Countdown to Omaha: The Raw Emotions Before Trials

By Michael Andrew, World Junior Champion
 

With only a few days to go before Trials there are a lot of thoughts racing through my mind... I am so excited and ready to unchain my fastest, and race with everything I have to make the Olympic team.

I’m also very nervous and even afraid of coming to race and the result isn’t what I have in mind. I believe whole-heartedly that I have what it takes to make the Olympic team and I believe that I will make the team. The reason I say that is, if you don’t mentally believe in yourself, and the gift God has given you, there would be no point in going to race for a spot, because you would already have accepted not making the team.

Something I’ve learned recently is that when we as humans express sadness or fear, or even anger over something, it means that we care about that particular thing.

The last few meets I’ve competed in have not been the greatest results-wise, but I have learned so much from them. For a while, I had all that “disappointment” and sadness bottled up in me and it can definitely affect you physically.

Now that I have let it all out, I know I can embrace feeling emotional and being scared of Trials because it’s a very real fear that I have and that many others are feeling.

I am so excited for Trials because it’s going to be another opportunity for me to race free and enjoy doing what I do best. I know God has given this ability to me for a reason and I am more than ready to stand firm in my calling and to give glory to Him whether Trials is everything I want or not.

I am signed up to swim five events and of those five my most important and biggest chance at making the Olympic Team will be the 100 breaststroke. The 100 breast is swum the first day, which is really fortunate for me. As the week of racing goes on I will compete in the 100m freestyle, 200m IM, 50m free, and 100m fly.

Love you all so much, thank you for reading along. I want to just take this time to encourage you all to embrace the fears you have and know that it's healthy to let those fears out and push on instead of bottling up those fears until it breaks you down.

Off to Omaha!