As part of the New York State Dairy Princess Court, I have had the opportunity to experience so many great things. One of these includes being able to meet with U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist English Gardner.
While talking with the U.S. Olympian, Gardner said that when she was about 14 years old, her mom asked her to make a vision board. As she was looking through a magazine, Gardner saw an advertisement for “Got milk? ®” and decided that someday she would have them as her sponsor too. Gardner says she was very excited when her agent told her Team Milk offered a sponsorship and she is able to partner on projects with American Dairy Association North East.
To be successful at anything you must have the right mindset. Gardner credits her mindset as the biggest factor in her success as an athlete. She said, “anything that could go wrong in my sport did go wrong.” Gardner has had to change coaches and deal with multiple injuries. She also mentioned having had COVID-19.
I asked Garner if she was training for the Olympics this year and if she was taking a different approach. She talked about the challenges of training as an older competitor and the effects of having had COVID-19 and recovering from the virus.
Being able to meet with a U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist is certainly not something that happens every day. I enjoyed being able to get to know Gardner and how she has become successful. Her passion for the dairy industry was inspiring.
