In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times Digital, Maana Patel talks about her process, her learning from past failures, her next targets and why it’s important not to let the pressure of an event get to your head.
22-year-old Maana Patel is probably the best female swimmer in the country right now. She holds an Indian record for 100 and 200m backstroke in women’s category. She was also the only female Indian swimmer to attend the Tokyo Olympics and is an advocate for the importance of nurturing mental health. She openly discussed how her “surreal” Olympics selection turned into a debacle and what she learnt from the experience. Patel is represented by ENGN, a talent representation company started in August last year. ENGN is co-founded by Megha Desai and core founding team includes ex-national level sportspersons who have worked extensively in the sports industry for several years. ENGN presently represents some of the top level athletes of the country from as many different sports.
In an exclusive interview with Hindustan Times Digital, she talks about her process, her learning from past failures, her next targets and why it’s important not to let the pressure of an event get to your head.
Firstly, tell us about your association with ENGN, an agency solely for female athletes. How motivating is that?
I think it’s one of its kind because we haven’t had any other company that solely focuses on female athletes. I think it’s a great initiative and it’s very different. Empowering women is something a lot of people have been trying to do for the last couple of years, so I think this is great and (am) hoping to see some good results (come) out of this.
So, ENGN provides holistic support to all female athletes, including mental health coaches. In you previous interviews, you have stressed on the need for athletes to have interactions with sports psychologists, so tell us a bit about that.
For every athlete, just the way you look after your body, you need to look after your mind as well. That is equally important and the most-ignored component. Like I keep saying, once you have done everything that is required physically, mental strength or mental toughness is something that gives you an edge later. So, working with a mental coach or a sports psychologist is very, very important. This is because as an athlete, we go through so much. So many incidents, so many emotions, thoughts go unnoticed, unacknowledged. So we need someone to talk to. I have been working with a sports psychologist for quite some time now and I think it is really helpful. It keeps my mind in place and helps me clear my mind, clear my thoughts. This is something I tell upcoming athletes or athletes who are not already doing this (working with a mental coach) for sure.
So, it’s almost been a year now since your selection in Tokyo Olympics. Does it still feel surreal?
It does … I mean the Olympics was my dream since I started swimming and that finally came true last year when I qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. Of course, I think that is by far the most special thing that has happened to me. But yeah, I am not stuck on that anymore, I plan to achieve bigger things in the future. It’s always going to be a part of me, but there’s no looking back. I am much more confident now and looking for faster swims in the future. But yes, Olympics is always going to be special.
Swimming as a sports career is yet to gain popularity in India. So, how has your journey inspired those back at home or those your train at your academy
Yeah, swimming is a very popular sport worldwide but it’s not very popular in India. But I think swimming being a “light-skill” activity, like everybody at some point learns how to swim, it’s the most common sport we all play unknowingly. With the population India has, a lot of people can come out being great for sure. So, if I can do it, I’m sure everyone and anyone, who puts their mind and body to it, can.
You clocked the best time in India for 100-metre women’s backstroke. How have things changed for you (afterwards)?
Mare Nostrum is one of the fastest competitions in Europe. So clocking the best Indian time has only given me a boost. Now my plan is to breach the ‘1:03’-mark and get down to ‘1:02’. I plan to achieve that by the end of this year. That is going to be the qualifier for my Asian Games. So, yeah, I was very very happy. I didn’t start off very well in Mare Nostrum in Monaco. Due to some incidents, I couldn’t perform well in Monaco and that pulled me back and shattered my confidence again. So it was difficult for me to keep a calm, stable mind and race again a week later in Canet, which was the last leg of Mare Nostrum. I was very, very happy to get a 103 in heats and finals in the evening. So now I am very confident. I think more confident than before that I can breach the ‘1:03’-mark.
During your training phase, what are some of the challenges you took upon?
I had my French Open in April. I came back (to India) on the 15th of April and my coach had taken a three-day break to go on a safari. I remember telling my coach ‘sir, please come back fast, I am ready to do whatever it takes, how much ever (effort) it takes to qualify for the Asian Games’. Back then, the Asian Games were not postponed, we got the news only recently that it has been pushed to next year. So, I think this is the hardest I have ever trained till now, you know. Pushed myself in each and every session and clearly the result was the same. Like the result I got in Canet was also from hard training. Honestly, it was very exhausting. The last two months were very, very exhausting because I didn’t do anything other than swim. I didn’t think of anything else, I put my mind, body, soul, everything into training. I made sure I sleep on time, get enough rest, I recover well, I get all my supplements right, so that I can push in each and every session and get quality sets done. So yeah, this is the best I have ever trained and I plan to keep up the momentum going forward.
So the Asian Games news is a more positive thing now, that it got postponed, meaning more training time for you?
Initially, when I heard, I was very disappointed. Because, you know, I was very confident on getting the 102 right now, like the way we were training, the way things were going, I was very happy. I was like I don’t want to wait for another year, I just want to get it done right now. But then we changed our training program when we heard the competition had been postponed, because we had more time now. Because we had more time now. So yeah, that’s good. Next year I’m gonna be fitter, better than I am right now. Yeah, I’m really excited.
So back to the Olympics, in a social media post, you had described it as a ‘bittersweet’ journey. How anxiety and stress got the better of you on that day. So how have you learnt to deal with those things in competitions from there on?
So (in) Tokyo, everything was going well. I was training well, we were expecting a best Indian time at the Olympics – a personal best and a best Indian timing. But on the day of the race, I got really scared because I let the pressure of the Olympics get to me. So I couldn’t perform at all, I swam a very, very bad race. The one thing I learnt was, I perform better when I don’t think about my race at all. Because, you know, when you are standing behind the blocks, when you have reached the venue, there’s nothing more that you can do, you know. Everything that has to be done, is already done, like you trained for it, you worked for it, you can’t make any changes now. So why to overthink, why to stress yourself out unnecessarily. And that’s what happened at the Olympics and I totally screwed my race. So, in Canet I didn’t think about my race one bit, I wasn’t pressurised, like I’d think about random things, I’d talk about random things, and I was very, very happy. So yeah, that’s the key. To not overthink.
So, what is the next tournament for you?
I’m headed to Singapore on the 21st of this month. This competition is not very important but I’m going to get more racing training practice over there and I am focusing on a different event this time – the 200 (metre) backstroke. I haven’t done it in seven years because I was injured from 2017-2019 and I kind of dropped that event. Because I’m in good shape now, we want to see where I stand on the 200. So I am focusing on the 200 backstroke. And after Singapore, I think senior nationals, for which the dates have not been announced yet, it’s either in August or in September. I think that is going to be the last race of the year. So that’s it, that’s the plan.
Besides Asian Games, what’s the next target for you?
I think I am taking it at one event at a time. Once that is done, I will think about the next target. I don’t want to clog up my mind by having too many targets…. I like to focus on one thing at a time.
Source: Hindustan Times
