ATHLETE INTERVIEWS: Sammie Yeung (Former DVHS Varsity Athlete)

In order to cultivate mental toughness, I often seek advice from those around me and those who I look up to. I've found that hearing the experiences of others can make me feel better and I can learn new methods and strategies that I can apply to my own game. As a result, I decided to create a series of posts on my website dedicated to interviewing athletes (titled ATHLETE INTERVIEWS) so that anyone visiting my site can potentially use the words of others to better themselves.

In this third installment, I interviewed Sammie Yeung:

Tell me about yourself!

Hello! My name is Sammie and this upcoming fall I will be a freshman at UCI. I played softball for 8 years between fifth grade and senior year.

How did you start playing softball?

When I was younger, my parents attempted to expose me to all sorts of different activities hoping I would become passionate about one. My older cousin played baseball, and loved it, so my parents thought I should try softball. I did end up loving the game and stuck it through until the end of high school.

What’s your favorite part of the game and why?

This may be an odd way to explain it but, some people love to read or love to watch movies because it gives them an escape from the stressors and busyness of real life for a couple of hours. Softball acts similarly to books and movies for me. When you’re on the field you have to lock in; you don’t have time to think about any missing assignments or things you still need to do. Plus I get to do it all with some of my closest friends and work on my health in the process.

How has softball impacted your life?

Softball has taught me numerous important life lessons and skills. I’ve learned about failure, resilience, teamwork, and hard work. Softball has made me a better person, and has also given me some of the best friends I could ever hope for. Additionally, my home looks a little different during the spring time; while some families engage in spring cleaning, my family tracks dirt around the house after a long day at the field and our laundry piles high from the different uniforms I had worn to practices and games. All of that had become my family and my new normal, and we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

How do you define mental toughness?

I would define mental toughness as the ability to regain positive views and confidence in one’s skills and abilities after a negative experience.

Do you believe sports help cultivate mental toughness and in what ways?

I do think sports help cultivate mental toughness. All sports inevitably involve failure because failure is a stepping stone to growth and improvement. And if one wants to continue to play that sport, one needs to learn how to rebound from such failure with humility but also confidently- which in turn, cultivates mental toughness.

In high school, what kind of mental strategies did you employ to handle adverse situations?

I used to remind myself that, sometimes, events only hold the power of the emotion I assign to it. Our bodies literally cannot distinguish between when we are anxious and when we are excited, so our mind decides which of the two we will be in the moment. Furthermore, it is a fact that you are more likely to remember embarrassing moments than small achievements; thus, in times where I make a mistake I try to take it as a learning moment and will mentally remind myself not to make the same mistake again.

How does training and competing test your mental health?

Occasionally, I’ll let myself believe that my worth is based off of what I am able to achieve and accomplish. At the same time, though, I have very high expectations for myself. Therefore, when I don’t compete how I know I can, my mental health starts to deteriorate, and I fall into a pit of self doubt.

Where do you turn to when you need emotional support and what has that support meant to you?

I mostly turn to my teammates, older cousins, and friends (also my dog, and in the past, former therapist). Their support has meant the world to me; their support reminds me that I am never alone in my struggles, and that I have all these people in my corner rooting for me to succeed.

Many people are afraid to talk about their own mental health issues, what advice do you have for them?

First of all, you are not alone. You have never been alone and you will never be alone in your struggles. Secondly, mental health has been stigmatized for centuries, and if we don’t begin to acknowledge that we have these struggles and that our problems deserve to be attended to, who will? When we speak up, even if it’s just to a trusted friend or professional, we break the cycle of shunning our mental health, and we show others that it is ok for them to do the same.

What would you say was your biggest challenge as a softball player and how did you overcome it?

My biggest challenge as a softball player was maintaining confidence. I lacked confidence in my ability to play and that greatly hurt my performance on the field. I recognized this early, so I slowly began to check myself when I started to have self-doubt and say negative things to myself. A lot of the time I would need to literally have an internal debate with my fear and doubt to get myself to remember there were plenty of times where I showed up as a player and that I worked hard to get to where I did.

What do you think is the most important thing that softball players need to remember?

I think the most important thing for a softball player to remember is that at the end of the day, softball is just a game. Softball is supposed to be fun and enjoyable and something to boost your mental and physical health, not at all tear it down.