Allison Schmitt

What's up, you guys?
Welcome back to another week and another episode of Unfiltered Waters.
And this week, we welcome the one and only ten time Olympic medalist, four-time Olympian, Olympic gold medalist, former world record holder, current American record holder.
My gosh, the list goes on.
We welcome the legendary and one of my very dear friends, Alison Schmidt, to the pod.
And this is a very long overdue episode.
I swear, every time Schmiddy is here, I'm there, and it just has never worked out in the last couple years.
But thank goodness that she was at the PAC Accelerate event out in Arizona.
And shout out to the PAC event, the pro-athletic community, um, just bringing athletes together, networking.
I've talked about it before, um, but it was really cool that Schmidty happened to be there, and we were able to sit down for not as long as we both wanted, but we were able to sit down and just talk through and catch up on so much of you know her athletic career, obviously.
She just got married.
I mean, it's only been six or seven months, and so having been at her wedding, it was fun to kind of kind of kind of catch up around that.
Um, you know, talk to her about how she looks back on her career now being a retired athlete, what she's up to now, what she's excited about.
Um, also just talking about kind of you know she always has a big smile on her face, and she's a huge advocate to mental health, but I loved kind of challenging the idea of how she overcomes doubt and imposter syndrome, um, you know, how she kind of turns on that killer mentality.
I mean, you don't win an Olympic gold medal, I mean four Olympic teams without that.
And so I I loved getting into her psyche because when it's one of your good friends, you're not sitting down and having these like deep, you know, psyche conversations, just like on a whim, right?
It takes kind of a podcast and more of an official sit-down to do so.
So I think you guys, I know you guys are gonna love this episode.
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Alison Schmidt, welcome to Unfiltered Waters.
Finally.
Hello.
Here I am.
I the last time I saw you was here in Scottsdale.
You got married.
Yes.
How's married life?
That was crazy.
That was three months ago and five.
Five months ago?
I think.
And December 12th.
And wow.
I mean, so much has happened and time flies, and I still feel like I'm 23 years old.
You still feel like you're 23 years old?
I wish I was 23 years old.
Uh what I always feel like people ask, like, what was your favorite part of your wedding?
But what was your most unexpected part of your wedding that you loved?
I loved the ceremony, and it's really interesting that I say that.
I think there's a good and bad of that.
When I go to weddings and I'm a part of ceremony, I'm kind of like, okay, this is boring.
Like a snooze fest.
I agree.
Can we just move on from this?
Like, let's start the reception.
I had so much fun because it was so personable and so much energy, and it wasn't a serious, it was just us, and that made me enjoy it, and I think it lasted pretty long.
I mean, you as we were in the audience?
No, I think it was the perfect amount of time.
I don't think you guys, I yeah, I don't think it could have been any longer, any shorter.
I think it was perfect, and it it just was so personal to you and Gavin, which I think was just the best to sit there and witness that.
Yes, thank you.
I I would love to do a wedding like every month.
Well, you know, that's why we're gonna do we want to do our 10-year, but you know.
That time keeps flying.
Time keeps moving on, and I got pregnant, and all those things.
Um but we don't have as much time as I want with you today, but I think the thing about you, and it's I get this, you know, the kind of extraordinary perspective of knowing you since what?
We were 16 years old, 17 years old, and just seeing you as a competitor, as a really close friend, I feel like people maybe misunderstood, misunderstand you and the fact that you're like smiley, jokey, Allison.
But there's a point, you're a four-time Olympian, 10 freaking Olympic medals, gold medalist.
At what point, and I know it's not in the ready room, because I've been in the ready room with you and you're laughing your butt off, but at what point do you go into lock-in mode, killer instinct mode?
Pre-race?
The moment I dive in, the moment you dive in.
Yes, and I think that having fun is part of my competitive advantage because at the end of the day, sport is such a small part of our lives, and being able to compete is such a small part of our lives.
There is so much more life to be lived, and so and you don't know when it can end, it can end at any moment.
And so, in I like to enjoy those moments, and I'm a very sappy person that even when I was nine, turning ten years old, I didn't want to turn 10 because I would never be in the single digits again.
Oh, that's so sad! So I understand that, and I understand that before moments even happen, that these moments are gonna be memories, and I really want to be able to live life to the fullest in that way.
I know that there's times, there's ebbs and flows in life that I think we can all look back and be like, I would rather change that or that I would have made a different decision in that moment, but I really want to be able to enjoy these moments and especially well when competing, yeah, when it is so much pressure and so much expected on us to really enjoy that.
