While embracing new heights in any endeavor, it is better to remember that the upside can often prove to be as slippery as the downside. This reminds Tara Davis-Woodhall, the No. 2 long jump World Champion, of her recent criticism of track and field’s heavy pressure on athletes. She hit the top mark with her powerful leap. Yet the glory to the gold has its story “through hell and back.”   

About that, Tara Davis-Woodhall, who faced severe personal and professional ups and downs, started raising the apt questions. Making the world aware of the athletes’ mental concerns, Tara Davis never minces her words about abusive coaching situations. And now, she has entered into the coaching scenario at Arkansas State University. From that standing, Tara Davis-Woodhall is making the solutions known from her personal experiences.

Tara Davis-Woodhall’s mental preparation techniques

In a recent conversation, Tara Davis-Woodhall shared her thoughts about mental preparation when she gets down the runway. She said, “I want you to do this exercise when you’re on the runway, or when you’re feeling stressed. Inhale what you want and exhale what don’t want. And so on the runway, I’m about to take off and inhale, and I’m like breath in confidence and exhale fear.” Looking at her achievements, it seems that it really works. Her husband, Hunter Woodhall’s Instagram post, shared this eye-opening conversation with a caption, “Runway thoughts with Tara.” 

Sharing her Olympic trials experience, Tara said, “…this year, I’ve been working on my mental health, and I’ve learned that you don’t have to worry about what coach says, you’ve done the training, you’ve got this.” During a major competition in her life, she was preparing herself with this mindset. She added, “…It was most stressful competition. It was Olympic trials. I scratched two jumps, and I was just in therapy literally hours before going to compete.” It happened last year in June when Tara lost two attempts out of three to make her way to the Paris Olympics. Did she fail her last attempt, too? Nope–absolutely not. 

That was a crazy third attempt at the US Olympic trials–like a movie. It seems that she literally exhaled her fear and inhaled her confidence. In her last attempt, her jump measured 6.64m, which put her in fifth position. This earned her another three attempts. The best part is that she jumped 7.00m during these attempts, earning her the leading end by surpassing Jasmine Moore’s 6.98 finish. And from there, the rest is history–her perfect leaps clinched the top podium stand at the Paris Olympics. But the mental health question among the athletes remains. 

Recently, a study found that 35% of elite athletes have mental health struggles. They often felt unbridled pressure from the coaches, fans, and teammates. On top of that, their own unrealistic expectations pushed them to the brink of breakdown. Many athletes, from the gymnastics legend Simone Biles to the swimming ace Michael Phelps, raised these mental breakdowns during their ongoing career. Gone through such conditions in her track and field career, Tara couldn’t hold herself back from criticizing the abusive conditions.

Athletes are human too, a message from Tara Davis-Woodhall

Not holding any bars on criticizing unwanted pressure, Tara Davis-Woodhall recently penned her thoughts about abusive coaching practices that often result in counterproductiveness. She wrote, “Because this isn’t talked about enough…leave the mentally abusive coaching situation… This is YOUR career not theirs. And coaches, athletes are humans too.” The realization came to her with her hard-fought win over depression at a time when the world was grappling with the devastating COVID-19 virus. Many were mentally down due to the social distancing.  

At that time, Tara Davis-Woodhall was competing at the University of Texas. The long jumper, who started her jumping season under her coach-father eyes, was so wrenched from the inside by depression that she hadn’t been outside for a long period. She decided to even quit her track and field career. Well, that will be very disheartening for every sports enthusiast. Nevertheless, she fought back. 

Eventually, she realized, “We can either continue to be sad and be in bed all day, or we can go outside and enjoy life − a life that we only have one time to live.” And that’s it. The super jumper who soared up 7.1m at the Paris Olympics came back on the field to stun the world. Tara’s story shows that defiance is a virtue, whether you are defiant to yourself or in a burdensome situation.