Women's Health June 16, 2026 0 Comments

Unlocking Maya Brady’s Secret Playbook: How She Crushes Pressure and Builds Unshakable Confidence on the Field

Ever wonder why failing 70% of the time can still make you an absolute legend? Maya Brady sure has—and she embraces it like a champ. In softball, even the best hitters crack a success rate that’s less than a coin toss, yet Maya’s passion for the game never wavers. With a stellar UCLA career behind her and now in the spotlight at the Athletes Unlimited Softball League, she’s not just swinging for the fences physically but mentally too. What sets her apart isn’t just her genes—though having Tom Brady and Kevin Youkilis as uncles certainly doesn’t hurt—but her relentless mental toughness. Battling the chaos of bad calls, off days, and the wild unpredictability of the game, Maya’s secret weapon lies in mastering her mind first. Curious how she does it? Let’s dive into the mindset hacks that keep her cool and crushing it on the field. LEARN MORE

2 min read

Maya Brady views her sport as a game of failure. Even the most elite hitters in softball reach base only a fraction of the time. “Somebody who succeeds 30 percent of the time is a Hall of Famer,” she says. “That’s a crazy statistic.” And yet the game is her passion: She had a decorated career at UCLA and is now one of the faces of the Athletes Unlimited Softball League.

With so many variables testing her confidence—from bad calls to split-second defensive plays to the occasional off day—Maya’s mental response is what sets her apart.

Through her work with a sports psychologist, she’s learned that performance is about mind over mechanics, which “unlocked something,” she says.

That’s especially necessary when the world has put hefty expectations on Maya’s shoulders, thanks to her family heritage: Her mom was an All-American softball player at Fresno State; her uncles are football legend Tom Brady and baseball great Kevin Youkilis.

But there are no higher expectations than the ones Maya sets for herself. “If people are holding me to a higher standard because of my genes, I’m right there with them,” she says. She’s proud of her roots but also ready to cement her own legacy. Here’s how.

1. Prepare for anything.

Maya stays ready for whatever the game may throw at her (literally). “When I’m ill-prepared, that’s when my mind kind of wanders off,” she says. She studies her opponents and puts in consistent practice reps. Knowing she’s done work beforehand gives her “mental rest and less stress.”

2. Replicate your strengths…

She watches tons of film—of the opposing team or things she can improve upon, sure, but also of her greatest hits. “What am I good at and how can I re-create that as many times as possible?” she asks herself. “When I’m my best, I feel invincible.”

3. …and your emotions.

Maya’s mental coach asked her to list moments in her career that made her feel happy, excited, or peaceful, then break down how and why she felt that way. “It creates a sense of repetition,” she says. Think of it as muscle memory for success.

4. Regulate your body to reset your mind.

“A lot of the time, especially in bigger games, your body feels very nervous,” Maya says. She puts ice on her chest and behind her neck, breathes, and comes back to center. “If I’m feeling it, I need to do something tangible.”

5. Take it play by play.

Maya finds her flow in a game—and bounces back when things go wrong—by thinking about one at-bat or one pitch at a time. “One thing doesn’t define me,” she says. “Luckily, with softball, you get a couple at-bats a game, so you can always come back around to it.”

Amanda Lucci is the director of special projects at Women’s Health, where she works on multi-platform brand initiatives and social media strategy. She also leads the sports and athletes vertical, traveling to cover the Paris Olympics, Women’s World Cup, WNBA Finals, and NCAA Final Four for WH. She has nearly 15 years of experience writing, editing, and managing social media for national and international publications and is also a NASM-certified personal trainer. A proud native of Pittsburgh, PA, she is a graduate of Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. Follow her on Instagram @alucci.