Cara Stawicki won gold in the Lightweight Women’s pair at the 2019 World Championships, but as a high school swimmer, a walk on to Lehigh University’s rowing program, and even as she moved into international competition, Cara struggled with confidence. A well-meaning phrase: “you have so much potential” was repeated so often she wondered why she wasn’t reaching that potential. Today, as the Founder of Be Brave High Performance, she facilitates peak performance and well-being in athletes, coaches, and industry leaders through mindset training and personal development.
GUEST Cara Stawicki Founder, Be Brave High Performance 3x US National Team member 2019 World Champion, LW2-
QUICK LOOK 00:00 - Episode intro 01:56 - Cara’s rowing week on a scale of 1-10 02:36 - The Huddle 04:01 - Hot Seat Q&A 06:07 - Cara’s rowing origin story 09:22 - Defining moments that helped shape Cara’s path 11:26 - Working through setback and challenging times 13:46 - Building a community of trust 18:19 - Love affair with the pair 22:00 - Cara’s transition to coastal rowing was “freeing;” the opportunities coastal brings 27:44 - Be Brave began as a blog to give back to the rowing community 29:49 - Performance doesn’t happen in isolation: considering the whole athlete 36:29 - Rituals and mind set on race day 40:22 - How Be Brave High Performance is helping athletes 43:11 - Self-talk and the inner critic 44:17 - Advice to Cara’s younger self 44:51 - Steady State Network news and notes
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To get links to the people, clubs, and events mentioned in this episode, check out the show notes on our website.
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This episode was made possible in part by Breakwater Realty, iCrew, RowSource, and our Patrons.
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Steady State Podcast is hosted and edited by Rachel Freedman and Tara Morgan. Tara provides additional audio engineering, books show guests, and is our sponsor and donor coordinator. Rachel writes our scripts and e-newsletter, and manages the website and social media. Our theme music is by Jonas Hipper.
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