Ty Walker, M.D., is a Class of 2025 medical school graduate from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine.
In the following blog post, she reflects on her post-athletic career choices since her time in Sochi on the U.S. Snowboard Team at age 16, and how Olympic training has translated to her medical career.
“If I had to define my version of the Olympian mindset, I’d say it’s about faith—faith that I’m doing meaningful work in service of something greater than myself, and that we all are. It’s not blind faith; it’s cultivated.”
Meeting of the Olympic Minds
Three days after Match Day and 11 years after Sochi, I was invited to speak on a panel about how my Olympic experience shaped my career in medicine. I joined two other Team USA athletes—Carissa Gump (Weightlifting, 2008) and Jennifer Kessy (Volleyball, 2002)—for a “Female Founders” series aimed at educating and empowering entrepreneurial women. Our conversation centered on the Olympian mindset and touched on themes of perseverance, resilience, confidence, respect, and community. Listening to the other panelists reminded me that while we were driven by different motivations and followed distinct paths after our athletic careers, the growth we experienced was similar. The timing felt serendipitous—it was a meaningful meditation on how character is cultivated as I prepared to graduate from medical school.
I use the word cultivated intentionally. Traits like perseverance, compassion, and humility are not fixed. They can grow, wither, or be tended to. I was 16 when I went to the Olympics, and I’ve changed by all three of these mechanisms since then.
Perseverance was the first thing I mentioned when asked how Olympic training translated to my medical career. It felt obvious—both paths required long-term commitment and high-intensity effort. I persevered when I fell trying new tricks (and again), and when I struggled through a block of case questions (and again). I feel my perseverance when I wake up to my morning alarm, and every time I take off a patient’s socks.
What sustains my perseverance is perspective. Life becomes more manageable when I think positively and globally about my path. I reflect on why I enjoy being a doctor. I remind myself that I am where I should be—and that I want to keep going. There is so much to appreciate about this career, and the more I return to that mindset, the easier it becomes to accept day-to-day struggles. Even when I’m asked to do an end-of-day consult, I know there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. I also tend to my perseverance through wellness, knowing that burnout would shorten the fulfilling, lifelong career I hope to build.
We later discussed resilience, a quality I started developing through snowboarding and continue to grow in medicine. Resilience is like perseverance but focuses more on the comeback; it’s about how you recover from challenges that truly affect you. I’ve certainly had setbacks and dealt with unexpected changes. What helps me recover is being intentional about how I respond. I give myself permission to be where I am, without judgment. Then I remind myself who I am beyond the moment. What gives me confidence? What brings me joy? I picture that version of myself in the future, grounded and steady in a new context.
By far, the most helpful tool I’ve found in building resilience is talking to people who are in my corner—those who offer different perspectives and remind me of positives I may have lost sight of.
Team U.S.A. to Team Patient
Community is something I’ve grown to deeply appreciate through years of training and education—both in snowboarding and beyond. I rely on others to brighten my days, challenge my thinking, and broaden my understanding. My closest relationships offer a sense of stability. But another gift that many people have offered me is guidance—through teaching, mentorship, and example.
When I was on the U.S. Team as a teenager, I had a lot to learn. Our team staff taught me about nutrition and physiology, mental health and strategy. I looked up to my teammates and emulated the ways they cared for their bodies and minds. I learned to grow with curiosity and respect for shared wisdom. In medicine, my goal is to help others by offering insight through the knowledge I’ve accumulated. Sharing what I’ve learned feels like a way of honoring the communities that shaped me.
My growing sense of collectivism may be why my competitive edge has softened. (Or maybe that shift happened when my “style” score was M3—I joke!) In truth, medicine has a way of humbling us all. When our panel was asked about competition in the workplace, we emphasized respect. I think no doctor gets through this path untested. We’ve all weathered the pre-clinical storm, passed exams, faced the Match, and grappled with the life-and-death weight of our work. That shared experience makes it easy to see colleagues as teammates rather than competitors. We’re all on Team Patient—fighting Strep species and the like.
If I had to define my version of the Olympian mindset, I’d say it’s about faith—faith that I’m doing meaningful work in service of something greater than myself, and that we all are. It’s not blind faith; it’s cultivated. As a recent medical school graduate and incoming internal medicine resident at the UVM Medical Center, I’m motivated to grow in new ways, guided by the intention of helping others thrive too.
Watch the VCET Female Founders Speaker Series “Olympians” episode with Ty Walker