Yeah, no, I agree.
And I think watching your first Olympics in 2008, where like anyone's first Olympics, you're scared out of your mind, right?
Like you don't know what to do, you don't know how to handle the pressure, and then watching kind of those four years of you evolving to actually being able to do that.
Like, I feel like 2012 was like your lock-in mode of like I can have fun, but then I can also go win Olympic gold medal.
So, like, what do you feel like you did mentally, emotionally, physically from 08 to 12?
Definitely locked in from those time from that moment.
After 08 and getting 9th by 1100th in the two and your freestyle, I knew that feeling and didn't want to experience that feeling again.
So I knew from 2008 to 2012 I was gonna do whatever I could to not feel that feeling again.
Um I definitely did not expect the results I got in 2012.
Um did it?
No, I mean I I was just trying not to get ninth, to be honest.
I was I did not know that.
So you went into 2012 not sure if you could win Olympic gold.
Yeah, I just I just I didn't really think about it in that way.
I was like, I'm not gonna get ninth again.
Um and I also learned in those years to not listen to the outside noise.
And that is one thing in China, in Beijing, that I realized is that when I was going to uh Beijing, everyone was telling me how big it's gonna be.
It's my first international or first national team meet.
Yeah.
And everyone is telling me how big it's gonna be, how much like audience is gonna there is gonna be there, how big the pool is, how many people are gonna be there.
And so listening to that, I was like, oh, so I should be scared.
I should be nervous.
I shouldn't like wide eye not know what to expect instead of just staying in my own lane and doing what we had practiced over and over.
Yeah, I feel like there's a just wait epidemic that goes on where I'm experiencing with pregnancy where people are like, just wait.
And so I feel like a lot of people, and they did that to me in 04.
It's like, well, just wait till you get there, it's gonna be terrifying.
Just wait till you're on the blocks, you're gonna be freaking out, you know, and you're like, just let me have my own experience.
Yes.
I feel like that has been an evolution, even on the national team, where it's kind of become more like a lot less of the just weights and a lot more of the it's about to be so fun.
Yes, yes.
And exactly on that point, I like analogies.
And if you take a plate and drop it, it's gonna drop the same, it's gonna break the same every time.
Uh no, it depends on like how hard you throw it, the how high up you are.
Yes, so it can be the same plate and you drop it, and it will break different every single time.
And that is an analogy to people.
We can have the same experience and we will experience that and have a break in a different way every single time.
Yeah, I love that.
Well, I feel like that this morning we were in a meeting at this event that we're at, and they talked about Konsugi, which is I had heard that, had you heard that word, an analogy before, Konsugi, what that means?
No.
It's essentially like it comes, I believe it's a Japanese, it's a Japanese bowl that essentially, you know, you throw similarly, you throw it on the ground, it has all these cracks, and then you put it together, and the beauty is the cracks.
Not to just we're just gonna talk about plates this whole podcast, but like it is such a metaphor for, you know, your scars, the pain, the things that hold that you put back together to make you one is truly can become your superpower only if you go about it the right way, right?
If you get stuck in the bottom and you don't climb back up, then all is for naught.
But I feel like that's my way of having hard times make sense.
Yes.
So when you think back of everything that you've been through, what are some of your scars or things that hold the bowl together?
Like the goal that holds the bowl together?
Yes.
I would definitely say that's my support system.
Okay.
Being able to rely on my support system from friends to family to coaches to teammates to therapists, all of that is what brings my bowl back together.
And being able to seal that with my core values of kindness, of perseverance, of standing back up, of being authentic.
And so really understanding what means the most to you and sealing that bowl of the support and what means the most to you in your heart.
Yeah, I agree.
I mean, the other piece of though, the cracks is like the cracks are the pain, right?
The cracks are some stuff that you went through.
So, like when you think about the things that did break the bowl, what are the things that broke the bowl?
Which I think you thought you knew what I was talking about, but you avoided the question.
So we're circling on back to it.
I think we've had a lot of experiences that we can both say we've watched the bowl crack in both of us.
We have.
I've seen a lot, you've seen a lot of my cracks, I've seen a lot of your cracks, but I think that's that's the beauty part, right?
That's why you're standing here smiling, and you know, I've seen many tears from you, you've seen many tears from me, but like I think your mission of mental health advocate, like sharing those cracks, I just talked to someone else about that.
It's like kids and the youth don't think that we have the cracks we have, right?
