Wowwww… it is so surreal being able to be a part of such an amazing movement for athletes of all ages. My name is Kadie Deaton and I am so blessed to be one of many great mentors for Five Star Academy. I'm so happy I met Laken James when I was just a little baby high school recruit and looked up to her, but now here we are a few years later working together.
I don't even know where to start, but I do know I want to share a little positivity or inspiration for all my fellow athletes out there who maybe are in a funk or struggling to find inner peace in the present moment. What all started my love for the concept “stay in the present '' was during the Pandemic, weirdly enough.
When the world was on lockdown we were not allowed to do anything we loved or enjoyed doing on a daily basis. Instead, you had to come up with new ways to play basketball, lift weights, travel, hang out with friends and family, work and also make money. I mean the list goes on and on… All we knew was that the Pandemic started to change our lives faster than we expected.
Maybe it was just me, but I noticed that without the team environment or social interactions, I might have taken the entire D1 college experience for granted. No matter how hard it was (or still is) to balance school, basketball, family and also while trying to squeeze in a social life, we are all truly blessed in the end. I could not wrap my head around the fact that less than 1% of high school athletes get to play college basketball.
When that ended in a blink of an eye, I genuinely didn't know what to do with myself during that lockdown, because I was living in the midwest (Wisconsin) at the time, and it was still cold and kinda rainy/snowy. It was harder to be outside and do workouts. So my amazing older sister one day asked me if I wanted to join her and do some yoga and meditation. She mentioned that yoga and meditation is a way of life, not just a hobby and I was convinced. Ever since I started my journey of yoga and meditation, I became obsessed with the results. It shifted my perspective more positively and raised my energy every morning.
“Stay present” will always be my life mantra because I can apply it to basketball and everything else in life. It allows you to look for the good in all situations and take a life lessons and find new opportunities to grow. It allows you to let go of all the extra overthinking, stress and worry over things you cannot control.
Women's Basketball Player at the University of North Dakota State
So stay present. Enjoy today, and appreciate where you are right now. It might not be where you want to end up but you never know how quickly things can change so don't take any moments for granted, smile, be thankful and stay in the present. There's no better place to be :)