Mental Resilience and Team Dynamics: Insights from Olympian Danielle Reedy

In this episode of "Spirit of an Athlete," host Amanda Smith interviews Danielle Reedy, an Olympian, coach, speaker, podcast host, and author. Danielle shares her journey as a synchronized swimmer, discussing her experiences at the 2006 Olympic Games and World Championships. She highlights the differences between synchronized swimming events and her transition from Canada to Australia to compete for the Australian team. The conversation delves into the mental and emotional challenges of being an athlete, including team competition and identity struggles. Danielle's story emphasizes resilience, mental preparation, and the importance of community and personal growth.

Time Stamps: 

• Danielle's Olympic Experience (00:01:06)
  Danielle shares her participation in the 2006 Olympic Games as a synchronized swimmer for Australia.
• World Championships Participation (00:02:52)
  Danielle discusses her experience competing in three world championships and the significance of these events.
• Mixed Duet Event Introduction (00:03:25)
  She shares her experience in the mixed duet event and the historical context of men in synchronized swimming.
• Transition to the Australian Team (00:05:18)
  Danielle recounts her move from Canada to Australia and her journey to joining the Australian synchronized swimming team.
• Retirement and Return to the Sport (00:06:57)
  She talks about retiring at 18 and how she stayed involved in synchronized swimming through coaching.
• Concussion and Life Changes (00:10:41)
  Danielle describes her concussion experience and its impact on her life and athletic career.
• Opportunity to Try Out for the Australian Team (00:11:36)
  She shares how she was encouraged to try out for the Australian team and the motivation behind her decision.
• World Championships and Olympic Qualification (00:14:57)
  Danielle explains the process of qualifying for the Olympics through world championships and the pressure involved.
• Mental Challenges in Team Trials (00:16:44)
  She discusses the mental challenges of competing against teammates for a spot on the Olympic team.
• Proactive Approach to Training (00:18:25)
  Danielle reveals her strategies for improving her performance and staying self-aware during training.
• Reflection on Future Olympic Aspirations (00:20:07)
  She reflects on her attempts to qualify for the 2021 Olympic Games and her journey beyond athletics.

Find Danielle here:

www.daniellekettlewell.com
https://www.instagram.com/thedaniellereedy/ 
https://www.tiktok.com/@thedaniellereedy 
https://www.daniellekettlewell.com/beautiful-souls-podcast
Book: The Unlikely Olympian - https://www.amazon.ca/Unlikely-Olympian-Fears-Achieve-Dream-ebook/dp/B07VJFFXWK 

Free Meditation: www.daniellekettlewell.com/medi 

Watch Spirit of an Athlete on YouTube!

Check out more from Amanda:
Website: Body Whisper Healing
Instagram: @Amanda.G.Smith
Facebook: Body Whisper Healing
Pinterest: AmandaGSmithBWH
LinkedIn: Amanda (Ritchie) Smith

If you’re a female athlete facing unexplained health issues, don’t forget to check out the Gutsy Chick Quiz created just for you! https://gutsychickquiz.com

Transcript

Amanda Smith 00:00:18  Welcome back to another episode of spirit of an athlete. I'm your host, Amanda Smith, and on this episode I interview Danielle Reid, who is an Olympian, a coach, a speaker, a podcast host and an author. You're going to get to hear about all of those things in this podcast during the Olympics 2024. Hope you enjoy this episode. Danielle Reidy, thank you so much for being on spirit of an athlete, especially during this awesome time every four years when we get to talk Olympics.

Danielle Reedy 00:00:57  I'm so excited to be here. Thank you.

Amanda Smith 00:01:00  You're welcome. Okay, so when were you in the Olympics and what sport did you do?

Danielle Reedy 00:01:06  I was in the 2006 Olympic Games. I competed for Australia. I was part of the synchronized swimming team in both of the events of Free and Attack attacker team.

Amanda Smith 00:01:18  Ooh, okay. I haven't had very many swimmers on my podcast, and I have never had a synchronized swimmer on. So what's the difference between those two events? Yes.

Danielle Reedy 00:01:32  Good question. So what I mean for teams that are like if for yourself like saw softball soccer you're obviously competing in, you know, a handful of people until you've said but very basic explanation.

