00:00So Ashley, you're a history maker, you know, standing next to you, it's just really an honor
00:04for you as a black woman representing the United States in Paris. What does that accomplishment
00:09mean to you? Also, just keeping in retrospect how you're representing your sport.
00:13Yeah, I think that that accomplishment means a lot to me. I know that that accomplishment
00:18means a lot to me because for me, it's about what this sport could look like, what the hope
00:25for the sport could be. And just like every young black girl and black boy that I meet who
00:31wants to be here but doesn't see themselves here, I hope that I can be a mirror to hold up and
00:37I'm like, you can be here. This is how you do it. This is what I've been through. This is
00:42what you're going to experience and get some of that preparation, get some of that
00:47encouragement that I maybe didn't get when I was younger, maybe didn't,
00:52that representation I didn't see. Okay, we talk about prep, hard work, being in the water at any
01:00at any point for me is it can be a difficult thing. Not throw a water polo in there. What is
01:05your prep like just outside of, you know, Olympic season? And what is your prep like been now,
01:11knowing Paris is in your future? Outside of the Olympic season, for our team in general,
01:16we typically like if you're outside of college, you play a season abroad. And for me the past,
01:22I played three seasons abroad, I played twice in Greece and once in Italy. So that you're kind of
01:28contracted to a international team, and you're just playing for them and just doing your best to
01:33stay in shape, doing your best to compete and learn your opponents once you get to the Olympics.
01:38And then while I've been in the Olympic year with this team, it's just been full on,
01:43we have about six hours of practice a day. We lift in the mornings, we condition in the mornings,
01:49and then in the afternoons, it's like more pure water polo. So it's a lot, it's biking,
01:54it's running, it's swimming, it's water polo, it's legs for goalies, it's a lot of legs.
02:01And just doing everything we can putting everything at leaving no stone unturned so that
02:06I'm the best that I can be when I get there and that our team is the best that we can be.
02:10Speaking of team, is there one team building activity that you guys do often or that you've
02:15done that you can remember that you're like, yo, that was really, really cool?
02:19I think that one thing that we do that's really important for us is our meetings, we have a team
02:25sports psychologist. And it's not necessarily team bonding, but it's the times where we get the most
02:32vulnerable with each other as a group and just like cry together and like, really talk about
02:38what our perspectives are on where we are and like develop our sense our like self awareness,
02:43but our team awareness and put into place the building blocks for where we want to go.
02:49And I think that without that we wouldn't, we wouldn't get to where we want to be no matter
02:55how hard we tried in the pool. If you don't know the person next to you, like what drives them,
02:59what's important to them and what their purpose is outside of like the team purpose, then I don't
03:05think you're reaching any goals as a team. Let me ask you this speaking of goals,
03:08is there one particular skill set that you're really working on refining right now?
03:13One skill set that I'm personally trying to refine is my ability to like, build up my teammates.
03:21I think learning the strengths and weaknesses of the people around me is a big part of like,
03:26elevating, like our weakest link, whether that's within myself individually, like
03:31building that skill I want or like learning, okay, her shot here is weak, I'm going to
03:37challenge her to shoot there as often as possible, because I want her to have that skill. She doesn't
03:43feel connected to the to the team. Okay, we're going to go to coffee, we're going to talk,
03:47she's going to be connected to me, if not everyone. And I'm going to be like a bridge
03:52to connect her to all of us so that we feel connected when we get to a hard moment and
03:57she can come and rely on somebody.
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