Chrisha Gray '20 Recruiting Profile

    When people ask me about myself, softball is often one of the first words that I say.  When other people are asked about me, softball is almost always mentioned. It's a thing that I can always use to relieve my stress, stay healthy,  and ultimately motivates me to excel in other things, such as school. Something that I've always struggled with is realizing that softball is not my identity and trying to find out who I am outside of it.  While I was on my mission to try and steer my identity away from softball, I used the things it taught be to find who I am. Softball taught me about commitment, sacrifice, and teamwork. 

    I have always been committed to keeping my grades up. I have kept above a 3.8 my freshman, sophomore, and into my junior year. Being a successful student athlete has helped me with time and stress management. Making sports and school some of my top priorities have helped me decide what things are worth sacrificing to better myself as both a student and an athlete. As a catcher, I would "sacrifice my body for the ball" when blocking. But, in school, I would sacrifice my lunch period to finish homework or study. I also sacrifice a lot of my free time to do community service.  I learned how to decide what to cut out and how it will help me in the future. I think the most important thing that softball taught me, was the importance of teamwork, whether it's on the field, in the classroom, or while working. Something that my knowledge of teamwork helped me with was creating and becoming vice president of a club at my high school called Helping Out People Everywhere, or HOPE. Just getting enough people to make the club was a struggle, but with the help of close friends, the club was running and we've already raised enough money to do a project to give care packages to homeless people and hope to do another soon. Although Softball is not my identity, it has shaped who I am and who I want to become.