Hey everyone, let’s cut to the chase – if you’re here, chances are you’re already in the thick of training for something big, or you’re part of the team that gets to stand on the podium with a metal medal around your neck. As someone who’s been in the metal medal game for years (yeah, that’s my side hustle beyond dealing with the shiny stuff), I’ve seen way too many athletes and competitors nail the physical prep, only to choke at the last hurdle because their head just wasn’t in it. Winning a metal medal isn’t 10% talent and 90% training – it’s 50% mental stuff, let’s be real. And today, I’m pulling back the curtain on exactly what that looks like, no fancy sports jargon, just real talk from someone who’s seen the process from both sides: making the medals and watching people go from nervous wreck to podium hero. Metal Medal
First off, let’s get one thing straight: mental prep isn’t “thinking positive vibes all day.” That’s the stuff your cousin posts on Instagram before their 5k that they walk in 25 minutes. This is actual, actionable stuff that I’ve talked to Olympic athletes, local high school competitors, and even e-sports pros about (yeah, they’re chasing metal medals too these days). Let’s start with the most underrated part: normalizing the suck. When you’re grinding at 5 a.m. and your legs feel like lead, or you bomb a practice run and you’re 20% behind where you need to be, it’s easy to think, “I’m not cut out for this.” But here’s the secret I learned early on in the metal medal business – every single medal we send out, from the tiny participation ones for youth sports to the heavy golds for state championships, has a story behind it. None of those athletes felt 100% on the day before their big event. They all had moments where they wanted to call it quits. So why is that important? Because if you go into competition expecting it to be smooth sailing, you’re gonna spiral the second something goes slightly wrong.
I had a client last year – a high school wrestler who was gunning for a state gold. He texted me three days before the tourney, panicking, because his mom had to work and he’d have to ride to the arena alone. That threw his whole routine off, and he thought he was gonna blow it. I told him something I tell all my customers (we love our regulars, by the way) – medals don’t care if your ride is late, or you forgot your lucky socks, or the ref makes a call you don’t agree with. The only thing that matters is how you handle the stuff that doesn’t go according to plan. He ended up winning that gold, and later told me the key was just stopping to breathe when his first match got off to a rough start. He didn’t try to force it – he just adjusted, which brings me to the next point: ditching the “perfect” mindset.
So many competitors get caught up in the idea that they need to execute every single move exactly how they practiced. But in the real world, things go sideways all the time. I’ll use the metal medal example here because it’s relatable. When we make custom medals for events, we sometimes have to adjust a design last minute if the client wants to add a sponsor, or fix a typo, or even change the metal type (no joke, someone asked for copper instead of silver once because their school colors matched better). The best medals we send out aren’t the ones that went 100% to plan – they’re the ones we adapted to fit the needs of the event. Same with competition. If your opening 10 minutes aren’t exactly what you mapped out, that’s not failure. That’s just part of the process. So stop setting yourself up for perfection, start setting yourself up for adaptation.
Next up is something I call “micro-visualization” – and yes, it sounds like a sports science term, but it’s super simple, I promise. Most people think visualization means standing on the podium, gold medal around your neck, crowd cheering. That’s the end goal, which is great for motivation, but it’s not the prep. The real visualization is all the tiny, boring, annoying moments that happen during a competition. Like, right before your race, you’re standing in the starting blocks, your hands are sweaty, your brain is racing – what do you do? For the wrestler I mentioned earlier, he visualized adjusting his stance mid-match, not just winning. For a track star I worked with a couple years back, she visualized stepping in a puddle on the track (it happened, by the way) and not letting it throw her off. We actually did a little test with a local soccer tournament last year. The teams that used micro-visualization in their prep ended up being the ones that won metal medals, hands down. They didn’t just visualize scoring the winning goal – they visualized getting a bad pass, or being blocked, and how to adjust. That’s the stuff that sticks.
Here’s another big one that no one talks about: separating your worth from the medal. Let’s be real – winning a metal medal is awesome. It’s a symbol of all your hard work. But if you’re going into competition thinking “if I don’t win, I’m a failure,” you’re setting yourself up for disaster. I’ve seen so many talented competitors fold because they couldn’t handle the pressure of being “good enough.” The truth is, a medal doesn’t define you. And here’s the thing I love as a medal supplier – we make medals for everyone, not just the gold winners. We make bronze medals for the people who gave it their all, silver for the ones who almost made it, and even participation medals for the kids who just showed up and tried. Every single one of those medals is a win, in its own way. So when you’re prepping mentally, remind yourself that your value isn’t tied to what’s around your neck at the end of the day. That doesn’t mean you don’t work your butt off to win – it just means you don’t let the fear of losing take over.
