The Athletes Podcast
The Athletes Podcast is a leading source of information, inspiration, and education for anyone interested in optimizing physical performance, maintaining good health, and living an active lifestyle. Join David Stark as he interviews some of the world's biggest athletes and fitness professionals, The Athletes Podcast provides practical advice, expert insights, and real-world strategies to help listeners achieve their health and fitness goals.The goal is to entertain, educate & inspire the next generation of athletes!
The Athletes Podcast
Balancing Baseball and Firefighting: The Inspiring Journey of Alli Schroder
Ever wondered what it takes to be both a top-level athlete and a wildland firefighter? Meet Alli Schroder, a powerhouse who has achieved the extraordinary by balancing her dual careers on the baseball field and in firefighting. From her unforgettable moment on the mound at the Women's Baseball World Cup at just 16 to breaking new ground as the first female in the Canadian College Baseball League, Alli's story is nothing short of inspiring. Discover her journey through college baseball at Vancouver Island University and her influential role in the See Her, Be Her campaign. This episode promises to leave you motivated by her dedication and achievements.
Join us as we explore the high-stress life of a wildland firefighter and how it has shaped Alli's mental toughness, both on and off the field. Hear first-hand about the camaraderie and challenges she faces, the impact of family support, and even the innovative use of VR training for first responders. We also touch on her aspirations in environmental science and the enduring hope of Toronto Blue Jays fans. Alli's story is a testament to resilience and passion, making a real-life impact through her multifaceted career. Don't miss this chance to be inspired by an exceptional athlete and public servant!
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Hey, what's up? Welcome back to the 236th episode of the Athletes Podcast. Today we feature the incredible Allie Schroeder, a Team Canada baseball player. She's currently playing in the WBSC Championship as we speak with Team Canada. She's also a wildland firefighter. We get into some of the accolades that Allie has received over the years, but we're now also proud to call her a Cooks Dark Management athlete.
Speaker 1:She's someone who has also been selected to be a part of the See Her, be Her campaign by Grassroots Baseball, a groundbreaking documentary that follows the lives of seven women's baseball players from around the world at the top of their game, forging a path forward for future generations of girls in baseball. So make sure you tune in to the premiere on MLB Network this fall between games two and three of the 2024 MLB World Series. So now that you guys know Allie's kind of a big deal getting featured on the MLB Network, now you know it's kind of a big deal that we're featuring her on the Athletes Podcast, and she's also someone who's contributing to the greater good of society with what she does during her quote unquote day job, fighting fires out in the wild. Someone who probably embodies the athlete on the court, off the court as best possible and someone who I'm just glad you guys get to listen to for 30 minutes here minutes here as Ali fights for bronze tomorrow during this WBSC game. We have to highlight the fact that she's probably consumed a ton of protein over her past couple weeks as she's been competing. And it wouldn't be Canadian of me if I didn't bring up the fact that Canadian Maple from Perfect Sports is back in stock and you folks need to try it out as the Olympics are on.
Speaker 1:As I'm wearing my Roberto Luongo 2010 Olympic Games jersey, you guys gotta make sure you're getting stocked up on Canadian maple protein putting in your orders, whether that's for pre-workout creatine, glutamine protein or any of your perfect sports supplements needs. Use the code AP20, save 20%. I promise you will both save money and perform better. And, by the way, we got to give a little shout out to Isofit. You guys see it here in the corner. It was also featured on the world's biggest stage during the Olympic Games, with a big guy by the name of Victor Wembignana using them. And yeah, isofit, check them out. Use the code AP25 to save 25% on your own Isofit Without further ado let's get to episode 236, featuring Ali Schroeder.
Speaker 2:Here we go. So what was it like making your debut in the NHL? What is your biggest piece of advice for the next generation of athletes, from underdogs to national champions?
Speaker 3:this is the.
Speaker 2:Athletes Podcast, where high-performance individuals share their triumphs, defeats and life lessons to educate, entertain and inspire the next generation of athletes. Here we go.
Speaker 1:And this is going to be 235 episodes. Allie, can you believe that? That's crazy. I know it's a long time. I didn't think we would be getting to this point, but here we are. Here We'll be in August by the time this releases. You'll be traveling for the WBSC. You want to tell everyone who the heck you are, how you're maybe arguably one of the best athlete white collar, blue collar athlete out there, especially on the West Coast here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, my name's Ali Schroeder. I'm 22 and I grew up in the Kootenays in BC. I work for the BC Wildfire Service as a wildland firefighter and I'm entering my eighth year with the team.
