GAME ON: The Player – Emily Hendricks

GAME ON: The Player – Emily Hendricks

Q & A With Emily Hendricks, Mount St. Charles Softball

What are you looking forward to this season?

I am excited for the season to start. This is mainly because I love my team especially because we have amazing team chemistry. The Mount Varsity softball team makes the effort to "team bond" every chance we can! Because we do this so often, we are a very close team, which in my mind, definitely contributed to the majority of our wins. Finally, due to the fact that we are usually a team with more wins than losses, it is one more aspect that I am looking forward to for this season!

GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST

What is the biggest challenge in being a high school athlete?

There is a good chance that almost every high school athlete would agree with me on the fact that maintaining good grades is the greatest challenge. This is because we usually go from school, to practice/games, to doing homework! Also, many students have jobs once they reach the high school level, which makes getting schoolwork done on time a challenge. An athlete is not allowed to participate in their sport if they are failing a certain amount of classes. Therefore, keeping good grades is extremely vital although it is definitely a challenge!

Who is your biggest motivator?

I would have to say that my biggest motivator is my twin sister, Olivia. I say this because she can always get me to try my absolute best somehow. I love playing with Liv because I can always count on her to make up for me if I do not make a play or get a key hit. Also, Olivia gives me helpful tips a lot of the time, which really helps me do my best. Without my twin and my motivator, I would not be the athlete I am today.

Who is your biggest rival?

For the school season, I consider Coventry our biggest rival for one main reason. This is because they beat us in the Championship game last year and I cannot wait to play them again this year! I love competition and I believe my team plays better when faced with higher competition, so I am predicting that it will be a very good game.

What are you working to improve your game?

This upcoming season, I hope to improve my batting average and my on-base percentage from my last year's results. I plan to do this by practicing my hitting as much as possible so I am able to get on base at least two out of three times each game rather than only once out of three times! Also, anything to help the team progress toward success will be another thing I hope for us to improve!

What is your greatest memory on the field?

I distinctively remember one game in particular, in which I felt very proud of myself for. This game was when I was in seventh grade and my tournament team was in the championship game. My team was up by one run in the seventh inning, and because we were the away team, we were in the field. At that time, my position was right field and a foul fly ball was hit in my direction. There were two outs and the tying run was on third base! I was able to dive and catch the ball for the third out of the game and my team came in first place. Not only was I proud of myself, but also because I feel like everyone is only in that situation once in a lifetime, it was probably my favorite memory from my softball career!

How were you able to balance your schoolwork with practices/games and training?

By managing my time I am able to get all of those important tasks done. It is most definitely not the easiest thing to do, but by staying organized and collective, my work was much more manageable. Also by using my free periods wisely during the school day definitely contributes to being successful with getting all my work done.

Where do you plan to go from here, so you plan to pursue this sport in college?

Where exactly I plan to go from here is unknown at this very moment. But what I do know is that I have the goal of playing college softball at the Division I level. I have gone on many college visits, taken the SAT's a few times, and have had numerous conversations with multiple coaches. By doing all of these, I believe that my goal to one day play at the college level will be reached in the future!