Champion’s Mojo Podcast: Erika Brown Targeting Olympic Games Berth
A part of a world-record setting relay during the second season of the International Swimming League and a 21-time NCAA All-American during her time at the University of Tennessee, Erika Brown is incredibly versatile as a swimmer. The second woman in history to break 46 seconds in the 100-yard freestyle joined the Champion’s Mojo Podcast to talk about how she was able to strengthen her mindset and the role that faith plays in her swimming.
Below is an abridged Q&A of the interview, conducted by Kelly Palace and Maria Parker, with Erika Brown. You can listen to the full podcast episode #99 at https://championsmojo.com or by clicking here.
Champion’s Mojo: How did you handle NCAAs being canceled your senior year and how did you feel about it?
Erika Brown: I mean, it was devastating, especially after we won SECs and qualified an amazing group of girls to go to NCAAs. We really felt like we were going to win there, too. Obviously, I had some goals in mind for my individual events. I wanted to get my first NCAA title. It’s very difficult to have to deal with that just being taken away. I think I was really able to take a step back and just cherish what I’ve learned throughout my years in college. My coach said something to me and it was like, “You’re never not going to be successful, it’s just you might run out of opportunities.” I think that this was a perfect example of that.
Champion’s Mojo: How do you feel about being five-foot-six in a sport where a lot of elite women are over six feet tall?
Erika Brown: I definitely stand out for sure. I think I was really lucky growing up. My parents always taught me that I can do whatever I want to do if I believe and have faith. I think I was told several times by other people that I would never make it to that level because of my height or because I was really small. I think I was able to turn that into motivation. Now that I have had success, I want to use my platform to show people that might look just like me that they can do the same thing. You don’t have to look a certain way to be successful in the sport.
Champion’s Mojo: How has your faith helped you succeed or impacted your life?
Erika Brown: I think, as a base, faith gives me a reason to compete. I’m not doing this for myself or any earthly reason. I believe that we are all given gifts and blessings, and that I was blessed with the opportunity to swim. I’m going to use that gift and my abilities the best I can. Hopefully that glory is given to Christ. Just through quarantine, I think my faith has gotten stronger because of dealing with those emotions. I’m so attached to swimming and it kind of taught me that it’s not the most important thing. It’s another reminder that ultimately my faith and that relationship with Christ is the most important thing.
Champion’s Mojo: What else have you learned about yourself during quarantine?
Erika Brown: I think I’ve learned a lot of things, but mostly that I don’t know what to do with free time. I like to stay really busy, so having a bunch of free time has been different for me. I think it’s caused me to find new hobbies. I’ve always enjoyed baking, but I’ve really gotten into baking recently. It’s helped me grow in my faith. I have been stuck on a Bible reading plan, which I don’t think I have been as good at in the past. That’s been great. I just like to find so many little different things to keep busy.
Champion’s Mojo: Besides this year, what have been some of the obstacles that you’ve had to overcome?
Erika Brown: The biggest one was my freshman year of college. I was really struggling being away from home. I’m a big homebody and being apart from my family was hard. They lived in Maryland at the time, so being so far apart made me feel really lonely. Then I wasn’t performing well in swimming. I really felt like I had nothing going for me. I was able to go home that summer. My family and I are super close. They really kind of brought me back down to earth and reminded me of my faith, reminding me of things that I would use as motivation growing up and reminded me that this is a huge opportunity and a huge blessing here at Tennessee. I think having that community and my family around me, I was able to come back refreshed and it really helped me. Even though it was such a difficult time, I think that it needed to happen.
Champion’s Mojo: How did reconnecting with your family impact your swimming, friendships, and school?
Erika Brown: I think they really just reminded me to keep in check with my mentality. My mindset was very negative at the time and I would wake up and just think only negative thoughts like that the day wasn’t going to go well. Or about wanting to be at home instead of here. I really started writing everything out. Leaving myself sticky notes. Really keeping in check with my mental health throughout the day. It can’t be just at the start and at the end of the day. It has to be like every hour. What am I thinking? What am I telling myself? I turn all those negative thoughts into positive thoughts. I would get up and say, I’m going to have a great day. I’m going to get better today. I’m going to talk to my teammates in a positive way and put that energy out to others. I think changing that whole mentality really changed my whole perspective on life.
Champion’s Mojo: How are you able to capture those thoughts like that?
Erika Brown: I think just getting in the habit of being really self-aware. It’s easy to tell when you start keeping in check with your mood because those thoughts just come and go freely. I know that I have thought, OK, what have I been thinking about for the past two hours? They’re usually not positive, happy thoughts. I think it just took a lot of practice and then eventually I was able to narrow it down. Like I said, I started at the beginning and end of the day and then I was able to do more and more each day.
Champion’s Mojo: Have you continued doing that? Do you use any other form of mental training?