Speaker 1:Canada women's national baseball team eight years, no big deal, hey three years longer than we've been doing this podcast holy china um, we have had you requested a couple different times to be featured on the show, the first being by Mike Berard. I don't know if you remember the name uh, but he reached out.
Speaker 1:He's like man, you got to talk to this gal. She's incredible. And then when I brought you up to caitlin ross and madison will and they both were like, yeah, you should chat with her, both from the athletes podcast perspective as well as cook, stark management and what we got going on over there. So obviously, uh, you've been highly requested. You had a goal at the age of 12 years old to play college ball. You were the first female to do so in the Canadian College Baseball League that I might be butchering the name of, but either way, first off, congratulations on that. How did that feel? That was a couple years ago now to get that honor, but yeah, that was huge.
Speaker 3:I mean to get that honor, but yeah, that was huge. I mean I had I've always wanted to play college baseball, um, and I've always wanted to do it at a place that like fit everything for me education and athletics, um and getting the opportunity to do that was pretty sweet, and we're seeing more girls in the ccbc now since I signed, so that's huge and that's always the goal yeah, and you went to a school that both my mom and brother went to, so there's a little personal connection, I know.
Speaker 1:You know we got to make sure we showed out VIU the Mariners, Obviously. What was that like playing with the boys? I know you've been doing it your whole life, but you get to the collegiate level it's a little bit of a different game, I'm sure.
Speaker 3:Totally yeah. And I mean, yeah, I've been doing it my whole life, but I'm also it's small town around here, so, like I've known the group of boys my whole life. So going to college is like completely new group of people that I've never met before and I wasn't sure how it would be received. But like fortunately in my first year, I had a couple of really solid relief outings that contributed to the team and after that it was like these guys were some of my best friends and always a good time to be around the, uh, the, the opposing teams.
Speaker 1:There must be some stories. I know you grew up in fruitvale. If you said you grew up, you know playing with the same group of guys. Uh, probably heard the same kind of chirps from them. When you start traveling around the Pacific Northwest and you start striking out guys across Canada, north America, I'm sure you develop a reputation. There's maybe some frustrated teenagers or early adults there that don't know how to handle the situation. Any maybe positives and negatives that came from that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I think I think it was again things I dealt with my whole life and it was a little bit tamer at the college level because, like you said, the guys are mostly young adults like, and they're just riding out their college careers there, so I think that they're actually quite respectful. Um, and I didn't really feel much backlash in the CCBC, which was good, definitely earlier on in my career, but throughout the ccbc I had like really solid team backing me. There was a lot of other people in the league that were supporting me on other teams too and what I was doing, so I was fortunate to have that I.
Speaker 1:I threw on the atlanta braves, uh, greg maddox jersey for you here. Uh, just given that you know we got a shout out great pitchers you being one, one, maddox being another who were some of the athletes that you grew up idolizing, watching, being inspired by. Did you always want to be a pitcher?
Speaker 3:No, and I don't think I never didn't want to be a pitcher, but like it was just the type of thing where you're on a small town team and you need to play the field and you need to pitch. Like that, there's no option, we need arms. And the field and you need to pitch. Like that, there's no option, we need arms. Um, and so I was just kind of doing both most of my career and then by the time I was like getting to the level where boys were choosing hockey or baseball and they were getting a little bit better, I was like, okay, I gotta play to my strengths here. And that's when I kind of gravitated more towards pitching because I was seeing more success there. But growing up in trail, I really like jason bay and lauren bay.
Speaker 3:Um, those are two role models of mine for sure, um, and then, as I got a little bit older, mike soroka, of course was somebody I really looked up to yeah, I think as a majority just like looked up to a lot of canadian players that were kind of took a similar path that I did, like growing up in a small town and paving their own way- heck yeah, mike sirocca, a friend of the show from carly heffernan, we're working on getting him on.
Speaker 1:Still, we almost had him on. We were down in florida last, last year. But uh, I'm I'm always curious, kind of coming from castlegar, where you're calling in from today, you're fighting fires at the same time as you're competing at the international level.
Speaker 3:Uh, preparation, I feel like mentally, physically, you are primed probably better than most, given what you have to face for 14 days straight during your quote-unquote work day yeah, I think more or less like mentally, absolutely like I come off a 14-day shift and now it's like sweet, I gotta go play the sport I love and be with my team again, and so it's kind of like easing back into a little bit of a like more of a low stress pocket of my life when I get to go and play.
