Mikkel Lee - (Swimmer) National Team, Singapore

Sonya believed in me before I even believed in myself. Before one of my best swims to date - 21.99 at the Berlin Open, I had a bad swim and was losing confidence greatly. Expecting people to ask me “What happened in the swim?” or even “What went wrong?”, all Sonya did was send me a text message saying “You ok?”.

 That moment meant everything to me. Sonya cared about me as a person first. Knowing that I would already be disappointed in my swim and that there was no point reliving the bad moments, she helped me to redirect my focus to building confidence and belief for the next two days of racing. We jumped on a phone call despite being in different continents, and she reminded me that one bad swim doesn’t make me a bad swimmer, to take the rest of the night before bed to visualize the great races that I’ve had in the past, the great practices I’ve had, reliving those good moments.

 This episode didn’t just teach me about swimming, it taught me about life. Everyone has days when things don’t go our way, when we stumble or even when doubts creep in. But what truly matters in it all is how we respond, turning negative energy into positive energy that helps us reach our goals. It’s about holding onto the belief that there is always light at the end of the tunnel and tough times don’t last forever. Every setback is an opportunity to learn, grow and comeback even stronger.

 As the song Tubthumping says “I get knocked down, but I get up again - you’re never going to keep me down.”. That line sums it up perfectly. I’m so thankful and lucky to have Sonya as a mentor throughout my swimming career to guide me through times like this, helping me become not only a better swimmer but a better person, ready to take on whatever life has to offer.