Like how a bee is designed to move pollen from plant to plant on the hairs of their legs so that each time it lands, seeds for the next flower can be fertilized to grow. Or when a person is standing so obviously in her or his purpose that they’re just, well, really freakin’ great at what they're doing. Well that’s how I would describe my feeling covering Morgan Stuart’s ‘Groundwork’ clinic last month. I soak in the people I’m around just as much as I document them with photos and after 1/2 a day of listening to her instructing her group of girls, it hit me: an overwhelming “She is just born to do this.” 

As a former Washington Huskies softball alum, 2009 National Champ, co-owner of a clinic that travelled state-by-state for years— taking the highest level of softball training directly to communities around the country, and now the founder of her very own Morgan Stuart clinics like ‘Groundwork’… you can say that she is giving back to the game that built her. Not only that, but through her innovation and entrepreneurial ventures, she’s significantly making a difference for the next ones in line, in her own true-to-story way… for girls just like her.

Morgan was a softball player, but now she coaches and develops youth players. To remind them that she once stood in their shoes, she shares with them what kind of player she was when she was 12-years-old: shy and quiet. She says she was the type to keep to herself and would just put her head down and work. While it’s easy to see that work-ethic has never been something she’s struggled with, you wouldn’t guess her quiet demeanor by the way she demands the field, now. That said, what choice does she have when she has 30+ 8-16 year old’s looking up at her for guidance? They’re looking for answers. Inspiration. Eager to know what she knows, learn the skills she obviously mastered (#mightyarethewomen), and get to live out their highest achievements and memories through the sport they love, too. She’s got purpose pulsing through her veins now. That alone will give you a presence and a voice you can’t shy away from.

While Morgan obviously has a lot to give regarding the sport of softball, what she didn’t do, though, was make this day all about the game. Actually, the message her and her coaches made sure to leave everyone with was: “Ball is not life.” It was an emphasized holistic experience. So as to say: “This. is about. more. than softball.” And in order to make it through, they’d need to learn and be open to much more than the physical side of this game. (We stand behind that wholeheartedly around here.)

It was a day filled with footwork and physical training, yes, but it was also a day of equipping young girls with the tools for mental success and emotional strength. Of equipping them for one of her favorite topics: failure. It was a day of sharing the tools needed not just for becoming an elite level athlete— but the highest level of being a human. Tools like connection with your teammates, tools like being coachable by the ones who came before you- who have wisdom to pass down, and the tools for competing— like believing in yourself and choosing confidence.

I’m always amazed when I see anything or anyone doing exactly what they’re designed to do… 

30+ girls looking up at her, covered in dirt, smiles and sometimes exhaustion, telling her story and giving away her experiences so that the next one in line can win, survive, thrive, too— (hugs and autographs to follow)— this is definitely what Morgan is born to do.

Honored to be in attendance.