Speaker 3:Um, physically, there's definitely highs and lows. I I would say, like you know, wildland firefighters are, they have to be in like incredibly cardio, like fit, all the time. But the other end of that is that you're sucking in like a lot of smoke and ash and dirt and you're like just beating your body up the whole time, so kind of as I get older, like I say that I'm 22, but like it's kind of more like finding the happy medium and it's been really good for like growth standpoint, where I'm like, okay, I can't go to the gym every day and lift extremely heavy. I need to actually do some rehab here and like make sure that I'm prepping myself in that way so that I'm prepared to go play and be healthy, as opposed to like being the strongest player yeah, and what are you doing from the rehab standpoint?
Speaker 1:I also see you're wearing a Braves jersey, so we got yeah.
Speaker 3:Braves is my favorite team, yeah yeah, how do?
Speaker 3:I know yeah, sorry, recovery, I digress um, I mean thankful, working 14 days straight and then like two days off.
Speaker 3:There's not much recovery, that goes on like your recovery is sleeping, and at that we work anywhere from 12 to 16 hour days. Um, now, as we're seeing BC to heat up, it's more like 14 to 16 hour days. So it's kind of like just taking a lacrosse ball at the end of the day in fire camp and like really forcing yourself to roll out a little bit, get a bit of a stretch in and then, on the opposite side of that, when you start your next shift, make sure that you do a little bit of movement before you start the shift. But obviously, again, it's like first response, so that's not available all the time and if you got to go, you got to go. So I really focus on my off days more so, um, realizing that I'm maybe not in a place where I should be going to the gym and working out as an athlete like I usually would, but I should be going to the gym riding the bike for a little bit and then stretching and working out any kinks that I have from the last deployment.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for those of you listening or watching who haven't seen the TSN High Heat documentary it's about six minutes in length. Highly recommend watching it. Ali is featured. Uh, what it was filmed a couple years ago. It seemed like some of the footage they've been they've been documenting for a while.
Speaker 3:Hey, you're used to the camera, lights, action yeah, tsn reached out to me in 2021, I think, and, um, I wasn't really sure about it at first, and then it became more legit and they were like we want we're doing this series on athletes and like you're all gonna get your own like documentary little docu-series, um, and we want to follow you around on the fire line.
Speaker 3:And I was like okay, sounds good. And so they came out in 2021 again another huge fire season for BC. Um, and because of security reasons, I basically just wore a GoPro and that type of thing and they got some footage of me fighting fire. And then they came out to Kelowna for my CCBC debut, which went really well, thankfully, and filmed there. And then after that they dropped the documentary and it was, yeah, it was pretty huge for me, it was pretty exciting, kind of like got to tell my story a little bit and had a lot of people reaching out to me afterwards saying like you kind of made them realize they don't need to pick between sport and their job, and I don't think that anybody should have to.
Speaker 1:So that was pretty sweet. Brings up a fun topic Picking between sports jobs, having to decide what sport you're playing growing up. It's something that I try and maybe highlight almost too much is the fact that people should try and do everything that they possibly can, but you are the perfect person to be able to say that and echo that, Allie Schroeder.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I was fortunate that I didn't play hockey or anything like that. I was riding dirt bikes and doing more small-town redneck things and then playing baseball. So I didn't have to pick between sports. But definitely as I got older and I started kind of paralleling firefighting and baseball, I was kind of like I don't know if it's going to work Like fire season's long. Baseball season is the same season as fire season. I definitely have sacrificed quite a few things, like my two seasons with the VIU Mariners. I wasn't really present or able to make it for the end of the regular season and then the Canadian College World series, um, which was tough, but it's kind of like you'll. You'll make sacrifices here and there for it, but you can absolutely do both like sports wise or career wise.
Speaker 1:What's been that most memorable moment? We just you and I both just witnessed kind of uh the women's baseball world cup finals. Larissa Franklin jacked a home run to win the bronze medal there. Um well, what's been kind of that pivotal moment. I know at 16 years old you were trusted on the mound there, uh, to pitch, and you have stated that that kind of gave you the confidence to go into any situation yeah, I would that.
