‘made history’ as the first female strength coach in the history of professional baseball, nothing happened- It was very unceremonious, which felt normal at the time- They thought I should just be happy to be there, and frankly, I was.