Danielle Reedy 00:01:47  But other sports like swimming, like gymnastics, like synchronized swimming, there's actually different events like you'll see, I mean, everyone's pretty familiar with Michael Phelps. He would do 50m freestyle or 100m or half 100 meter medley. And so there's lots of different sports equals different opportunities to get medals basically. And so we had the same thing and synchronized something. There's four events. There's two team LEDs to do at events. And the tag routine is do you ever watch figure skating? I kind of use that as an example. We have technical elements that we have to perform and the routines I as exciting to watch, but they're very much more technical. And you're created basically a jump on each element. And then the free routines are a lot more artistic is you ever watch like ice dancing, which is a different in that from ice skating in the Winter Olympics. They are basically like creative, expressions and, you know, to you, but everyone and so, there's many more events that we have in synchronized swimming.

Danielle Reedy 00:02:46  But at the Olympic Games, those are the two of it's that we have the opportunity to fill in.

Amanda Smith 00:02:52  Okay. And then you weren't just at the 2016 Olympics. You've also been in world championships.

Danielle Reedy 00:03:00  Yes, three, three World Championships, which is a pretty big deal. in the sporting world, I think. I think people don't care. Like I'm so proud of that. But other people are just like Olympics. And I'm like, no, no, there's other things. so I competed in 20 1517 and 2019, world championships for Australia. So.

Amanda Smith 00:03:20  Oh my gosh. And in those same two events, or were you in more events for those?

Danielle Reedy 00:03:25  The first two I was in the same events and, and then the third World Championships, I was in the mixed duet event. And so I wasn't in the team that year. I was in the mix in that, which was a really cool opportunity mixed to it. got allowed into the World Championships scheme in 2015. Synchronised swimming is this like really awesome and backwards for where we actually had inequality for men for many years? So there was men that wanted to compete at high levels, but they weren't actually allowed to end at each national level until 2015, when they were started to be allowed into the sport at an international level.

Danielle Reedy 00:04:02  And so from 2015 onwards, there was a lot more men that started to, you know, have the opportunity to come up in this sport. And there was one particular man in Australia who came from swimming, and they were really wanting to get Australia in mixed wet event. It's just kind of like a really iconic thing to get your country in that. And so they asked me if I want to meet that partner, which I was super honored to be asked, and that was a really cool other experience. And we got a lot of media in Australia around that too, because we were the first in history for Australia ever to compete in a mixed tour event. America actually has like one of the longest standing, male, security systems delay. He's like an absolute legend in the synchronized swimming world, leads from California, and he actually competes. He actually works for Cirque du Soleil. And he's in, oh, in Las Vegas as a male synchronized swimmer there. And so he was actually a huge pioneer in this and synchronized swimming for men to get into the sport.

Danielle Reedy 00:05:02  And he's from California. So fun fact.

Amanda Smith 00:05:06  I have a feeling a lot of people are going, wait, wait, wait, we've heard her talk a bit now. Yeah, she doesn't have an Australian accent. How did you end up on the Australia team?

Danielle Reedy 00:05:18  so not having a straight accent is like the bane of my existence. I really wish something did, but I only knew a bit of a background, so I might come from two parents that are Australian. They moved from Sydney, Australia to Vancouver, Canada then many, many years ago where I was born and raised and through a crazy sequence of events which led me to going throughout the sport and not ever really being the best athlete. Retiring at 18 years old, getting crazy opportunity when I was 21, to come to Australia and try out for the Australian team based on the fact that I had dual citizenship, I took this insane leap of my life to move to Australia and everything behind university and try out for the Australian team. and that is the end.

Danielle Reedy 00:06:05  That helped me get on the team and competing there and living there for many years and having this transition and that, I mean, a fun fact. I also met my husband in Australia as well. So the fun jump in the family is like, everyone around me has an Australian accent except for me. Like all my friends, my husband, my parents, like my aunts and uncles and I have this little Canadian exit. So that's kind of how that all happened. I really turn that big, beautiful story into like 30s. But as long as you use a memory because a lot of people do ask it as though.

Amanda Smith 00:06:38  I could imagine, I mean, you generally when I have Australians on there saying, good day, mate, and I'm here for it, and that's not coming out of your face. So, Hamish, thank you for explaining that. But that did bring in more questions. So you retired from the sport at 18?

Danielle Reedy 00:06:57  I did it, yeah. okay. They bridge.

Amanda Smith 00:07:01  That gap.

Danielle Reedy 00:07:01  For us.

