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Thor, The Viking Bandit - part 3

by Dave
Monday, June 22, 2009

A: "People have been calling me Thor since high school.   I am 3/4 Norwegian, so I definitely have Viking roots, just don't know a lot about them.   I know tons about the mythology, though."

A: "My adrenaline always starts pumping as a game starts, or as I enter a game.   I usually go out there and just try to turn my mind off, so I sing along to the music playing (usually one of my pitching songs) and just let my body work the way I've trained it.   I settle right into my routine, and things just fall into place for me now, which allows me to stay relaxed and aggressive as I'm throwing during a game."

A: "During pre-game, I just like to have fun.   Having fun and goofing off has become more and more important to me as I get older.   I used to be very serious and kept to myself, but I'm not like that now.   When I'm on the field, I'm in my warrior mode - very serious, very aggressive, kind of anti-social.   And I used to not be able to turn that off.   But I've learned to turn it off before games, and when I'm in the dugout.   Having fun, laughing, and goofing around helps my mental game by letting my mind relax, just like my body gets to relax between innings.   I try to treat every inning the same, but the three most important innings in my eyes are the first, last, and any inning after my team scores runs and gets a huge momentum shift.   But even still, I just approach it as one pitch at a time, one batter at a time, one out at a time.   You can't live in the past or the future, just the present."

A: "I am a totally different person off the field than who I am on the field.   On the field I am a warrior and much like your daughter who you compared to Clemens.   I'm not necessarily angry, but I have no problem drilling a player, and I love to stare down batters after I strike them out.   I am out there to beat them at their game, to make them look bad.   I'm not going to pitch to their weakness, I will throw my best pitch and dare them to hit it.

Off the field, I'm easy going, aloof, and goofy.   Still driven, but it's not outwardly noticeable.   Total opposite as when I'm on the field."

A: "Of course I wish girls and women had the same opportunity!   That's why I love playing in the pro league right now.   Our goal is to create that situation so that future generations of softball players can make a living playing this game.   I know I'll never be able to, but I want to help create that opportunity for girls later on, and I'm happy that I still get to play.   I don't think girls will ever make the same, or even close to, what MLB players make, but I'd love to see a situation where women could just be professional athletes, and not have to coach or have another job on the side."

A: "I don't know if I would want the NPF to have the same financial success as MLB.   I think the MLB is completely out of control, but it would be so nice for our league to be able to make money at the end of the year, for the players and coaches to make a decent living.   There's nothing more that I could ask for than to play in a park with 30,000+ people watching.   That's got to be such an amazing feeling.   Our game is amazing - it's totally different than baseball.   The women in this league are amazing athletes and people, and we all deserve the same attention from the media and the public as the men do.   I try to do everything in my power to help equalize things for this league, but there's only so much one person can do.   If I could snap my fingers to achieve that, you better believe I would."

A: "I attribute pretty much all of our success last year to our team chemistry.   It was unbelievable.   We all got along, but even better was at the end of the season, during our hot streak, we never questioned whether or not we would win.   We just knew.   We just didn't know when we'd push the winning run across.   And much of the time, we had late come-from-behind victories.   The dugout was calm, there was never any panic or added pressure, we just knew.   Everyday, someone new would step up with the big hit.   The whole experience is really hard to describe to someone who wasn't a part of it, because it was so unique."

A: "There are two things that I would really focus on.   First, we need national TV coverage.   Plain and simple.   If fishing and poker can make ESPN, the NPF should be able to make ESPN.   Secondly, we need to market ALL the players in the NPF.   Not just Jennie, Cat, and Monica, who are all busy with the national team.   We need to market other players - non-Team USA members who are at every game for their team, who are big players on their team.   We need more known faces in the league, because people, fans don't usually associate with a team, they associate and connect with players.   That's why we need to market players more."

A: "Losing is definitely an important training tool.   It teaches you how to be stronger mentally, but shows you your own weaknesses and what you need to do to be successful.   There have been hundreds of experiences that have made me the player I am today.   Everyday I try to learn something new, try to make myself better.   Jim's comment (see part 1) might have been the biggest turning point for me, but it sure hasn't been the only one."

A: "I love that girls can just go out and play.   With youth and high school, it's not about recruiting, it's about going out there and just playing your heart out for your team/school.   I love that.   However, I hate all the safety standards.   I cannot stand face masks, especially for fielders, but I don't like them on batting helmets either.   They teach girls to be scared of the ball, rather than teaching them to have better reactions and to not be scared of the ball.   There's absolutely no way a boy of ANY age would ever show up to baseball practice with a mask.   What's the difference?   It's ok for a boy to get hurt, but not a girl?   No.   There's no difference.   When you play the sport, you're an athlete.   Treat girls like athletes, not like dolls that can't get hurt.   If you don't want to get hurt, don't play sports."

A: "Oh man, I'd probably say my senior year at Cal.   I was just in a zone all year, and I had a blast.   I would choose this time because I was really successful, but it was the first year I really felt like I was a complete pitcher, I wasn't just a rise/curve pitcher.   I had a drop and a change up, and I have never felt so comfortable on the mound."

• Part 1 - rec play through high school.
  
  
• Part 2 - experiences as a college player
  
  
• Part 3 - experiences as a professional pitcher
  
  
• Part 4 - future including high school coach, private pitching instructor, and some longer-term possibilities

Labels: national pro fastpitch

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