are. Its my profession and income and its beyond belief.

I remember the first time I saw diving.I was at my sisters swim practice at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre and I had wandered down the pool to the diving boards. Watching the divers soon became a routine. I would turn up for my sisters training hoping that the divers were there, too. But, it wasnt until I was watching the finals of the synchronized diving at the 2000 Sydney Olympics with my dad that my parents finally let me join a diving team. I was 10-years-old. At first it was just a fun after-school activity, but it soon became a passion.Shortly after taking up diving, I was accepted into the junior diving program at the Australian Institute of Sport in Brisbane. I accelerated quickly after that, and it wasnt long before I was competing. By 13 I was the national champion and Commonwealth Games silver medallist, and by 16 Id won an Olympic Medal.Over my time as an Australian diver competing at the Commonwealth and Olympic Games, I have grown from a young athlete learning her craft to an experienced diver leading her team into the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.These are just a few lessons Ive learned about myself, diving and growing up in such a competitive landscape.Remain Focused On Your GoalsAt 13-years-old I attended my first national diving championship. It was an important time in my career; I was in a program with three other divers and if you didnt perform you were out.The championship is a bit of a blur now. I was so focused on training, performing and maintaining my spot in the program. But I remember when one of my teammates was dropped, I overheard his mum on pool-deck telling people I should have been kicked out as well. I remember that day so clearly, thinking no, Ive trained so hard for this and Im not going to be kicked out.It was a stressful time. Id constantly been reviewed and analysed in the lead up to the championship and I knew I had to perform to qualify for the Commonwealth Games.Winning the championship was a relief, defeating established Australian stars Chantelle Newbery, an Olympic champion, and Loudy Tourkey, a bronze medal winner at Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. I was under so much pressure to perform, and it was that moment that I realised Id made it and I just needed to keep working and keep focused on myself. My coach at the time was so focused on the job. For him it wasnt about me beating people, but me diving well. We trained hard for me to compete well, so he was very focused on my performance.It was an important lesson for me going into the rest of my career, making sure I didnt focus on other people. At the end of the day, and no matter what other people say, you still have to do your dives and so I make sure to focus as much as I can on what Im doing.All About Performance - Expectations Are HighI had my first experience on an international stage at the 2006 Commonwealth Games; I was 14-years-old, and it was an eye-opening experience.I was thrown together with my synchronized diving partner, Alex Croak, a week before the Games. We didnt really know what to expect, so we just thought wed do our best. It was different to anything Id experienced.We won the silver medal and I cant really remember what I was thinking at the time; I just remember being so excited. I dont even remember being nervous. I just remember competing.I never really thought of what I achieved. The mentality of the program, everyone was expected to perform; not just me but the whole team. You dont think about what youve accomplished when the culture is based so much on performance. You grew up learning that everything is about performance, so I went in there trying to have fun but knowing I had to perform.It was the same when I won silver at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. I was 16-years-old, and Id had a few more international tournaments under my belt. I won silver again in the synchro, with Briony Cole, and I became the youngest Australian diver to medal at the Olympics. But I didnt really know or focus on that achievement. My time at the Olympics was all about performance. I had to go there and perform; getting a medal, particularly the silver, was what was expected of me, especially with our previous results in the lead up.With all that pressure and the expectations, winning the silver wasnt really a wow moment. It was amazing winning a medal, but I remember having that pressure on me and just thinking that was what was expected of me.You Have To Be Brave To Be A DiverDespite practising simple dives from the 10 metre platform for a long time, I still remember the first time trying a more difficult dive from that height. Id been trained from a young age to be comfortable up there, but still it was really scary trying the difficult dives for the first time.I can remember that day as I was getting to the pool. I could feel the adrenalin building and I was getting pretty nervous to start doing those more technical dives. But once I did it, it was such a great feeling because then I knew that rush.We do all the practice and all the lead up to prepare ourselves, but you never know what youre going to feel like until you go up there. Its the fear of the unknown; you need to have that bravery and willpower to just go for it and not worry about whats going to happen.Being Teammates and Competitors Can Be A Lonely PlaceIts always tough being in a competitive solo sport. People can be very different in the pool and out of the pool.Alex Croak is probably one of the few people in my diving crew who remained friends with me no matter what the results were. But I have found that friendships like Alexs are rarer than people who treat you differently with the results.Its just the nature of sports; its something you learn form a young age that its just how people are in a sporting environment; so you learn to just stay focused on what youre doing. If you make friends, thats a bonus; but at the end of the day youre probably not going to have that many friends.It can be a really lonely place being teammates and competitors. It was especially hard when I was younger. It was really tough. Were all teammates trying to compete in the same environment, and if you dont perform youre out.Youre Not Always Friends On The Olympic TeamIve matured a lot over the years, obviously as a person and through my diving, too.It takes a lot of time to get experience and to start diving consistently; its a real mental thing in competitions. You do all your