Erika Brown: So, to be honest, I feel like I have not been as on track as I was. I feel like in March when everything happened with the pandemic, I really got off track for a little while and I’m slowly starting to get back to that. It’s definitely not easy. It’s a habit and it has to be every single day. I’m working back towards that and it’s a lot better. As far as other things go, I definitely am a visual learner. In practice we do a lot of video work and I love just looking at that, comparing it to other people, comparing it to my other swim’s and then using that to visualize for my races. I definitely use visualization before anytime that I race and just in life. I think it’s important if you set goals and you want to achieve something, you have to see yourself there.
Champion’s Mojo: How did you learn to do that?
Erika Brown: My family. I’m super lucky because my parents have always taught me that you have to see something before you actually achieve it. I think that’s another reason why I chose Tennessee, because Coach (Matt) Kredich does an amazing job at that. He kind of helped even push me further into that.
Champion’s Mojo: What do you do at Tennessee as far as mental training?
Erika Brown: So, in college, we actually had a sports therapist who would come and we would do 15 minutes of mental training before every practice. We would do that and then dynamic stretching and then we would get in the water. He would take us through it and it changed every day. For example, he would take us through a meet day. Our warmup, dryland, training our whole race from the start. Then, after we visualized it, we would go walk over to the blocks and get up on the blocks as if we’re going to race. I think that is something that definitely helped me. At Tennessee we do a lot of different things to keep that light and fun atmosphere.
Champion’s Mojo: During your senior year you broke the Tennessee school record in the 100 free by almost two seconds. What changed that year for you that helped you achieve that?
Erika Brown: Well, I think one was my mindset for sure. When I got back there, I was just really telling myself, what do I have to lose? I’m going to give everything I have. I really worked on my underwater. That’s a big thing, especially in short course, that really helped me in those races. In practice, I would just say, OK, I’m going to do eight kicks off every wall. I’m going to force myself to do it because I’m going to get better. That mentality really helps me. Also, the way I trained. I’ve always been a really hard worker and I would get in and grind, but I really learned the way the coaches at Tennessee teach the strokes. It’s about posture and buoyancy. We’re in the water. It’s very different than being on land. I really learned a lot about the sport that I never had before. I learned how to use my body in the water easier. I’m still doing the best I can, but it’s not as exhausting. I think those combined really helped me.
Champion’s Mojo: What routines or rituals do you have that help make you successful?
Erika Brown: I think I am always looking to get better in every aspect, and I think what’s really important is always finding new ways to get better. Something that I’ve implemented is yoga and stretching and foam or lacrosse ball rolling, really tuning into every area of my body. We worked with a guy named Phil, who actually works with the divers at Tennessee. He would do a lot of little tiny movements like core exercises, shoulder exercises, and we would do that. Me and Natasha, who is still on the college team right now, would show up an hour before practice and work on that. I think those rituals that I created really helped me in the water. It helps you mentally because it gives you more confidence because, you know, you’re putting in the work. Then, just like behind the blocks, I have a routine I like to do. It’s just another way to give me confidence. It’s something that makes me feel strong. I like to do punches, which looks kind of silly, but it warms up your core. Then I do a streamline to stretch it out. Then, when I’m standing up on the blocks, you see a lot of people bend over, but I stand tall and don’t bend over until they say take your marks. Those are my routines before my race, kind of like how Michael Phelps flaps his arms.
Champion’s Mojo: Has everyone started showing up early now or is that unique to you?
Erika Brown: I definitely like to show up early and I would always welcome my teammates to come with me. I think in college I was probably not the best student. To be honest, I really put swimming first over college. I still did well, but when most people were studying I was figuring out how to be better at swimming. I think that is the difference. Obviously other people would show up too, but I made it a habit.
Champion’s Mojo: What did you study in college and how has that helped you since?
Erika Brown: I studied kinesiology, so I think it actually did help me understand how the body works. I’ve had some shoulder pain in the past couple of years and understanding how it works and exercises I can do on my own has really helped me in the sport.
Champion’s Mojo: What are some commonalities that you’ve seen between other champions?
Erika Brown: I think the biggest thing is the mindset. They’re relentless in their pursuit of success and nothing is going to stop them. I was lucky enough to be teammates with some people that I really look up to and getting to learn from them in Budapest was a big experience for me. I’m so grateful for that. Just seeing the way they carry themselves. Something that I have been trying to work on is confidence. It’s hard sometimes to be super confident, and you don’t want to be arrogant or cocky. I struggle with that. So, for example, Caeleb Dressel I think does an amazing job. Just getting to hear him talk about swimming and how he approaches the sport, it definitely helped me learn how I can be better in that too.
Champion’s Mojo: Who else has been an inspiration in your life?
Erika Brown: I think growing up, my inspirations were Kathleen Hersey and Karlee Bispo from Texas since, when I was younger, I would go to swim camps and I really looked up to them. They set great examples. Even now I think it’s just my teammates. It’s easy when you’re training with someone to motivate them and I think it’s so meaningful when you receive that back. I get inspired by my teammates every single day and seeing them achieve something great makes me feel good, too. In college it was my teammates there, and now it’s my professional teammates. It was amazing to go to Budapest with the Cali Condors. I am so inspired by those people. I think Budapest was unique too in that I got to train with them for six weeks. We really get to know each other and create better relationships when you’re with someone that long. Definitely my teammates from that trip, as well as from the trips with Team USA in 2018. I think when I went to Worlds in China in December was the moment for me when I decided that I’m going to swim professionally and I’m going to have this as a goal of mine when I’m done collegiately because of those relationships. I had a lot of fears going into it just because I had never really been around such successful athletes and experiencing that and how kind they were really motivated me to keep going.