Speaker 3:That was a huge moment in my career, obviously. Um, I think I was one of the youngest people at that tournament. I think it was the youngest person. Yeah, that was a huge moment in my career, obviously I was one of the youngest people at that tournament. I think I was the youngest person at that tournament actually, and being able to close the door in that game was huge. I remember our pitching coach sending me to the bullpen and then I remember the last pitch and that was it, and then I was running towards Caitlin Ross. So that was it. But I have a few other moments, like playing summer ball down in the States, that really stick with me. Honestly, very general memories Like Just like super hot summer day, playing baseball, small town America. Like country music, playing big crowd, ballpark food, like those kind of atmospheres are the ones that, like have kept me in the game and made me love the sport, just that much.
Speaker 1:So I spent my summer between first and second year uni at the Corvallis Knights in the West Coast League.
Speaker 3:OK, yeah.
Speaker 1:I was referred to as the canadian that entire summer, and baseball culture in the states is something different between the cape cod league west coast league like summer ball. There's something about it, eh yeah, there is.
Speaker 3:Yeah, honestly like I have some really incredible memories with um, the women's national team, and it's definitely like shaped my career and shaped me as a person. But certainly playing like summer ball through my teen years in small town America is like one of the greatest memories that I have from the sport.
Speaker 1:So you mentioned Caitlin Ross. Claire Ackles is someone who I grew up with here in the lower mainland. So sorry, madison Willen. Obviously you guys just recently got named to Team Canada here. What does it mean? Throwing on that maple leaf and being able to represent your country, and then days after to your point before we started recording you go back and you're in firefighting again, where you're really also representing your country?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think I have a pretty special contrast with that. Like it's so much pride putting on the Canada Jersey I'll always say that I think it's the best country in the world. Like we're so fortunate to live in Canada, um, and I think it's just it's it's once in a lifetime experience to be able to suit up for Canada and then coming up here, be able to represent Canada on home soil is going to be huge. Um, and then coming back, yeah, it's, it's like um, my crew mainly services British Columbia. We get the opportunity to move around Canada sometimes, but like being able to honestly be making a real life change and like helping people in that way is huge for me as well. Just knowing that you're like, yeah, essentially we do like serve Canada and BC. Um, with the wildfire crews, and I think that like having that contrast to being able to play and then actually make a difference is huge for me yeah, and you're also trying to make a difference with your environmental sciences degree.
Speaker 3:Throw that into the mix, because you weren't doing between academics and your professional work already right yeah, yeah, I uh I'm working through diploma in resource management officer technology right now. So basically, uh like to give it a title environmental law enforcement. Um, so I mean that's the goal is that I end up as a game warden or a conservation officer somewhere in Canada and be able to serve Canada in that way as well. Um, but we'll see. Wildfire has me in a bit of a choke hold right now, so I don't know if I'll be leaving.
Speaker 1:But having that to fall back on, all I can imagine is somewhere in northern British Columbia or Ontario roaming around some young kids up to no good and instead of you pulling out your gun or taser as a fire or a warden, you're just hucking a baseball at them and pegging them because you have that ability and you got the heat. I I can just see it now be like there would be TSN stories written about ali and the fact that he's eliminated all the use of unnecessary uh weapons in the role and resulted in back to uh to play in sport with kids, and I think it could have I don't know. I've my wheels get turning because we got connected for a variety of reasons, obviously with my day job and what I do with expert vr and how we do firefighter training.
Speaker 1:There's obviously some overlap. I've been seeing pilots and how we do firefighter training. There's obviously some overlap. I've been seeing pilots and professional athletes use VR training for decades. My dad was a firefighter for 28 years and to me, it makes sense for us to now be equipping first responders with the same type of technology that these pilots and professional athletes have been provided for decades, because we ask you guys to perform like pros but, we give you one-tenth of the resources right yeah, absolutely and essentially.
Speaker 3:I think that that, like expert vr, could be a huge resource for us in terms of um. There's a lot of schism like critical incident stress management in wildfire and being used as a resource to see, like after somebody goes through SISM, if they're prepared to return to work or not, before actually throwing them into the situation, because we don't have that resource right now. So, essentially, you go through a critical incident on the fire line and then it's like hey, are you okay? Yeah, I'm good, go back in, type thing, but there's no way to really assess that. So I think that can be huge.
