AROUND THE BASES

Olympian 'Canada Softball Team'  / The Director of softball at IMG Academy in Bradenton.

20 Questions with Joey Lye 

1. You spent 12 years with Canada’s Women’s National Team. When you look back at the player who first made Team Canada in 2010 and compare her to the person you are today, what did that journey teach you about yourself?

JOEY LYE:
The journey taught me a lot. I am definitely an evolved human compared to 2010!

One thing I will highlight is the idea of constant evolution. When you're trying to become an expert in something, it is a never-ending process, and the more you learn, the more you realize there is to learn!

I still do not know everything there is to know about the game of softball. That's one thing that makes our game so incredible.

If you think you know it all, you haven't even scratched the surface yet. Buckle up!

2. You were actually one of the final cuts from Team Canada in 2009, then came back and made the team in 2010. How important was that first rejection to everything that happened afterward?

JOEY LYE:
That rejection was not the first I faced in my athletic career, although it was the most impactful.

Leading into that 2009 tryout, I had allowed society to tell me Division III wasn't good enough, and I showed up to the tryout feeling out of place.

Making it to the final selection camp and being one of the final cuts relit a fire in me and renewed a dream I had since I was 8 years old: to play for my country and become an Olympian.

In short, that rejection was both motivation to work harder as well as a reminder of my resilience.

3. After all those years representing Canada, you finally stood on an Olympic podium with a bronze medal in Tokyo. What did that moment mean to you beyond simply winning a medal?

JOEY LYE:
Being a small part of sport history for Canada was absolutely incredible. What made it most special was the people, the teammates, I got to experience it with.

Since it was during COVID, the officials weren't allowed to medal us, and there were no fans in the stands to make any noise.

We created our own moment by medaling one another and giving a collective wave to the stands where we imagined our friends and families would be cheering for us.

That moment with my teammates will forever be a cherished memory.

4. You’ve now experienced softball as an All-American college player, national team player, professional player, college head coach, Softball Canada assistant coach, and IMG Academy Softball Director. Which of those experiences has shaped the way you see the game the most?

JOEY LYE:
What makes those experiences special for me is the combination of all of them together.

If I had to narrow it down, I would say the experience of being a head coach in college while training as a national team athlete gave me the most unique combination of experiences.

To teach the game while learning the game, to work with athletes while being an athlete, that was a special chapter for me.

5. Who is one coach, teammate, or mentor from your career whose influence people can still see in the way Joey Lye coaches today?

JOEY LYE:
Kris Herman was my college coach. I have also had two short stints back at Williams coaching with her, and she has a goal of EAED, meaning “Every Athlete Every Day.”

To this day, I still keep an eye out for moments to connect with the athletes in our program that have nothing to do with softball.

A quick check-in or follow-up goes a long way.

6. You were coaching while you were still pursuing your own playing career. When did you realize coaching wasn’t simply something you were doing alongside playing, but something that could become your life’s work?

JOEY LYE:
Sports have been my passion for as long as I can remember, and once I began coaching, I never looked back.

Only after stepping away from college coaching to train full-time during the pandemic did I consider a shift in career path.

Starting a speaking and consulting business after the Olympics gave me new perspectives and challenges while, unknowingly, preparing a more well-rounded resume for my current position at IMG Academy.

Now, I get to coach coaches!

I'm not sure I'll ever be able to fully step away from coaching in some capacity!

7. You earned your degree in psychology, and mental performance has remained part of your coaching throughout your career. What do young softball players misunderstand most about the mental side of becoming an elite athlete?

JOEY LYE:
The most important message I can share is how important consistency is when adjusting a piece of your mental game.

With skills like breathwork, self-talk, routines, etc., I would begin experiencing impacts after a minimum of two months of daily work.

It doesn't take much time to instill habits like this, less than 10 minutes a day, but it does require consistency and discipline.

8. If you could sit down with the version of Joey Lye who was playing softball and hockey at Williams College, what would you tell her about the journey that’s coming?

JOEY LYE:
I would tell her she was doing great, to take a breath, to keep enjoying life one day at a time, and that the ability to juggle multiple responsibilities in college was about to set her up for a fun ride.

I might also try to tell her there was still so much to learn, to get a better jump on all that I've learned since then, but that's the overachiever talking!

9. You’ve coached and played around high-level athletes for years. What separates an extremely talented softball player from someone you would actually want to build a program around?

JOEY LYE:
Talent comes to some people more easily than others.

The athletes and coaches I want to build a program around are willing to do “hard.”

The magic happens when you are consistently willing to get outside of your comfort zone. Get a group of people who are all in on that, and some pretty special things will come from it.

10. When you’re evaluating a young player today, what are you looking for that we aren’t going to find on her recruiting profile, stat sheet, or highlight video?

JOEY LYE:
We focus a lot on an athlete's resilience, openness to challenge, and desire to get better.

Those characteristics will take an athlete to great heights when they are paired with the resources at IMG Academy!

BUILDING IMG ACADEMY SOFTBALL

11. IMG Academy gave you an opportunity very few coaches ever get, starting a softball program without generations of traditions already defining it. When you began building IMG Academy Softball, what was the first thing you knew the program had to stand for?

JOEY LYE:
Development.

Development is number one for us in everything that we do.

