The life of a highschool swimmer and what it takes!
her swimming journey and path to the Olympics
Its all in your head!
How to overcome mental obsticles and take care of your mental health
Learn about the work and dedication it takes to be a high school swimmer
Featuring her swimming journey and path to the Olympics
Mental heath is just as important as physical heath in swimming
Features why it important to eat healthy and properly when going through intense training
The importance of time in a swimmers career
“AS LONG AS YOU HAVE THAT LOVE FOR THE SPORT YOU WILL ALWAYS GET SOMETHING OUT OF IT"
-Mariah Denigan
Mariah trains intensely in the pool twice a day, five days a week, with an extra session on Saturdays. To supplement her swim training, she incorporates weightlifting and other gym workouts into her routine. Each practice is tailored to the specific demands of her event. As a long-distance swimmer, Mariah covers an average of 75,000 yards each week. Her warm-up consists of activating her muscles with a stretching band, followed
Mariah Denigan is a highly accomplished long-distance swimmer who earned a spot on the U.S. Olympic team for the 2024 Olympic Games. Mariah has 14 years of swimming experience and at just 21 years old, she has already achieved remarkable success in her sport. Currently training at Indiana University, she balances her rigorous training schedule while studying Sport Marketing and Management.
by a mix of IM, kicking, and drills. She also swims about 3,000 yards to build up her heart rate and reach peak performance.
Knowing how to properly fuel your body is essential when being a professional athlete. Mariah works with a nutritionist at Indiana University who helps her plan her meals based on her
training to ensure she is getting the fuel she needs. She says, “It’s more about making sure you get the right amount of protein, carbs, and healthy fats.”
Mental health is just as important as physical health. Swimming is 80% mental, and Mariah explains, “In the pool, it's just you and your thoughts.” She says it is important to find things outside of swimming to take your mind off it. She adds, “Swimming is a sport that you do, it's not who you are,” stressing the need to “find your identity outside of the pool.”
She also explained that “If you are in the athletic mindset all the time, it gets draining,” and that making outside connections is crucial. Mariah is one of the leaders for Indiana University FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) and attends Bible study on Tuesday nights. Additionally, not every practice is perfect. Keeping a good mentality during tough practices is vital. When asked how she maintains a positive mindset, Mariah said to “leave the bad practices at the pool.” She follows the 30-minute rule: she allows herself to think about what went wrong and how to improve for 30 minutes after practice, but then she lets it go. She says, “It gets toxic to keep thinking about all the bad practices up until the next day, and then all of a sudden you ' re in a bad spiral of bad practices one after another.”
Another rule she follows is the rule of thirds. She explained that ⅓ of your practices during the week will be good, ⅓ will be bad, and ⅓ will be amazing. She says, “Knowing it’s okay to have a bad practice helps me bounce back in the next one and not make it a habit to have bad practices.”
Mariah described her Olympic experience as an amazing opportunity and shared how fun it was to travel with Team USA. She had the chance to participate in the opening ceremony on the Seine River and met other incredible athletes like Steph Curry and LeBron James. Overall, she wishes she had competed better, but she said it was still an invaluable learning experience. “I did leave motivated for the future and to try and make more Olympics in the future,” she said.
Mariah said she was very nervous before her race, but reminded herself that it’s normal to feel nervous. She said it got very difficult, especially about halfway in the race, because of the strong current. She described it as “ very physically and mentally draining” and said, “It was the hardest thing I have ever done.” Mariah said she remembered praying and asking God to help her finish the race.
Faith in Christ is something that is very important to Mariah as well. She says that she wants people to “know that’s who I am first. I am a Christian first, a daughter of God first, and everything else comes after.”
Mariah said she recognizes that her swimming ability is a God-given talent
and not her own. She believes it's God's way of leading her to new people, where she has the opportunity to glorify Him and share the gospel. She says, “I would be nowhere if it weren’t for my faith and God’s mercy that he continuously gives me.”
She believes that knowing this helps her mental health as well. She explained that she knows she is not solely directing her future, but rather, God has her future in His hands. “What he has planned for me is going to be exactly what I need,” she says. Mariah also shared that God has given her this platform as an Olympic swimmer to reach people, which is why she is so vocal about her faith.
Mariah wants future swimmers to remind themselves why they started swimming and how much fun it was when they first began. She wants people to know that everyone’s swimming career looks different.
She says, “Not everyone is going to make it to the Olympics, but that doesn’t have to be everyone’s goal.”
She encourages swimmers to remind themselves that they chose this sport because they love it and that they should continue to love it even when it gets tough.
She says, “As long as you have that love for the sport, you will always get something out of it, regardless of the times you go.” She also believes that “there are so many learning experiences within the sport of swimming that translate over into life.”
Swimming is an amazing sport because it not only builds physical endurance and mental strength but also teaches valuable life lessons, such as perseverance, discipline, and the importance of pushing through challenges.