Wait, let’s talk about rest too – because mental prep isn’t all grinding. It’s also knowing when to step back. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a client order a last-minute medal for an event because their athlete burned out, skipped a week of practice, and still ended up competing anyway. That’s not how you win a metal medal. Your brain needs rest as much as your muscles do. I remember a runner who was training for a marathon, and she told me she was so scared of falling behind that she trained 7 days a week, 2 hours a day. She ended up getting injured three weeks before the race, and her mental state was shot because she thought all her hard work was wasted. I talked her into taking two full days off a week, and adjusting her training to be more focused on quality than quantity. She ended up qualifying for the Boston Marathon, and later said that rest was the best part of her mental prep. Here’s the thing: when you’re rested, you don’t panic when something goes wrong. You’re calm, you can think clearly, you can adapt. Burnout is the fastest way to sabotage your own success, so don’t skip the rest days.
Now, let’s get into something that’s super relatable for anyone, not just athletes: dealing with other people’s expectations. Your coach, your parents, your friends – everyone’s gonna have an opinion on how you perform. And some of those opinions are gonna be pressure-filled. I had a gymnast last year whose dad was a former Olympic coach, and he was pushing her so hard that she started having panic attacks before practice. She texted me once, saying she wanted to quit, because she felt like she could never live up to his standards. We talked about it, and she ended up having a conversation with her dad about what she actually wanted. He backed off, she started having fun again, and she ended up winning a silver medal at the state meet. The point here is: you get to set your own goals. Not your mom, not your coach, not your social media followers. If you’re prepping mentally, make sure you’re doing it for you, not for someone else’s approval. Because if you’re chasing someone else’s dream, you’ll never feel like a winner, even if you get that gold medal.
Let’s circle back to the metal medal angle one more time, because that’s my wheelhouse. When we create custom medals for events, we spend a lot of time thinking about what the medal means to the competitors. It’s not just a hunk of metal – it’s a reminder of their hard work, their grit, their growth. The same goes for winning one. When you cross that finish line, or step off the mat, or whatever it is you’re doing, that medal is a testament to your mental prep as much as your physical training. So all the stuff I talked about – normalizing the suck, ditching perfection, micro-visualization, separating your worth, resting, ignoring other people’s pressure – that’s all the stuff that makes that medal worth having.
If you’re reading this and you’re getting ready for a competition, or you’re organizing an event and need medals for your competitors, I get it. You’re stressed, you’re nervous, you’re wondering if you’re doing enough. Here’s the thing: whether you’re an individual competitor or an event organizer, mental prep is key. For competitors, it’s the stuff that’ll get you to the podium. For event organizers, providing the right medals that honor hard work will make your event feel meaningful, which in turn makes the competitors’ mental prep feel worth it.
Now, if you’re gearing up for an event and you need custom medals that’ll reflect all the hard work your team or competitors put in, I’m here to help. Whether you need gold, silver, bronze, or custom designs that match your event’s vibe, we’ve got you covered. We work with all kinds of events – youth sports, high school competitions, adult leagues, e-sports events, you name it. Just reach out to us to talk through your needs, and we’ll help you create the perfect medals to recognize all the effort, mental and physical, that goes into winning.
At the end of the day, winning a metal medal isn’t just about being the fastest, strongest, or most talented. It’s about having the mental stamina to show up, even when it’s hard, adapt when things go wrong, and remember that the medal is just a small part of a much bigger journey. I’ve seen it hundreds of times with the medals we make – the best stories aren’t about the gold winners (though those are cool too), they’re about the competitors who fought through the mental noise to get to that podium. That’s the real win.
Glass Medal References
- Guidelines for Mental Preparation in Competitive Sports, International Society of Sport Psychology
- Effects of Mindfulness Training on Athletic Performance, Journal of Sports Sciences
- Burnout in Competitive Athletes: A Systematic Review, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise
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