Last week, I watched most of the Women’s NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on ESPN. Putting aside any comments about the format of the meet and the removal of the B finals, I enjoyed watching some great races and fast swimming. I also enjoyed Elizabeth Beisel’s interviews and on-deck commentary.
If you didn’t see her post-race interview with Torri Huske after her 100 fly win, I highly recommend you watch it. Why? Because it highlights a great lesson: “one swimmer, one strategy.”
During the interview, Elizabeth said, “your coaches told me that you swim your best when the lights are the brightest and you go somewhere about 20 minutes before your race” — then she asked Torri what she thinks about in those moments and in the ready room leading up to the race.
Torri explained that she uses that time to do a mental checklist of her body — making sure everything feels good and “shaking it out one by one.”
Does that mean every athlete should go off on their own to prepare for a race? No!
Let’s look at another Olympian, Katie Meili. There’s a great story about her in the book 30 Days to Confident by Christen Shefchunas.
Before her first international competition representing the U.S., Katie started panicking. What is interesting is that her strategy for dealing with nerves was very different from Torri’s.
Katie didn’t need to go off and be alone – she needed to say her fears out loud. So, as she walked to the blocks, she asked a teammate to come with her.
She told her teammate she just needed her to listen, then Katie spoke her fears:
What if my work doesn’t pay off?
What if I disappoint everyone?
What if I don’t win?
Her teammate said, “ok!” and walked away. Katie got on the blocks and won gold, swimming the fastest time in the world that year.
So what’s interesting about these two stories?
To go back to the title: One Swimmer, One Strategy.
Both Torri and Katie developed strong self-awareness of how they process information and regulate their nervous systems. Because that’s different for each of them, their strategies look different too.
Torri processes internally → then performs
Katie processes externally → then performs
I call this the Formula for OneTM — the idea that every swimmer needs to develop their own personal strategy for how they prepare, focus, respond, and reset in competition.
When swimmers have that, it becomes a real source of confidence. Not because someone told them what to do, but because it’s something they’ve tested and know they can rely on — especially in the chaos of a championship meet.
What I see a lot in articles and on social media is the opposite: a one-size-fits-all approach.
Things like:
“Here is the exact visualization routine used by Michael Phelps”
“Here’s how elite swimmers handle pressure”
These kinds of approaches can actually do swimmers a disservice because there isn’t one way elite athletes prepare. Trying to use someone else’s strategy usually doesn’t work.
Instead of pushing generic solutions, we should be helping swimmers understand themselves and build their own approach.
When swimmers understand their patterns — what fuels them, what distracts them, what helps them lock in — they can develop a mindset strategy that actually fits.
What is your Formula for OneTM?