It takes years of training and hard work to be an Olympic athlete. Your sport becomes your passion and training becomes your obsession. In an individual sport like golf, training can become a lonely process. But all of that hard work and training does not need to be done on your own. Stephanie Meadow is a golfer who competed in the Olympics after years of training with a boarding school and summer camp that focuses on junior golfers. Her story of success gives hope to other potential Olympic athletes who might fear that achieving their goals could mean years of isolation.
Learning from Like-Minded People
One of the reasons that athletes such as Stephanie Meadow choose these types of camps and boarding schools is the opportunity to be around people who have the same drive and determination she has. There is only so much a coach can do to motivate an athlete, and there are days when training seems like more of a burden than a release. When you surround yourself with like-minded people who share your drive and passion, you find it easier to get through those difficult days and stay focused on your goals.
Develop Lifelong Bonds
Sports have a tendency to bond athletes together, and those bonds can often develop into lifelong friendships. The problem for many Olympic athletes who compete in individual events is that it can be difficult to find people to train with who can also be members of their circle of friends. But when an athlete gets involved in a program that caters to people from all walks of life, there is the potential to build strong friendships that can last a lifetime. The feeling of success is always sweeter when it can be shared with people who know what you went through to get there.
Establishing a Support Network
Every athlete that competes at a high level needs a support network to help them keep going. For most athletes, their family and close friends wind up becoming the people that offer advice and encouragement. But when Stephanie Meadow was learning the game of golf at a boarding school and summer camp, she was establishing a whole new network of people that would have a different perspective on her life. These are people who only knew her as the future Olympic athlete. It can be helpful to have people who are unfamiliar with the past around, as they can offer a clear perspective on the future.
Athletes like golfer Stephanie Meadow have shown that growing up and training to be in the Olympics do not need to be a lonely period of a young person’s life. When you find the right training environment, you can have fun with your training and develop relationships that are critical to your success.