Champion’s Mojo: How does it feel now to have achieved that goal and be able to swim professionally?
Erika Brown: It feels amazing, I think at some points it can feel kind of stressful because it’s like you want something so bad and then as soon as you get it, you feel pressure. I think I had to work through that and just realize what a blessing and opportunity this is because I do love swimming. This is amazing that I get to do what I love every single day and not worry about anything else. I would tell anyone with the same goal to keep working really hard and see yourself there because you can do that. It is a possibility. It’s definitely realistic.
Champion’s Mojo: Obviously, Olympic Trials are coming up. What are your plans until then? What is your focus on for the meet?
Erika Brown: Right now I’m still training at Tennessee. We’re lucky enough to still get the opportunity to train there as a pro group. We can’t train with the college team, which is what we would normally do most days a week, but we still get full time and plenty of it. Our schedule looks a little different. We have different hours. We get some more sleep and swim a little later, which has been nice. My main focus this year and next year is the Olympics and Trials. My mindset is really focused on Trials right now. We suited up and raced last weekend just at our home pool and I think in January we have one more planned in Nashville. We’re kind of waiting to see exactly what happens. It’s kind of been hard to plan things this year. I’m sure you guys understand so I’m just taking every opportunity I have to race. That visualization has really been a key for me, because if I can’t race in as many as I want to, I can at least go watch film of my previous races that have been good and see what I need to fix and then visualize that being even better. Hopefully I make the Olympic team. I really believe that I can. Then, after that, I want to continue swimming. I’d say for at least two more Olympics. I love the sport so much and I want to stay in it. Hopefully we have another ISL season next year too.
Champion’s Mojo: You’re incredibly versatile, are you training as if you’ll be racing in all of your events at Olympic Trials?
Erika Brown: I definitely train as if I’m going to make it in all of my events so I can be prepared for that. I haven’t fully decided on swimming the fly. I’m pretty sure I’ll do the 100 fly just because I have pretty much a perfect lineup. There’s really no overlapping. The 100 fly would be my first event of the meet so it would be a good setup I think. I’m used to racing a lot of events. I raced a lot in college so I don’t think that it would hurt me. It might even benefit me.
Champion’s Mojo: How was racing that many events in the ISL?
Erika Brown: It was more difficult than I thought it would be for sure. It was super fun, though. I was so excited to get up and race, especially on those relays where you’re racing with the best and against the best in the world. It was a feeling like no other. I think they did a really great job. I really hope that gets to continue because it’s so much fun.
Champion’s Mojo: What did a day of life in the bubble look like?
Erika Brown: We were on an island that was a mile long and we were able to leave for 90 minutes a day, but other people could come onto the island. I don’t think many people went outside a lot and it was really cold. I would get up, have some coffee, some oatmeal, do some stretching, then go down to breakfast. It depended on when we had practice because our schedule changed a lot. If we had a super early practice, I would eat breakfast after training and if not, I would go right down there. It was nice for every meal because your teammates are down there so you get to see people and the meals are prepared for you, which is amazing. You don’t have to do anything yourself. I would go to training and I had two of my teammates, Megan Small and Molly Hannis, from Tennessee with me. Usually we would do a practice together and some people might jump in with us and then I’d just go back, do some reading, relax. Towards the end I brought a nail kit so I painted some of my teammates nails. We would hang out together. Kelsi Dahlia brought a bunch of games so that was a lot of fun. I’d eat lunch in the dining hall again and maybe do a second training depending on the day and then go to dinner. After dinner we played more games or just relaxed. We had our own rooms and, since I’m kind of an introvert, I really had to push myself to go hang out with people but it was really fun. We had six matches within six weeks, so the first match was a couple of days after we got there and then we had eight days off to train and then every match after that was about three or four days on and then three or four days off. There was a lot of racing and not a lot of downtime. My coach, Matt from Tennessee, would send workouts and then we would do them. And we had a great coaching staff in Budapest. They gave us an option to do their as well, but since we were there for six weeks and we’re still training for Trials, we just stuck to what we know.
Champion’s Mojo: Is there anything we haven’t asked you yet?
Erika Brown: I think the biggest thing is what I’ve learned from the pandemic. Swimming is so much fun and so important, but it doesn’t define who you are as a person. I think that’s the biggest reminder that I needed. I think it’s great to talk about. It is an amazing part of my life and so much fun, but it doesn’t define who I am. I think every athlete should know that and understand that.
Champion’s Mojo: This has been great! Thank you for being with us today!
Erika Brown: It has been great! Thank you for having me!