Hi friends and welcome to the blog! The idea of launching a personal website has been on my mind for a few years, but it wasn’t until last year that I started to think about it more seriously. Initially I had wanted to create a space to compile photos, videos, interviews, etc. from my time as an elite athlete - a sort of athletic “resume”, if you can call it that. Many athletes have their own website, so I thought “hey, I should do that too”. After a while, I realized that I wanted my web presence to be more than just a summary of my accomplishments. I knew I wanted to make a bigger impact.

As you may or may not know, even though I’m no longer competing, I am still very involved in the sport of synchronized swimming. This will be my fifth year coaching at the Walnut Creek Aquanuts and I am one of the athlete representatives on the USA Synchro Board of Directors. Last year I was coaching 13-15s and juniors and I often found myself talking to my athletes about things like motivation, work ethic, mental preparation and other intangible aspects of the sport. In today’s social media culture, there are so many influencers and bloggers who are talking about travel, beauty and health & wellness, and using their platforms to share their insight with the world. Some of them have created spaces for people to connect with one another, share tips & tricks, and foster a community surrounding a common interest, which I think is amazing.

However, I don’t really see many people talking about topics that pertain to athletes. There are hundreds of fitness blogs, but not many spaces that talk about things relevant specifically to competitive athletes. I went through a lot during my time as an athlete and I’ve always wanted to share my story and experience with others but was unsure of how to do it. I enjoy writing so I thought that starting a blog would be the perfect place to start!

My goal is to create a space where I can not only share my personal experiences, but also talk about how you can be the best athlete you can be - whether that’s improving your mental toughness, dealing with pressure, goal setting, and so much more. Whatever topic pertains to sports, no matter how taboo or strange, I want to talk about it. Obviously I’ll mostly talk about synchro because that’s what I know best, but any athlete can benefit from being a part of this community.

I would love to hear from you about what you want to talk about (click here to leave me a message) and I’m so excited to embark on this journey!

xo, Mariya