What's Your "Y"
Interview with Kevin Stevens, University of Texas - Rio Grande Valley Baseball
Give us a brief background of how your sport journey has evolved?
Starting my college baseball career I was very injury prone as some would say which limited my playing time for years. I knew I had to change something in my body in 2017 is when I really started my fitness journey, completely changing my body.
2018 I underwent UCL reconstruction or Tommy John surgery and at this moment I went all in for baseball and all in for the weights.
Where do you find more motivation: doubters or supporters?
Doubters push me to a completely different level and it is like adding fuel to the fire for me, it gives me more and more motivation every time.
What is the biggest mental challenge you've had to face in your sport and how have you conquered that?
Tommy John surgery rehab. Looking forward at where I want to be and how I can push myself closer and closer every day to that is what kept me going and continues to.
What do you do to make sure you're physically and mentally prepared for competition?
Monday through Saturday weight lifting and yoga 3 times a week. Baseball practice and conditioning every day of the week.
Describe your recovery strategies. How do you know if those recovery strategies are working?
Recovery wise I focus a lot on mobility and movements, being a pitcher I have to make sure everything is working how it needs to so I can get the most out of my body every start.
Conditioning, yoga, ice baths are all things I still incorporate for recovery.
YOLKED gives me the little extra edge of recovering quicker so I can go out and be at my best every start day.
What's Your "Y"? What keeps you going and training as hard as you do?
I have dreamed of being a professional baseball player since I picked up a bat and ball for the first time. My story has been anything short of defining adversity but I would not trade it for the world.
Proving myself right, believing in myself every day is how I keep myself going.
Where do you see yourself as an athlete in 5 years?
I see myself in an MLB organizations minor league system or even better up at the major league level. Proving myself day in and day out just as I am now.
My work ethic cannot be matched, I'm on my own wave.
Favorite motivational quote.
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of convenience and comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
YOLKED is a new product I added to my recovery process that has really helped me bounce back quicker from starts and also from tough workout days. Being a pitcher we use our entire body day in and day out so we put our bodies under a lot of stress. With YOLKED it allows me to recover and feel rejuvenated quicker to keep my daily work at 100% without any soreness or limited mobility.
