Attitude is Everything!

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Presentations & Spre

Keys to Success: Whitney Myers

This week’s Speedo Tip of the Week comes from 2005 and 2007 U.S. World Championships Team member Whitney Myers. Myers was also the 2007 NCAA champion in the 200 IM and NCAA Woman of the Year. Here are the keys to her success.

 

Have fun. Everybody says this, but it’s true. If you are not having fun, choose a different sport or hobby, or find a way to make it fun. When people are growing up, there are so many sacrifices you have to make to be an elite athlete.”

 

Set little goals for yourself along the way. This point relates to my first one, because it keeps it fun for me. Accomplishing goals helps you enjoy what you are doing. Goals go from times in practice to how many pull-ups in dryland, or having positive self talks, making social goals like, ‘I’m going to make at least one new friend at this meet.’”

 

Have a life outside your sport. That could mean applying yourself in school or having a hobby on the side, maybe arts and crafts, singing or riding a bike. It’s important to experience the world around you. There are days when swimming isn’t going so well, so if you don’t have other things going on, it can bring you down.

 

Be involved in whatever you are doing. Really immerse yourself. Get to know the people in your circle, and outside of it. Get involved with your team, your school, your family and your friends. Don’t just sit and let things happen to you. Go out and make things happen. Swimming takes up a lot of my time, but I still have a lot of balance. I love going to a meet and making new friends.

 

Make good decisions for yourself. That might be about food, about your sleep, about what you do on Friday and Saturday nights, or in school. Making the right decision time after time ends up giving you reward after reward, which add up and make you feel good. Plus, making smart decisions gets you respect. You want to earn respect for all you accomplish, not be one of those people who just wins all the time and isn’t respected.

Keys to Success: David Walters

In this week’s Speedo Tip of the Week, Olympian David Walters offers some advice on what you need to do to become the best swimmer you can be.

Practice: We do it all the time without thinking, but we should always think about it. You have to do the work in the pool, and do the work in the weight room. You can cut corners, but it comes back to you, and maybe you’ll get away with it in practice or a small meet, but when you get up on the blocks for that big race, you won’t stick the last turn. You won’t have that last burst of energy. You won’t have the technique you should’ve been honing. You have to make practice count. I lost a relay for our team against Cal, so I can tell you first-hand that if you cut corners, it will nip you down the road.

Maintain a positive attitude: You have to keep your head up. You can’t take things in this world personally and be in a constant state of stress, or compete with a bad attitude. Not having a positive attitude does not help. It makes things harder on yourself. I’ve learned that from Aaron Peirsol, seeing how great his attitude is even when times are harsh, like when it’s Thursday and we’re ready for the weekend. Aaron will say, “Let’s go, two more days of practice, and we’re to the weekend. Get it done!”

Understand how everything fits together: I feel like everything is a building block that needs to fit with the others. It can be overwhelming at times trying to focus on so many little things. So the best way to play the game is to take one thing at a time, get it right, move on to the next time and learn how it all fits together. If you do make a mistake, that’s okay. Learn from it, and don’t do it again.

Adversity: You might not realize it, but this is a building block unto itself, too, and how we deal with it defines us as people and can boost us as competitors. Dealing improperly with adversity is probably the No. 1 career destroyer – letting something bad get to you and not getting over it. You can’t be afraid to try again. You have to jump back in and nail that relay start, or make up that extra tenth of a second on that competitor you are chasing down. Don’t let mistakes slow you. Use them to propel you to be better.