ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— “Once you get out of college athletics and into the ‘real world,’ you realize that that experience as a college athlete is about so much more than just the sport itself.”
Since graduating from New Mexico in 2009, Rachel Balkovec has used her experiences as a softball student-athlete to forge her own path, working her way through the ranks as a strength and conditioning coach in the MiLB to a MiLB hitting instructor with the Yankees to now becoming the first female manager in the minors for the New York Yankees’ Class A Tampa Tarpons. Of note, the former Lobo catcher won her managerial debut for the Tarpons on Friday.
Balkovec has been at the center stage of media attention of late, including a recent feature by NCAA After the Game that highlighted her trailblazing path.
The article goes on to share her college experience as a catcher and the struggles that came with performance anxiety, how that switched her life’s path, as well as how she uses her experiences to relate to her players and help them succeed.