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Having had to postpone today\\u2019s interview due to the recent winter storm in Texas, Laura is absolutely delighted to finally welcome Rachael Adams to the podcast. After getting off to a relatively late start in the game of volleyball, Rachael has gone on to great success in the sport including being a member of the U.S. Women\\u2019s National Volleyball Team, a professional player overseas, and an Olympic medalist. Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a desire to keep learning and to persevere through any challenge, which has served her incredibly well, and which is also clearly evident in her conversation with Laura here today.\\n\\xa0\\nRachael begins by sharing her somewhat unique introduction to volleyball, the rapid progress she made, and how her parents\\u2019 approach to her career has helped her immensely throughout. She then discusses her experience with recruitment, college, getting to the Olympic squad, and playing professionally overseas. Rachael then finishes up by detailing her return to playing since her surgery, the sense of inner trust and determination which has helped her through it, her definition of success, and the website that she has created to offer support and inspiration to other athletes. A model of\\xa0 authenticity, Rachael Adams is a true champion in life as well as sport, and we are all truly blessed to be able to soak up the words of wisdom and inspiration which she shares here today.

Episode Highlights:\\n\\xa0

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• How Rachael found volleyball
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• Her rapid progress in the sport
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• Rachael\\u2019s parents and their approach to her career
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• Her recruiting process
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• Rachael\\u2019s college experience
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• The process of getting to the Olympic volleyball squad in the past and for Tokyo
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• Making the 2016 Olympic squad
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• Maintaining her mindset
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• How the pandemic and the Tokyo postponement have affected Rachael
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• Transitioning from college to professional volleyball
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• Rachael\\u2019s experience playing overseas
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• Her favorite country to play in
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• Coming back after surgery
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• Rachael\\u2019s inner trust and inner determination
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• Her definition of success at this point in her career
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• Rachael\\u2019s most memorable tournament
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• journeystrength.com
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Quotes:\\n\\xa0

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• \\u201cThank you for being such a great social media person.\\u201d
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• \\u201cWhy have the crazy journey if you aren\\u2019t going to share and inspire others along the way, you know?\\u201d
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• \\u201cI became addicted to that learning process\\u2026my Dad always told me to be a sponge, and that\\u2019s what I became.\\u201d
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• \\u201cIt\\u2019s been a kind of a crazy long journey, but I\\u2019ve learned a lot about myself through so many ups and downs.\\u201d
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• \\u201cI still feel like there\\u2019s so much left to learn.\\u201d
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• \\u201cSo much a part of my career was self-driven.\\u201d
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• \\u201cThey let me fail, they let me succeed, and didn\\u2019t try to sugarcoat everything.\\u201d
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• \\u201cWould I want to go to this college even if there was no volleyball?\\u201d
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• \\u201cYou see more experienced players, more older players, more seasoned players, making Olympic squads than, like, younger players.\\u201d
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• \\u201cAll you can do is, like, be your best, show up, put your best skills in front, be a good teammate, and hope that the body of work that you\\u2019re building is what the coaches want for the team.\\u201d
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• \\u201cIt\\u2019s so much out of your control.\\u201d
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• \\u201cI\\u2019m literally just focusing on, like, one day at a time, one rep at a time, one accomplishment at a time, one practice, and just building little things from there.\\u201d
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• \\u201cYou think you know everything, but you don\\u2019t, and you\\u2019re just very humbled.\\u201d
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• \\u201cYou can\\u2019t be mindless in a foreign country.\\u201d
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• \\u201cThe lonely grind\\u2026that\\u2019s what I\\u2019m in right now.\\u201d
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• \\u201cI totally feel you on so many levels.\\u201d
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• \\u201cIt kind of feels like a little bit of your mission is to make sure other people know that they\\u2019re more than they might think they are.\\u201d
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Links:\\nThe Pursuit of Gold homepage\\n5 Smart Strategies to Confidence\\nConquer Your Fear in 5 Days\\nLaura\\u2019s Social Media:\\nInstagram: \\xa0 Laura\'s Instagram\\nFacebook: \\xa0 Laura\'s Facebook page\\n\\xa0\\nConnect with Rachael:\\xa0\\njourneystrength homepage\\nRachael\'s Instagram\\njourneystrength\'s Instagram