Upon walking into Virginia softball’s locker room, you are met with a huge vision board mounted to the wall. The board consists of twists and turns, similar to the game Life, each sectioned off to represent a different opponent, with a huge circle in the bottom right corner labeled “The Women’s College World Series.” The locker room roadmap, as it is called, is the source of the Cavaliers’ motivation.
The architect, associate head coach Jeff Tylka, joined the program prior to the 2023 season after spending three years at Penn State. He then spent his first season getting to know the ropes, before proposing a new concept for the 2024 season. Tylka knew his players were visual learners, and therefore, he knew how he could motivate them. The consensus he and the other coaches came to was that the group responded better to a progress tracker.
“We decided that we needed to actually see the progress that we made and the steps to get to where we needed to be,” sophomore outfielder Kamyria Woody-Giggetts said. “The ACC Tournament, the [NCAA] Regionals, the [NCAA] Super Regionals and the College World Series.”
However, this tracker was not always in the shape of a roadmap. In 2024, it was a pyramid, and as the team moved closer to the top, they would eventually reach a ticket to the NCAA Super Regionals. It was this visual aid that helped Virginia have a strong season, finishing with one of their best records in more recent years — a mark of 34-20, with a 15-9 ACC record — and their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2010.
Although the pyramid helped drive Virginia’s success, the team decided to trade it in for a new design — a zig-zag, board-game like structure, with each game being a different square. With this new design, the roadmap seems to be a clearer guide than ever, not just as a symbol of ambition, but a reflection of the season they are currently having.
With just a handful of games left, the Cavaliers sit at 34-14 and 13-8 in the ACC. They are on course to have one of their best records in program history and are even closer to that final circle on the board — the Women’s College World Series. And this year, it may not just be a dream, but a destination.
“It's hard to win,” sophomore infielder Bella Cabral said. “So when you do win, you want to celebrate those wins … When you look at the roadmap, you see how many games we have left, and how many games that we still need to win.”
After each win, whoever the coaches feel had the strongest performance is selected to go up to the board and slam the team logo on the square that represents the game they just played. While they do this, the other Cavaliers circle around them, chanting their name and cheering for that standout’s success — a true team-bonding tradition.
“It’s a special moment to go and put that [sticker] on the board,” Cabral said. “It's a recognition and the game's recognition of your payoff, like how you're doing, so it's great.”
It is moments like these that do more than just mark a win — they fuel a fire. For the Cavaliers, the roadmap is a visual testament for the work they have put in and the shrinking space between where they are and where they need to be. Upon going out on the field, the team is able to picture their goal in mind and compete with a sense of purpose knowing that each game, inning or even at-bat carries the weight of something bigger than just the game at hand.
Along with team building and motivation, the roadmap also helps each individual, giving each player a tangible reminder of their role in the bigger picture and the effort they are putting in towards their final destination.
“Before I came to college, I didn't have [a roadmap] ... it’s good to see,” Woody-Giggetts said. “When you touch the field, you touch that dirt, it's just like a feeling of, ‘I gotta come out here and I got to work hard and give everything I got.’”
As Virginia moves closer to the ACC Tournament, its team standards are to do just that — go out there and work hard. In regards to the pressure that naturally builds with the postseason on the horizon, the Cavaliers are not overwhelmed by it.
In fact, the season has gone swimmingly for Virginia. The Cavaliers are currently ranked No. 25 nationally with two more regular season contests before the ACC Tournament begins May 7.
As for the roadmap, it is far more powerful than a piece of wall decor. For the Cavaliers, it is a motivator and a unifier that inspires them to go even further than seasons past. The final circle on the board may still lie far ahead, but if this season has shown anything, it is that Virginia knows exactly how to get there — one team logo sticker at a time.
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