S3 E8 “A Devine Choice” – feat. Dr. Megan Neyer

Join John Moffet as he interviews World Champion Diver turned Sports Psychologist, Dr. Megan Neyer. From a small town in Kentucky, to Southern California, Neyer trained at the legendary Mission Viejo Aquatic Center with the U.S. Olympic Coach and greatest diver of all time, Greg Lougainis. Listen in as she talks about her journey in Olympic Diving and the battles she faced along the way. 

Season Sponsor: ROKA
Use code "SLB" for 20% off your purchase at Roka.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

INTRO: 0:00

Great to have you with us here. This is season three, Episode Eight of sports life balance.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 0:05

I think there's a lot of misconception and to this day that if you're going to be in this elite athlete world, and that has to be your sole focus, actually, that belies some of the research about people who keep their stress reduce the most are people that are actually more well rounded and have more balance in their lives that are actually more able to sustain through the ongoing pressures of being an elite athlete. And so one way or another life goes on and again, then we've got choices to make, right? One of the things that were said a lot during my career was, you know, you've sacrificed so much and I'm like, hell no one is sacrifice anything. I just made a bunch of decisions based on what I wanted, and, and the sacrifice suggests that I miss something and, um, I just had a different life.

JOHN MOFFET: 0:59

Here's a small dose of perspective from World Champion diver and sports performance counselor, Dr. Megan Neyer. I'm John Moffet, and welcome to sports life balance. And as always, I'm glad you're here. Growing up in northeastern Kentucky, Megan realized at an early age that in order for her Olympic dreams to materialize, she had to leave home. So at 16, she found herself in Southern California training at the legendary Mission Viejo aquatic center with the US Olympic coach, and the greatest Diver of all time, correctly gayness. Just two years later, she was selected for the 1980 Summer Olympic diving team. Unfortunately for Megan, the Moscow games were boycotted by the United States due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, a heartbreaking situation that I found myself in as well ever determined Megan rebounded a couple of years later, when she became the world champion and a three meter springboard. Then she became the all time winningest diver in collegiate history, sweeping all eight Springboard competitions in four years. But despite Megan's diving dominance, the Olympics eluded her just missing spots on both in 1984, and 1988. US teams, today Megan draws upon her rich athletic experiences, from the remarkable successes to the crushing disappointments to passionately enable countless athletes, teams and organizations to bring about their own world class performance. So in the spirit of full disclosure, and two party states, which we both live, you're being recorded Megan nine,

Dr. Megan Neyer: 2:33

I accept that I am being recorded. I give you permission, whatever it is, you need to need to say.

JOHN MOFFET: 2:44

Well, fantastic. I really thank you for joining me today for sports life balance for my podcast. And you know, not long ago, I was asked and I've been asked this many times is like, Why do I know so many interesting people? And I've often wondered that about myself, and perhaps you found yourself in the same boat, but I would definitely count you through the years as one of those people on that list.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 3:13

Thank you very much. Well, we have a mutual admiration society. I've always thought the world of you and appreciate you and intersecting with you for what 2530 years now.

JOHN MOFFET: 3:25

How about right, it's okay. Oh, my, you know, it's for decades. Yeah. Yes.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 3:34

That's mildly terrifying. Anyhow. We're still here. We're on the side of the dirt. So

JOHN MOFFET: 3:39

yeah, well, that's true. So let's let's go. Let's go to your your background before we knew each other. You grew up in Kentucky. The scribe Vamp the family of active athletes and dancers and summer Yeah, swimmers and water people.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 3:56

Well, water was very central to my family's life. I could swim before I could walk. And it just I even though it was Kentucky in northeastern Kentucky and I grew up on the Ohio River I grew up in Grayson reservoir I grew up in braceland. I grew braceland was our you know, public pool of course only open from made what August or September today and, and the YMCA and so Swimming was just a part of our legacy heritage. You know, this tiny little town one state high school championships and so Swimming was just, you know, I remember being at the pool. I just realized a few years ago that blazer High School was only a four lane pool, but I remember like, you know, the very very long days of swim meets there and all of my siblings swimming and and so Swimming was very central water was very central to my upbringing.

JOHN MOFFET: 4:59

Yeah, simple. or background for me as well. But how did you find diving? How did you how did that bug bite you?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 5:06

Well, that bug bit me. i The first bug that bit me was gymnastics. And so I watched Kathy Rigney in 1968 at the Olympics. And I was like, that's the bath, you know, that's where I'm going. And I was, I was on my I was flipping and twisting more than I was walking on my feet. It my family took me anywhere, and I'm doing roundoff back handsprings, and and, and but again, growing up in a small place. There wasn't a whole lot of opportunity. And long story short, after about five years gymnastics, my coach had to give up the team for personal reasons that there just weren't any other choices. And so we've I was very fortunate, we had a fabulous YMCA that I essentially grew up in. And that's where I would do also a lot of gymnastics and jump tramp and trap trampoline. And, and did a lot of gymnastics there. But they had a fabulous pool with a one meter and a three meter, which was very unusual. At that time, most pools would have those little dinky awful one meters, and these were state of the art Duraflex boards on one and three meter. So I took a diving class at the YMCA because I'm like, Hey, I love gymnastics. I love water, what could go wrong here? And, and so after this six week diving class, he's like, hey, you know, I think you're, you know, you're, you have some potential, and you'd like to come in and continue diving in the evenings. And so I said, Sure, I'd love to. And so that's how it started in little lash and Kentucky. So

JOHN MOFFET: 6:46

I mean, and that's, that's a really have kind of a first life lesson here is that you have the opportunity, you just were born in the right place where you had access to a pool and a YMCA that had state of the art diving, diving boards, etc. But the thing is on you is that you decided to go for it. Right? You decided you were going to you were going to see where it can take us. And that's always the first step toward achieving success, correct?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 7:15

Absolutely. I don't know how it was for you. But all I know is it was truly like bit by bug and it happened in gymnastics. And I was like, that's where I'm going. And when I was 12 years old and my gymnastics teacher, my gymnastic coach had to give up the team. I was asked Ashley to move away and train and this is when I was 12. So this is 1974. And, and at that time moving away from your family, you know, straight out of the womb was just not an N thing. And and even though it would have only been to Cincinnati, Ohio my parents were like, Yeah, that's not happening. And and so I was like, You know what now and so diving, just eat, it just materialized. And so I was like, Oh, well cool. I love these two things. So this is even better. I love the water. I love to flip and twist. And so Okay, let's do it this way. And so I don't remember choosing it to kind of choose chose me.