physical preparations in training but at the end of the day its about whos going to be the toughest mentally, and I think in the last few years I have improved my mental strength.After years of self-doubt, I finally feel more comfortable in myself.Ive had a lot of issues with self-confidence over the years and now I feel so much better on so many different levels, and to be able to pass on this confidence to younger athletes is something Im really proud of. Ben Powers Womens Jersey . Louis. To which I would say two things: 1. Where there is smoke, there is or perhaps has been a little fire. Or, in other words, the two teams would appear to have at least spoken. And spoken is defined as one calling the other to inquire, no more, no less. Joe Flacco Youth Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. http://www.ravensrookiestore.com/Ravens-Ray-Lewis-Jersey/ . - NASCAR announced a 33-race schedule for the 2014 Nationwide Series with virtually no changes from this years slate. Iman Marshall Jersey . Those lessons were more than enough to overwhelm the Utah Jazz. Lou Williams scored 25 points and the Hawks continued their offensive upswing as they rolled to an easy 118-85 victory over the Jazz on Friday night, winning their third straight and for the fourth time in five games. Baltimore Ravens Jerseys . Barcelona also left injured defenders Carles Puyol, Javier Mascherano and Jordi Alba out of its squad for the trip to Glasgow. That means that Marc Bartra will probably start again in the centre of the defence alongside Gerard Pique. RIO DE JANEIRO -- Bubba Watson so often is his own worst enemy. He fidgets and frets, to his own detriment. For a man so gifted at swinging a golf club, it can be maddeningly frustrating.This week, Bubba is own best friend.He has embraced the Olympic golf experience unlike just about anyone else in the mens field. Instead of bemoaning how it would impact his schedule in a crowded golf year, he never wavered on his desire to be in Rio.And he has taken advantage of being at the Olympic Games in a way that is refreshing, trying to attend as many sporting events as possible, meeting other athletes, posing for photos, posting frequently on social media.Even when Watson played relatively poorly in an opening-round 73 at the Olympic Golf Course, he remained upbeat.And now, after a third-round 67 that has him in a tie for fourth and just 3 shots out of a place on the podium, he has a chance to earn an Olympic medal.Its absolutely amazing, Watson said. What a privilege and honor that golf is in the Olympics and to be a part of this. Right or wrong, its hard for me to focus on golf because of the fact that its just a dream of a lifetime to be associated with these great athletes.Perhaps Bubba is onto something. He has played steadily better each day, overcame a bizarre stubbed putt on the 14th green, signed his card and couldnt wait to get back and watch ... badminton.Playing for gold on Sunday will enter his mind that morning.Itll take another strong effort, but the way Watson has improved each day while reveling in the experience has been something to behold.For instance:We went to fencing first, Watson said in explaining how he has taken in the various Olympic events. It was Russia against Estonia womens for (the) bronze medal. We didnt know. We just had tickets and we went and thats what was happening. And fencing was unbelievable.I always talked about learning how to fence, and so going to it was special. It was amazing watching these girls Im going to say girls, Im going to say Im older than them. These girls, the athleticism to move around it, was just amazing. And they were screaming and hollering and I guess I would, too, if I won a bronze. It was amazing.That is just one example. Watson is like a kid in his Pensacola, Fla., candy store (Bubbas Sweet Spot), taking in the sights and sounds, watching the other athletes, getting to know who they are and appreciating what they have accomplished and what it means for them to be here.He has been inquisitive, gotten involved, figuring maybe something will rub off.Just like any athlete, you ask questions and you learn from them, he said. At dinner, we are asking how theey train and what they do and how they prepare and what strategies they take in their event.ddddddddddddThats what Im taking in this week is just how amazing this is to be able to see sports that weve never seen, and golf just gets to tag along and say were athletes now.Maybe that has rubbed off on his golf. Maybe Watson got a reality check by coming to Rio and realizing that hes got it pretty good, playing for millions of dollars every week, getting to travel on private jets, staying in five-star hotels.That is not the reality for most Olympic athletes, certainly not the ones who toil in obscurity and aspire for greatness in sports that get little attention or publicity.Watson has been known to think too much, complain too much. He gets frustrated when a golf course doesnt fit his eye, and lets it affect his play. At times, he mopes. Here, it seems, nothing can bother him.A couple of back-nine bogeys put a damper on what was shaping up to be a great third round Saturday. One included a strange incident where mud dropped off the bottom of his putter in mid-stroke, distracting him. He tried to stop, and ended up hitting the ball only 6 feet -- when he was 35 feet from the hole. It was one of those freak things, he said. Thatll be talked about for years.But Bubba persevered.Even with all the stuff going on this week, even if youre sitting in your room watching the other events on TV, youre so focused on what an unbelievable experience this, youre not going to focus on golf that much off the course, Watson said. When you come back tomorrow, youll start thinking about it. But when youre at your house or around eating in the cafeteria, theres definitely no thoughts going through my head.That strategy might not play at Augusta National or St. Andrews or even in a few weeks at The Barclays or the Tour Championship. And it certainly wont be a good idea at the Ryder Cup, where time constraints all but negate any ability to relax and enjoy.Watson acknowledged that at a tournament like the Masters, he grinds. The golf course is so difficult, it requires that kind of concentration. And yet, there is something to consider going forward.This is a dream of a lifetime, golf just gets in my way, he said. Im taking it all in and learning. It shows how lucky and blessed golfers We should never be disgruntled about anything that happens in our life.Who would h