Monica Abbott, the two-time Olympic silver medalist and recently retired professional softball player, was in her fifth-grade class when she declared her athletic intentions. Assigned to research, write, and present a paper about one of the states in the Union, she’d been hoping for a familiar state but was disappointed to have been given Georgia. Until she learned that Atlanta was hosting the Olympics the following year and that softball was making its debut at the Games. USA brought home the Gold.
At the end of her presentation on Georgia, Abbott said, “And I’m going to pitch in the Olympics. I’ll see you there!”
Abbott, who grew up in Salinas, California, a place she calls a big city that thinks it’s a small town or vice versa, started playing softball with the Salinas Salad Bowl Bobby Sox, a softball league established to give young women a chance to experience the excitement of playing fast pitch softball.
She was 12 years old when she negotiated with her mom to have her first pitching lesson. Her mom came back with a list of chores. Abbott returned with the list checked off, and a bucket of softballs. Reportedly, it was hard on parked cars, shrubbery, and her dad’s glasses, but it was a start.
By the time Abbott graduated from North Salinas High, she had a lot of options as she considered college. As she narrowed her list of universities, several of which had renowned softball programs, she made a seemingly bold move to attend University of Tennessee, whose program was just getting going. Having decided, rather than joining a winning program and becoming a national champion “right off the bat,” she chose to go somewhere that allowed her to develop her skills.
“So, she went to Tennessee and rocked their softball world. Monica filled the stands like nobody could,” said author Debby Schriver, who first offered to write Abbott’s story just before she graduated from UT. “The University had asked me to write a book, ‘In the Footsteps of Champions,’ about the UT women’s athletics program. I was able to interview Monica at the end of her collegiate career in 2007 and was so taken with her, I said, ‘If you ever want to write a book, I want to work with you’.”
Abbott said yes, but not yet. She still had a story to build.
The renowned left-handed pitcher, known for her “riseball pitch,” thrown on an ascending trajectory and with a backspin to create a rising motion, retired at the end of February after pitching for 20 years with Team USA, and a concurrent 16-year professional career in the United States and Japan. She decided she was ready to write.
“I was thinking about writing my story before the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games played in 2021,” said Abbott, “but I decided to postpone it until the timing felt right. After the games, UT graduates and authors Debby and Rob Schriver reached out, and I knew I was ready to share my story outside the pitching circle.”
Putting it in words
“Rise and Shine: The Monica Abbott Story,” told by Abbott with Debby and Rob Shriver, shares the story of Abbott’s stellar softball career in the context of the insights and lessons she learned on and off the field.
“The book talks a lot about my story, how I went from this girl from Salinas, one of five kids whose parents own the Fosters Freeze,” said Abbott, “to making it to the Olympics once and again 12 years later, medaling both times. My story is one of perseverance and determination, of consistency and work ethic, and finding ways to capture an opportunity when it presents itself.”
The hardest part about developing her book, she says, was breaking it down to include all the important chapters in her life. Ultimately, with help from the Schrivers, she focused on how she started playing as a young girl, her collegiate career, followed by her years playing with Team USA and her professional career, the 2008 and 2020 Olympics, and her dedication to the Women’s Empowerment Movement.
“I couldn’t put everything I might have wanted to into the book,” she said, “but it’s a good start for book one.”
Committed to facilitating a book whose story belongs to Abbott, Debby and Rob Schriver spent hours talking with her over the course of many interviews. Rob Schriver is particularly good at capturing the voice of the people he interviews, says Debby, while she is a natural storyteller, he says. In tandem writing careers that have produced many published books, this is the first book the Schrivers have done together.
Debby Schriver, a freelance writer, has retired from a 32-year career at the University of Tennessee. This is her fifth book. Rob Schriver, a technical writer for Oakridge National Lab, is also a freelance writer and editor for the University of Tennessee Press. This is his third book.
Monica Abbott has returned to the Peninsula with her husband, business owner Jeff Bower, to make their home in Spreckels.
“This is such a beautiful area,” said Abbott, “with its moderate climate, the best fruits and vegetables ever, and amazing wine. And it’s home. It always seemed like I would have a coming home plan, and being able to be around family is important as I start to settle down and figure out what’s next.”
The athlete, understanding that a facility for public speaking, media, public relations, and marketing would serve her well, graduated from UT with a degree in communications. While still pitching, she went on to earn a master’s degree in sports business from Saint Leo, a private university in Florida known for its flexible learning options. She is now turning her attention to advocating for women athletes, educating future softball players, and public speaking.
“Having retired is OK. It feels good,” she said. “It’s a time to look at yourself and think about what you’ve done so far and what more you can do and where you can have the best impact, for you as a person and for your family, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually. It’s sad in some ways, but it’s one of those things when you know, you know. Softball is not a lifelong career, you have to do something else.”
Published by the University of Tennessee Press, “Rise and Shine: The Monica Abbott Story,” will be released Thursday.