I feel like they're almost blind to it, and when you share it, it becomes, oh, that's just normal.
Yeah, yeah.
Definitely not being understood.
And every aspect of not, I mean, from I was a kid who was in speech therapy.
I was a kid that was in speech therapy.
Same.
Really?
I couldn't pronounce my Rs.
Everyone thought I was from New York.
Serious.
I called a bird a board.
I I dropped the first and last syllable of every word.
The first and last syllable of every word.
So water was uh got it.
Okay, okay, that's so hard.
Yes, and so in my head I was saying water, but it was I would get angry when I wasn't understood.
And that started from not being able to speak as a kid.
It started as being an athlete and then a and a female athlete because in our world, the girls like we're coached by men who thankfully Bob was very open in my adult life to talk about periods, to listen about periods, to understand that he does not understand it, so he can turn to someone who's a professional in that aspect.
Um, but being understood and really having a voice to speak your mind without being silenced or shamed in talking about that.
And I feel like a lot of times I just put my head down and did the work instead of really expressing myself in ways that it worked in ways that yes, I have a lot of accomplishments, and it didn't work in ways that I had to figure that out later in my life of how to use my voice.
And now I want to educate and empower athletes and female athletes to use their voice and know, have them understand that they know their body best, yeah, and no one else can tell them what they are feeling.
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What do you feel like you were the most misunderstood about?
Hmm.
That's a good question.
Um, this is a that's a really tough question.
I don't even know how to answer this.
I'll I'll I'll let you think.
I'll just tell you that, like, for me, that is my number one trigger.
Like, when I find myself getting angry at someone or like lashing out, it's I'm like, why am I so mad?
And it's because I feel like the person doesn't understand me, like in my soul, or like what I'm about.
Yes, that is in on the other side, and I don't know if you feel the same way, but after experiencing that and feeling that, I really make sure to listen.
And I'm very curious.
Um, I feel like that's a core value.
Yeah.
It's curiosity.
You are, and I'm very inquisitive, and when I'm inquisitive, a lot of people are asking me if they're there or a lot of people are asking me if I am interrogating them.
And I'm like, no, but I will remember everything you say to me.
Yeah.
Because I really want to hear you and I really want to understand you.
Yes.
And so I don't really know what I wasn't understood in because I was more just silenced, or I silenced myself because I didn't know exactly how to say it.
And so I just didn't say it.
Just kind of kept it in, shoved it down.
Yes.
And just felt like, and and I always I feel like, at least from my standpoint, it's just like, it's almost like a a shame or a fear of like, well, then if I actually say how I'm feeling, like, what if people make fun of me?
Or what if, you know, people look at me differently, right?
There's all those insecurities that every single person has, but until you say it, you don't know how it's gonna be perceived, right?
Or how long someone will sit with you in silence before you're able to actually say it, or before you're able to Before you're able to formulate those thoughts or sentences, because that within itself is extremely hard for me to do even today, after therapy, after going to get my master's degree in social work.
It's really just being able to sit with yourself and understand what you're asking for and what you need in those moments.
And isn't it the worst when like, you know, Gavin or Todd or they're like, well, like, how are you feeling, how can I help?
How are you feeling?
And you're like, I don't know.
I don't know how I'm feeling.
So sometimes it's just like, sometimes I think it's just sitting and being like, hey, I don't know, but you talk about like the listening.
It's just having someone sit with you so that if it does come up, you can vent it without judgment.
Yes, yes.
And there's a huge, it's funny you say that because in our relationship there's a huge difference.
If I'm crying about something, he's like, what's wrong?
compared to what do you need in this moment?
Right.
And in when I hear what do you need in this moment, it's like even more water works because it's like, wow, I can feel my body release because I'm not, I don't have a guard up of what's wrong because yeah, obviously you can tell something's wrong.
But now I have my guard down, like, oh, you actually want to help?
You actually are gonna sit through this so-called mess to figure this out with me.
Yeah, yeah.
I feel like I mean, obviously, we have so many coaches, athletes.
What specifically with girls, what should they say to their coaches to help them understand that a little bit better?
I don't know if I can give that exact answer because it's gonna change for each person.
Right.
I would say from a coaching aspect, and again, Bob did a great job about this, especially later in my career when I would go into his office and I would text him before 6 a.m.
practice and be like, hey, can we meet?
Which that right there is advice.
Yes, yes, and say it like 10 minutes before, I mean we have 20 minutes uh rollout, like tonight we just meet for five minutes, can we meet for two minutes?