Speaker 1:So many different applications. This is the athletes podcast, so I want to keep it to athletes oriented. But there is like to your point, like everyone's an athlete right. And you need to be equipped with the best possible solutions, and that's also includes adopting new technology. I'm'm curious what have you seen as far as technology adopted? Do you use stuff like norma techs? Are you using any recovery modalities like sauna, ice bath? Do you do fun stuff? I feel like you. You're probably soaking in a sauna for 14 to 16 hours a day yes.
Speaker 3:So I mean I kind of like I'm very detached from any city centers, like yeah, um, we're not north but in the boonies for sure, and so kind of. Growing up I was like my dad was setting up like a shop light in my garage and I was swinging a bat in negative 20 just to get some reps in, and same with throwing um, and that's kind of like the background that I came from, and then like working out outside when I can, because there was no gym in the town I grew up in. So Fruitvale.
Speaker 3:Fruitvale yeah no gym in Fruitvale no gym, no, you're literally like throwing hay bales and push-ups and yeah, like my dad gave me a pull-up bar, like built a pull-up bar in our garage and that's that's kind of what I rolled with um, so I've really carried that honestly with me into my like training now and stuff and just keeping everything like. Yeah, I don't really use much technology at all. I can say that I bought a uh stock tank like for cattle this year for ice pass. It was on that train all off season, which has been huge. But yes, generally it's just like going down to the river or the lake and jumping in in the winter is kind of the way to do it around here. But I've definitely stayed away from the technology and maybe not by choice, maybe like by, but for me it's working. My career, yeah.
Speaker 1:For those of you who don't know, one of the world's strongest men, mitchell Hooper, uses diesel protein powder every single day and he's taking up to six scoops per day. I don't know if I recommend that for you, but for someone who's lifting up nearly a thousand plus pounds per day on a regular basis, uh, you need an extra couple scoops of protein. And for those of you who struggle to get those extra couple grams in throughout your day maybe you're only hitting a hundred when you need to hit 150 grams consider using a couple scoops of Diesel Whey isolate protein. It's the best on the market. It is 100% informed choice, regularly tested for banned substances, and it's something that you can trust giving to your athletes, young adults, kids, anyone who's trying to put on a little bit of lean mass consider using diesel sports code ap20 for 20 off. Let's get back to the episode that's hey, don't fix what's not broken uh you're like one of six or eight on an MLB list no big deal.
Speaker 1:Speaking of technology and stuff that you've probably never used this cool company I don't know if you noticed we featured them a couple of weeks ago on the show. It's called Apex Cool Labs and they're actually working with fire departments as well, which is why I bring this up. But it's basically a fun heberman lab podcast around the glabrous uh tissue that we have on our hands and I'm probably saying the word wrong, but essentially uh, it helps cool your blood. So you've been using it for fire departments post event so that they can cool and regulate their body temperatures afterwards. But for athletes like, for instance, zach hyman was using this during the stanley cup finals in between periods and they actually recommend that you use it even, like in between shifts, for instance. So you guys would go in structure fire. You go in for 5, 10, 15 minutes in between where you're resetting your canister, go back, reset like it's an one. I was using them at the gym yesterday. I took it easy it's first time back in like a month after doing that big tour thing.
Speaker 1:But, I don't know. I like to try new things and stuff. You got to try it out and for you, I think this is going to be really crazy over the next couple of years as you get exposed to all these new modalities, because you've just been doing this to your point on with nothing yeah, yeah, pretty much with nothing.
Speaker 3:I mean, like I said, I like no complaints at all and I'm very grateful for the way that I like had to grow up in my career, um, kind of, yeah, making work with what I had definitely like definitely helped me as I moved into firefighting, like work ethic was a huge thing, so I'm grateful for that yeah, and the firefighting pays better than baseball, I'm assuming uh, yeah, it does we need to fix that yeah, yeah, not that wildland firefighters are paid what they should be, but no, but I feel like that brings up a good point, because you know, athletes, female especially, are not paid what they should be.
Speaker 1:And then you get into that. The wildland firefighting first responders in general probably aren't paid what they should be. How are we going to fix that, allie?
