Athlete Minded: Stories

Former collegiate wrestler Jim Harshaw Jr. joins us today to discuss his experiences as a 3-time ACC wrestling champion at the University of Virginia.   In a perfect example of an athlete transitioning their mentality to another avenue, Jim now has a podcast, as well as a program to help athletes deal with the transition from being an athlete to a non-athlete.  He also helps athletes deal with the inevitable failure that occurs during a career. One of the most interesting parts of this episode was when he discussed the losses he occurred on the wrestling mat.  He said that not only is there a mental toll of knowing that you just lost, but it's a very primal feeling, knowing another man beat you, man to man, one on one.  In team sports, we don't typically feel that because there are other people involved, but in wrestling or fighting, you know that you just lost to another man... he is tougher than you... he is stronger than you... he just "beat" you.  And that's a tough thing to deal with. For more about Jim