Softball assistant coach Craig Snider sat down and talked all things quarantine.
How are you and the team staying connected?
"We're texting back and forth, we have a GroupMe we chat with. Once we found out we could start having meetings, we actually have Zoom call meetings on Tuesdays at 1:30 and just touch base and anything up-to-date, and check in with them on academics and stuff. So I guess the challenge right now is – the world's stopped, but class hasn't so they've still got to go to class online and turn their assignments in. I'll send some videos out, just mental stuff."
"I actually gave the hitters an assignment the other day. They have to watch the movie, Free Solo, about a guy that climbs mountains with just his hands and feet, no ropes or anything else. Just the mental side of what that is and what that looks like. We're going to talk about it next week, I think, which will be fun."
What was the team's biggest goal this season and did you accomplish it before the season ended?
"The biggest thing going into this year was we wanted to be the toughest team especially in the SEC; be the most resilient and toughest team. Unfortunately, we didn't really get to find that out since we only played one SEC series. But the one SEC series we did play was quite the battle. We lost the series at Kentucky, but [we were] one or two pitches away from either taking the series or sweeping the series on the road against the No. 10 team in the nation. Then we came home to play Texas State, and played a really good, really complete softball game. It was neat to see that."
"I was really excited about where we were headed, but we had Tennessee coming up the following weekend and it was already a sold-out crowd for three days, which was awesome. I was excited to get the opportunity to play them and continue to see this team grow cause I think early on we had our ups and downs – as you do when you're a younger team – but to see what we were doing and where we were headed and we were really starting to click offensively, I was excited about that."
"I don't know if we get to really answer that question, 'Were we the toughest team in the SEC?' but given the first weekend I can tell you I think we would've been right there in achieving that goal."
What words of encouragement do you have to share?
"This has been an interesting time with quarantine. There are a lot of things that we don't know or are scared of or we don't know the uncertainties or the level of, 'This is uncomfortable, I don't like this,' but I do think there's a positive to come out of this. I think this has allowed us to slow down and really, really take in the small things in life that you appreciate. The simple things like cooking all your meals now. How fun is that now? We're slowing it down. I started a garden the other day which is kind of cool. Growing up on a farm I always swore I'd never have a garden because my grandmother had a garden and I had to pick the green beans out of it every summer and I hated that. But here I am with a garden and I've got with tomatoes, squash, and zucchini. I named it 'The Garden of Eatin'."
"I love the phrase, 'Be where your feet are' because I think we can really be preoccupied with all these things going on, all the negative going on and just stay where your feet are. Right now, you're here. Be where your feet are. When you're playing with your kid, be where your feet are. Be right there when you're doing that. When you're working woodwork or on a Zoom call, be right there. This quarantine has slowed things down so you can really do that now because there's not a lot of things going on, it's not to the next task. It's not, I do A, B, C, D before I do this. It's, 'I do this' and now onto the next thing. Be where your feet are."
"Try to find the positive in the situation like how it's made us slow down, slowed life down and made us appreciate the small things that we probably took advantage of before."
"When this thing is over, I think a lot of us are going to have a different perspective on life and what we can and can't do. So I'm looking forward to that. But I think we had to go through that to slow everything down. The world needed a little, 'Let's take a step back, take a deep breath. Let's slow this thing down, and then we'll crank it up again.'" Â
How are you and the team staying connected?
"We're texting back and forth, we have a GroupMe we chat with. Once we found out we could start having meetings, we actually have Zoom call meetings on Tuesdays at 1:30 and just touch base and anything up-to-date, and check in with them on academics and stuff. So I guess the challenge right now is – the world's stopped, but class hasn't so they've still got to go to class online and turn their assignments in. I'll send some videos out, just mental stuff."
"I actually gave the hitters an assignment the other day. They have to watch the movie, Free Solo, about a guy that climbs mountains with just his hands and feet, no ropes or anything else. Just the mental side of what that is and what that looks like. We're going to talk about it next week, I think, which will be fun."
What was the team's biggest goal this season and did you accomplish it before the season ended?
"The biggest thing going into this year was we wanted to be the toughest team especially in the SEC; be the most resilient and toughest team. Unfortunately, we didn't really get to find that out since we only played one SEC series. But the one SEC series we did play was quite the battle. We lost the series at Kentucky, but [we were] one or two pitches away from either taking the series or sweeping the series on the road against the No. 10 team in the nation. Then we came home to play Texas State, and played a really good, really complete softball game. It was neat to see that."
"I was really excited about where we were headed, but we had Tennessee coming up the following weekend and it was already a sold-out crowd for three days, which was awesome. I was excited to get the opportunity to play them and continue to see this team grow cause I think early on we had our ups and downs – as you do when you're a younger team – but to see what we were doing and where we were headed and we were really starting to click offensively, I was excited about that."
"I don't know if we get to really answer that question, 'Were we the toughest team in the SEC?' but given the first weekend I can tell you I think we would've been right there in achieving that goal."
What words of encouragement do you have to share?
"This has been an interesting time with quarantine. There are a lot of things that we don't know or are scared of or we don't know the uncertainties or the level of, 'This is uncomfortable, I don't like this,' but I do think there's a positive to come out of this. I think this has allowed us to slow down and really, really take in the small things in life that you appreciate. The simple things like cooking all your meals now. How fun is that now? We're slowing it down. I started a garden the other day which is kind of cool. Growing up on a farm I always swore I'd never have a garden because my grandmother had a garden and I had to pick the green beans out of it every summer and I hated that. But here I am with a garden and I've got with tomatoes, squash, and zucchini. I named it 'The Garden of Eatin'."
"I love the phrase, 'Be where your feet are' because I think we can really be preoccupied with all these things going on, all the negative going on and just stay where your feet are. Right now, you're here. Be where your feet are. When you're playing with your kid, be where your feet are. Be right there when you're doing that. When you're working woodwork or on a Zoom call, be right there. This quarantine has slowed things down so you can really do that now because there's not a lot of things going on, it's not to the next task. It's not, I do A, B, C, D before I do this. It's, 'I do this' and now onto the next thing. Be where your feet are."
"Try to find the positive in the situation like how it's made us slow down, slowed life down and made us appreciate the small things that we probably took advantage of before."
"When this thing is over, I think a lot of us are going to have a different perspective on life and what we can and can't do. So I'm looking forward to that. But I think we had to go through that to slow everything down. The world needed a little, 'Let's take a step back, take a deep breath. Let's slow this thing down, and then we'll crank it up again.'" Â