Olympic Gold Medalist Carly Patterson Embraces New Function as Nationwide Workforce Mentor
By Ashlee Buhler
2004 Olympic All-Round Champion Carly Patterson is aware of a factor or two in regards to the strain and expectations that include being an Olympic hopeful. That’s precisely why she was chosen for her new function as Nationwide Workforce Mentor for the U.S. girls’s nationwide workforce within the lead-up to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Inside Gymnastics was on the scene because the Olympic gold and silver medalist met with athletes on the February Nationwide Workforce Camp; nearly 5 months out from the beginning of the Video games. In her new function, Patterson will attend all Nationwide Workforce Camps and key competitions on the highway to Paris, providing assist and steerage to any athlete who wants it. Patterson is on the market as a useful resource to any Nationwide Workforce Member, even exterior of camps and competitions, as they navigate one of the crucial thrilling, but additionally one of the crucial pressure-packed chapters of their lives.
“I used to be like, I’m right here for no matter you guys want. And simply sort of opening that up and constructing these relationships so that they really feel like they [can] come to me if they’ve one thing as a result of it’s a kind of issues the place Alicia [Sacramone Quinn] and Chellsie [Memmel] – they’re the choice committee and so they’re selecting them,” Patterson mentioned. “I’m extra so the individual they might come to if they should vent or they simply needed to speak or they’ve questions or they simply want some additional assist and so they don’t have to fret about me being part of the choice committee or something like that.”
Patterson had her first assembly with the athletes on the January Nationwide Workforce Camp. With six months to go till the Video games on the time, Patterson spoke to the athletes about being disciplined and eliminating distractions as they put together for a chance of a lifetime.
“[Six months out] I used to be beginning to get distracted by all of the issues {that a} 16-year-old would need to do,” Patterson mentioned. “It may be very simple, however my coach needed to sort of sit me down and have a come to Jesus assembly, and he was like, ‘Hey, look, we’ve received six months. What are your priorities? And do you suppose you may put your blinders on? Do you suppose you may drown out all of the distractions proper now and simply work as onerous as you presumably can for the subsequent six months?’ All of these issues which might be distractions proper now and alternatives and issues, they’ll be there in six months, however the Olympics gained’t.”
Patterson’s focus in the course of the February camp was centered round serving to the athletes establish their why – what pushes them to get up every morning and get to the fitness center in moments when the motivation simply isn’t there.
“I don’t have motivation to rise up within the mornings when my alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m. to work out – when my home continues to be darkish, my youngsters are nonetheless asleep, my mattress continues to be heat and comfortable, however it’s my why that makes me throw my covers off and try this,” Patterson mentioned. “We want the why behind what we’re doing as a result of that’s what’s going to propel us ahead and transfer us by means of instances of the place we get burned out, the place we get caught in a rut, the place we get injured, the place we’re simply not feeling it that day,” Patterson mentioned. “And so it’s a brief journey and a brief season, however it’s additionally a marathon in a approach. And so it’s important to simply actually keep centered, keep dedicated, proceed to recollect your why each single day and let that drive you.”
Search for extra on Patterson’s new function and the February Nationwide Workforce camp within the March/April Subject of Inside Gymnastics journal.
