Athlete Haylie McCleney Shares “Great Things Take Time”

Olympic silver medalist and three-time world champion softball player Haylie McCleney visited The Bryn Mawr School to share stories and inspiration from her athletic career. 

Haylie played for the softball powerhouse University of Alabama, where she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in human performance, then later went on to complete a master's degree in exercise physiology from Florida Atlantic University. She has been on Team USA Softball for 10 years and has been a professional athlete for eight years. Haylie represented the United States at the 2020 Summer Olympics, where she won a silver medal

Talking with Lower, Middle and Upper School students throughout the day, Haylie discussed hard work and the time it takes to reach the highest level of competition. “If you are going to do great things in your life, you are going to have to wait. Great things take time, patience is important,” she said.

She talked about her journey from playing with her brothers, to being a college athlete, to being an Olympian. Haylie also spoke about what it’s like to work incredibly hard for a long time, and not achieve your goals, which she experienced when Team USA received silver medals in the Tokyo Olympics.  She reframed her thinking to realize that a silver medal, while not gold, is an incredible achievement and encouraged students to do the same.