Amanda Smith 00:07:02  How do you repair in the Olympic team?

Danielle Reedy 00:07:04  I know, or.

Amanda Smith 00:07:05  On the world championship team.

Danielle Reedy 00:07:07  It's quite funny. So I started in synchronized swimming when I was eight years old. I've always been. I was too tall to be a gymnast. I'm five foot nine. That's like. That's basically the guy says theoretician for all. And I was always a good swimmer. We, we when parents are Aussie, everyone in Australia spends. but swimming is really boring. You just try to go back and forth, back and forth and so much actually, in this little sport of swimming. And I fell in love with it after a couple of years, not only the actual technicality and the challenges that came in, having to learn how to do it, but also the fact that I got to work in a team and loved that. And I mean, as a little girl, I got to learn sparkly bathing suit and have makeup on, and I performed and I was like, yes, I'm here for I basically like guys in the water, but I have a hard times harder.

Danielle Reedy 00:07:54  And so I continued my sport all throughout my elementary and high school years, up until I was in grade 12. The only challenge that I had is that I was having great attitude out in the great teams there, but I just was never the most talented. I was like the least likely to succeed. I think when you're on teams, you usually kind of know there's a level of internal thinking like, I'm star player and I'll lose the top couple fans and kind of know the ones that are at the back of the team. And that was me, right? It wasn't for lack of a great attitude. It was just I don't first of all, I don't have a natural body type of a synchronized swimmer. I'm not naturally flexible. I, I'm not naturally as lean as, a lot of synchronized humans are. It's like to learn body to like it does very, very lean and and, I had a whole laundry list of things against. And so when I was 18 years old and I was in grade 12, there was nowhere else to go.

Danielle Reedy 00:08:52  I would not have made the Canadian national team. I wasn't good enough and there wasn't an AU. It started so you could actually get scholarships at university and in states for cancelling, but I wasn't I didn't think I was enough to do that either. Sorry. No worries. and then I.

Amanda Smith 00:09:13  Stayed.

Danielle Reedy 00:09:13  Involved in the sport and that was really important. And I always say to people like, I think sometimes if we have a love for Salt Lake, if we completely cut it out of our life, it can feel like you lost a limb, you know? And so for me, what that meant was coaching the girls and seeing something and doing it like, creatively, like I was doing repetitively. It was just a couple of days a week just to provide with my teammates. And so I was actually at this point in 2013 where I was going to universities, working a couple jobs, and I was doing, you know, some fun synchronicity girlfriends. One day we were at a practice training session and we were doing what we call the synchronized highlights.

Danielle Reedy 00:09:49  Highlights are when we create human pyramids and the water wheel eggbeater up to the surface, and we create like a spring where one of the athletes, the flyer on the top, does a flit and lands in the water, which is pretty incredible, splashing youths all without touching the bottom. However, this one day, what happened is that she made a slit as she went up and she fell straight on my head. We are like American football. I don't there's no helmets in the water, there's no protection. And so you can imagine, as you know, falling on top of you is a bit of an attack. But again, it's been fully asked of it. It was not her fault. These are the things just happen in sport, right? And usually I felt okay. But I was driving home that night and I started to get this really bad headache and sort of feel nauseous. And I had a midterm the next day, and I was actually trying to read the words on the paper in my textbook, and I knew was English and that I didn't know what that.

Danielle Reedy 00:10:41  It just didn't continue tonight. And so the next day, I went to the doctor, and I ended up finding a caution if he did sport too awfully high up as well. Daniel Radcliffe is on the deal. But I say concussions are really similar to struggling with your mental health. You know, like YOLO. Fine. My I didn't both of Linea didn't have a stitches. But like my brain is not okay. And really there's not a lot that you can do to recover from a concussion and then at rest. And if you tell an athlete to rest and like good luck, it's like the hardest thing that you can do, you know, to lay in a dark room for a month and not do anything. So that led to this real, real dark place in my life. And this all happened over my 21st birthday, the day after my first grand day. I was actually on the phone with a girlfriend of mine who was a previous teammate. You know, if you've ever been in sports, your teammates are all your friends, right? And she was wishing you a happy birthday at a time.