We want our student-athletes to evolve as softball players, students, and, most importantly, as human beings while they are here with us.

IMG Academy's mission is “Empowering student-athletes to win their future,” and we take that very seriously in the softball department.

I truly hope when our athletes graduate that they cannot imagine their lives not having been a part of our program, and they carry the growth they experience here with them for the rest of their lives.

12. You’ve taken over established college programs before, but IMG Academy gave you the opportunity to build something from its beginning. Which challenge is harder, inheriting expectations or creating the expectations yourself?

JOEY LYE:
I don't think I can say one challenge is harder than the other. They are simply different!

Inheriting a program means fighting resistance to change and battling expectations you didn't set.

Starting one means creating every piece of the program from scratch and convincing others to join a system they cannot yet see.

Both take time and require building strong relationships within and around the program.

Building the Softball Program at IMG Academy has definitely been the most fun challenge of my professional career, and I cannot wait to see what it all looks like five years from now!

13. IMG Academy identifies you as its first female sports director. What does being the first mean to you, and do you feel an added responsibility knowing other women may follow the path you’re creating?

JOEY LYE:
I am honored to have been the first woman sport director hired at IMG Academy and take the responsibility very seriously.

Since starting in 2024, there is one other woman sport director, and I hope that number continues to grow.

It is so important for girls to see that they can grow up to be leaders and have real evidence that they can impact the world around them.

When going through the onboarding process, many families share their excitement for their daughters to be led by the women in our department, and I am really proud of that.

14. IMG Academy Softball launched with National and Regional teams. When you’re recruiting and evaluating athletes for this program, what does an IMG Academy softball player look like beyond talent and statistics?

JOEY LYE:
Talent actually has little to do with an athlete being a good fit for us, as surprising as that might sound.

We obviously look at talent and want to have talented teams here on campus, but the players who thrive here have these three things:

1. A softball-related dream

2. A strong work ethic

3. A willingness to get outside of their comfort zone

15. When a family asks you, “Why IMG Academy? Why should my daughter leave her traditional middle school or high school and travel ball environment to come here?” what do you tell them?

JOEY LYE:
I tell them there is no other place on earth with the people and the resources that we have, all in one place, who are all focused on the development, well-being, and college recruitment of your daughter.

If they are able to visit campus, they get to see and feel what I am talking about firsthand.

If they still have questions, I am happy to offer for them to speak to one or two of our parents or ask if their daughter would like to speak with any more of our athletes. They provide the most authentic insight regarding what it's like to be here!

This school year we will have a National Team and two Varsity Teams. All three will compete against other schools this spring.

Currently in process is the creation of a travel softball organization that will provide a light tournament schedule in order to complement the heavy training schedule our athletes endure from late August through mid-May.

As of September 15th, we will have eight staff members in the softball department, all who have rich experiences and connections in the softball world.

That number will only keep growing.

We are here to positively impact softball players from all over the world!

THE FUTURE OF PLAYER DEVELOPMENT

16. The softball landscape these players are entering looks very different from the one you entered. How do you prepare an IMG Academy athlete not just to get recruited, but for everything that’s going to come after recruiting?

JOEY LYE:
Helping our student-athletes to become the best version of themselves, to be adaptable to change, to use their resources, and to create their own network of support is how we set our student-athletes up to be successful in an ever-changing environment.

We can never know exactly what their path will look like once they leave our gates for the last time, but we can help them to be resilient through the ups and downs that they will face.

17. Because you were able to help build this program from its beginning, you weren’t forced to simply follow decades of IMG Academy Softball tradition. What is something about traditional softball player development that you believe can be done differently or better?

JOEY LYE:
Technology in softball is still pretty new.

We are pushing technology within softball every day here at IMG Academy and working to leverage ball flight data, biomechanics assessments, athlete readiness tracking, GPS data, and athlete-load data, to name a few.

Data and technology allow us to track our athletes' development over time, enhance training sessions, and keep us accountable to our focus on development.

We hope to impact our athletes, and the game, by learning as much as we can from the information we track.

18. IMG Academy talks about developing athletes through sport, education, and personal development. With your psychology background and your work in team culture and mental performance, how are you making sure IMG Academy Softball develops the person and not just the softball player?

JOEY LYE:
We are extremely intentional with our weekly scheduling here at IMG Academy Softball.

Athletes, families, and coaches will always want more time on the field. As administrators, we make sure to balance the schedule on and off the field so our athletes get the best of both worlds.

Each week, our athletes have mental performance, softball school (which can include video review, softball IQ, strategy, etc.), recruiting support, strength, conditioning, and speed.

There is also nutrition support from a registered dietitian and leadership & character development support through scheduled programming and trained mentors in the dorms.

THE LEGACY QUESTIONS

19. You’re coaching the players who will forever be part of the beginning of IMG Academy Softball. Ten years from now, when members of these first teams come back, what do you hope they say Joey Lye and this program gave them?

JOEY LYE:
I hope these athletes come back often to see what they have helped build!

In ten years, I would love to hear athletes saying this program gave them the tools they needed to become the strong independent woman they are today, the confidence to take up space, and the voice to make a difference in the lives of others.

20. Finish this sentence:

“When people eventually tell the story of how IMG Academy Softball started, I hope they say we…”

JOEY LYE:
“Forever changed the lives of the athletes who said yes to joining the program.”