99. Serving Your Mission with Olympian and Coach Leah Stancil

99. Serving Your Mission with Olympian and Coach Leah Stancil

Introducing Leah Stancil

Today I’m talking to Olympian and Tulane swimming head coach Leah Stancil about serving your mission.

Her Career Journey

Leah grew up in Barbados and took the leap to train for the Olympics as she was finishing up school. She went on to represent Barbados in the 1996 Olympics, reaching the finals in the 50m freestyle. Leah continued swimming at the University of Florida where she earned her BS and MS in psychology and competed at the 2000 Olympics. She served as an assistant coach for Savannah College of Art and Design, University of South Florida, and finally at her alma mater, UF, before becoming the head coach at Tulane. This past year, she served as the head coach for Barbados swimming at the Tokyo Olympics. 

Serving Your Mission

While in college, Leah thought that she was going to be a sports psychologist and help athletes unlock their potential by overcoming struggles and barriers in their sport. When life’s circumstances got in the way and she began coaching swimming, she found that she was still serving her mission in a different capacity than what she had initially imagined. She stayed open to the experience and learned more about herself and has been helping swimmers, one-on-one, on the frontlines, ever since.

Inside this episode:

  • When she was finishing up school in Barbados, she was approached by a coach who told her she had the talent to go to the Olympics. Her mother told her to test this opportunity out and give it a try. 
  • When Leah began coaching, she stayed open to the experience and discovered the joy in helping her athletes grow. By staying in the moment, she was able to get the most out of this opportunity.
  • Leah’s experience training for her second Olympics was much different from her first. Instead of training in isolation, she had a thirty-person team at UF with similar goals. This support network helped boost the mental aspect of her Olympic preparation.
  • Having grown up in Barbados, Leah was an adult when she experienced racial discrimination in America. She came to realize that her impressive resume would be viewed differently if she were white or a man and has worked to stop rationalizing to herself reasons that don’t include racism or sexism.
  • In her second year as head coach at Tulane, Leah was diagnosed with breast cancer and continued coaching through treatment. She learned to rely on her husband and coaching staff for support and found comfort from her supervisor in her administration who told her that her health was her priority.
  • With her health back to normal, Leah is still dealing with the emotional toll that cancer took on her. With help from her therapist, she began recognizing the negative self-talk and “yeah, but” moments that kept her from recognizing that she was doing the best she could.

Resources

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