JOHN MOFFET: 8:15

Yeah, yeah, I think I can I can certainly relate. It's all part of trying to find yourself but you a few years later, after you had the opportunity to leave home, you took it to the next step, which was moving to the Aquatics mecca of the world at the time, which is Mission Viejo, Mission Viejo, California back in the 70s and 80s was a big deal. What made you make that drastic move? I mean, you're still young.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 8:48

When I was when I was 14 and 15. I went down to Ron O'Brien styling camp, which was in Decatur, Alabama, and when I was 14, actually, this was 1976 and my coach Jeff Suriano. took me to the Olympic trials. They were in Knoxville, Tennessee at University of Tennessee. And so here's Greg Louganis and and Jenny Chandler and Tim Moore and Kent Vossler. And, and all the people and so I was not a participant there because at that point, I was actually only diving one meter. And I it just that's when I was like, Okay, it's official. Yeah. And, and I spent probably three weeks at Ron's camp in Decatur. But he wasn't around because he was actually training his training the elite athletes and so all of his assistant coaches were coaching the camp members so so all although I met him and Knoxville, you know, hello, you know, like he met lots of kids. He did not really see me dive that summer. And so

JOHN MOFFET: 9:56

well, just to also to put it in context for listeners. Is that Ronald Brian back then was at the top of his game, he would go on to coach many, many, many Olympians, a time Olympic coach, a time Olympic coach. So yes, this guy, this guy was the top dog for recruiting talent in the United States to Team USA.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 10:19

Yeah, yes, at that time, he was the head coach of Ohio State University. Columbus, Ohio was about two and a half hours away from my house. And then, and in the summer when I was 15. Went back to Decatur spent multiple weeks at Ron's camp there where he saw me dive because he was coaching the campers. And he said, I think you have a lot of talent. Actually, to be fair, what he said to me is he said, I think you're one of the most talented divers I've ever seen. Like my eyes kind of went bugged out in my head, because here was the guy who had just coached any Chandler to an Olympic gold medal in the year before 1976. And, and, and he said, and he knew at that time that he was going to be moving to Mission Viejo the following year. And he said, so I would like to invite you to come out there and train and so um, so I call up my parents and say, hey, Ron wants me to move to Michigan to California, that he's going out there. And he's going to be at this Mecca program out in Southern California. And they're like, why, you know, so. So, it probably took me four or five months, and it actually was my next oldest brother, because I'm the youngest of five, it was my next oldest brother, Steve, who I think my parent Well, my parents apparently sat down with him and said, Well, what do you think? Do we let her go? And he's like, you know, she's kind of outgrown it here. I mean, there were wonderful reasons. I mean, I loved growing up national Tukey it was, you know, small community, thriving metropolis. 30,000 people at the time. And, and it was, but the opportunity if I wanted to, to take it to the next level, I had to leave. Yeah.

JOHN MOFFET: 12:11

And and that sounds that sounds extreme, I think to many people that are not familiar with elite athletics and international athletics is to pull up your roots and actually move to where the best training is. But within our world, it's not that unique and it's something that's done and it's oftentimes a necessary sacrifice for those athletes who might live in a place that doesn't have the resources of coaching the facilities, etc. So it's not really that unique of a thing so you found yourself in Mission Viejo What was your living situation like you're still you're still a girl.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 12:54

Yeah, I'm still a girl. Three days after my 16th birthday, packed up my bags, you know, got my driver's license on my 16th birthday. I packed up my bags and got on a plane arrived in LAX into the arms of people I had never met. So at Mission Viejo, a lot of people became host families and I to have their sons the Hobbs, Ruthie and hartsel Hobbs, two other sons have been divers with Sammy Lee. Wow. who coached Greg Louganis, before Ron moved to California and

JOHN MOFFET: 13:28

is an Olympic gold medalist in 50. Something 48 and 5240 52

Dr. Megan Neyer: 13:34

Okay, yeah, on platform first Asian American actually gold medalist, the United States. And so So Ron and Sammy were working on finding host families for all of us who were moving to Mission Viejo. And so I literally had never met these people other than on the phone and it wasn't you know, it wasn't like it is today where you can get on Zoom or FaceTime and meet the people and all of this and I drove home to Mission Viejo when that began the journey and the Hobbs I can't say enough about just what an amazing family they were. And just they had had three sons and so I was the daughter they never had. And, and they were both just really wonderful supportive people to well, there they both passed away in 2020. It was actually we got a bang bang in terms of them passing away but the I was there that kid they that daughter they never had and so again, I had an I had three more older brothers and who are all at house at this point. And so they were just extraordinary and you know, they would come to the meets and what I was about to say is to this day, Ruthie couldn't tell you the difference between a front dive in the back door I was like, Oh, that was nice. You know, that was lovely. So they were just really kind saying wonderful human beings that housed a few of us actually. And, and so I couldn't have been more fortunate if it just felt like a divine choice. Right, right. Fortunate.

JOHN MOFFET: 15:24

You're, you're you're building your village in Southern California. And I guess this was the first step and of course, we you mentioned Ron O'Brien, being the head coach, then of the Mission Viejo diving team. But there was also this guy named Greg Louganis. That was, who is the greatest diver undisputed greatest diver in history. What was that like? Training with somebody like that?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 15:51

Um, it was just remarkable. But also at that time, Jenny Chandler was there Jenny Chandler, Olympic gold medalist in 76. So Greg had won silver in 76 on platform and and so Jenny was out there too. And so Jenny, I had met I think when I was 14 or 15, down in Decatur, Alabama. She's an Alabama girl. And so she was training with Ron at that time. And so I have this really old picture of Jenny and I together and Jenny was just she was this beautiful woman and then just she was just this iconic diver and gorgeous and tall and long and left and gorgeous. And, and then Greg Louganis, and so graves pretty shy. And but he was very kind. He was very kind to all of us. He had no ego whatsoever. I mean, just like he was just he was nice. He was sort of quietly funny once you got to know him. And and he's probably the sole reason ever got my behind a 10 meter platform. Because I was terrified. Yeah, I was terrified. I was terrified of heights. Like I dived one meter for two years before I ever got on the three meter. So Joe Satriani. Soriano taught me my three meter list. And then I moved to California. And then actually, I was out there for about a year before. I tried to live in platform. And I was like, I just couldn't handle it. And I was overwhelmed. And Ron said, well, let's just table that. And let's, you know, get you going on springboard. And and so in the summer of 79, I started diving platform with the help of Greg, you mentioned? Yes, because I, I was up on the 10 meter, and I was going to do a front one and a half, which is not a hard dive, and except, except if you're terrified, everything is hard.