Speaker 3:I think that having people like myself and then like Kelsey Whitmore and Ayami Sato from other countries, um, to keep like propelling women's baseball in the right direction. I think that having the national teams is obviously huge. Like like in any sport, I think playing for a national team should be the ultimate goal because, um, it's such a pride thing as well. But certainly I think that we have the elevation now to build off the PWHL and the WNBA and kind of propel women's baseball in that direction as well, whether that looks like overseas or here in North America. But I think that having more and more people playing college baseball and pushing the like, breaking down barriers of men's baseball, is just going to help us build that league.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you have the World Baseball and Softball Confederation where you're heading in a couple days, correct? And I'm curious where's been kind of that favorite place that this sport has taken you? It's taken you all around the world. I know you've got a pretty beautiful place to play in You're in Castlegar, which could be worse than the community a pretty beautiful place to play in you're in castelgar could be worse than the.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I've had some pretty incredible opportunities with the national team um. I went to australia a couple years ago for a showcase there. I think that was one of the craziest experiences because it's so far away, um. But I definitely distinctly remember three id camps I went to in Cuba when I was 13, 14 and 15. And honestly, I being able to travel to Cuba but also being able to experience um like a different country and recognize how lucky we are in Canada was huge for, like my maturity and growth as a person as well. So I think that was one of the most incredible baseball experiences. Like South America, baseball is a whole different ball game and it's it's incredible for anybody to experience that loves baseball. But also having that experience as a person as well was huge yeah, I would love to experience something like that.
Speaker 1:I went down to turks and cacos, probably five, six years ago now, and we were teaching the sport of rugby and I actually never played rugby. But but you know these events for experiential coordination and it's amazing the impact that sport has and we talked about this probably every week on this show. But for you, I feel like there's got to be those pivotal moments, like at 13, 14, 15, traveling down to Cuba. Were there individuals that had that impact at a young age? Was it your parents growing up that were inspiring you?
Speaker 3:um, I like absolutely my parents motivated me and inspired me, but both non-sport people, um, forestry people, so not not close to sport at all. Um, and neither of them were growing up. So I mean, I definitely recognize people in my life, like my little league coaches, um, that made the baseball park somewhere that I wanted to be and that I wanted to go because, I mean, when you're young there's like if things stick with you, like if, like, I hated going to the soccer field from a young age and so they're like, okay, we're not doing that anymore. Um, but definitely distinctly remembering the baseball park being somewhere every like every week when I was off school, oh yeah, practice, and I wanted to go. Like it was it was never a fight or anything I always wanted to go do nerves ever become a factor for you on the baseball field?
Speaker 1:because I feel like you face the worst possible nerves.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um when I was younger, like certainly my first few years on the national team, like 15, 16, 17 my mental game was not good at all. Like little things infuriated me and like one error game was gone, like uh, there was no coming back, like I just couldn't pull myself out of that hole. Um, but when I started firefighting it really put things into perspective for me and honestly now, like I said, like I'll come off a shift and literally the next day I go to an event, like I'm doing right now. So it's kind of taking a step down stress wise, being able to play baseball and absolutely I feel nerves and I like have a have a low level of stress to the amount that an athlete should, but it's nowhere near like it is fighting fire. So I kind of get on the mound and you know, I walk one person and it is what it is. That's not the worst situation I've been in this week.
Speaker 1:So you realize at the end of the day it's just a game and that life goes on and you're not losing your home.
Speaker 3:You're not losing your life, you're not losing your life, exactly, yeah, yeah, that's the thing is that recognizing that it is a game, um, and then recognizing the positives like I'm super fortunate to be able to put on the canada jersey this morning, um, and I'm super fortunate that my parents are here to watch, type things so those those little things definitely make baseball a lower stress environment for me these days keeps things in perspective for sure.
Speaker 1:Uh, what? What does your training look like when you do have the ability to to train on? I guess your two off days or just getting your roles in? Like, are you doing a lot of rotational work? Are you doing isometrics, plyometrics, weights, when you can?
Speaker 3:yeah, um, these days like, uh, outside of wildfire season, um, I definitely I have the sport lab in nelson which I train at now, which is like pretty sweet, um I saw they give you a shout out on instagram.
Speaker 1:Actually, that's why, yeah probably yeah, the celebrity in town oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So there they've been. It's ran by um, a really good friend of mine that used to fight fire for the same crew I'm on. So having that connection where it's like he understands where I'm at and what I need, as both an athlete but also like recovery wise from firefighting, has been really huge. I try and work out like four or five times a week, um, and then, yeah, recovery has been really huge for me these days, like knees and shoulders and like your back go really fast in wildland firefighting and I'm already feeling my knees, um, and so like cold water therapy has been really huge for me.
