Athlete Spotlight: Jaclyn Pryzbylkowski

Team Conditioning Systems:
Athlete Spotlight: Jaclyn Pryzbylkowski...Shot Maker
Wednesday, August 20, 2003

By Gregory "Graig" White
SJSports Physical Fitness Advisor

There comes a time in the life of every athlete where a decision has to be made, the question that puts you on the road to making that decision is, how good do I want to be? The summer of 2003 was that time for Jaclyn Pryzbylkowski. Jaclyn, after a productive career at Bishop Eustace Prep School, will be moving on to continue her tennis career at the College of New Jersey, and if the way she worked this summer is any indication then I have no worries that she will be able to compete with the best and brightest on the court and in the classroom.

Knowing and working with Jaclyn for the past two years I’ve had the pleasure of watching her evolve as an athlete, she was not the most confident person in the world but you saw that she had the passion to meet the challenge once she started to believe that she was capable of stepping up and getting the job done. The beautiful part about this past summer was that “Pryz” didn’t relegate any of our training sessions to the back burner, she showed up and worked every day she was supposed to and working with an athlete with this much desire makes my job and life so much easier. She is going to college knowing that every single rep we did in the weight room, all the speed and agility work we did will pay off in the long run.

I am a big believer in the mind/body connection; if the mind and body are working as one then positive things are generally going to happen. You must remain positive in the face of adversity in order to have any chance of success, Jaclyn has shown me that she has turned the corner and is starting to see the big picture. Our biggest problem was the Jaclyn used to train out of fear, she thought that if she wasn’t working then she was going to get out worked. I can understand the logic, but believe me it’s faulty. The body needs balance it cannot stay in a constant state of readiness without breaking down at some point. Jaclyn now understands that work as well as play are both important, she actually took some time off to relax and upon her return she realized that she had not lost any of the positive gains we had made. Jaclyn has made me believe that she truly believes in her preparation like she has never before, she now knows that her body will not fail her in a match and as an athlete sometimes that’s all you need to be able to compete at levels you never thought possible.

Photos by Art Redd