JOHN MOFFET: 17:45

Well, 10 meters is really, really high as a swimmer. I mean, like, we used to go off the 10 meter, right? I mean, you know, a million swimmers like, hey, take me up on the platform, and we go, but let me tell you, it's really high when you're up there. It is, it is the death very definition of leap of faith. And then when you hit the water, it's hard.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 18:04

It is hard water is not play when you're hitting it at 35 miles an hour or so. So indeed, my terrorism was justified. But nonetheless, some people are bigger thrill seekers, seekers than I am. And I'm not one of those people who's like, Oh, hey, let's jump out of a perfectly good plane. And so that was not, you know, I, so it was not my thing. And so I'm on the back of the platform with my arms wrapped around, crying, bawling, like I'm gonna die. That's for what it out. And Greg sat down beside me, like, at this point, this guy's the reigning world champion on platform. And, and he just sat down beside me put his arm around me and said, You're gonna be okay. And he said, Just jump at stuck. And what that means is, is slow the rotation down. Because then you can always kind of break and pull it in at the very end, if you're not rotating enough that if you but if you kind of like wing the rotation and go too fast, and you're in deep trouble. So I said, jump at stuck. And that's what I did. And, and I survived. And he was responsible for counting me off the platform more times than I can tell you during this adventure of learning platform. Wow.

JOHN MOFFET: 19:25

And there's a number of extraordinary things about that story. But fast forward a year or so later, and you made the 1980 Olympic team. We'll talk about the implications of that in a second. But you made the 1980 Olympic team in the I believe it was the one meter three meter, three meter and 10 meter, which was really unprecedented, I believe for women back then. And still today correct to to specialize in the springboard and then also make the team in the platform.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 20:02

Yeah, especially since then I only diving platform for a year. Yeah. But if they're the benefits of being tear, terrorized by something is you're very thoughtful with every time you go off of it, you. And so again, my gymnastics background platform is actually easier to master if fear is not a big presence is because the springboard moves, the platform is solid. So the platform is more amenable to people with gymnastics background because they're used to solid surfaces.

JOHN MOFFET: 20:36

And thanks, and thanks to Greg.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 20:38

Yeah, actually, and thanks to Greg and, and thanks to my other I had other teammates too, who were like, Okay, we're gonna live, you know,

JOHN MOFFET: 20:47

well, your village, it's like this is this is so important. And not only in sports, of course, is your support network, but just in life, right? It's it that carries on in truth, seeking out those people and being open to those people. And then them being receptive to your openness. That is such an important thing throughout life and something that you and I were blessed with learning early on.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 21:12

Very much. So it was that village that made me great. And that was that village that supported me to be great. And to this day, really, my best friends are these elite athletes and and, and whether or not they achieved their final aspirations or not, we all get together and at the risk of sounding disrespectful to our military veterans, we were kind of war buddies, right? I mean, we were freezing to death at times in Southern California. Contrary to popular belief, it doesn't. It's not always sunny and warm. So and sometimes the wind was blowing 2030 miles an hour, and you're standing on your tippy toes on the end of a platform and yeah, wet cold, freaked out. And, and, and if you and if you wiped out it was really, really, really going to hurt. Yeah. And so these people, you know, this when we all get back together, it's like we get into the war stories, right. Of our respective the demands of, of being an elite athlete.

JOHN MOFFET: 22:18

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And that's, that's definitely one of the magical things about having the experience of being an elite athlete and traveling internationally with with a team of world class fellow athletes. But another something that was the byproduct of the 1980 Olympic team, of course, was the boycott. Just to remind the listeners the boycott, Jimmy Carter, basically said that he will not support sending an Olympic US Olympic team to the to the Moscow because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. I don't want to get too much in the history of it, but you personally, how did the boycott affect you?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 23:06

Well, John, I was 18. And while it was really it was very shocking and disappointing. And I'm like, How can this be i cuz the the, our Olympic Committee, the United States Olympic Committee, was the only Olympic Committee in the world at that point and still to date, or that our government does not fund our athletes right and so so How could our government take away this opportunity?

JOHN MOFFET: 23:35

We'll be right back with Megan in a minute. I want to let you know about our partner ROKA, I've been wearing their industry leading wetsuits and goggles in swimsuits for a long time but ROKA also makes state of the art eyeglasses and sunglasses and they're designed for those of us who like to push boundaries physically and want to look at doing it I know this firsthand because I own a few pairs myself and they are extremely light and they won't slip off my face no matter what. And if you need prescription glasses like I do, you can try them on at home ROKA will send you your choice of four frames and then order your favorite and give ROKA your prescription. It's that simple. So go to roka.com That's ROKA.com and enter code SLB as in sports life balance. That's just three letters S lb. To save 20% on all of your orders. And that's for anything on their website. Have fun.

INTRO: 24:24

Hope you've enjoyed the show you're back listening to sports life balance.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 24:28

So How could our government take away this opportunity? And my parents footed my bill the bar government did not fit my bill for being an elite athlete. I mean, if my family if I hadn't come from a reasonably well to do family my dreams would have gone glug glug glug, right. So so it just it made no sense to me. No. And I had been to Russia the year before and even though we were in the height of the Cold War in 1979 That was my first trip out of the country. So my first trip out of the country was a duel meet with Russians into Blissey, Russia and, and, and the Russian athletes are wonderful Yeshua, and we became friends. And so that was the first time I had ever stepped foot on foreign soil. And we were treated incredibly well. And they were nice then. And you know, they can actually speak English and I couldn't speak to like Russian. But, but that was my first opportunity to go, wow, you know, this whole political thing is really kind of a mess. But these people are pretty awesome.

