Natural Freedom

When I made cuts for Regionals, I started thinking about Regionals; when I made cuts for National Junior Olympics, I started thinking about National Junior Olympics. I can't even think about the Olympics right now...Things can overwhelm you if you think too far ahead.

Attitude: At the higher levels of competitive swimming, something like an inversion of attitude takes place. The very features of the sport which the "C" swimmer finds unpleasant, the top-level swimmer enjoys. What others see as boring swimming back and forth over a black line for two hours, say-they find peaceful, even meditative, often challenging, or therapeutic. They enjoy hard practices, look forward to difficult competitions, try to set difficult goals. Coming into the 5.30 AM practices at Mission Viejo, many of the swimmers were lively, laughing, talking, enjoying themselves, perhaps appreciating the fact that most people would positively hate doing it. It is incorrect to believe that top athletes suffer great sacrificesto achieve their goals. Often, they don't see what they do as sacrificial at all. They like it.

In the pursuit of excellence, maintaining mundanity is the key psychological challenge. In common parlance, winners don't choke. Faced with what seems to be a tremendous challenge or a striking unusual event such as the Olympic Games, the better athletes take it as a normal, manageable situation.