Danielle Reedy 00:11:36  She gets a B from Facebook Messenger on her computer and she starts reading this message to me like in shock, because the assistant national team coach of the Australian synchronized swimming team reached out to her and asked her if she if she also had Australian dual citizenship. Was there any chance that she wanted to come out to these trips to Australia and try out for the Australian team in hopes to qualify the team for the 2016 Olympic game? Keep in mind this is 2013. So the year after and the Clinton Olympics and a rebuilding team. And as a friend and teammate. Oh my God this is amazing. You go for this I believe in you. Like she was always a more talented athlete than me. But after about half an hour I'm like s celebrating her. She looks from and she says, like, Danielle, you could do this too. And why, why, why not? You and I kind of laughed. I was like, are you kidding me? Like, not only do I have a concussion, but I was never the best.

Danielle Reedy 00:12:31  I'm in Canada. There's like a million reasons why this is way, way too impossible, way too hard. But at that time, too, I've realized that this isn't an opportunity that comes around twice in a lifetime. You don't get that way, right? And I as well had this moment where I imagined myself on my deathbed of, oh, it's kind of been a bit of an old soul, and then natural, looking back on my life and the decisions that I made. We all have moments in our life when there's a fork in the road and we can go one way or the other. And I realized that if I walked away from this, that would have been because I was afraid. Or a lot of people were thinking me. I was afraid of being judged. I was afraid of failing. I was afraid of falling on my face. But if I didn't do it, I would be more afraid of regret, more afraid and wondering who I could have been. And even though the fear of people judging me, the fear of failure and for all those things terrified me, the fear of regret scared me more.

Danielle Reedy 00:13:29  And so that little thought led to this huge sense of motivation all of a sudden to do something absolutely bloody crazy.

Amanda Smith 00:13:41  And.

Danielle Reedy 00:13:42  Go after this crazy. Impossible. Beautiful. Insane dream. And like everyone thought I was crazy. Like, I dropped out of university. I packed up two bags, like I like, took out alone, like and moved across the world. Like I went all in, right? And then going all in. Literally in my actions. I also went all in, in my mindset and working on myself. And I'm like, you know what? Maybe I'm not the best, but I'm going to be the one that has the best attitude. And like being an athlete, it has an attitude. It does go a long way. Being an athlete that's self-aware goes so far, right? And so I attribute all of that to the, you know, and fast like years of hard work. Right. It's not like I had never done this sport before. Keep in mind, when I moved to Australia, I was already had 12 years of experience, right? Was never the best, but I was still very skilled.

Danielle Reedy 00:14:33  And so that plus putting myself in the right environment, plus taking a huge risk, plus working on my mind and that leading me to believe.

Amanda Smith 00:14:43  Oh my gosh. Okay, so you said you went to world championships in 2015. That's the year before the Olympics. Is this the same team that ended up going to the Olympics together?

Danielle Reedy 00:14:57  Yeah. So the year before the Olympics, what works, how it works is world championships is that you have to qualify your country. You have to have continental qualification for the Olympic Games. So for the Olympics in pretty much all sports kids continental qualification. And what people don't it's it's kind of weird. But there's if the five rings represent the five continents. And we all know that there's more than five continents, but they count North and South America as one continent. and they also count. Oh, shit. And they called Oceania, which is Australia, New Zealand and all islands as another continent. And so we had to compete against New Zealand to qualify our team for the Olympics.

Danielle Reedy 00:15:37  And so that was really intimidating because they had a huge campaign to get, you know, New Zealand and proving and we all had gone all in and we really weren't sure until like the final scores change and if we were going to beat them and we obviously ended up beating them. But then the challenge was and I need a long time, but realises if you qualify your team for the Olympics, it doesn't actually mean that you as an athlete is going to the Olympics, but you still need to qualify yourself individually. And so that was massively exciting. But that was kind of this moment of like, okay, like let the games begin, because all of a sudden my teammates become my competitors and it's like a few laughs, I'm gonna be kicked out of the squad and you have to go up against each other to see who is the top actually get into the Olympic team. And that was a really intimidating process as well.

Amanda Smith 00:16:27  How did you handle that mentally? Because I mean, you already have have set yourself up saying, okay, I'm not the best athlete.

Amanda Smith 00:16:36  And now going against all of these other teammates, how many other teammates did you have to beat out in order to make the Olympic team?

