Monica Abbott's family scored a home run with their messages of good luck.
On Tuesday, July 20, the Olympic softball player shared a look at how her family is cheering her on from thousands of miles away. She wrote on Instagram, "It's GameDay y'all! I'm Ready to represent us with a full & grateful heart."
The Olympian shared videos her nephews sent her, captioning them, "Thank you to everyone that have been sending in all the well wishes and good vibes in to me from all over the world— they literally mean the world to me!!!"
Monica and the rest of the ladies on the Team USA softball team start their first round of games on Wednesday, July 21. They will go up against the Italian team on Wednesday, followed by Team Canada on Thursday.
The softball team landed in Tokyo on July 4, and Monica has kept her social media followers up to date on every single moment.
She and teammate Taylor Edwards have even become quite the influencers with their Instagram Reels of themselves dancing. On July 6, Monica and Taylor documented their journey from the hotel, to the airport and later the field, all while keeping to the rhythm of the music.
But, as Monica's Instagram shows, there has been little to no time for sightseeing as they keep up with their rigorous training schedule. Since landing in Japan's capital, Monica said they have seen Miyajima, Fushimi Inari and Mount Fuji, joking, "Or at least we paused to take a selfie in front of pictures of them… and then we got back at it and focused on the main thing."
This is Monica's second time participating in the Olympics. She pitched for Team USA during the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, China, taking home the silver medal. Their loss against Japan marked the first time Team USA did not take home the gold medal since softball became an Olympic event in 1996.
Monica and the rest of Team USA sat out the 2012 Olympic Games in London, as well as the 2016 Rio Games, after the International Olympic Committee voted to discontinue softball and baseball.
Now, the women are back and ready to once again play the game they love most.
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