Welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast. As always my name's James Gearing and this week it is my

absolute honor to welcome on the show, former firefighter, elite volleyball player and one of the

fittest women on planet Earth, Carly Wopat. Now this is an incredible conversation because

Carly has a unique lens, especially when it comes to the role of the elite athlete transitioning into the first

responder profession and getting an objective view on whether our environment allows us to thrive

or causes us to fail. So we discuss a host of topics from her early life and journey into

athletics, losing her twin sister Samantha to suicide,

navigating her own grief, how volleyball took her around the world as an athlete,

her transition into the fire service during COVID, which was a very unique conversation,

how she made the bold choice to navigate back out, realizing it was

detrimental to her performance, obstacle course racing, sandlot jacks, and so much more.

Now before we get to this incredibly powerful, an important conversation, please take a moment

and go to whichever app you listen to this on.

Subscribe to the show, leave feedback and leave a rating.

Every single five-star rating truly does elevate this podcast, therefore making it easier for others to find.

And this is a free library of over 800 episodes now.

So all I ask in return is that you help share these incredible

men and women's stories so I can get them to every single person on planet Earth who needs

to hear them. So with that being said, I introduce to you, Carly Wopat. Enjoy.

Thank you. you, Carly Wopat. Enjoy. Well, Carly, I want to start by saying, well, Carly, I want to start by saying, firstly welcome to the Behind the Shield podcast.

The backstory of how I first came across you is actually Sandlot Jacks two years ago.

So we'll get into that. But I watched you and some of the other athletes male and female I think you

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