And I'd go in there every time without fail.
Immediate waterworks.
Like I started just bringing in tissue with me so that yes, so because I knew before words even got out, I would just cry.
Yeah.
And I remember one time he'd asking me, okay, well, what do you want to do?
Do you want to go home and not practice for the rest of the day?
Do you want to go practice?
And I was like, oh no, I didn't come in here to like not practice.
Yeah, I wouldn't wake up as early to not practice.
Yeah.
Um, and every time that it would happen, I would have my best practice afterwards.
And he would come up and be like, that's a great practice.
Like you did A, B, C, D.
And I'm like, C D I just feel like that having him understand me in those moments, then I was able to release all that weight and really perform in the way that it we are meant to perform in.
Yeah.
I mean the message to the coach is literally like just be there to listen.
Yes.
That's it.
That's all it is.
It's so simple but so hard.
Whether you're male or female, but I do think there is that interesting dynamic in swimming where there's way more male coaches, yeah, and so it's it's figuring that out.
And understanding the difference, I know you can't box male and females into one category, but overall the male, the male brain is more logical and the female brain is more emotional.
So understanding that, and I get, we get that coaches are humans too, and they have off days and they have hard days, but that's what assistants are for as well.
Yeah, 100%.
I always argue that because it takes a village, it takes a team to be successful in our sport and to wake up for those morning practices and to put our best effort in every single day.
I could not agree more.
Um, okay, well, I again I could we'll do that to do a follow-up on this because I have way more questions, but I just want to know what are you excited about that you're doing right now?
Personally, professionally, it doesn't matter.
I every day is an o like some days I feel like I'm on cloud nine and I'm like, life is great.
The next day I wake up and I'm like, what the heck am I doing with my life?
So really just being me and understanding that and allowing, giving opportunity to the next generation.
I really love working with BSN Sports Surge as a chief empowerment officer and allowing, creating curriculum and workshops to help coaches create environments to keep girls in sports because we see the dropout of girls twice the amount of boys by age 11 from menstrual cycles starting earlier, from body image, social media, the list could go on and on.
And if we, I think both of us sitting here can say that we wouldn't be sitting here today if it wasn't the life lessons that we learned from sport that allowed us to stand up again and again and again.
Yep, absolutely.
Yeah, by the way, the reason that I said specifically the words of personally and professionally is I feel like at a certain point of when you retire and you're kind of in that time frame of post-retirement, it's like five, six years, when someone asks you just like, well, what are you up to now?
There's a pit that gets into your stomach, and you're like, I don't know, I have to come up with some grandiose answer.
So, like, I love that.
Just like you don't, guess what?
You don't have to, you're doing a lot of amazing things, but you don't have to be.
You can just be you and enjoy being married and like all of those things.
So I just want you to know that.
Thank you.
I really am trying to figure out where my feet are supposed to be planted.
Hopefully Nashville.
And there is, I mean, there is a flashlight on our or a lamp on our feet, not flashlights.
Okay.
Yep.
To make sure that we just do one step ahead.
Like that.
I mean, are these basketballs real?
Like, can I pick up basketball on my next career?
Maybe you're tall enough.
I don't know how your hand-eye coordination is, but you're tall enough.
Alright, last question.
What is a word that motivates you, inspires you, or just encompasses who you want to be on the daily?
Ooh.
One word.
This is true to unfiltered waters form.
Curiosity.
Curiosity did not kill the cat.
Okay.
I agree with that.
That's a terrible is that a metaphor segment?
Yes.
Yeah.
Curiosity is where you learn.
Yes.
And we at one point were the highest in our sport.
And then we have to let that ego go when we go and explore what our next path is.
And so being curious and really putting your feet down, appreciating where you are and asking questions is where, yeah.
I want to know.
Yeah, I like that.
Staying, I always feel like staying curious, not getting too high, not getting too low.
Like, I feel like, especially right now in our society, everyone could be a little more curious.
Yeah.
I mean, don't get me wrong, I get highs and lows.
No, I know, but I guess what I mean is like not like kind of looking at your emotion, being curious, like, huh, why am I feeling this?
You know, that's that's more what it is.
And I think that's what saves you from we've all had them going down that spiral, right?
Which helps a lot.
Yes.
Yeah.
Oh, thanks, Allison.
Yes, of course.
This was fun.
Well done.
So fun.
Well, you could sit here and talk for hours and hours.
We could.
We absolutely could.
And I have people telling me stuff.
So I love you so much.
I love you too.
Yeah.