How I Ended Up With The Best Job

This week, a little different type of blog, but one from which we can all learn. We will let Certified Instructor, Alex Maclean, tell you her story.

Eighteen. That’s the number of times I was rejected to graduate schools.

Eighteen dreaded “We regret to inform you letters”. Eighteen times I thought to myself, “I got this! I will get accepted somewhere”. I remember emailing my college adviser notifying her that I did not get accepted and she responded, “You have some wonderful gifts that would benefit children in a variety of ways. Should this not have the outcome you and I are hoping for, you might want to consider what other ways you could share the gifts you do have.”

Then finally, in March of 2014 I received letter number nineteen, a pre-admission to a program that was in the developmental phases. I would be a member of the inaugural class. What a relief, I thought. In 5 months I would head off to graduate school. Later, I found out that the program wouldn’t start fall of 2014, but fall of 2015 due to some hold ups in the accreditation process.

I started another school year working with Colonial Intermediate Unit 20 in the Autistic Support program and in the evenings I gave pitching lessons. Pitching lessons kept me tied to the sport I loved. I enjoyed teaching the girls and helping them grow as athletes and individuals. Soon, 6 lessons a week grew to 10, then 15, then 20 and 25. I started getting more interest from pitchers in the area. Local colleges asked me to work their camps and township leagues invited me to run introductory pitching clinics.

In December of 2014 I reached out to Denny. I had been a long time follower of his blog and thought the testimonials were too good to be true. Denny and I talked for over an hour. He invited me to come check out the Tincher method after Christmas. After the weekend I was hooked and I knew I wanted to be an instructor with the group.

January rolled around and I was giving lessons 5 days a week. Still, I was set on going to graduate school to pursue my dream of becoming a speech therapist. Around the end of January the teacher in the Autistic Support classroom, Dan Rowley, who is a high school basketball coach told me I should really think about becoming a full time coach. I had never considered it before, but the more I thought about it the more it started to seem like a real possibility.

The Tincher Pitching instructor group shared with me their stories of success and I started believing that I could do it. Around that time I stumbled on a quote by Steve Maraboli, “Every time I thought I was being rejected I was actually being re-directed to something better.” The quote couldn’t have been more fitting. I thought about everything that happened over the previous year and a half; eighteen rejections, pre-acceptance to a graduate program that still hadn’t started, Tincher Pitching, my student base growing. I was being redirected to softball. I dug up the email from my college adviser and re-read it “…you might want to consider what other ways you could share the gifts you do have”. Softball was my gift all along I just didn’t realize it.

On February 11, 2015, the day after my 24th birthday, I made the decision to not head off to school, but to pursue coaching. I couldn’t fathom leaving all of the kids I worked with over the past year. I looked up the Steve Maraboli quote again, redirection. I was never being rejected from graduate schools, but constantly redirected to softball. I resigned from my full time job on October 30, 2015 and officially am a full time with my business, 7 Deadly Spins Fastpitch, LLC.

Every night on the way home from lessons I call my boyfriend Rob. He usually asks how things went and I respond, “They were amazing, I love this! I have THE BEST JOB EVER!!!” And really, I do. I get to blend my love of teaching with my love of softball. I help kids reach their dreams. I can’t see myself doing anything but this.

Note: If you are a former college softball pitcher who wants to make a difference in the lives of kids, contact us. The training is extensive and very thorough, the support is complete, you will be part of an amazing research team, and we have assembled a group works together in ways you will love. See why this has become the nation’s premiere Instructor network.