In need of some inspiration as one year ends and a new one begins?
From Olympians to professional soccer players to accomplished coaches to female dirt bike racers, I had the opportunity to interview several inspiring individuals this year.
Here are 12 quotes from those interviews that inspired me. They address everything from faith to overcoming adversity to dreaming big and being more than an athlete.
I hope they inspire you, too.
Self-worth, belief
“You can change the trajectory of someone’s life by believing in them. I believe that because someone did that for me, and that’s really the kind of coach I want to be. I want to stay true to that, and I know performances will come if you build the people,” Diljeet Taylor said.
I first met Diljeet Taylor in October, a few months after she coached former BYU runners Courtney Wayment and Whittni Morgan at the 2024 Paris Olympics and one month before she coached the BYU women’s cross-country team to Big 12 and national championship titles.
We discussed how her unique emphasis on self-belief has made a difference in the lives of her athletes. This is just one of many inspiring quotes that Taylor shared with me.
“Whenever I get to Paris and whenever I line up, regardless of what happens, my worth as my own soul and my own person never changes, and it’s not dependent on my success on or off the track. It’s just dependent on who I am and how I choose to show up,” Courtney Wayment said.
Wayment barely missed out on achieving her Olympic dream at the 2020 Olympics. She finished fourth in the steeplechase final at the U.S. Olympic trials — only the top three advanced.
The former BYU runner was determined to not let history repeat itself this summer. Wayment qualified for the 2024 Olympics and competed in the women’s steeplechase final, finishing as the fastest American woman in the race.
Her story of overcoming adversity and believing in herself and her journey to the Olympics may inspire you to do the same.
Faith
“That’s why I talk a lot about Christlike coaching because ultimately, the greatest coach we all have is God, and he sees us for not where we’re at but the potential of who we can become. It’s the same thing I do with my athletes. I don’t see them for where they’re at but in the potential that they have for who they can become in sport and in life,” Diljeet Taylor said.
In my interview with Taylor, we also discussed her faith and the “huge spiritual side to (her) coaching.”
Taylor coaches at BYU, which is sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but she is not a Latter-day Saint. She grew up practicing the Sikh religion.
She encourages her religious athletes to lean on God just as they lean on their teammates.
“Having the understanding that you yourself are a child of God is enormously important and will change your whole life. But equally as important is having the understanding that every person around you is a child of God, and I think that’s something that has really improved my racing the more that I keep that in consideration,” Sophie Post said.
The two things Sophia “Sophie” Phelps loves talking about most are Jesus and dirt bikes. Faith has played a large role in Phelps’ motocross career, which has included two amateur national titles.
She spoke to me about how being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ has influenced her motocross career.
“I feel like my faith in God just really helps me put things into perspective more, and also, I feel like it frees me a little bit and just knowing that like he’s in control and whatever is supposed to happen will happen,” Ashley Hatch said.
For Ashley Hatch, 2023 was a difficult year. She missed out on a roster spot with the U.S. women’s national soccer team at the FIFA World Cup, and her NWSL club, the Washington Spirit, failed to make the playoffs.
I spoke with Hatch at the beginning of the 2024 NWSL season to discuss her mindset ahead of the Olympics and how she leans on her faith as a Latter-day Saint in times of adversity.
Dream big
“One thing that I wish somebody would have told me is it’s OK to dream big. If you got a big dream, make it bigger, right? Whatever you want to do in this world, whatever you want to do in life, it is possible,” Hunter Woodhall said.
Hunter Woodhall and his wife, Tara Davis-Woodhall, had a golden summer in Paris at the Olympics and Paralympics.
Davis-Woodhall started it off by winning gold in women’s Olympic long jump. Just a few weeks later, Woodhall followed up his wife’s performance by winning gold in the 400-meter T62 event at the Paralympics.
After the Paralympics, the couple visited Shriners Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, where Woodhall used to be a patient. They shared an inspiring message to the current Shriners patients and their families that may encourage you to dream bigger, too.
“I said, ‘That field belongs to you, and I didn’t have that field that had women playing on it. And I want you to know that whether you’re a player or coach or a doctor, or the manager or the owner, there’s something out there for you. And you have to see that and you have to know that it’s here and I want you to know that I believe that you belong here,’” Brandi Chastain said.
This year marked the 25th anniversary of the U.S. winning the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup — a moment that changed women’s soccer in the U.S. and world.
I spoke with three of the players who were on that team, including Chastain, about the significance of that World Cup and the doors it opened for professional women’s soccer players.
The quote above comes from an interaction Chastain had with a group of young girls this year at a Bay FC game. Chastain is one of the co-founders of the NWSL team.
Overcoming adversity
“I really, really believe that the hardest challenges are what make us great, and I think if we don’t embrace those challenges and we just settle for taking the easy path, I think we’re OK. I really think that if you embrace a challenge, that’s what makes you special,” Haley Batten said.
Haley Batten made history at the 2024 Paris Olympics when she won a silver medal in women’s cross-country mountain biking. It was the highest Olympic finish ever for a U.S. mountain biker.
I caught up with Batten after the Olympics to discuss how she overcame adversity early and what it felt like to go home with a medal.
“There is always light and love around you. Sometimes it’s in the smallest moments, and sometimes it’s in the smallest ways that seem so minute and they seem so minuscule. But those tiny things add up to big things. The more you look for the good and look for the love and look for the light in your life, the more you’ll see it, and the dark days, they do end at some point, and they might ebb and flow. But at some point they will end ... Know that you’re loved. You are loved beyond belief, and love is not reserved,” Courtney Wayment said.
In my interview with Wayment ahead of the Olympics, she also shared her advice for someone in the middle of their own battle with adversity.
Wayment’s story is an example of the good things that can be waiting on the other side of hard times.
“I think knowing that at some point the team is really gonna need me and wanting to be ready for that, that really motivated me, even if I wasn’t seeing minutes at that particular time. I wanted to be ready for whatever was asked of me, and if the team needed me, I wanted to feel confident enough that I could step up and help the team and play like myself and be myself,” Ashley Hatch said.
Near the end of this season, I spoke with Hatch about what had become an unexpected season. She spent a third of the season coming off the bench as a substitute, relegated from her starting role.
While a move like that would have been a blow to most people’s egos, Hatch didn’t waste time moping around feeling sorry for herself or being angry with the coaching staff.
Instead, the former BYU Cougar made sure she was ready for whenever the team would need her again by working hard in training every day.
Her approach worked. Hatch earned her starting spot back on Sept. 7 and never lost it the rest of the season, scoring five goals in the final eight games.
More than an athlete
“Knowing that we’re playing for something so much bigger than us is really insane, and it’s crazy to think out of everybody in our country, that we’re the ones representing for the deaf and hard of hearing individual soccer players,” Sophie Post said.
This summer, two Utahns — Sophie Post and Taegan Frandsen — made history when they played in the U.S. deaf women’s national soccer team’s first game on U.S. soil and in the first-ever U.S. Soccer doubleheader with the senior women’s national team.
Post and Frandsen got to live out their soccer dreams in that game. But it was also an opportunity to be a part of something bigger than soccer as representatives of the deaf community.
“Family over everything ... Step off the field, it’s just a game, it’s your job. But the one thing that remains constant is the family piece, and that’s something I’m probably the most proud of,” Amy Rodriguez said.
Ahead of Mother’s Day, I spoke with then-Utah Royals head coach Amy Rodriguez, sporting director Kelly Cousins, then-team president Michelle Hyncik and forward Michele Vasconcelos about how they balance motherhood with the demands of their soccer careers.
Rodriguez’s quote was one of many reminders that soccer is just a game, but family is everything.