Rising Stars: Meet Caroline Burckle

Today we’d like to introduce you to Caroline Burckle.

Hi Caroline, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky to a family of athletes with drive, motivation, and determination to last a lifetime! I took to the water naturally but didn’t have an aggressive attitude about competition. I swam for a world-class age group coach, Mike DeBoor, and trained alongside my brother Clark Burckle, and I honestly credit that for my desire to continue to swim and compete. They kept me hungry and knowing I was capable of achieving greatness if I stuck with it and put my hard hat on. I ended up excelling and getting a full athletic scholarship to the University of Florida, where I swam for 4.5 years. I won 2 NCAA titles and broke an American Record in college, and went on to make the 2008 Olympic Team at 20 years old, right after my Senior year. I won a Bronze medal in the 4×200 Freestyle Relay in those Beijing Olympics and afterward decided to take my training to Southern California to train with a pro team.

I ended up retiring in 2010 and walking away from the sport, knowing I needed to move on and both heal some difficult things I faced in my career, as well as have my sights set on various goals in life that didn’t involve the same thing I had always done. I was ready for that next chapter – and those years were some of the hardest of my life and yet – the most healing. I went to FIDM and got a Product Development degree, and also got my Master of Sport Psychology at the University of Tennessee. I then started a business with my Co-Founder and friend Rebecca Soni, RISE Athletes, where we created a platform where elite professional athletes mentor and coach teen athletes on the fundamentals of mental skills training and mental health in sports. We ran that for eight years and recently transitioned away from that to start new ventures ◡̈ One of those ventures being a weekly newsletter with my friend and colleague Cory Camp, mtmnewsletter.com, where we aim to bring the latest news, resources, and actionable ways to be involved in the world of mental heath in sports to one place. I am also a trained birth doula and artist.

To sum it up – the important work of my life came after my career – and I really learned from the pain I endured. My difficulties, depression, and challenges shaped who I am today because I have come to understand what my patterns are as it pertains to achievement and self-worth, how I self-regulate, how I view success, and ways in which I prefer to move through the world. I have also learned how to start/run a business, which has been a huge thing for me, complete with a multitude of lessons in itself!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My struggles came after my athletic career, as I was able to distract myself and escape them (for the most part) during it. That didn’t mean I didn’t feel difficulty during my time competing, but I could put the blinders on and GO to get the job done. When I was finished, I had to re-evaluate who I was and why I did things. Was it because I truly enjoyed it? What it because I felt I should? Was it to feel loved if I won or achieved something great? Was it to check off boxes to feel seen and appreciated? All questions I worked through. I had some personal things happen to me in my career that knocked me to my knees and addressing those was a great effort. But learning to face pain and difficulty was something I had to do. To feel a feeling all the way through and not bypass it. This truly helped me understand myself and learn from my path instead of resenting it. I also learned what I wanted in life energetically and weeded out the people and things that didn’t align with that mission.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Well, I put Artist/Creative because I identify with this most. Even though I started a business and wore 12 hats, I still considered myself an artist. Someone that created a piece of work from scratch. It was special to share that with a dear friend. Our business was called RISE Athletes and we began it in 2015. It was the first business at the time that addressed mental health and mental training for teen athletes. We had over 50 coaches that were Olympians, Pro and Elite Athletes come to us to be trained on our philosophy, and then pair that with they expertise and deliver support to these teens in mentoring/coaching relationships. With our time at RISE, we positive impacted thousands of teen athletes, coaches, and parents and brought awareness to the importance of mental health in sports. Groundbreaking, amazing work and we are proud it was a part of this generation’s growth.

What sets me apart is my ability to use feel my way through things and interpret things from those feelings. Feelings as information, if you will. I think that as a natural empath and intuitive, it was harder for me to put my athlete hat on in a way that felt “normal” in the context of sports. I wasn’t the one obsessed with times, splits, and stats. I just knew how to feel and move. And that carried me through because I could achieve things based on that confidence in my body and my ability to go into things with a big heart and golden willpower. Artists are Athletes, and my friend Carl Paoli is leading that movement with his Break Dancers!

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
That everyone has their own individual timeline and path to follow.

I used to get caught up in comparison (I still do)… “I am behind”, “Everyone has it all figured out”, “I need to keep up with XYZ”. Truth is: we are all doing the best we can and figuring it out along the way. What matters is how we approach it and execute our goals.

Contact Info:

Website: https://www.carolineburckle.com // www.mtmnewsletter.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caroburckle/  @caros_art
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caroburckle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caroburckle/

Image Credits
Olympic Medal & backbend underwater: Ilanna Barkusky @iannaemily Cliffs/Beach: Riker Brothers @rikerbrothers Black Background smile for RR Podcast: Ali Rogers @pranalens Rebecca & Caroline on grass – Dave Kafer @davidkaferphotography Tire Flip: @Melanie.sylim Olympic Relay: Getty Images