Hello, athletes and parents. Welcome back to the Raising Elite Competitor podcast. I'm so excited that you are tuning in for today's episode. I'm Coach Sailor. I'm the head athlete, coach inside the elite competitor. We are giving a special shout out to our December athlete of the month. We are actually going to be hearing a story from our December athlete of the month's sports mom as well. We want to celebrate her and we want to share with all of you. The wins that she has had. I want you to make sure that your athlete hears this too, because I think it is so empowering and so inspiring to hear other success stories from athletes who are probably just like your own daughter. So bring'em in so that they can listen to this story from our athlete. And her name is Mackenzie. Mackenzie is a swim athlete and she is nine. She's almost going to be 10 years old, and she is going through our. Signature program for girl athletes and their moms called the Elite Mental Game, where she is learning tons of different techniques to have a consistent pre-game routine, to be able to bounce back quickly from mistakes, to know how to stop the spiral after games. She's learning a ton of skills and she's seeing. So much benefit in her sport from it as well. So this is what Mackenzie has shared with us. Mackenzie said, I'm a champion because I learned how to use my snapback routine. Mackenzie's snapback routine is something that she has learned through the elite mental game, and that is using a breath. A word and a signal to calm her down and help her bounce back quickly from mistakes. And I think most of our athletes in our program can agree that this is one of their favorite tools. And honestly, the quickest way to bounce back and regain composure. So as a swim athlete. You don't have a lot of time to bounce back, right? It is really crucial that you are able to, in the moment, regain that composure so that you can keep competing at your best. And this is what else she has shared with us. She said that she used her snapback routine for the first time at her swim meet, and she dropped time in every single event. I dropped almost 14 seconds. In one event, I placed first and two events, and third in another. I felt confident and swam my best. I really like using my snapback. Mackenzie, we are so proud of you. First of all, thank you so much for sharing that. That's a huge win, not just for your performance, but for your mental game as well. For you to use that the first time and go out there and crush it all around and all of your events is not easy. We know how hard you have worked to be able to implement that skill and be really quick to respond to any setbacks that you may have had. And also just have an elevated performance because of that. So I'm so glad that you were able to drop time in all of your events and also use your snapback routine. Okay, now let's pull back the curtain a little bit and we're gonna hear from what Mackenzie's mom, Sarah has said about. Watching Mackenzie and her progress and just what she would add on to Mackenzie's wins. So Sarah said she's a champion because she's working on her mental game and has dropped time. As a result, I'm nominating Mackenzie as Athlete of the month for two reasons. The first is because at her first swim, she dropped time in four events, which is a huge accomplishment. However, the bigger reason I'm nominating her as Athlete of the month is because we are brand new to the elite mental game. And just starting to work through the program together as mom and daughter. She has shown up and been so enthusiastic about everything we've done so far. I'm blown away by her excitement, dedication, and commitment to this program. She's about to turn 10 and she's showing such wisdom and maturity as well as passion for her sport. She even asked me to get a journal so she could take notes while we work through the trainings together and on the Zoom calls. I'm so proud of her and I know she'll take everything she learns and apply it to her swimming and I can't wait to see how it pays off. She has another meet next weekend and is swimming in two events she has never competed in before and I can already see a positive change in her confidence. I can't wait to watch Swim next weekend. Wow. Sarah again, like I literally have goosebumps. Reading this and just hearing about the mom daughter experience through our program, the elite mental game, that's huge. And honestly, that's exactly what we want from sports moms is we want them to see, of course their daughter's crushing it, but also just that confidence that they can have that. You know how to trust your skills, and you have the tools to be able to trust your skills, and that means that moms, you get to show up and you get to just enjoy and watch her play her sport, right? So moms and athletes out there listening. If this has inspired you in some way, we would love to have you inside our program, the elite mental game. Would love to support you on your sports journey. Again, we want to say it's a huge thank you to Mackenzie and Sarah Mackenzie. You are crushing it. Keep it up, and thank you so much for working hard and being our December athlete of the month. We'll see you next time on the Raising Elite Competitors Podcast.