JOHN MOFFET: 25:47

But there's also just a profound life lesson that all of us have to grapple with when it comes to the boycott. And for you, what, what, how did that life lesson manifests itself?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 26:02

Well, it was certainly my first super grand lesson and there's just there are things in the universe, you don't have any control over you can you can work the system you can do what your your quote supposed to do. Right? You can do everything right. And, and you don't get the back end of what you did everything right about Yeah. So just that fundamental concept that there are things in the universe, we don't have any control over.

JOHN MOFFET: 26:27

Right, right. And we'll talk a little bit more about that and a bit but absolutely, that it's it's something you know, we were both teenagers, and it's something that we just had to deal with, and move on. But we were young. And and we had 1984 to look forward to. I remember specifically, let's talk about Guayaquil, Ecuador and World Championships. And I remember that. The diving team and the synchro team, and the swimming team, we were, we were we traveled together quite a bit. We're in buses together. And I remember specifically, I believe it was on the way to the opening ceremony, be on a bus with you and getting to know you better, but talk about just a just a magical time where these friendships, lifelong friendships. were formed and forged.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 27:24

Well, um, I I always had an affinity for swimmers. And in 1982 That was after that was after my freshman year at University of Florida and my best friend in the world already at that point was Jeff Camerino. And he was summer at University of Florida. He was partially responsible for recruiting me there and so we were just we became brother and sister the minute I stepped off on the pool deck and and in high school, I had dated a swimmer and so again but it's high school at Mission Viejo was Jesse besides to and Brian Goodell and, and, and, you know, these were all people who were world record holder swimmers and, and my boyfriend too was he was a distance swimmer and said, you know, the way he kept entertained during those ridiculously long training sessions was watching me dive in the pool over and so he was a really wonderful support system. So swimming, I just had this very natural affinity and and so and then I went to the University of Florida and Craig Beardsley and, and these amazing swimmers are there and Tracy Calkins. Oh, by the way, so by the way, he who got to be with the the best male diver in the history of the sport, and then wound up on the team of the best female swimmer in the history of the sport and, and just furthered my love for this board of swimming because she was just just like Greg was poetry and motion to watch. Tracy Calkins was poetry and motion in the water.

JOHN MOFFET: 29:10

Absolutely. And had she she's an example her and sippy Woodhead are two examples of female swimmers whose achievement could very well have rivaled the likes of Katie Ledecky and things like that. And they just, they just missed their opportunity. There's countless athletes of all sports who fall into that category. But these are all amazing people and amazing swimmers. You also became world champion in Guayaquil, Ecuador, which I remember specifically which is like World Champion seriously. That is that is extraordinary. By any measure? Yeah.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 29:50

Yeah. And at that time, our world championships were kind of the Olympics right because an add the whole world wasn't together and 84 the whole world wasn't together. It wasn't it was from 76 to 88. Before the the whole world was back together because the boycotts Matey in 84. So it was really, you know, more indicative of who really was the best in the world at that time.

JOHN MOFFET: 30:12

It was a true test. Yes. International test without boundaries. Yeah. Right. Well, how did how did you become a world champion at? If I do the math correctly, you were about 20? How does that affect the trajectory of your diving career, you're so we all know that you have these big victories and but you know, very soon after you're back on it, you are freezing, you're training hard again. And it's just you.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 30:43

Um, I think anytime you talk to athletes who go through those big Pinnacle moments, it there is it's like, the air comes out of the, the bubble, right or out of the blue and, and, and you kind of lose your sense of, it's like a planet off its axis. Right? And you're kind of going okay, now what and the other part of that is, I hate to admit this, but I'm winning the World Championships. I didn't dive my absolute best. And, and so I'm standing on the award stand going, well, crap, I kind of missed my back two and a half, you know, and nevermind, I'm putting a gold medal around my neck. I'm like, dang, I you know, that wasn't enough. I didn't, you know, yes, I won the world championships, but I didn't do well enough. And

JOHN MOFFET: 31:34

that's, that's just you're just putting a lot of pressure on yourself. I mean, right?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 31:41

Yes, I'm in a very exacting sport. I'm in a very like, and I had a very exacting coach. And so it was not difficult to get spun up in extreme high precision and perfectionism. Because, quote, 10 was perfect, right? That was the goal. And, and not that 10 happened a lot, but eight and a half's happened, Nines happened, this happened, and, and so. So you start focusing, too much of the focus becomes on what you didn't want to have happen instead of what you do want to have happen. And so it became the first as I started accumulating all of these gold medals, where it really wasn't about the gold medal. It was about the performance and how was the performance? And and how, because I got out of every single meet, and said, How can I do that better?

JOHN MOFFET: 32:45

Which is, which is natural for an athlete, but not in an extreme? Maybe it isn't an extreme. You know what, we're all pretty. We're all we were all pretty extreme.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 32:57

What what are you ever say I swam fast enough?

JOHN MOFFET: 33:01

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, no, no, you can never so yeah, so I definitely take that back. Well, you diving and swimming are very, very different sports. People think, Oh, it's you know, are you a diver too? I've been asked that dozens of times. And, and the fact of the matter is, there are two entirely different sports. Swimming, of course, being objective time you touch the wall first, plain and simple. Diving is a judge sport, what are some of the difficulties that you were met with, with regard to diving?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 33:36

Well, anytime there's judging there's subjectivity. And so part of the landscape of diving was it's an aesthetic sport. And I, I hit the scene, when there was a major transition in the sport of diving from this kind of like the tall long length flowy kind of dives to the more gymnastic dives and so I could do lots of flips and twists, I'm five foot two, I'm I'm built muscularly and I was entering diving in the era at the end of that area era of that long and lengthy kind of thing. And so there was a body stereotype that it took it was there was a real lag period between moving from that that ideal body type into the more ideal body type of being able to flip and twist more and so diving spawned a lot of eating disorders and because we were told to be at specific weights and we were weighed in and and, and so again, it comes back to your non enough for your you're not, you know, you don't meet the image and you have to be thinner, because even when you stand on the board, the impression begins

JOHN MOFFET: 35:00

Yeah, there's certainly a lot of athletes female, for the most part, but not entirely exclusive to female that struggle with, with those things in their weight and their image and and it's still it's still alive and well today.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 35:19

Sadly, and and I am swimming to swimming, there was a lot of pressure on the female swimmers, particularly to to be thinner. And again, again we're talking late 70s, early 80s, this whole concept of bulimia was not even conscious. It just just it didn't really I mean, I've read my first book on it probably in 1983. And, and I just don't think the coaches were aware of the pressure and the impact, because it just wasn't being talked about.

