Barriers to Breakthroughs

Today's guest is Olympic gold medalist Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski. After years of competing in World Cup events and making the national team, Kasia qualified to be in the women’s 8 event for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. With just over a month until the Olympics, Kasia had a horrific bike crash where she broke her collarbone and had to get several stitches. With everything considered, she still competed in the Olympics and earned the gold medal no less.Specific topics include;How she was able to re...

Today's episode is with marathon runner and OCD and mental health advocate Cali Werner! Cali is a former D1 track athlete out of Rice University where she received a National Honorable Mention in track! Cali now has a master’s degree in social work from Baylor University specializing in OCD, she’s an author of a Children’s book called Anxious Annie (which we get into in the episode) AND to add more to her amazing life resume, she competed in the Olympic trails in 2020 in the marathon! Ca...

Today's episode is with professional hockey player Reagan Rust! She is a former D1 hockey player who played for RIT and then Boston University where she was inducted into the Beanpot Hall of Fame and was actually the first women’s D1 hockey player to come from Mississippi! Reagan is also a mental health advocate, podcast host of the Unpaved Path Podcast, and founder of the Female Athlete Society.This episode is filled with amazing stories that are both heartwarming and shocking! She talks abo...

Today's is with Miranda Bacon, former D1 Swimmer from the University of New Hampshire where she was a 9-Time All-America East recipient, a 2-Time inductee into the National College Athlete Honors Society, and she supported her team to 3 America East Championships out of her 4 years!Miranda talks about her mental health journey from noticing her mood shift in high school, being sexually assaulted during her spring break freshman year as well as being diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and PTS...

Today's episode is all about slowing down. As an athlete, we are told to always push through and keep working until we win but is that really benefitting us? Throughout my career, especially at my lowest points, I felt like I just needed to work harder, and then it would finally click but it didn't.When we are told to slow down by coaches or even our parents, that's the last thing we want to do! After feeling defeated day after day, I finally stopped and realized that I needed to go back to b...

Today's episode features former track and field athlete Amanda Whitham! This high jumper and hurdler competed for Bryant University where she's a Top-10 Bryant record holder in pentathlon + 60m hurdles! Amanda also served as co-president for the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), and was a Senior Service Commencement honoree!Amanda had so much momentum going into her junior year until it ended abruptly after a serious ankle injury. With the universal adjustment to COVID in Spring 2020...

My mental health has not been great these past few months. Feeling stressed about all the things I want to achieve, and feeling guilty when I want to rest (which makes me more stressed)!This was an episode that I've been wanting to do and at the same time, I've been talking myself out of doing it. I want to be open and honest about what I'm going through and how I'm feeling like my guests have each week. I hope you'll feel heard during this episode and know that I understand how you feel...

Today's episode features Sofia Borea, a former D1 soccer player who played for the University of New Hampshire! During her time at UNH, she played in every single game, and achieved the America East All-Rookie Team honor in her freshman year!In this episode, we talk about many important topics athletes face during their careers and especially when they retire from their sport. Sofia first talks about her time at UNH where she struggled with her anxiety, body image, and perfectionist tendencie...

Today's episode features Canadian skeleton athlete Grace Dafoe! Grace is a part of the Canadian National team where she has competed in several North American cups and international competitions where she has several podium finishes! Grace also hopes to live out her Olympic dream one day so she is working hard to make that happen!In this interview, we first talk about her skeleton journey, and how she discovered a sport of skeleton! Then we get into her self-discovery moment in her career whe...

Today's episode is back with Erika Ward! Former D1 Volleyball player for Bryant University where she became the Division 1 career digs record holder, helped her team to win the NorthEast Conference Tournament, and earned a second-team All-NorthEast award in 2018!This episode is split up into 2 parts because there were just so many important nuggets to talk about! In the previous episode (Ep. 030), she talked all about her body image issues throughout college, comparing herself to her tea...