Swirling Worlds: EP.11 - Abbey Grace-Venham

Episode 11 of Swirling Worlds:Inside the Mine of a Student-Athlete got off to a rough start, but listeners didn't hear it because it wasn't on the mic. As one of my professors (Dr. Dale Van Cantfort) would say, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong," otherwise known as Murphy's Law. That is precisely what happened with episode 11, which featured a special guest, a double major in senior mass communications and sports communications, and Piedmont University's women's tennis player, Abbey Grace-Venham. After recording the episode in advance with Venham, I decided to take a few days before editing the final cut version and releasing it to the public. Then, Murphy's law happened, and I was forced to rerecord the entire episode again based on Venham's availability. Luckily, we could get back into the studio two days before the episode's release date, which is now uploaded on Spotify and Apple Podcast. 

Abbey Grace-Venham was a great guest, and we covered a lot, including the reasoning behind her coming to Piedmont. "Tennis brought me here for sure," said Venham. "I knew I wanted to play tennis in college, and I knew I wasn't going to make it Division I or Division II, but unlike most, I had no problem playing Division III." Venham tells listeners that she "burnt out" from playing tennis at 15, putting her racket down and saying she'd never play again. "I think piedmont has that perfect mix of fun and competitiveness, which is great for me as an athlete," said Venham. 

Later in the show, I got the chance to ask Abbey what her dream school was as a little girl growing up, and of course, she gave me a typical Georgia answer: The University of Georgia. "I never wanted just to be a student, though; wherever I went, I wanted to be an athlete," said Venham. "I got very realistic with myself and realized there was no shot for me to play there, and I ultimately gave up on it academically." Abbey also goes on to say that Clemson University was another school she had her eye on at a young age, stating that she attended camps there. Everyone knew who she was because she'd always show her Georgia pride by wearing her UGA hat on the Clemson campus. "Nancy Harris, the head women's coach knew me by name," said Venham. "She knew me because at Clemson camp I would always wear a Georgia hat and people would ask why am I wearing that around here."

As an athlete was there a time where you got tired of playing your sport? If so, how did you cope with that and what helped you get back into it, if you did?