JOHN MOFFET: 35:56

Yeah, yeah. So I got married to an athlete, division one athlete, my daughter's a division one. I am I've become acutely aware of that and probably started toward the end of my career where I really started realizing the impact to predominantly female team. Let's let's, let's scoot forward a little bit here. You were training we you know, you won World Championships, but we all know the eyes on the prize, your eyes on the prize, which is, which is the Olympics ad for Los Angeles. trials in 1984. Describe the Olympic diving trials for you as it's truly I believe you would consider yourself like as a favorite, correct?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 36:41

Oh, absolutely. And so I was the reigning world champion, because at that point, World Championships only occurred every four years. So as the reigning world champion, it was going to be in LA which is up the street from Mission Viejo. And so you know, all primed and set to go win the Olympics and and achieve that lifelong goal at this point. And on springboard, I missed one dive, I missed one dive and that you just don't get to do that. It's like, you know, not getting the right start off the blocks or that flip turn or mean in your sport. It's nanoseconds, right? And, and in my sport, it just you just have to, you have to hit all your dives. And, and I missed one dive. And so I was still I was diving platform at that point. But at that point, I was struggling a lot because I started having shoulder problems. And, and I was still terrorized on platform, quite frankly, I it was never my thing. I was very, I was very happy on springboard and not heavy on platform. And so I didn't make the team on 10 meter either. And so that was yeah, that was a pretty seminal point in my career of okay. Now what? So?

JOHN MOFFET: 38:12

So what now what, what, what did you What did you do? How did you deal with that immense disappointment, which by the way, is anyone who has gone through the gauntlet of competing in the Olympic trials is seen it many, many, many, many, many times. People who are the favorites, Greg Beardsley, you mentioned is just one of them, your teammate, who didn't make 84 and swimming. I mean, I call it there's blood in the water, that it's just heartbreak is everywhere, everywhere.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 38:42

Well, I felt like I had let my coach down, let my team down, let my country down, let my family down. And of course, completely let me down. And so I felt like just a monumental failure. And, and so, you know, prior to this, I had had multiple deaths in my life and, and one of the things that was not good during the time of my early career as much attention paid to, to us as complete whole human being. Right. And there wasn't I mean, life skills and you know, like the life skills program from the NCAA was kind of in its nascent, the big very beginning of it and, and, and it just, we weren't talking about athletes as whole people we weren't supporting them as whole people. And I, I particularly having my father passed away was just really devastating to me and then I had multiple family deaths and close friend death and, and I just and then that led to I won the world championships and it kind of didn't really feel very fulfilling. And so actually I was kind of struggling between 82 and 84 but I was just like kept the hammer down right you just you just suck it up keep going right

JOHN MOFFET: 40:16

which is what we what we did. That's an athlete, athlete mindset and what and what athlete athlete expectations are and we're back then for sure to Well, what did you do to to for self care? How did you heal? What did you What did you have to do in your life?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 40:33

Well, I I quit diving that summer, I was living in Mission Viejo and and Jeff every now my best friend from college was on the 800 free relay and and down in Mission Viejo, there was a cycling events and so that actually, the only events I saw in 1984 was guy just went and stood on corners to watch some of the cycling and because I just I couldn't go to the diving. I mean, that's like watching somebody in bed with you know, the person you love and somebody else in bed and I was just like, I'm just like, I just was mortified, devastated, crushed. And so I couldn't go watch the diving and, and so I spent a little bit of time with Jeff and his family because Jeff, a lot of Jeff's family came out and we did some things together, but I still didn't even watch the swimming which I you know, again, love swimming and, but I couldn't I just couldn't do it. And and so, um, so I just I took the rest of the summer off and and then that fall Actually, I didn't go back to school i i traveled around spent some time with my family really spent any protracted period of time with my family since I left home in 1978. And and spent some time with friends and and did that stuff that quote normal people do?

JOHN MOFFET: 42:03

Yeah, I use a normal non athlete regular person.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 42:10

Well, that's the language now these days, I when I work a lot with athletes, and I tell them the most important people will have in their lives other than their teammates is going to be their NARP friends go get some nerves. So that you have a complete picture of life. And, and so that's actually a more recent terminology that I picked up from Yeah, my kids.

JOHN MOFFET: 42:35

Our daughter uses that term. And she was bragging after she retired from volleyball. I'm a narc. So you in essence became a NARP, non athlete regular person, and were able to experience that life as outside of the pool. What did you find?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 42:56

Well, I found that the world actually didn't stop spinning because I didn't go to the Olympics. And and I would have not known that until that time. And I learned that performance and health don't have to be mutually exclusive things right. And everybody assumes that elite athletes are super healthy super fit. And I don't know about you, but in my experience that wasn't necessarily always the case. And and so I really embarked on my journey of taking care of my health and paying attention to my fitness not for the purposes of diving, but but the purpose of being human being. And my college coach is really great Kent Vossler, he was really great with that. And, and he from the very beginning, from the time I walked on Bill deck, our relationship was a partnership and, and he helps me learn about what it is to be a complete human being and put a lot of emphasis on fitness for the purposes of your health, not for the purposes of diving. And so, you know, when I was around my friends, because I always valued having an art friends and I chose them. And that when I was around them, and they we would go to parties, they would quickly introduce me as this is Meg and I are you know, my world champion Olympic friend and I pulled them aside and finally said, Stop doing that. Stop, you know, just say, Hey, this is Meg and I are and if they know me, then fine. If they don't, then you'll be and so my goal became how long can I have a conversation with new people that I meet without them knowing about my athletic background, right? It became like, Okay, who what am I in this room if I'm not making iron the diver and what I learned is again, the world isn't going to stop spinning because I didn't get to achieve what I had. thought my destiny was in the universe and my worth in the universe, not just my destiny, but my worth to the universe. And I found out that that's just not the case. And, and, and so, that year was the time of like reconstruction and integration and, and I had decided if I was going to come back to diving I was it was going to be something I enjoyed and so I wanted to complete my senior year I just I felt I felt like Okay, I just this is the chapter I need to, to complete and, and my college coach was super kind and patient. The very first diving practice, I we we dive on dryland boards and into foam pits and, and we had worked out prior we had been doing we had done weights or stadiums or something and anyhow, my my legs were tired again, because you know, I hadn't really trained as an athlete or over for a year at this point. And then I walked down the diving board and my knees buckled down, and I've faceplant gram Bloody, you know, scraping by, you know, scraping the diving board out of my legs, and my coach just started laughing. Again, I knew this was gonna be a project, but I didn't realize I was gonna teach you how to walk to. I'm just breaking down laughing and crying and not crying because I was hurt but crying because I felt like an idiot. Pretty darn funny.

