GOLD Medal Mindset

[Music]

in the lore

of the olympics gold medal status is a

pinnacle of a lifetime of hard work

but what goes on behind the gold medal

is not often what it seems

most people just see the athlete

standing up in the podium

looking perfect receiving their medal

amongst adulation

and adoration of the world but in

reality

there’s much heartache and hardship

behind the facade

that many people do not see according to

investopia.com

the international olympic committee

requires that every gold medal contains

a minimum

of six grams of gold so the majority of

gold medals are actually

93 silver but in 2008

that olympic gold medal was 99 silver

with six grams of gold so the true cost

of the olympic gold medal from the

beijing games was actually worth

606 dollars according to the exchange

rate during the games

not exactly the financial windfall that

i’m sure all of you are expecting

just goes to show you that behind every

gold medal is a little bit of a secret

not everything is what it appears to be

let me take you back to 2007.

we had two games left before they are

announcing the women’s world cup roster

i was starting right back for the u.s

women’s national team and we are playing

against canada

in a friendly my task that game was to

make sure that one of the best forwards

in history did not score

and because of her stature i felt like i

needed to play a little bit more

physical

she was five nine around 150 pounds

and i was 5'4 120 pounds soaking wet

the ball was played into our vicinity so

we arrived at the same time from

different vantage points

but due to the fact that the ball was

bouncing and the height differential she

successfully knocked that ball forward

and her foot ended up carrying with

momentum into mine

and i immediately started to spin in the

opposite direction

my plant leg couldn’t handle the torque

they talk about that infamous pop

and i knew immediately it sounds like

two rocks colliding together

i fell out of the ground i started

writhing in pain as my teammates came

and they tried to console me

and as much as it hurt i needed an extra

minute to take in the magnitude of what

that injury meant for me

and it was then and there that i had to

give myself permission to let go

of a dream of starting and playing in my

first ever women’s world cup

i started asking teammates and trainers

and coaches

who the best orthopedic surgeons in the

country were i started going online and

looking at message

boards and i was willing to move

anywhere in the country in order to give

myself the best shot at a smooth surgery

a quick recovery and the best physical

therapy all in the same place

i was already stationed out in hermosa

beach california with national team

residency and decided to stay there

my next decision was the means of repair

and so i opted for an

allograft which is actually tissue from

a donor

i felt like those things all together

were going to give me the best shot in

making the olympic team

which was set to kick off in its opening

game 15 months later

when the news broke that i had torn my

acl and that i wouldn’t be playing in

the women’s world cup

i made the mistake of reading the

comments one person said good

she shouldn’t have been the starter

anyway another said she’ll never make it

back for the olympics with the amount of

talent on this team

i found a quote that really helped me

through the recovery process

it was telling me i can’t and then

watchy worked twice as hard to prove you

wrong

and that became my motto my very first

day home from surgery

i was bedridden my leg in a machine that

kept it on constant motion

and when i wasn’t doing that i was icing

and that was

the repetition that i consistently

repeated

the only time that i got up out of the

bed was to crutch myself to the bathroom

and not to mention that the very first

time that i did that i passed out on the

toilet

needless to say i was completely unable

to take care of myself

and i started to question whether or not

i would ever be able to play soccer

at a high level again i was a mess but

luckily

my then boyfriend now husband who’s also

a professional athlete

said to me heath you get one day one day

to feel sorry for yourself

tomorrow is a brand new start and so he

was right

i threw myself one heck of a pity party

for the rest that day

but i woke up the next day with a brand

new perspective because

feeling sorry for myself was not going

to help me to get back on the field

faster and it was not going to help me

make the olympic team

it was time to own my identity mentality

had helped me to get through injuries

before and was no doubt why i was close

to playing a hundred times for the u.s

women’s national team

i showed up for that first therapy

session the same way that i did for

every practice

with a positive attitude i was willing

and able to

soak up the information of my trainer

omi iwasaki

i was going to put in my full effort and

i was also going to make sure to listen

to my body so i didn’t have any setbacks

as i started to forge ahead in that

journey there comes a time around the

five-month mark where

your therapy is over and you’re just

asked to rest

my therapist had become my crutch but he

was ready for me to leave the nest

and to learn how to fly again

i admit i was scared i was unsure of

myself without my therapist around

and i also had this void of not having

soccer in my life for the very first

time

but it was a great lesson to learn what

we can control

all i had was time now so i was going to

make up for last time

i started taking trips i started going

and seeing doing things that i’d always

dreamt of doing but i had never been

able to because i had been

too busy playing soccer and it also gave

me a great opportunity to see my family

and my friends who i so rarely saw

because they were living on the east

coast

but after a month my body was ready to

start training again and so i needed to

find the best coach around to give me an

opportunity to make that olympic

team luckily james galanis in new jersey

agreed to help me chase my dreams

and just like that quote said we trained

every day

twice a day in the morning it was three

hours

of ball work and working on my

weaknesses so i could become more

well-rounded

and in the evening it was just skills

and when i could start running again we

added a third training session because

i had to do more than my competition to

make that team

fitness and speed had always been my

specialty

but those things weren’t going to come

to the very end in the meantime

i was training like a machine and my

confidence was growing every single day

i was envisioning myself as a starting

right back during the olympics

and believe me there were definitely

days that i never

thought that i would reach my goal but

all i kept telling myself

was just don’t stop

that very first time that i had an

opportunity

to put that usa jersey on and get my

first start

i stepped onto that field with a brand

new appreciation

for the sport that i love

i had no fear as i went sliding on the

wet ground

into my first slide tackle and when i

was able to get into the attack

it was like heaven compared to those

tedious bike rides

or running up a hill against myself

my performance in that game solidified

my spot

if i wouldn’t have been desperate i

wouldn’t have made the olympic team

if i wouldn’t have won gold i still

would have been proud of my personal

growth

by the way i started and played every

minute

of the olympics and i played the best

soccer of my life

and when i stood up there on that podium

i had a brand new appreciation for the

sport that i love and the journey that i

had been on

if i would have given myself permission

to let go of a dream

of playing in the world cup i wouldn’t

have been able to set new goals

to play in the olympics by owning my

identity

it showed me that mentality leads to

success

in any endeavor by learning what we can

control

it showed me how to enjoy life without

soccer

and as with anything don’t ever

stop because grit and resilience are the

secret sauce

that help you go from being a

world-class athlete to being a

world-class champion

and it’s amazing what our brains and our

bodies are capable of

when belief supersedes doubt and when

love of self

conquers fear of trying