Brooklyn Baltzell, one of the softball team leaders at Warren Central, is consistently doing her best for herself and the team to accomplish the most that they can. Baltzell benefits the team in a few different ways such as encouraging, being a positive role model, and making sure her teammates are in the right mindset.
“I help my team by making sure everyone is comfortable and pushed hard enough to see their potential. I help them with anything they may be confused with,” Baltzell said.
Baltzell influences her teammates to have good energy and uplift each other so they can all do their best.
“I keep my teammates motivated by staying positive, being loud, and being encouraging,” Baltzell said.
Before every game, Baltzell gets a plan set in motion. She also gets her mind in the right place and her body fit by listening to her music and exercising before the game.
”To get in my focused state before a game, I listen to music and think of my game plan. My game plan before going into a game is to take my time during stretches, study the team, and stay out of my head,” Baltzell said.
One of Baltzell’s accomplishments was when she had a big moment at one of her games last year against Lawrence Central. She was also able to meet other big goals and accomplishments for herself, like being rewarded for being one of the standout athletes and acknowledged by many.
“A major highlight of mine was the LC game last year where I hit a home run with a big crowd. Some achievements I had last year were getting athlete of the month, making the all-county team, and getting recognized for a chance to win athlete of the week on IndyStar,” Baltzell said.
Improvements Baltzell has through the past season were her mannerisms and her team leader role. An improvement she is working more on is her team leader role even though she does well she still wants to be better.
“Something I have improved on is my body language. One skill I would choose to improve on is my leadership. I chose leadership because I can easily always improve on that. There’s always something new I could learn,” Baltzell said.
Baltzell’s goals that she has personally set are that she wants more runs than she had the following year, as well as to get better physically. Her team goals are being a better team player and getting more structured with the leadership role.
“My goals for myself would be to hit more home runs than I did last year, increase my agility, and increase my strength. A goal I have for the team is to be a stronger leader and aid in leading my team to more victories this season,” Baltzell said.
As far as end-of-the-season team goals that Baltzell has, she wants the seniors on the team to stand out more. She is planning on getting this done by having the seniors on their team have a good rest of the season and do their very best.
“At the end of the season, I look forward to recognizing our seniors, getting seen more from different colleges, and all my goals getting accomplished. I’m going to make this all happen by getting our seniors to enjoy their season, email and talk to the different coaches as much as possible, and put in that work by myself to show it off on the field,” Baltzell said.