JOHN MOFFET: 46:37

But it was probably a healthy dose of humble pie that all of us can use from from time to time. But you were also a healthier Megan, as you're coming back and with your perspective. I want I would like to note that you did finish out your college career in the four years that you were competing, an extraordinary career, eight NCAA titles, which is like you basically I'm not not even basically you swept the one meter and the three meter every single one of those four years.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 47:13

Yes. It still stands, even though platform is now in events. There's 12 potential opportunities right at the NCAA is now but it's still at record stands. And so I feel pretty proud of that. Yeah. As

JOHN MOFFET: 47:25

as, as you should. And so you finished up in 1986. But you decided at some point along the line that you are going to pursue ADA Olympics that were that you're being held in Seoul, Korea.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 47:42

Well, at this point, Ron O'Brien had moved to South Florida, he left Mission Viejo and move to another opportunity at a place called Mission Bay in South Florida. And so which was a whole lot better for me because it's down the street from University of Florida. I mean, five hours down the street, and unless better than across the country. So it was easier for me to go and train down there. And at that point, I wasn't even sure whether Ron still wanted to train me because at this point, I had said, I am not diving platform, you know, like, forget it. I hate it. It's terrorism to me. I don't you know, everybody would say you don't put your eggs all in one basket. And, and you know, everybody pays attention to platform. Nobody pays into just springboard and I'm like, I don't care. I hate platform. I might be super talented. But I'm terrorized. And it just wasn't fun. And so my commitment to myself was I was going to enjoy the process. And I think those last two years of my diving career, again, still diving with Greg Louganis and Greg had his share of his struggles and off the diving board and we were really good friends and I think I've never laughed more in my life than I did during those two years Greg because Greg this has his wicked sense of humor. And there were times Ron would have to say to us okay, you guys get serious you know, we're here training and practice but and then can't Ferguson also was there and so we were just this little trio and and I really enjoyed the process of training. I felt more peaceful about myself as a human being and realized diving was something I did not something I was it was about what I was capable of. And and pushing my own envelope it became less about anything having to do with anything anybody else and so I think like with any the evolution of any buddy from young to older, if you will, is your you quit doing things for other people and not that I was diving for anyone else because I pretty what I was, you know, just I had to do it. But I wasn't so worried about what my parents thought or, or what anybody thought,

JOHN MOFFET: 50:07

fast forward to 88 as, as me I trained for 88 as well did not make the team, you did not make the team. It's a familiar saga within the world of sports, but you didn't, you didn't make the 1980 a team. And as with me, it was time that you kind of face your transition out of sport, and into real life. And it's, it's, it's a difficult time for an athlete, but any athlete for some more than others, but tell me about your transition into into real life?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 50:43

Well, I would call it the next life. Because what we did was real, it just was, it was just, I would say the next slide. Well, between 86 and 88. I had graduated in 86, from undergraduate school. And then I started graduate school, the purpose that the reason I chose my profession is because I wanted to be that person in the universe that helped all these athletes with their careers with all elements of their career, they're not just their pursuit of their own excellence, but being a complete human being. And so and I, I think it was a very interesting time, because I'm experiencing my life as an athlete, but I'm also experiencing it as a professional who's learning and getting very observational about the experience. And so during that time, was when I really started paying a lot of attention to systems. And I had just a remarkable professional professor, Dr. Pete Gerard, who was just a master in systems thinking. And so I started thinking about the entire system, and how it comes together and enables people to actualize their goals, or what are the barriers within systems that prevent people from achieving what they want to achieve? And so that two years really informed a lot of my professional future in terms of how I thought about it, and, and so it's interesting, because I would be in meat, so that'd be like going being the diver. And then I would be the observer, the diver. And then I'd be the observer, the diver on the system. And, and I've times had to go, okay, timeout Megan, you know, for different levels, we got to just go out there and do the dive, you know,

JOHN MOFFET: 52:33

right. Right. Well, and you went on, you went on to get your PhD. Correct me if I'm wrong. But your PhD was in counseling, specializing in performance and health? Psychology, correct? Correct. Correct. One of your areas of interest is, is you're interested in grief and loss. And, and this topic, of course, applies just as much to regular people, as it does to athletes. So give me a brief overview. What about grief and loss? When it comes to you and how you apply that now to your, to your clients in their mental health?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 53:12

