EP 15 | When Life Pitches Curveballs with Hall-of-Famer Cindy Bristow
Written by Tracy Spears on November 22, 2022
This is a special episode of Shift Out Loud because my guest is someone who has inspired me to think and play bigger throughout my life — and has done the same for countless women around the world.
To say that Cindy Bristow has been a game-changer for the sport of softball would be an understatement. Among other career accomplishments, she’s coached multiple college teams and served as the President of the National Softball Coaches Association, Director of National Teams and Coaching Development for USA Softball, and Director of Development for the International Softball Federation, the world governing body for the sport. She’s played for the Santa Ana Lionettes, serves as a color analyst for ESPN’s college softball coverage, and has written books and produced videos teaching others how to excel at the sport that she loves.
Cindy has been a trailblazer for her sport, carving her own professional path and reshaping how softball is coached and played worldwide. In this conversation, we dig into a few of the amazing shifts and stories she’s experienced throughout her historic career — you won’t want to miss it!
Ready to play bigger? Listen now to discover:
- How she landed her role as the National Director of Junior Olympic Softball for the Amateur Softball Association (ASA) — a position that hadn’t previously existed
- The value of undergoing shifts that pull you back down to the novice level
- The training, lifestyle, and mindset shifts that set this generation of athletes apart
Guest bio: Cindy Bristow has been involved in virtually every facet of softball throughout her 30+ year career, as a player, coach, leader, and educator. She’s been inducted into the National Fastpitch Coaches Association Hall of Fame and travels the world to help increase the level of coaching and play on a global level.
Timestamps:
01:28 Intro
03:09 Meet Cindy Bristow
04:41 Goal-setting
07:03 The ASA shift
08:42 Public speaking story
14:06 Speaking & teaching tips
16:30 World Series story
19:04 The Olympic shift
23:03 Mother & travel stories
30:53 Monetizing as a creative & shifting as a novice
36:42 Regrets & superpowers
40:57 Modern athletes
49:29 What’s next
52:04 Looking back
Links:
Cindy Bristow
https://www.softballexcellence.com