Danielle Reedy 00:16:44  Yeah, so when we went into Olympic team trials, at that point, we were a 12 person squad. the eight swimming in the water at the time, and they were taking nine, so three of us wouldn't make it. But you also didn't want to be like seven, 8 or 9. You didn't want to be like the back of this block, right? Because that would mean that you could possibly not swim. Let a lot of teams take a reserve, Mike. It's still really cool. It's about the Olympics as a reserve. But and ultimately, you don't want to be like the Olympics and sit on the bench. right? And sometimes we'd be unhappy to now like to sit on the bench for one Olympics and the next one they'll be competing. But that actually wasn't really in my radar. I was like, I gotta get on the team.

Danielle Reedy 00:17:29  and so one of the things I really had to work on as well is because when you're competing against your teammates and you're all going to the same training sessions like you, you can work hard in every training session. but like you can't train more than you're training. You can't like put in more hours because like you're all at a limit. Also like as an athlete, we all know that you have a limit and rest is important. Like you don't want to overtrain. And so at that time where I was realizing is like, I need to do something different to make sure that I get ahead of my teammates. And I have some kind of advantages. Right? Because, I assume I have a lot of disadvantages, but there's some things that I could do really well. And so what I started to look at, I was, I was tell this to athletes because I think this is such a great tool. But one aspect I looked at my own strengths and weaknesses. I was like, okay, my attitude is I'm obviously going to work on, but I'm going to turn off the dial on my story.

Danielle Reedy 00:18:25  How can I make the things I'm really good at absolutely shine? And then what I also did is I looked at people that had either bond before regional epics, or people that I looked up to in my field of sport. I was watching what they did, and they didn't do that and made them successful, because we can learn from the far side, and we're not the first ones in the world that have done anything great. Like that's why podcasts and like online spaces are so incredible now. Like learn from people that have done successful things that they need clues. And so I was taking on all this information from what I was hearing from other people that had been to Olympics and events, and every single day I was journaling, at the end of the day, I would write down, what did I do well and train today and what can I do better tomorrow? And I have three focuses everyday that I would focus on, and then I'd have a weekly focus of a half. I would have a monthly focus and I really, really self-aware because I wanted to be the athlete that I don't want to just show up at training and then tell me what I need to do.

Danielle Reedy 00:19:27  I want to show off me like, this is what my intention is today, coach, you give me any feedback that I need to have to be better. But this is what I've come to focus. And I think at the pro athletes like and the proactive human being are the ones that end up like succeeding in life, because it's such a busy life.

Amanda Smith 00:19:46  Right? Oh my gosh. Okay, so obviously you're not going to the 2024 Olympics. Not.

Danielle Reedy 00:19:55  I'm not.

Amanda Smith 00:19:56  20 2016 was the one Olympic Games that you went to. Did you try to go to any further Olympic Games like 2021 Olympic Games?

Danielle Reedy 00:20:07  Yeah, so I was actually in the Thailand process in 2019, 18 and 19 to try out for the team. and I also was kind of at this space to where I was having my own thing in my process quarter life crisis. I was like 25, but I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do next. I think all athletes know that there is always an end to our career.

Danielle Reedy 00:20:30  In some sports is longer and some sports you have shorter career, and the struggle that we had as well is bigger. Kate height. I have to work on top of having to tight and so as outlined, I had then, you know, financially abundant for my sporting career. I was actually relieved that it was it took me the detrimental space to. So I also realized, you know, I'm 25 years old. I had this incredible, like, Olympian status. I've done these incredible things. Do I want to go to another Olympics, or do I want to kind of get my life started and do something with what I've learned? And so that's where for literally a couple of years, I was grappling with like, I do that.

Amanda Smith 00:21:12  And.

Danielle Reedy 00:21:13  I had, you know, I was asking for signs from the universe. I was like, ask them for guidance. And eventually I made this decision that, you know what? I want to do something that has a positive contribution to this world.

Danielle Reedy 00:21:28  And don't get me wrong, being athlete is like amazing, but it's really selfish. You have to be selfish because it's all about you to do the best you can, protein the nasty country and country. And I wanted to help people. I wanted to do something that was beneficial to this world. And so that led me knowing that in 2019, that would be my final year that I was gonna retire. It was kind of walk away and I was going to take my next steps, which is led me to all the work that I do now.