Speaker 3:Um, and then, in terms of like actual baseball stuff, it's kind of still, um, living in a small town and working with what I have, so tea work, um, can't pitch to my dad anymore, that's for sure, so kind of like throwing into a net or throwing into a fence a lot of the time is what I have and just go and get the ball and get your reps in type thing. Um, but yeah, like I said, like that type of training shapes you as a player and as a person, so I'm good with it uh, do you follow those, coach Nick?
Speaker 1:There's a couple of coaches on Instagram that do like the baseball training and they mock kind of how they're. You know the guys that I'm talking about. Yeah, I do. Yeah, and there's one that reenacts like being the coach. He's kind of like the coach chippy of hockey, but for baseball.
Speaker 1:Yeah the coach chippy of hockey, but for baseball, yeah, and he does such a phenomenal job because there are things that have gone pretty far in the performance world and sports specific training, and it's pretty hilarious to see some of the social media stuff that goes on.
Speaker 3:And I, coming from an actual baseball player, I'd love to hear what you think of all that yeah, I, it's pretty funny, um, and I would have to agree like see a lot of stuff now that you know drills are like you need like pieces of equipment or something that cost a lot of money or like something like that, and it's just like so like exasperated. Now I feel like, um, and I mean there's like groundbreaking things with technology and everything in baseball now, but I think that going back to the basics and I mean there's some MLB players that are like still like back to the basics, like like get your teamwork in before you hit, and that's that's that type thing, and that's that's kind of what I like to stick to, like just what works for you or for you. Like I said, like I could try technology and like other things, um, and I'm always open to it, but like what's worked for me has worked for me since I was 12, so I'm not gonna change it now yeah, what's going on with our jays?
Speaker 3:I'm not.
Speaker 1:I try not to watch right now I haven't watched it all this year, I'll be honest. It's tough to watch, especially now not living in Toronto full-time. It gives me a justifiable reason to not be an avid fan because they've been struggling.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when the postseason comes around I'll be go Jays, go Canada's team, but right now Do you think they even have a hope at the postseason?
Speaker 1:I don't think they got I don't know.
Speaker 3:Some years they have that kind of odd spurt at the end of the year that pushes them in, but I don't know about this year spoken like a true canadian, more specifically, toronto sports fan uh there's a glimmer of hope around that post-season timeline to be crushed at some point. Exactly.
Speaker 1:It's only a matter of time. Ali, I appreciate you coming on the show sharing a bit of your story, inspiring the next generation, especially of female athletes, showcasing the fact that you can do both. You can live an and not or life, and continue to explore passions, whether that's academically, professionally or athletically. I always like to give people an opportunity to share kind of any tidbits. I know you had an International Women's Day feature. I know you've got a bunch of stuff on the go over the next couple of weeks. Before we wrap up with our biggest piece of advice question, I'd love to just open the floor for you to lead off.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that when I get asked this question, like, the biggest thing that I like to fall back on is that if you have more than one passion in life, pursue it. It's not like it's going to be easy ever, but having a good work, ethic and determination will get you a long ways I love it.
Speaker 1:Um, for brands out there who are looking to work with someone like yourself, what's the best way to get in contact with you? How can you, uh, maybe continue to do the work or maybe fast forward a couple of years? What are some ambitions, things that you want to be doing that maybe people listening to this episode can take part in or support you in your efforts?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I think that, like brands, is definitely something I'm trying to work into in my career coming up. Um, I'm not very reachable during the summer because I'm out of cell service for 14 days at a time, but, um, check email a lot and I think that, like anybody, just like we talk all the time in women's sports that like there's so much strengths in numbers and if you build it, they'll come like if we look at the pwhl this year. So I think that just continuing to women's sports in any ways that you can will help our league here.
Speaker 1:Heck yeah. Thanks for coming on the show, Allie.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 1:Thank you, folks, for tuning into the 236th episode of the show. Allie is an amazing human being, as you probably witnessed over these past 35 minutes, and I hope you follow along her journey as she gets featured in more MLB Network shows, during Grassroots, Baseball's new documentary that's released during the World Series and, you know, as we continue to showcase what she's doing via Cookstark Management via the Athletes Podcast. I'm a big fan of Allie. I'm sure you folks are as well. I hope you have a great rest of your day. Thanks for tuning into the Athletes Podcast. Don't forget about our agreement. This isn't free. We just ask you to subscribe so that we can keep doing this on a weekly basis and keep bringing you the most entertaining, educating and inspiring content on the market Well, at least on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, wherever you're listening. Hope you have a great rest of your day. Talk to you soon. Bye for now.
