{"id":24480,"date":"2024-05-02T13:49:24","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T13:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thealliancefastpitch.com\/nwfl\/?p=24480"},"modified":"2024-05-03T14:52:24","modified_gmt":"2024-05-03T14:52:24","slug":"a-mental-edge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thealliancefastpitch.com\/nwfl\/2024\/05\/02\/a-mental-edge\/","title":{"rendered":"A Mental Edge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview and Story by Emma Breer<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More often than not, we hear about dual sport athletes facing massive problems. How can you keep pace with the player whose pure focus is softball and only<\/em> softball? Eliana Van Horn had some contradictions to that statement. Van Horn is a part of Shorewood High School\u2019s 2026 graduation class and pitches for the KB Fastpitch 16u team. Recently, Van Horn had been selected as the NWFL Player of the Month<\/a> in January, something chosen among numerous nominations based on leadership and statistics; she also earned a badge in the Alliance\u2019s new trophy case<\/a>. Van Horn enjoys going to Alliance tournaments because it\u2019s a \u201cgreat opportunity to showcase different people who are succeeding.\u201d Since each team has to qualify to attend these tournaments, Van Horn knows she\u2019ll get to play high-caliber talent and looks forward to \u201c(grinding) out\u201d each win.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Van Horn started playing softball because of her brother. She grew up going to his baseball games and enjoyed being on the sidelines. After watching for a while, Van Horn decided that she wanted to play too. She started out playing for a summer baseball team, then started playing softball when the opportunity was available. From there, she grew into a leader on and off the field. Coach Joe Hauck, the head coach of the KB Fastpitch team, says part of their team culture is to lead in \u201cwhatever field they choose,\u201d and provide empathy for teammates. \u201c(Van Horn) checks off\u201d these boxes. After giving softball a shot, it just stuck for Van Horn, and she fell in love after that.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She finds joy in the game and the people around her within it. She remembers going to Alliance Nationals in Indianapolis, a weeklong tournament. She enjoyed the high-caliber competition, but the length of the tournament also provided opportunities for team bonding. Van Horn remembers going \u201cfor frozen yogurt millions of times\u201d and doing karaoke when they weren\u2019t playing. Everyone acknowledged they were getting obnoxious and noisy, but Van Horn says it was \u201cfun because it was like they were in their own little world.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Van Horn is passionate about softball, but what does she do outside of softball? Van Horn is a wrestler. Her brother also inspired her to wrestle. When she started in eighth grade, he had already been wrestling for three years (five years today). Van Horn went into eighth grade trying to think of something to do outside of softball, and that\u2019s when her brother pressured her to try. When she started wrestling, she went into it with the mentality of \u201cIf I don\u2019t like it, I don\u2019t have to continue doing it.\u201d After continuing to wrestle in ninth grade, though, these thoughts changed from a \u201cwe\u2019ll see\u201d attitude to enjoying the sport. Van Horn loves the girls she\u2019s surrounded by and feels like she\u2019s in a \u201ctight-knit community.\u201d Considering there aren\u2019t many women in the sport, \u201cIt\u2019s such an empowering atmosphere,\u201d Van Horn said. \u201cIf you can survive on the mat, you can put up with anything put your way.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She saw this empowerment in their regionals match last year and their district title match this year. Last year, they won the regional title, something her school had never done before, let alone the girl\u2019s wrestling program. Van Horn thought it was \u201creally cool to be a part of something\u201d like that, especially since it was an achievement that increased the perspective that girls are capable of wrestling. This achievement pushed Van Horn and her teammates to continue taking steps forward, as seen in their district title match this season. It was a tough match and Van Horn thought it was \u201cawesome to see everyone ban together\u2026(to grind) out through tough matches.\u201d After winning the match, Van Horn claimed it felt like a relief. They had worked extremely hard to reach that point and to \u201csee their work was for something\u2026was really cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of conflict when it comes to dual sport athletes. As far as Van Horn\u2019s case, there were plenty of time overlaps between softball practice and wrestling matches; they were fortunate that wrestling season didn\u2019t conflict with tournaments. Van Horn is immensely grateful that Coach Hauck is very understanding. She did \u201chave to miss days of wrestling for travel ball,\u201d but she also had \u201cto miss some days of (softball) practice for wrestling.\u201d Van Horn appreciates that her coaches are accommodating and allow her to do both. Because of this, she feels she\u2019s able to change priorities for what\u2019s most important for her<\/em> at that moment. Whether it\u2019s softball, wrestling, or simply taking care of her physical health, Coach Hauck has been very understanding. Part of why they\u2019re so understanding, though, is the competitive benefits they gain from her participation in wrestling.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery kid is on their own path.\u201d Coach Hauck said. \u201cThe kid needs to determine what\u2019s best for them.\u201d He doesn\u2019t get immensely strict with practice with his dual sport athletes, especially when he can notice the positives. Through wrestling, Van Horn works more on her strength and her endurance. Because of wrestling, she spends more time in the weight room. Coach Hauck has also noticed that, because of wrestling, she\u2019s grown \u201cinto a better pitcher through velocity and endurance.\u201d He\u2019s also noticed a change in her mental edge. Outside of her physical improvements, wrestling has offered a one-on-one type of competition you can\u2019t always get from team sports. The pressure of winning or losing has provided her with a different mental edge, something huge when she\u2019s in the circle.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

There are plenty of downsides to being a dual sport athlete, but the upsides can prove just as impactful, as seen through Van Horn and her journey as a wrestler.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Van Horn placed 1st in districts and 4th in regionals to make it to State during the 2024 season<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview and Story by Emma Breer   More often than not, we hear about dual sport athletes facing massive problems. How can you keep pace with the player whose pure focus is softball and only softball? Eliana Van Horn had some contradictions to that statement. Van Horn is a part of Shorewood High School\u2019s 2026…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":24487,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nwfl"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA Mental Edge - Northwest Fastpitch League<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"More often than not, we hear about dual sport athletes facing massive problems. 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