{"id":367139,"date":"2019-05-03T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T17:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=367139"},"modified":"2019-05-02T13:51:35","modified_gmt":"2019-05-02T20:51:35","slug":"swimming-world-presents-ncaa-division-i-mini-feature-beata-nelson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/swimming-world-presents-ncaa-division-i-mini-feature-beata-nelson\/","title":{"rendered":"Swimming World Presents “NCAA Division I Mini-Feature: Beata Nelson”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Un-Beata-ble Nelson<\/span><\/h1>\n

For an entire season, Beata Nelson had prepared for the end of the grueling 200 backstroke: hitting that pace in practice, holding that pace when she was tired and then working the walls every time. That meant sticking to at least 10 dolphin kicks off every wall, even when the swimmers around her would start to fade, no matter how much it hurt.<\/p>\n

All that preparation required massive focus and diligence day after day at practice over a long swim season. But much more challenging was a mental shift that the Wisconsin junior had vowed to make: after a freshman year derailed by personal struggles and a sophomore season in which Nelson tried to prove that she belonged competing for NCAA titles, she wanted to think as little as possible and enjoy the moments of an NCAA Championships.<\/p>\n

Easy to articulate, but really hard to actually pull off.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are pressures from everybody. It\u2019s in our nature to have anxiety and fear. I think part of it is having the people around you who know you and know what you need in the moments when you start to feel that negative energy creep in. My teammates and my coaches did an incredible job keeping me happy, keeping me excited, reminding me of all the hard work I\u2019d done all year,\u201d Nelson said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nelson focused on soaking in the energy of the meet, dancing to the music played during warm-ups and admiring record breakers in other events. She used her phone as little as possible for texting and social media. But she admitted, \u201cIt\u2019s hard to describe how (to stay positive) because I\u2019m not really sure how I did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

To read more about Beata Nelson’s training and performance at the NCAA Champs this year,
\ncheck out the May 2019<\/a><\/span> issue of Swimming World Magazine<\/em>, available now!<\/p>\n

\"Swimming<\/a><\/p>\n

[PHOTO CREDIT: PETER H. BICK]<\/p>\n

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