Kiwi swimmer Laura Quilter posted some terrific advice for all athletes:

I sort of tripped over a life-learning last year.

The strangest thing happened when I arrived back in New Zealand after racing at the World University Games in Korea, Everyone congratulated me.

See, at the Games I made my first ever individual international final in the 50m butterfly. The result of that one event was what people back home had heard about, courtesy of a few news articles.

No-one had any idea that I pulled out of the 200 freestyle because I was swimming so poorly.

No-one had any idea that my 100m freestyle was the slowest time I had produced in over 3 years. …

I was blindsided by positivity that first week at home. Congratulations flooded in. It was during that week that I realised how true all those sayings are. …

Don’t take off the medal kid.

Click through to read the whole story. 🙂

If you’re not a gymnast, you may never understand.

Wendy Bruce Martin:

Many can not understand why a child wants to be in a gym 25 hours a week. Why they choose to swing bars with rips, tumble with sprained ankles, or get up off the floor after they have crashed on the beam and try their skill again and again without blinking an eye.

They do it because they love the challenge. When others would complain that something is too hard and shy away, they lean into the challenge. When others are fearful and want to stop, they find a way to knock down the fear and walk over it. They do it to feel pride, satisfaction, appreciation, accomplishment; they do it to feel alive. …

It’s the Challenge