
Barriers to Breakthroughs
Welcome to Barriers to Breakthroughs! A podcast that discusses important topics in women’s sports and what goes on inside the brain of an athlete. Perfectionism, recovering from injury, and bullying, are just some of the many things that can defeat your spirits and ruin your confidence to perform. Through interviews and solo shows, host Emma Woodhouse, a 2-Time All-American skier and 2020 UNH Female Athlete of the Year, brings these topics to light and shows athletes that they are not alone and that you can overcome those barriers to breakthrough!
Barriers to Breakthroughs
022. Stepping Away from Gymnastics, Experiencing Burnout & Coming Back Stronger Than Ever with Kristina Vaculik
Former Olympic and NCAA artistic gymnast Kristina Vaculik comes on the podcast to talk about her journey of making the Canadian Olympic team in 2012 and the obstacles she's had along the way. Throughout her career, she has won multiple medals at the Pan American Games and Pacific Rim Championships as well as achieving great accolades at Stanford University such as being a first team All-American in multiple events and achieving Pac-12 all-academic honorable mentions.
In 2008, Kristina had her sights set on going to the Olympics and when she learned she didn't qualify, she was heartbroken. After hearing the news, she decided to finally deal with her injuries and had surgery on her elbow which took her away from competition for a year. Taking that break led her to digging deep into why she wanted to succeed as a gymnast and has shared all of her thoughts and experiences in this interview!
Other topics include;
- Growing up with an Olympic gold medalist as a coach
- How her year break from gymnastics motivated + inspired her
- Her decision to attend Stanford University and compete in the NCAA
- How competing in the NCAA helped her to compete in London
- Her experiences at the Olympic Games
- Blocking the external and internal noise
- The biggest lesson she's learned in her career
Links
Follow Kristina on Instagram: @kayvac
Want to improve your mindset to finally start achieving your goals? Let's work together! Book a Free 15 min Strategy Call with Emma here!
Follow the Podcast on Instagram: @barrierstobreakthroughspodcast
If you love this podcast and want to support it, please leave a review on Apple Podcasts here :) https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/barriers-to-breakthroughs/id1565161091