Well, John, you and I have both probably had innumerable conversations with our elite athlete friends who went through this transition at one time or another, this transition from being an elite athlete into whatever the next life was for any of them. And a very consistent theme is just like what now? Right? And that, that there is a no matter, even if you know what you want to do, there's that just that vast emptiness that like, I'm not that anymore. And since so many of us developed our identities around being an elite athlete, it's really learning. Again, who you are. And the benefit again of that year that I took off is that I, I had that opportunity to figure that out before I I really ended my career. And so in Ada, while it was a disappointment, it didn't devastate me it was it was not like the 84 experience, right? And I was like, Well, I'm going back to grad school and that's what I'm doing and and so so I think I, we're a society in general that does not to this day, does not really acknowledge this subject a great deal. We aren't good with death. I mean, everything around us from a social standpoint is how do you avoid getting older and dying and how do you avoid, you know, just we don't talk about it. We don't acknowledge that this is like the end fate for all of us, right? I mean, none of us is good at getting out of this gig. Alive and the And so and also acknowledging loss of all kinds, like breakups and, and careers ending. And I just think we kind of need a primer about it. Because I think one of the very isolating things when, when you are talking to people about death or loss is, most people don't know what to say. And while they might mean well, they often say a lot of the wrong things, and which is more isolating, and more depressing to people going through loss and grief. And so, I'm writing a primer about this, I'm like, okay, you know, here's a little primer, and if you know, you're experiencing grief or loss of any kind, then you know, for it for yourself, or you know, someone is, here you go, because here's the little, here's the little primer, here's a little cheat sheet, if you will, on what to say and what not to say and what it's about. And I talk, I, just having been through a lot of loss in my life. I talk about grief muggings, it's like, you're going along and you think you're kind of fine. And then all of a sudden, you sort of find yourself almost figuratively facedown on the on the floor, feeling like something just moved you from behind. And then usually, this amazing, this overwhelming swell of just sadness and grief and, and kind of learning how to ride that wave and learning how to like, you know, some Dasia the ride the wave, and sometimes the wave rides you. And either way, you got to figure out how to get back on the board. And, and so I just think it's a, it's an important topic to talk more about and help people through. Yeah,

JOHN MOFFET: 56:49

yeah. For sure. And it's something that all of us have to deal with. Pretty much. It's a constant throughout our lives, whether it be a failure, whether it be, you know, a loss of a spouse or a divorce or what have you. It's, it's, it's something that that all of us need to deal with. So it's something I commend you for exploring that further and using your experience to, to really kind of try to understand that

Dr. Megan Neyer: 57:15

injuries as well. Yeah. And we've both been through that right, and loss of function.

JOHN MOFFET: 57:23

Right, right. And all of us will experience that as we age. Hopefully, we age relatively gracefully, moving moving on to 2020 and the pandemic, you during the height of the pandemic, you wrote a letter, an open letter, which I read back then to Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls about the postponement of the Tokyo Games. It's truly a beautiful guide, to help them cope with their delayed dreams as, as you have had to deal with personally as well. What, what's really the impetus? Why did you decide to do that?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 58:03

Well, I, I, when they announced the postponement of the games, well, the first thing I was like, it's not a cancellation, okay? So they're not going to So while it might not work for everybody, it might still work for some of them, right, they might still have that opportunity. And I did it because I just felt this overwhelming sense of just heartbreak for these people who this might have meant the end of their career, even though the games are going to be another year. Sometimes in the elite world, that's a lifetime and a year can you might have been sort of at close to the end of your career already. And hanging on another year was not feasible, psychologically, physically, emotionally, financially, in all ways, and it might have marked the end of people's career. And it's just again, we didn't have any control over this. This is a worldwide we didn't have any control over this, right. And so I wanted to talk to them about grieving, I wanted to talk to them about all that they had learned if this really was the end of the road for them. I wanted to talk to them about how to be resilient and in the face of this and and so that's why I wrote that letter.

JOHN MOFFET: 59:29

Yeah. And, and specifically some of the topics that you tackled directly. I've obviously reread it and it's, it's quite applicable to everyone in all forms of, you know, not just pandemic times but all all different times in life and some of the some of the topics that you tackled Are you mentioned a little bit early, a few minutes ago, that we can't control all things, just like the 1980 Boycott, we can't control all things.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 59:57

So I I came up With Meghan's three rules, and in general, it doesn't matter whether you're a surgeon, whether you're an athlete, whether you're a farmer, whether you're a mother, a father, a student, a CEO, whatever you are in your lives, these three rules can apply to everyone. And And rule number one is energy follows your thoughts. So whatever you're thinking about your energy follows there. And rule number two, focus on what you do want, not what you don't want, I hear so many people talking to me and saying, Well, I don't want to fall started, I want to miss my wall, I don't want to breathe. And on the turn, I don't want to smack on the dive. I don't want to blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, What's to do? My question to them is always what's the do? And I say it that way, even though it's not proper grammar? Because I want to get their attention. What's the do tell me what you do want to do? Start getting people to turn around this? I don't, I don't, I don't, because the brain just, you know, the body just follows the brain. Go back to number one, and I was your thoughts. And so you want to focus on the juice. So what is the do, because that keeps keeps you in the process of something you have control over? Right? And, and the third one is focused on the process or things you have control over. Because a lot of anxiety, a lot of fear, a lot of energy gets wasted on focusing on all these things we don't have control over well, we don't have control over a pandemic, this thing getting Unleashed for whatever reason. And however it emerged, just something he, to some degree doesn't make any difference. What matters is what are we going to do now? And how are we going to be resilient through this and so one of my close friends and colleagues, Dr. Linda hoops is just done some amazing work on resilience, and it's not just about bouncing back. It's about, you know, building resilience muscles, and and how do you deal with disruption. And so fortunately, I've spent a lot of time with her and took a lot of what she talks about. and applied it during that time and, and worked with groups of athletes virtually, and help them make it through this period of time when their lives are halted, right. They're like, can you imagine? I mean, I to this day, can't imagine going back to being 1617 1819 20 years old. And, and and dealing with that, right? Yeah, I mean, just like, wow, not a clue. And so fortunately, we're in the age of the internet, and there were workarounds. But they're tapping one of those muscles is experimenting and creativity and connection. How do we connect? How do we stay connected during this time of profound disconnection, and, and so really getting organized? Figuring out? Okay, this is super weird that we had, you know, what were our options? We had to figure it out. Right,

JOHN MOFFET: 1:03:06

right. And it's ESS. It's certainly tested all of our, our resilience, not just athletes, but everyone. Absolutely. One of the other topics that you brought up in this open letter to the Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls in 2020, during the pandemic was also that we are brains as humans, we assign meaning to almost everything. That's caution, you use it as kind of a cautionary tale. But what do you mean by that?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 1:03:34

We are meaning making machines, things happen. And then we we decide what it means. And so if I were to ask you the question, to fill in the blank on this open statement, you know, everything happens, how would you likely answer that question?

