Welcome back to hashtag real pod. I'm your host Victoria Garrick and you are in for a very special episode today.

From the moment this guest accepted my invitation to come on the show, I was pretty much dying to interview her because her story, I remember absolutely shook the college live all world when it came out.

Most people heard rumors, other people read her blog posts to hear what actually happened, but I'm just really honored because this is the first time on any sort of show that she's going to be talking about the injuries she suffered and how she recovered.

And also just to shout out to you guys, this says a lot about the supportive and accepting community we built here at hashtag real pod to welcome and encourage all conversations around mental illness.

So to all of my listeners, thank you and to today's guest, I owe you the biggest thank you for trusting us. With that said, I would like to welcome Haley Hodson.

Now in 2015, for those of you that don't know, Haley was the number one volleyball recruit in the country. I mean, every school wanted this girl to play for them.

She played overseas with the US women's national team at the age of 17, which I don't know is that like a record for youngest player ever, but she wanted junior nationals in the open division.

And anyone who saw this girl play would have said she is Olympic bound. Haley ended up attending Stanford to pursue her career at the next level.

And she proved that her recruitment status was not a mistake. Haley pretty much won every award possible for freshmen.

She was packed all freshman of the year, volleyball magazine freshman of the year, packed 12 first team, all American, anything you name it.

It just seems like Haley's volleyball career was unstoppable. However, just before her freshman year had ended, Haley suffered from a concussion.

One that would be so severe and had so many repercussions that it ended her playing career. Today, Haley is going to share with us the details of that story and explain how she was able to recover from that experience, eventually rerouting her life to a completely different path and now prioritizing advocacy and the journey within.

I would love it if you would please help me welcome Haley Hodson.

I'm so happy to have you on Hashtag RealPod because you have a story that is super unique, super powerful, and I think super relatable.

Just so many people who experience really tough times in their life and either don't know how to verbalize it or they do verbalize it but don't feel like they're getting heard or the support that they know they need.

And we first met each other across the net. Although I told you where we played to street when I was in club, I was red rock.

I know I remember all these. We, you know, like all nervous, whatever. And then we ended up winning in two. And I remember my coach who was watching me play it or had been committed thought that we lost in two.

Just because you guys were so good that when the end of it and two, he was like, oh, bummer you guys lost him. Like, no, we won. But then you guys go on to win the whole thing.

So then my team was like, okay, technically on their worst day, we have a shot.

Yeah, it was that. So it was that. That was the year we won. That was my last year.

That was, I think you're a year. No, we're the same year.

Yeah, yeah. So yeah, it's your year. You won.

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