Amanda Smith 00:22:00  Okay, so 2019, you hang it up, swimsuit back on the the hook. Yeah. How did you handle that? Because. Exactly, exactly how did you handle that? Because I know at 25, I was retiring from softball, too. And my decision was go play pro either in the States or in Australia, or go work for NASA on the Artemis program. I chose NASA. It was grueling for me to make that transition because I had been an athlete since I was six and I was like, I'm done being not just a softball player, but an athlete at a highly competitive level now.

Amanda Smith 00:22:40  My story changed later in life, but how did you handle that?

Danielle Reedy 00:22:45  I think it's always going to be hard. You know, there's a is it what it is if I'm identity shift and it's really the death of an identity to to become a new person, which in one way, Lenny, it sounds like you were similar to myself. Like I was so ready for a change. Like I had done it for a 25 or I was 26, officially retired. I had done it for eight years, and that's a long time, one year, you know, 26 years old. And as much as it scared me, I also craved to be somebody who wasn't identified by my sport. I remember I had a coach, whereas in the high school that she was really self-development focused, which I love. Now, in hindsight, it's really beautiful. And one practice on the restructuring, she asks us, she's like, I want you guys to go around and tell me who you are and you cannot use synchronizer in it.

Danielle Reedy 00:23:40  And that rattles my mind because I was like, if I no synchronize somewhere, like, who am I like, this is who I am, right? And I think that solely women we identify with the jobs that we give ourselves or the things that we do. Right. Some people do that with mother or an athlete or, you know, an engineer, and it was totally mind blowing to have to separate that for myself. But I also felt ready. And I think the good thing about being an athlete, but athletes have is like athletes can do harping. We know how to do heart. And even though the transition from being an athlete as an athlete to not any athlete wasn't physically harmed, it's not like they had to physically push myself like I did in training. It was mentally challenging, but I had the capacity to realize it's like, okay, I'm done hard. I've been to the Olympic like. I'm blessed. Handkerchiefs. I can figure this out. And so like, that level of self-trust is so beautiful.

Danielle Reedy 00:24:41  And this is why I think, like humans and women, doing sport is like one of the greatest gifts that you can give yourself. Because in life, we just don't have as much adversity as we used to have, like we don't have. Most of us don't have to fight for our food. Most of us don't have to create shelters every day, but we don't have as much challenge as people had hundreds of years ago. However, when you put yourself in sports, you put yourself in spaces that has to make you resilience. And resilience is one of the greatest assets you can have as a human being. Because life and life things happen, right? And you also, I'm sure you have noticed Amanda, like some people really suck at dealing with diversity and really like, are not resilient. And if you can be resilient human, you will succeed more in life. And so kind of that mindset of being an athlete tells me that transition. And I'm also grateful, like I was Ben. Like some athletes have to leave because of injury and that is way harder.

Danielle Reedy 00:25:39  It was my choice, but it was it was still a hard. It was still harsh.

Amanda Smith 00:25:44  Oh yeah. Yes, yes. I definitely remember having shed a lot of tears during those days. Right. But you knew you it was it was easy to go into the next thing which what was the next thing for you.

Danielle Reedy 00:25:59  Yeah. So in the process, when I was in my final year of swimming, I was also writing my book, which was like it was in hindsight, I was working like three days a week and I was training for world championships. I was also trying to like, build my like, what is now I does this and write a book that's a whole nother story, but not like me to burn out. But it was by the time I got to the World Championships a few days later, actually, I published my book. And the funny thing is, like, I'm so proud of that. But that was like, I had no idea it was after that, I was like, okay, well, if I put my book out there and then I'm gonna figure it out.

Danielle Reedy 00:26:39  And so I didn't know that everything that I would do would be what it is today. But I just knew, okay, well, this is my next step and I need to figure it out when I get there. And eventually that book led into more the online world, which you know, of course, is a programs is a tree some podcasts all about which is so beautiful because ending you would know like it's such a beautiful way to reach everyone around the world. Like there's never been such an atom as having to do the work that we do. Because I know people that has flown to people from every single place, and it's just a beautiful time to be doing all this from.

Amanda Smith 00:27:19  Okay, you mentioned the book. What is the title of your book?

Danielle Reedy 00:27:23  It is called The Unlikely Olympian.

Amanda Smith 00:27:27  Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Amanda Smith 00:27:29  Beautiful. Yeah. Okay. And that came out just after World Championships. Holy cow. You're nuts I love it. This is this is how athletes think, though. I mean, we're constantly going for the next carrot is really what it feels like.

