What One Thing Makes Good Athletes Elite? Just Ask Jessica Mendoza

When Jessica Mendoza was called on by Versus (VS) the original mission was for her to educate up-and-coming athletes, coaches and even everyday people about the great sport of softball. Yet the longtime Team USA outfielder and ESPN baseball broadcaster was a little worried about what she would say.

“I remember it was four days of 12-hour shoots, and I thought, “What are we even going to talk about for that long.”

No worries, though. As with everything, Mendoza nailed it.

Mendoza said she goes deep-cut into softball, gathering up a level of information gleaned from her experience in hundreds of practices and games, as well as time in the dugout. Plus, she shares insight into Team USA’s Olympic gold medal win at Athens 2004. In its masterclass series of videos, Mendoza also offers viewers perspective on physical and mental skills, plus secrets about the ins and outs of the game.

“But that was the point—the level of information and in-depth knowledge of not only the game, but my upbringing, and also things like mental health,” Mendoza said via Zoom last week. “Really getting into what makes you an Olympian, or how to go on to being a broadcaster. Questions that (athletes) have been asked, but going 50 times deeper than that.”

In launching a new round of sports-related exclusive video content, VS said that in partnering with elite athletes like Mendoza, Team USA pitching star Jennie Finch and soccer of others, the network aims to provide a platform for “teaching competitive excellence.”

VS began offering Mendoza’s content and coursework on Feb. 1. In addition to focusing on softball’s hard skills, Mendoza also talks about finding a balance between humility and confidence. Versus also offers courses about baseball and a range of other sports topics.

Also on VS’s roster with Mendoza and Finch are former St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher and franchise legend Adam Wainwright, US Soccer stars Kelley O’Hara and Ali Krieger, and three-time Major League Baseball MVP and superstar slugger Albert Pujols.

Last week, I spoke with the two-time Olympic medalist and retired softball superstar at length. I asked Mendoza how much of the traditional “go get ‘em” angle of sports coaching went into her new softball course. Her answer was a little surprising but also refreshing.

“Not so much of that, actually. Success comes through a lot of failure,” Mendoza said. She added that there’s another major part of making it that sometimes gets left out of the story: self-doubt.

“There’s a lot of humility that comes into play. And that constant question of ‘Am I good enough?’ And when that answer is no then it makes you want to work harder and get to that place of greatness.”

Mendoza explained that, in her purview of sports, self-doubt isn’t just something women face in sports. It’s a common experience for all top-flight athletes, and one that forces good athletes to transform themselves.

“Even men I’ve talked to, both while I was playing as a broadcaster interviewing them. Self-doubt is the reigning motivator,” for ultimate success, Mendoza said.

She adds that, whether it’s an up-and-coming NFL star, a sports legend like Michael Jordan or Shaq, “or even me, just trying making it to the Olympics—you crossover a line to get to greatness, and it’s about doing more and more to make sure you are good enough.”

Humble trailblazer with bat and microphone

When I asked Mendoza about the thrill of representing her country in softball, a sport that was brought into the Olympics only in 1996, she mentioned the importance of the team as a unit.

“You win or lose (in the Olympics) as a team. I loved the support that a team gives you, but for me, it was always about how I step to the plate and support them.”

Long before she made the USA Olympic team and won the gold in 2004 followed by a silver medal performance at Beijing 2008, Mendoza was not just the kind of player teammates could rely on, but an outlier.

At Stanford (1999-2002), Mendoza was a four-time First Team All-American, and as a freshman starting player, she broke the Cardinal records for season batting average and RBIs. That year she was named PAC-10 Newcomer of the Year.

When Mendoza was in her third season with Stanford, her hits and fielding helped the Cardinal compete in their first-ever Women’s College World Series appearance in 2001. Although Stanford was ousted that May 27 by the eventual NCAA champion Arizona Wildcats—led by Mendoza’s future USA teammate Jennie Finch—Mendoza had made her mark.

Among her many honors, Mendoza was only the fifth player in NCAA history to be named an All-American softball player four times in a row. She also ended her college career with an impressive .416 batting average and was eventually selected in 2020 as a part of ESPN’s greatest all-time college softball team.

Yet when we spoke, instead of touting her own accolades, Mendoza talked about what she learned.

“What helped me with being a teammate was learning how to work with others. As simple as that sounds, but it’s frickin’ hard. It’s about how do you work to get the most out of each other. Because as a player, I wanted to win.”

After her college career and alongside her time with Team USA, Mendoza played softball professionally after joining National Pro Fastpitch in 2005, as a member of the Arizona Heat. During her time in the league, Mendoza was part of two NPF championship teams and was named 2011 Player of the Year. To this day, Mendoza ranks in the top 10 for career batting average and slugging percentage.

Of course, much of softball’s youngest generation may know Mendoza less from watching her play on the field than from her role as one of baseball’s best-known television voices.

It was not surprising to hear from Mendoza that the same competitive mentality she had as a player—a self-competitive mentality, that is—comes to play in her current broadcast role.

“(Back when) I was up to bat in the big game, at the Olympics, I always had to believe I was good enough. Mendoza says that now she is broadcasting in front of millions of television viewers, she has the same competitive mentality—one that makes her bring her A-game while also continuing to sharpen her saw.

Currently, Mendoza serves as a color commentator and baseball analyst for ESPN’s coverage of Major League Baseball. She also doubles as a voice in the booth for Spectrum SportsNet LA’s Los Angeles Dodgers coverage.

Stoked by sportswomen before her

Mendoza said that while she was always driven at a young age, there were many women she watched growing up that inspired her to shoot for the stars. But who were Mendoza’s idols?

“There were a ton. There was Dot Richardson and Lisa Fernandez just from my sport alone,” Mendoza said, of the two members of the 1996 USA Olympic gold medal-winning team.

“Seeing Fernandez, a Hispanic woman pitching and playing to become probably the best athlete we’d had in our sport, and having a player who looked like me and came from a similar background,” Mendoza said, made her want to play at the same level.

Mendoza also mentioned the fact that Richardson, a shortstop, and Sheila Cornell, a first base player, had their own signature bats with Louisville Slugger and Easton, respectively, which “meant so much” to her and other young softball players who were in high school in the 1990s.

And despite being immersed in softball from an early age, Mendoza said that one athlete outside her own sport drove her to want to become an athlete at Stanford.

“I used to watch a ton of basketball, and I remember watching and being obsessed with Jennifer Azzi when she was at Stanford and won it all,” Mendoza said of the legendary guard who played for Stanford from 1986 to 1990. “I had her poster on my wall. That put schools on the map for me, and made me say ‘oh, shoot, I better get good grades.’”

Read Frye’s interviews with Jennie Finch, Megan Rapinoe and Kelley O’Hara.

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