A Trip and a Change of Perspective: Adia Polk

TROY, Ala. – For some people, it takes an injury or a loss to change their perspective on the game, but for Adia Polk, it was the length of the Pacific Ocean and some influential friends that reshaped her view of softball.

Coming in as a freshman, players have high hopes on what they will do on the field, but as the saying goes, players go from being a big fish in a little pond to a little fish in a big pond.

"Coming in freshman year, I was really struggling to be on a team with everyone that was the best in their county before here, and now not everyone is the best. Not playing was hard for me, but my friends Grace and Claire did a really good job at showing me that softball is what I do and not who I am."

These two former Trojans, Grace Mirly and Claire Graves took Polk under their wing as she tried to navigate life as a freshman. Through Mirly and Graves, Polk spent a summer at the Summer Beach Project, where she realized that she had a love for missions.

The Snellville, Ga. native combined her love for the game and her love for people into a summer opportunity across the Pacific Ocean.

"I had a love for Christ and a new found love for missions. I was accepted into an internship, where I got to go to Hungary and teach baseball and softball. We ran camps during the summer for little kids: we ran for softball camps for the girls, baseball camps for the older kids, and we even did one camp in a poorer area of Hungary."

After spending last summer on mission, the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee president has returned to Troy with a new perspective on the game heading into her final season with her teammates.

"I came back with a new perspective on softball. I have a new level of gratitude even on the days that I really don't feel like being out there. I realize I get to do this at a great facility while some kids do it in worse conditions because they are just so passionate about the game."

As most Troy Softball fans know No. 18 as the team hype woman who is always wearing the fun hats, screaming to the top of her lungs and dancing to Baby Shark at every mound visit, Polk is excited to own her role for one last season and love on her teammates while she does it.

"Coach Mullins talks all the time about owning your role. I wanted to take my role and be the best at it, so I was did it freshman year and was really just faking it until I made it. I think after my summer at Summer Beach Project and then in Hungary, I really started to enjoy my role. I get to do this, and I get to love people through it.

I love being out there with my teammates. I just love people and want to be with people as much as I can, no matter how it looks. It is my passion. I will look at softball differently in the sense that I have one more year to love on the people here and enjoy it."

Troy University Athletics

A Trip and a Change of Perspective: Adia Polk

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Adia Polk

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