Amanda Smith 00:27:46  And. Okay, so you wrote the book The Unlikely Olympian. Love it. And now you're doing podcasts, you're doing retreats. Give us a little bit more about what that kind of work is and who you work with.

Danielle Reedy 00:28:01  So a part of the reason that I shifted is because I want to help. I wanted to share my story, but I wanted to help. And then I also realized if I want to help women, I have to figure out what they're going through. You know, because my life experience is my life experience and it is very niche to people. So what are women struggling with and what is stopping them? I know what was stopping me. I know how I overcame it, but how can I help others? And so that led me into shifting into more programs and coaching and workshops. In so many ways, it was so fluid because I had also been synchronized with and coach for seven years. So I understand the concept of how to teach people how different people borrow different personalities bringing groups together.

Danielle Reedy 00:28:45  And it was something that I realized I started to really thrive at. And then it's just that transition over the last few years and develops and I don't like the role that I'm in now is also entrepreneurship. And I think a lot of athletes do going entrepreneurship because it isn't like growth oriented. Like you cannot be an entrepreneur and not constantly grow like you have to. And athletes love to grow. Athletes love goals, right? And so growth oriented humans move into entrepreneurship. And I love that aspect about what I do now, because I always have to grow. And it's like literally ingrained in my life and I'm growing for myself, but also for my clients and also for sharing my message. And so then, last year, me and my husband started running retreats. A part of our journey to is we lived in Bali for a year. and so we had our clients asking us there, like, can you do a retreat in Bali? And so obviously some first couple of years, end of the decade, there was Covid that once the borders opened, we start to get our hands.

Danielle Reedy 00:29:50  And we started writing retreats last year, we've ran like three in the past 13 months, which has been such a beautiful experience. And, he'll be writing another one next year.

Amanda Smith 00:30:01  Oh my gosh. Okay, what is the journey that you take people through on retreat?

Danielle Reedy 00:30:06  It's funny because I ran my first retreat, I had never even been to a retreat like a specific like empowerment retreat. However, I felt like I had lived my life in retreat because also going to train has to be an athlete. Is that putting yourself in physical spaces where you have to transform? And so it also got really natural. And so what we do in our retreat process is that eight days and seven nights, we bring women together from all around the world. We've had clients from Switzerland and Australia all over the US and Canada, and Poland, and it's such an international bunch. And what we do is we bring it to this incredible space where for a week you don't have to work, you don't have to cook.

Danielle Reedy 00:30:49  You don't have to clean. You don't have to fret the mums. You don't have to take care of your kids. And you actually get a whole week to just focus on yourself and the transformation that you can have when you first add on a supportive environment, when you don't have to worry about your regular life, and when you are in a place where we push you in a healthy way to become better. Like it is absolutely insane. Working shift for women in a week and like it's so beautiful to see that transformation another way because online is amazing and I have had so much client transformation online, but it just happens better and faster and more patient when you're in person with people. Because we all you feel people's energy like it's different and also like someone's crying if you don't hug the laptop, but you could dance with them, even though I hold that hand, which is a different energy. And that's why, you know, I think this will be something that we always do. It's so hard for us, but it's like 1,000,000% worth it because it's like some of us are like.

Amanda Smith 00:31:51  yes, I think it's power. And community is really what it boils down to when you're in person and you can touch the other person and have that intimate connection, and then whatever, you're growing from, everybody else gets to witness it and also grow from whatever you're experiencing, too. It's so magical, especially when all of those priorities are taken away that we have to do on a daily basis. All of those hats that women have to wear on a daily basis, cleaning the house, making sure the schedule is met, making sure your partner is on track. Doing what they're supposed to be doing to help you. Yeah. All of those things. Oh my gosh, I love it. And in Bali no less.

Danielle Reedy 00:32:38  Oh, Molly is a really, really magical place. Like it's if you ever have felt called to go in there like we had the privilege of living there for a year. So they actually have their own religion, which is only on Bali. It's all in these Hinduism, which is separate from Indian Indian Hinduism.

Danielle Reedy 00:32:56  It's technically that it's come from India and they deeply believe in karma. And I've never went to a place where, you know, sometimes in certain religions, like there's some people that take it seriously and some people that don't. Everyone on this island that is Hindu, is Hindu, is so devout in their belief. And it's that being on Bali is. I say it's like living in real life, Moana. Like the island shifts and changes and moves and like if you respect her, she will respect you. If you disrespect her, she will disrespect you. She will give me my she like. It is a really magical place.