JOHN MOFFET: 1:03:51

Yeah, right. It's the natural thing is for a reason, right? Because we all want things. We all want things that if we're suffering, we want it to be for a reason.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 1:04:00

Correct. And so, and again, that gets into a spiritual realm and belief system that, you know, it may be accurate, but the way I say it is, everything happens and we give it a reason. And so I'm not saying anybody is wrong, if they say everything happens for a reason, but what I am saying for sure, that I know is right, is everything happens and we give it a reason. So we are just meaning making machines, we just run upon making meaning out of everything because it's the way as humans we can live in our worlds, right, we assign meaning and then after we assign meaning we decide what the behavior is going to be after that. And so kind of figuring out what meaning you're making out of it.

JOHN MOFFET: 1:04:43

You wrap up the the letter with that. Look, life goes on.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 1:04:50

Well, again, it kind of comes back to what's the next thing. I think there's a lot of misconception and to this day that if you're going to be in this The world and that has to be your sole focus. Actually, that belies some of the research about people who keep their stress reduce the most are people that are actually more well rounded and have have those narcs in their lives and, and have more balance in their lives, they're actually more able to sustain through the ongoing pressures of being an elite athlete, and so and so one way or another life goes on and again, then we've got choices to make, right? I am not a big one of the questions I got asked, or one of the things that were said a lot during my career was, you know, you've sacrificed so much, and I'm like, oh, no, and sacrifice anything, I just made a bunch of decisions based on what I wanted. And, and the sacrifice suggests that I miss something. And, um, I just had a different life, I just, and it was just in sometimes magical and sometimes catastrophic. And other times amazing and wondrous. And, but it was just different.

JOHN MOFFET: 1:06:12

You know, let's, let's wrap up with going back to we talked a lot about our community, four decades ago, three, DEC, whatever. But the fact of the matter is, is that many of us have, have kept in close contact and those that we haven't necessarily kept in close contact. There's some familiarity where you can just pick up where you left off, you and I would fall into that category where, where honestly, we could just talk for hours and hours and hours, like like we used to, we just pick up where we left off. And I want to I want to we've met mentioned Craig Beardsley a couple of different times. Craig Beardsley, as I said earlier is become one of my best friends. I think that friendship, in many ways has been forged because of the 1980 boycott. And because of, of that, shared mourning, Glen Mills is another person that falls into that category. But some magic happened. And he was announced a little bit ago that he has been inducted in the international Hall of Fame. And just to talk about the strength of this, of this community, I mean, there's people that are rallying together, because he is the symbol of, of, you know, this disappointment of the 1980 Olympic boycott there, I would venture to say there are going to be dozens of people there, to support him to watch him being inducted into in Fort Lauderdale. And, and to celebrate with him, that's who we are.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 1:07:39

That's right. That's right. To the I would suspect, you have the same experience, like we might have been major rivals, but we're all we have, we have that shared experience. And and, and we're good friends, and if it weren't for those people who are major rivals, we wouldn't have been as good as we were. And, and that shared experience and that shared history. And, and I'm thrilled for Craig, Greg went to University Florida. I've known Craig for a very, very long time, and I'm going to be one of those people who is there because I'm he's another one of those people, I've had this heartbreak conversation about 1980. And, and just how impactful that was, and he's world record holder and world champion and, and just an amazing person. So I'm thrilled, because I know that you know, the swimming community is much larger. And there's lots of Olympic medalists and Olympic gold medalists. And so I'm thrilled for him that he gets this honor, which is not usually bestowed on people who don't have that Olympic hardware. And so I'm, I'm really excited that this the community came together and and made this happen. Well, I

JOHN MOFFET: 1:08:57

look forward to celebrating in person with you. Just to leave off, you wrote me a wonderful note, you've written me a couple of wonderful notes in the past few days just in in sort of preparation in thinking about our conversation today. And in your in your letter, you wrote something that I want you to clarify for me, and that you wrote that you believe that international sports can save the world. What do you mean by that? Megan?

Dr. Megan Neyer: 1:09:23

What I mean by that, John, is that from the time I stepped on international soil in 1979 into a country that the United States was having major conflict with we are height of the Cold War. All I've met athletes from all from all over the world, I was very fortunate to have traveled all over the world and I tell you what, the world gets super small when you do that, and there is such a collective sense of humanity and that we all just want Want to be happy and healthy and ever families happy and healthy and have opportunity and, you know, we're lucky to live in a country where, you know, we can pretty much get clean water well, diverse. And, you know, just we are fortunate in that way. And but it didn't matter, the political affiliation didn't matter a damn. At the end of the day to the athletes. We became friends with everyone through this shared experience through the shared community through this through and, and right now, you see so many people helping the Ukrainian athletes, but but also our community is, is supporting the Russian athletes. It's not their fault. Their president is gone around the bend and made these decisions, right. And so I don't hate any country. I don't hate any set of people. The world is small. Humans are incredibly similar. And, and so if you really want to solve this problem, tap into the international sports community because we'll figure it out. Right, right.

JOHN MOFFET: 1:11:10

Yeah. It's it's easy to be to consider a faceless country and enemy. It's much different when you're talking to them. And you're sharing the same space and the same, you know, and you're sharing thoughts with each other. And that's what I find in that that was one of the magic things that that was, that was imprinted upon me from from an early age. Well, Megan, thank you so much. Thank you, John, for spending time and most of all, thank you for continuing to share life's journey. Life's journeys together that we started somewhere more than 40 years ago.

Dr. Megan Neyer: 1:11:49

seems amazing, and I am eternally grateful. I always appreciated you. For the minute I met you and have cherished our conversations over the course of those four decades and look forward to the continued journey.

JOHN MOFFET: 1:12:04

Absolutely. Thank you again. Thank you. Megan has asked me to leave you with a quote from the ancient Chinese philosopher and writer Lao Tzu. Back in the fourth century BCE, he wrote this about psychological flexibility. Water is fluid soft and yield. But water will wear away rock which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox. What is soft is strong. Thank you for joining Megan Neyer here on Sports life balance. If you've enjoyed this episode, please give us your five star review and do me a favor and tell a friend. Bye bye for now.

INTRO: 1:12:48

Don't forget to join us next week for more sports life balance.