00:00 Motivation is not something that you find.
00:03 You got it or you don't.
00:05 We're here for a reason.
00:06 There's plenty of days where I just don't want to do it.
00:09 And on those days, I ask myself, "Well, do you really want to do it, though?"
00:14 And that answer is yes, so I go do it.
00:16 [music]
00:20 For me, a big motivator is obviously bringing home another gold,
00:24 and I try to just visualize that and remember that.
00:26 But really, I don't do this for myself and more do it for the people I love.
00:31 I want to make people proud.
00:32 And then, obviously, I want to think about the effect it's going to have on girls that look up to me
00:38 because that's one of my favorite things, getting messages from younger girls that are excited and inspired.
00:43 So I think I just try to think about if I do this and I can pull another gold out,
00:48 that's going to change the world in a way.
00:50 I find motivation by just wanting to be great and continuing to make sure that the women's game
00:57 and women's sports, we're constantly growing.
01:00 So that and also motivation from my kids, knowing that they're looking up to me
01:06 and I'm trying to be my best for them.
01:08 I don't really need motivation to do anything.
01:11 It's more of just I know that I have to do it, so I go and do it.
01:14 It's like me walking into work or me drinking water or me, I don't know, like doing laundry.
01:19 When I'm in the thick of training, my motivation comes from my husband
01:24 and it also comes from my goals that I've set for myself to where I want to be and who I want to be.
01:32 Motivation, it comes and goes like motivation does, unfortunately.
01:37 But once that motivation is high, I try to take it all, take advantage of it.
01:43 Full 100% effort.
01:45 My motivation has changed throughout the course of my career.
01:48 Early on in my Team USA career, my motivation came from winning a gold medal.
01:52 Now that me and my team has done that a couple of times, my motivation has shifted.
01:58 The impact I can have off the court is so much more important to me
02:01 than the impact I can have on it at this point.
02:03 My life and my world completely changed the day that I found wheelchair basketball
02:07 and I am working so hard to provide that experience to as many people with disabilities as possible.
02:15 We need to raise the awareness of adaptive sports.
02:18 We need to raise the impact adaptive sports can have on people with disabilities.
02:22 I find the motivation from my family.
02:24 Anytime I'm training, usually I'm away from them.
02:26 So just really trying to be intentional with the time that I'm taking away from my family
02:30 continues to help me get through it, especially in the thick of training.
02:34 So when I'm in thick training, my motivation is having really good rides
02:38 just because it inspires me to do even better.
02:41 And when I don't have the best ride, I look at what I've done great and what I've done not so great
02:46 and I bring those up to really positive moments in my ride.
02:50 I walked off the track in Tokyo in fifth place, one inch away from the bronze medal.
02:55 And it was one of the most devastating moments of my entire life to fail on the world stage,
02:59 to come so close to the podium in front of my family and friends
03:03 and millions of people watching around the world.
03:05 I was embarrassed. I was devastated. I was heartbroken.
03:08 So I set my screensaver as a photo that the medalists were taking that I was watching.
03:12 There's days I get up and I don't want to train.
03:14 There's days where there's obstacles, roadblocks, things aren't going well.
03:17 My body's feeling really tired.
03:19 I open up my phone. I see a photo of the medalists that beat me in Tokyo.
03:23 It reminds me to keep going.
03:26 I can't get complacent. I can never be content.
03:29 I use this screensaver, this photo, as a reminder that I can't let that happen again.
03:34 It's kind of cool to see how much my body can do and how hard I can push it.
03:38 If it were easy, everybody would do it.
03:40 And to me, I'm able to do this and it's so hard, but I'm so thankful I can do it.
03:44 A motivator is being the best I can be.
03:46 Honestly, it's just my family.
03:48 I got into archery because I wanted to provide for my family and that drive is still there.
03:53 I try to remember that feeling of when I'm really riding at my best.
03:58 I just have to get 1% better every day at what I do.
04:02 And that 1% comes from getting into those uncomfortable moments and then thriving in them.
04:07 So I know that when I'm in that deep depth and I don't want to be there anymore,
04:11 that's when I have to wake up.
04:14 Honestly, my motivation is just get it done.
04:17 The biggest thing is just to continue to tell myself, "You're almost done. Just finish it."
04:21 And then you don't have to worry about it right now.
04:23 I feel like I find motivation through all my teammates.
04:26 We have such an amazing group of gals that are training full-time together.
04:31 Everybody's working so hard and we're all trying to achieve the same goal.
04:35 So if I'm having a particularly bad day, I can leverage off of Abby's amazing thoughts
04:40 and be like, "Oh, I can celebrate her successes to get myself out of my little hole."
04:44 That's actually something I've been working on a lot is celebrating the small wins,
04:47 even if they're not mine, especially if I'm frustrated looking at someone else do something well.
04:51 And I'm like, "Awesome. That was cool."
04:53 I find motivation, one, just because I haven't accomplished what I want in my career so far.
04:58 So I think that's definitely one.
05:00 But my family, the people who have supported me growing up, I play for them.
05:04 I want to make them proud, and I think that's as much motivation as one can need.
05:08 This is where having teammates is really helpful because on those hard days,
05:12 it's really easy to look inward.
05:14 And having people like Ashley or other teammates who know you really well
05:18 and being able to go to them, even sometimes say like, "Hey, today's a rough one,"
05:23 and being able to acknowledge that and share it allows you to move past that
05:28 and allows that space for your teammate to help you.
05:32 I think about my why and the whys that my teammates have.
05:36 I think that that's really helpful, especially in stretches of bad times.
05:40 In moments, one of my whys is challenge.
05:43 Like, I love to be challenged. I play this game because it never stops challenging you.
05:48 Motivation comes with me just wanting to prove, or continues to prove,
05:53 that I can compete at a high level.
05:55 I want to continue to show the world the longevity of the Team USA wheelchair basketball program.
06:01 What I try to do is just maintain love for skateboarding.
06:04 Get out and skate with my friends, maybe take a day off training, go do something else.
06:08 But most of the time, I'm pretty happy.
06:10 I think my teammates definitely.
06:13 We've gotten to a point where it keeps me going and what makes me love the sport even more.
06:19 When I first started, I didn't make my first Paralympic Games in 2008,
06:24 and I was told I'm too small and it's unrealistic to be an athlete.
06:29 And I wanted to show young girls and young athletes that you don't have to have the perfect body type.
06:34 There's no such thing as being too small or too big or whatever it is.
06:37 It's just unique to yourself and finding your unique abilities.
06:41 Also, just being visible and being seen and helping young girls know that you can be successful in sport,
06:48 not just at your team sport in middle school and high school.
06:52 You can represent Team USA and you have value and worth here.
06:56 And to show what strength looks like and it looks like sweaty muscles,
07:02 and you can be beautiful and empowered.
07:04 And showing that and then showing what people with disabilities can do on the start line.
07:09 line.
07:09 (electronic music)
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