A 4.0 trainee at Ayersville High School, Martin was struggling to maintain in her very first chemistry class at Ohio State. Martin started to have doubts about herself– feelings that she was no longer wise sufficient to participate in Ohio State– and her anxiety kicked in.
That all began to alter, nevertheless, when Martin had the chance to satisfy the greatest celebrity on campus, a male who has actually fought stress and anxiety himself: Ohio State football coach Urban Meyer.
When Martin went house for winter season break after her first term, she wasn’t sure whether she wished to go back to Ohio State. More than that, she felt lost, and she started to question the value of her life as a whole.
“Sadly, I was providing up on myself,” Martin told Eleven Warriors. “I do not understand if I was self-destructive, but it could have led to that.”
While hanging out with her family around the holidays, nevertheless, there was a minute she took as a sign that she was meant to remain the course.
“I had this puzzle that a person of my terrific friends got me for Christmas, and it was an image of the Shoe. And my objective, my mama and I’s goal, was to put this puzzle together by the end of my Christmas break,” Martin said. “So we put it together, put it together and after that we lastly got it together and there was two pieces missing. So we looked around, looked around, and we have a sofa in our living space. And there was 2 pieces below of it, but they weren’t from the Ohio State puzzle, it was from my great grandparents’ puzzle that they utilized to do puzzles all the time. And we put those in place, the ones that we were missing, and I resemble, ‘Well, that suggests I require to return to Ohio State. I should be back in the Shoe.'”
The Ohio Arena puzzle that Korbyn Martin and her mom, Jenni, put together throughout winter break.
Jenni Martin, though, understood her daughter was still struggling in her 2nd semester. As she tried to believe of something, anything she might do to help her daughter get back on the best track, she had an idea: Reach out to the Ohio State football program, and see if Meyer had any advice he could share with Korbyn.
“I simply gambled,” Jenni stated. “I believed ‘Well, I’ll email one of the coaches and simply see if Coach Meyer had any suggestions or anything that would kind of help Korbyn along the way.’ And so I sent Coach Tim (Hinton, executive director for football relations) an email, and just kind of provided him some background info, and then my ending was, ‘Any tips Coach Meyer could give would be amazing.'”
Meyer and the Buckeyes, though, did more than just respond with tips. Rather, they invited Korbyn and her older brother, KJ, to the Woody Hayes Athletic Center for a tour of Ohio State’s practice facility– a chance enough in itself to remind Korbyn why she had actually chosen to go to Ohio State in the very first place.
“As I’m strolling in the Woody Hayes and seeing the nationwide champion trophy, it was simply incredible,” Korbyn said. “It was so cool. And it was similar to, ‘OK, yeah, I’m going to Ohio State. Yeah, I like this school. I’m so glad I’m going here.'”
But that was just the start of what would be a life-changing day for Korbyn, as she soon had the chance to meet Meyer, who told Korbyn something about their shared battle with anxiety that still resonates with her to this day.
“He stated, ‘Remember, it’s a present you get that sometimes is hard,'” Korbyn recalled.
Meyer likewise provided Korbyn his telephone number– a secret so valued that when she sent her daddy a screenshot of a text Meyer sent her, she ensured to scratch out the number– and has actually continued to communicate with her since, periodically checking in with her to see how she is doing.
Korbyn also got the chance to watch Ohio State football operations supervisor Brendan Bishop during April’s spring video game– a chance that made such an extensive effect on Korbyn that it inspired her to alter her significant to sport market.
“I went to the spring video game, and honestly, I resembled, ‘Oh my gosh, I seem like I remain in heaven!'” Korbyn stated. “And then after the spring video game, my entire viewpoint of my life reversed, and I seemed like I was strolling on water.”
Meyer’s own battles with his health initially entered the spotlight in December 2009, when he was confessed to a hospital with chest discomforts and dehydration just hours after Florida’s 32-13 loss to Alabama in the SEC Champion Video Game. Meyer resigned from his post as the Gators’ head coach later on that month, discussing that he had overlooked his health for years and citing a desire to prioritize his faith and household.
Meyer’s resignation from Florida eventually became a leave of absence, and he went back to the sidelines for the Gators’ 2010 season, but resigned once again at the conclusion of that season, when again discussing that he wished to spend more time with his other half and children.