Amanda Smith 00:33:34  Oh my gosh.

Amanda Smith 00:33:35  Yes, I've been called to Bali several times. In fact, in October I was hoping to host a retreat there for some spiritual growth and for a bunch of women, and I had to set that aside. So maybe next year, and you and I get to have that conversation after the podcast episode so that I can talk to you more about what Bali holds for me.

Amanda Smith 00:33:58  Okay. Oh my goodness. Okay, so you have a retreat happening next year. Give us a little tidbit on what what to look for in your realm of the world for this.

Danielle Reedy 00:34:12  I kind of find it. Is that what you need?

Amanda Smith 00:34:15  How to find it and how long will it be? Is it going to be that seven nights? Eight days? Is it only for women? Give us a little, little teaser around that.

Danielle Reedy 00:34:26  This. At this age, we only agree only in verse moment at our retreats. and it's interesting because it's me and my husband. He has an incredible story of his own. He grew up in a domestic, violent household, and he always saw women oppressed at the hands of men. And so he has such a beautiful shaver, helping women be empowered from a totally different perspective of violence. And he's a really, like, grounded, safe human being. And so me and him being there hold this really beautiful masculine and feminine being. And a lot of people come to us as well because they say, I've never seen a women's retreat with the men.

Danielle Reedy 00:35:01  They're like, it seems weird, but it's also super appealing because a lot of women do have trauma or stuff around men. Not always, but they do. And so he holds a really beautiful space for that. And so I'm sure it'll be the same eight days and seven nights. We don't have the exact date set because we're shifting locations. And so we're just finalizing a few of those details. I believe we might run two nights here, but it'll probably be one. And the way that it works with our retreat is like, you can't book in and not like the hotel. Like if those days don't work for you, you can come the next week. And if you can only come for three days and that doesn't work either, like you're all in or you're all out And I think people don't always realize that for free. So if you're ever looking for a treat, make sure you find a leader that you love as space and a place that you love, but also know retreats are like those are the dates, and there's no wiggle room because we create a really beautiful energy bubble for transformation that will be very similar to our past retreats.

Danielle Reedy 00:36:02  And if you have the test with all of my social media and my Instagram, on my highlights or through my reels, we have some really, really beautiful images and videos from our retreats, just to get a little bit of the concept of what happens and do the videos eventually, actually. Over the past year, we had and 40 million views on viral because of like some of the the things that have been captured there. And you have found the most amazing photographer that we worked at. The mutual failure respectfully is often super vulnerable, but a site in the greatest case you could get yourself to retreat.

Amanda Smith 00:36:35  Oh my gosh. Yes, especially from, in my humble opinion, moms who are oh my god working. Yes they yes, we need breaks women.

Danielle Reedy 00:36:46  Give yourself a.

Amanda Smith 00:36:48  Seven night eight day.

Danielle Reedy 00:36:49  Break. And they seem so happy when I see moms there because like, it's first of all like the benefit that that has for their children, like I could oh, there's always a point in our history of the mom province and their kids, but then what they always tell us on the other side was, oh my God, my kids said that I'm different.

Danielle Reedy 00:37:07  Like my kid feels it. I'm like, yes. Like if that's not motivation to take like a leap for yourself, I don't know what it is because it literally ripples into your family if you do that for yourself.

Amanda Smith 00:37:19  No doubt. How many people do you allow into this retreat?

Danielle Reedy 00:37:23  We have small spaces, so our maximum is about 12, so we don't have them really big, which is nice. You can go on retreats for like 30 or 50 people. For us is really important to make sure that every single one of them that we can get to know every single one of you and make sure that your intention is served and fulfilled. I retreat and you don't get lost in the crowd, and at a certain point you can start to like it can be a ground and we just spot a shit. We feel more like family.

Amanda Smith 00:37:51  Yeah, I like that a lot. I feel like my cap is 13 when it comes to that kind of keep it intimate scenario, so I like that. Danielle, thank you so much for sharing all that you've shared with us from your journey into being a synchronized swimmer, all the way to all of your empowerment work for women and your retreats.

Amanda Smith 00:38:14  Thank you so much. Thank you.

Danielle Reedy 00:38:15  Madison. Self-understanding chat.