“One of the most difficult things for people who have been successful in sports is adapting to the daily world where you can’t get an answer from someone until 5 o’clock tomorrow. There is always an excuse. Living 40 or 50 years like that doesn’t get too exciting after a while.”
-Mark Spitz, U.S. Olympic Swimmer
There is this moment when your fingertips pound into the wall after a swim race. A moment of total clarity, one where there is absolute silence. A reality check happens and pulls you back in, all while seeing your coach’s mouth moving and that first breath is taken. You can’t hear the roar of the crowd. It’s magical every time – it’s that one moment where there is no conception of success or failure. The first time that happened to me, I was 10. I had just finished my 200 free final at TAGS (Texas Aquatic Age Group Swimming) which was the state swim meet. Our 200 freestyle relay had made the Top 16 Cut (Top 16 in the nation) right before my individual race.
At 7, I sold my mental and physical self to a sport. And at 18, it all ended in a second, two weeks before I was to begin training at a D1 school for a team they wanted me to walk onto. My body finally gave out.
Discipline Isn’t For The Weak
Perception has always dictated that to be amazing, one must take risks and put themselves out there. Schedulers and hardcore Type A aren’t seen as risk-takers. Society is wrong. Having discipline and dedication get you far too. Commitment to one thing, one passion. Knowing that out there, there is someone doing it better. You put in the practice, and the work. It’s reading, absorbing, writing and learning. It’s never quitting because it gets too hard or obstacles are in the way. Those that are disciplined have trained their brain for what they can handle and accomplish.
Athlete to Working World: Swimming is 80 percent mental, 20 percent physicial. It’s about knowing yourself and what you can push yourself to do. It’s hitting those obstacles and hurdling over them. It’s not giving up at an injury or a fever. You just keep going.
Time Is An Investment
Who do you surround yourself with? The people you are friends with, personally and professionally, define you. It’s easy to stand out on your own, but support is everything. On the same token, never invest in someone else who isn’t committed to giving the same back. People hold you back all the time without realizing it. There are those that project, preferring to consistently make it about them and their problems. They aren’t catalysts for positive or pushing someone forward. They are selfish, vapid and only it for themselves. Ask yourself, is the stress because of me or because of a friend? If its because of someone else, time to re-evaluate. Toxic people hold you back – and your time is an investment.
Athlete to Working World: Those that will make time for you will always be in your corner. They’ll push you past your limits because they believe in you, not because they want to see you fall.
Stamina and Rocking It
Sometimes, life sucks. Sometimes, you cut your leg open and have to get 25 staples in the back of your leg. You tape it up and keep going. Sometimes, you have 104 fever at state. You lay on the deck and put ice packs on your body to break it before finals. How far are you willing to push past the pain? Everyone suffers. Everyone has obstacles. Everyone has walls they put up that others have to climb. It isn’t stupidity to have goals for yourself and try to be the best, no matter the cost. I won’t lie to you and say that some athletes push themselves in ways that no other individual will. It’s part of the game. It’s part of our mark-up. It’s as natural to us as it is to breathing. Admitting failure is never easy – but know where YOUR line is.
Athlete to Working World: You never know the obstacles that people face behind the scenes, or the hours they put in. That’s their stamina. What’s yours?
It’s you against the clock. Every time. That clock is you and your past successes. How are you pushing yourself on a daily basis?