Following a year far from the sidelines– which permitted Meyer to refocus on his priorities and establish a much better balance in his life– Meyer became Ohio State’s head coach on Nov. 28, 2011, and is now entering his seventh season with the Buckeyes, having actually attained an extraordinary level of success in his very first 6 years in Columbus.
Urban Meyer still battles with anxiety, but he’s learned how to manage
Those aren’t problems that just get cured and go away. Now that Meyer has actually found out how to manage his anxiety instead of being consumed by it, he considers those qualities to be a driving force in his success.
“The compulsive, compulsive, high-end, accomplishing individuals, those are the ones that keep pressing harder,” Meyer stated in his interview with Sneed. “I’ll call you the best gamers I ever coached, and every one of them have that same trait. I don’t believe it’s a health problem. I think you need to be conscious … that you have that characteristic, and how to handle it. But take a look at it not as a health problem, however as a true blessing that you somehow have to keep ahold of.”
Korbyn kept a copy of Sneed’s post in her bookbag throughout last term, highlighting the parts that resonated with her and skimming them over whenever she required inspiration.
She understands, too, that her anxiety isn’t something that will simply disappear. But with a brand-new outlook on life, a brand-new major– she says she now plans to pursue a profession in sports marketing– and support from Meyer, she believes that she, too, has actually learned how to manage her anxiety.
“It’s constantly going to be there, however you have to find things and ways to get through it,” Korbyn stated. “For example, I go and work out now if I’m feeling stressed out or anxious about a test or an examination coming up, I go and exercise or I opt for a walk or I discover things that to do at Ohio State, which there’s plenty of to do there, just to assist me get my mind off it.”
Still, her parents fret about how Korbyn– who is currently home for the summer with her household in Ayersville, an unincorporated community in Defiance, Ohio, a little more than 2 hours northwest of Columbus– will manage the challenges that may arise when she goes back to Ohio State this fall.
“She’s doing really great right now, and I just hope when she goes back here in the fall, she can just keep riding that momentum, because that’s what it’s going to take,” her dad, Jeff Martin, stated. “I think she’s doing better and wonderfully, however there’s going to be a big test here in late August when she returns.”
“It’s always going to exist, but you have to find things and ways to get through it.” — Korbyn Martin on getting rid of anxiety
It helps alleviate their worries, however, understanding that Korbyn has Meyer, Bishop and other members of Ohio State’s football staff in her corner.
“That makes me feel truly great,” Jeff stated. “And this wasn’t simply something in 2015. They have actually continued to reach out to her through the summertime. So it’s just amazing, and we are grateful and we are blessed due to the fact that of that.”
Regardless of having a group of 105 gamers to coach and hundreds of high school hires to keep tabs on– plus his former players, good friends and naturally, his household– Meyer has made the effort out of his hectic schedule to help Korbyn, not a football player but a trainee who merely required the assistance he could supply. And Korbyn’s moms and dads desire Meyer to know just how much they value that.
“For someone to take the time– all of them actually– to connect and assist her, it’s a disaster,” Jenni stated. “The entire thing is simply so surreal. Words can’t reveal how we feel about whatever.”
“I am extremely grateful,” Jeff said. “It’s extremely humbling and exciting. It really is interesting. Since you believe of what his life is, he has a household of his own, and what his task requires him to do daily, and he would take the time, it’s very humbling.”
Jeff likewise said, though, that he wasn’t shocked by Meyer’s actions.
“You can see specific qualities in people, although they may be a mega-star as a coach or a player or whatever, you can see that they have those characteristics in them without actually understanding them personally,” stated Jeff, a long time Buckeyes fan who has actually also coached sports himself. “So to be honest, I’m not shocked at all at the time that he has actually provided my child.”
Many people understand Urban Meyer as a coach who has actually won 3 national championships, and for that matter, one of the best coaches in college football history. Korbyn Martin, nevertheless, desires people to know that Meyer is more than just a fantastic coach.
“He’s a great coach, however in life, when it comes down to it, he’s an actually terrific person,” Korbyn stated. “He stresses about others, he appreciates others and not simply himself. He has his football prepares to stress over, but he still requires time for the students at Ohio State too.”
Korbyn Martin had actually dreamed of attending Ohio State given that she was a kid. By the end of her very first semester as a Buckeye last fall, however, Martin was questioning whether she made the best choice.
