How to be more authentic | Joni Frei [INT]

What this episode covers

So you and your players can always see your true worth Today’s guest is a true ambassador for softball worldwide. Her career began in Canada then took her to college in Georgia and playing professionally in Holland. She began coaching at the college level immediately after and never looked back. Her Hall of Fame award is just the tip of the impact she’s made on our sport. Throughout her career, she has coached at the DI, NAIA and NJCAA levels in the states. Internationally, she has also helped coach the Austrian and Ugandan National teams. She received the coveted Ringor Impact Award given to a coach who has made a lasting impact within the International Softball Community. The Grow the Game initiative is her most recent endeavor. With it she provides sport opportunities for young women in Uganda. Currently, she is the Owner of Beyond the White Lines Softball Academy, Head Coach of the Canada Futures college experience team, Head Coach for Team B.C. and serves as a National Coaching Certification Program’s Master Learning Facilitator and Evaluator. We got to know her when we joined forces to put on a weekend-long Best Season Ever event with her and Jenn Starkey. By the end of the weekend, tears were flowing because of the impact they had made. Please welcome a good friend who is truly making an impact on our sport worldwide, Joni Frei! Today we discuss… * Her path to coaching and making an impact worldwide through softball * Helping players see how good they can be by giving them the platform to be themselves * Knowing we as coaches don’t have to be everything to everybody * Making time for one on one communication * Staying patient with the process when time is limited and development is slow * How to stay true to ourselves and not worry about what others think (Follow Joni and Beyond the White Lines on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter!) COACHING CHALLENGE | Be your authentic self The way the sports world is, coaches are constantly under the microscope. We hear much more criticism than praise. Plus everyone else knows how we should be doing things, right? Those who get paid can even lose their jobs if they don’t do at least a little bit of people-pleasing. This can be a topic alllll it’s own, but let’s focus on the most important piece of this equation: YOU. Like Joni says, at the end of the day it’s about caring for your players and being yourself. But how can we be more authentic? We’ve created a PDF to help you answer that question! Figuring out your authentic self is not easy. It’s even more difficult when you’re young and not all that great at self-awareness yet.