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| Mary Killman (right) with ANA Synchro Head Coach Leah Pinette |
How does one get so good at synchronized swimming, or
anything for that matter? Surely, the
complete answer could fill up a years’ worth of blog entries, but, for this
article, we wanted to start at the very beginning of all pursuits – with the
setting of a goal.
ANA Synchro was fortunate to have Mary Killman deliver a
seminar on goal setting at one of our recent summer camps. Goal setting is particularly relevant now
because ANA Synchro is gearing up for another busy season of competition. Athletes here and around the nation are
working hard toward a range of goals they set at the beginning of the
year. Some want to make national teams;
some want to improve their figure scores; and some want to be a good friend and
teammate. These are all great goals, and
they all start with an important decision to just go for it.
Please read on as we ask Mary Killman to share what she has
learned about setting and achieving goals.
Mary: When Leah asked me to speak about goal
setting, I thought “how do I make this fun?”
It was the first day of camp, and I figured the girls would either have
a ton of energy or be shy and not say anything.
I gave them all a sheet of paper which basically had a little cross on
it, and in each of the four boxes, there was a question. One was “What is your goal?” The overall thing I was trying to get across with
them was that they should be setting a goal for
themselves. They shouldn’t be
looking around to other people’s papers and copying what someone else wrote
because it sounded good. And they
shouldn’t be setting a goal that their coach or parent or somebody else told
them they should do. It has to be their
own goal. They have to want it.
ANA Synchro: It’s great that you emphasize that a goal
should come from the athlete. It’s easy
to see how athletes in any sport could easily repeat what their coaches or
parents say and want them to do.
Mary: A coach is not there to tell you how to
think. Your coach can give you feedback
on your goals, but they can’t set your goals for you. Once you set a goal for yourself, the coach
will be there to guide you in the direction of where you want to be in the end. But it starts with you. You
have to make a conscious decision that you want to aim higher. I knew that I wanted to go to the
Olympics. I had some issues in figuring
out the exact steps of how to do it, but the coaches helped me with that part
of it. But the original goal was mine.
ANA Synchro: What were the other three questions?
Mary: “Why do you want to accomplish your
goal?” If you have no idea why you want
to do something, then it probably wasn’t your idea. “What will you do to accomplish it?” Write it
down! You may or may not like it at the
time, but seeing the steps helps you know what it will take to reach your
goal. Finally, “What should you
avoid?” If you don’t know what to avoid,
you’re not going to get anywhere.
Thinking it through like this works on anything from synchro to life in
general.
ANA Synchro: What happened to the goal worksheets
after the seminar?
Mary: After we made sure everything on the paper was
coming from them and in their own words, I had them all sign it at the
bottom. I told them now it shouldn’t be
a paper that you just put in your bag and never see again. I suggested putting their goal sheet somewhere
they would see it, where it will remind them why it’s there. For example, if you want your timing to be
better in synchro, then put your goal sheet on your mirror to remind yourself
to land drill. If you want to be a
happier person, then put it next to your bed or on your ceiling so it’s the
first thing you see. If your goal is to
go to the gym more often, put it on your door so you see it every time you leave
the house.
ANA Synchro: It’s not like anyone else is checking whether
you have your goal sheet hanging up or not.
Mary: Right, it’s all your decision. I stress constantly that you can keep your
goal sheet in a prominent spot, or you can throw it away. It’s your decision to learn and pull things
away from this or any other seminar; I was going to be there talking
anyway. Likewise, it’s your decision to
listen to and learn from your coach during practice time; the coaches will be
on deck no matter what. The bottom line
is it’s your decision to get better
or not; your decision to
work toward your goals or not.
ANA Synchro: Goal setting can be a scary thing – it’s a
ton of work to go after something, especially if it’s a big something; plus it
stinks if you don’t achieve your goal.
Mary: One of my dad’s favorite quotes to this day
is by Henry Ford: Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right. In other words, if you think you can’t do
something, then you probably won’t achieve it.
How you think about things makes a huge difference. If you doubt yourself, it hurts your
performance. Nobody is 100% confident
and positive all the time, but if you decide to do something and think you can
do it, then you’ll work harder and have a much better chance of achieving your
goal. I’ve grown up with this, and my
dad was right. Your brain is telling you
so many things that you can either pay attention to, or you can just ignore. When you make a goal, make yourself a
promise that it’s OK, it’s what you’re going to do, and then go for it.
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| Mary Killman (third from left) with ANA Synchro athletes at last year's US Nationals. The girls appreciated learning about setting goals and working toward them from such an accomplished athlete as Mary. |
ANA Synchro: And when it gets hard?
Mary: My advice is to learn to want to learn. Understand that you don’t know
everything. Learn to want to be
coached. You never know what’s going to
work for you unless you open up and want to learn about other people’s ways of
looking at things. Of course, you can’t
be afraid to look like an absolute idiot sometimes! This has been a challenge for me, and I can
be my own worst enemy when learning new things.
Even though I’ve been to the Olympics and I’m at this crazy-high elite
level, there are times when I’m going to be below my knee in a vertical because
of something I did wrong before. I’m
still learning to be OK with learning new things, even when I’m not good at
them. Now I say I’m just not good at
them yet.
