00:00So, Ashley, you're a history maker, you know, standing next to you is just really an honor for you as a black woman representing the United States in Paris.
00:08What does that accomplishment mean to you? Also, just keeping in retrospect how you're representing in your sport.
00:14Yeah, I think that that accomplishment means a lot to me.
00:17I know that that accomplishment means a lot to me because for me, it's about what this sport could look like, what the hope for this sport could be.
00:26And just like every young black girl and black boy that I meet who wants to be here but doesn't see themselves here, I hope that I can be a mirror to hold up.
00:36And I'm like, you can be here. This is how you do it. This is what I've been through.
00:41This is what you're going to experience. And get some of that preparation, get some of that encouragement that I maybe didn't get when I was younger, maybe that representation I didn't see.
00:53Okay, we talk about prep. Hard work. Being in the water at any point for me, it can be a difficult thing.
01:03Not throw a water polo in there.
01:05What is your prep like just outside of, you know, Olympic season? And what is your prep like been now knowing Paris is in your future?
01:13Outside of the Olympic season, for our team in general, we typically, like, if you're outside of college, you play a season abroad.
01:20And for me, the past, I played three seasons abroad. I played twice in Greece and once in Italy.
01:26So that you're kind of contracted to an international team and you're just playing for them and just doing your best to stay in shape, doing your best to compete and learn your opponents once you get to the Olympics.
01:37And 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, and then in the afternoons, it's like more pure water polo.
01:52So it's a lot. It's biking, it'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, leaving no stone unturned so that I'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 done that you can remember that you're like,
02:17yo, that was really, really cool. I think that one thing that we do that's really important for us is our meetings.
02:24We have a team sports psychologist and it's not necessarily team bonding, but it's the times where we get the most vulnerable with each other as a group
02:34and just like cry together and like really talk about what our perspectives are on where we are and like develop our self-awareness,
02:43but our team awareness and put into place the building blocks for where we want to go and I think that without that we wouldn't get to where we want to be
02:54no matter how hard we tried in the pool. If you don't know the person next to you, like what drives them, what's important to them
03:00and what their purpose is outside of like the team purpose, then I don't think you're reaching any goals as a team.
03:07Let me ask you this, speaking of goals, is there one particular skill set that you're really working on refining right now?
03:12One 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 elevating like our weakest link,
03:29whether that's within myself individually, like building that skill I want or like learning, okay, her shot here is weak.
03:37I'm going to challenge her to shoot there as often as possible because I want her to have that skill.
03:43She doesn't feel connected 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 to connect her to all of us
03:54so that we feel connected when we get to a hard moment and she can come and rely on somebody.
