ASM speaker Andrew Wilson ’12 shared his experiences with mental health as an Olympic swimmer
Andover alumnus Andrew Wilson ’12 returned to campus to speak about his journey to winning gold as an Olympic swimmer and his relationship with “success” at last Friday’s All School Meeting (ASM). During his time at Andover, Wilson swam, played lacrosse, and was captain of the water polo team.
Wilson’s talk centered on reconsidering success. He explained how feeling successful wasn’t a consistent feeling, and early on in his life, he had defined success by accolades, praise, and achievements.
“For me, my focus always remained on the medal that I didn’t have, the time standard that I had achieved, or the people who were beating me… I tended to view the next medal or record as the solution to problems not just in my swimming, but in my life more broadly, as if all of my challenges would magically disappear if I were just a little bit faster… I was defining success the wrong way, and as a result, I was defining myself the wrong way,” said Wilson.
Wilson then emphasized the importance of embracing the process towards progress as a tool to measure success. He instilled that no matter the outcome, one should feel proud of their grit and motivation rather than their results, which are often the result of external, uncontrollable factors.
“I think that the key is to define success so that you control whether it happens. And also to define success so that you can feel successful almost every single day. For me, this comes from embracing the process and the work…If I define success through the smaller, less visible goals and steps to performance, then I can feel successful. I control my success, and I also will have maximized my chance of achieving that more visible goal,” said Wilson.
As a swimmer, Rosalyn Pan ’28 resonated with Wilson’s sentiments. She explained how his story inspired her, encouraging her to concentrate on her own work and improvement rather than competing with others, and helping her feel more comfortable about her struggles.
“I’m a swimmer. He’s also a swimmer, and we’re both breaststrokers. A lot of the things he said about trying to get from one thing to another, one cut to another, one time to another, related to me because I do that too in swimming. [Wilson’s talk] helped me focus on myself, not how I do in relation to others… It was reassuring to hear that even the best suffer from not feeling good enough. It’s not just me, everyone feels that. It was nice to know I wasn’t alone,” said Pan.
After the ASM on Friday, students on the Andover swim teams had the opportunity to meet Wilson and receive guidance and advice from him. Chloe Ru ’27 commented on her interaction with Wilson and how productive the training session was.
“It was really nice to have him be at our training session that afternoon, the next day, and also just him being there at the meet giving us advice and answering questions… We had a forty-minute pool-side chat with him, and we just threw out random questions… It was a really intimate conversation and it was really rewarding as well to have some time with him and just the swim team alone so we could ask some more swimming-related questions,” said Ru.
Jeff Domina, Instructor in English, taught Wilson in English 100 while he was a freshman. He reflected on Wilson’s character as a student and praised Wilson’s openness to discussing mental health in his ASM talk.
“He had this sort of hunger, even for learning to write better, that I think probably served him well in becoming the excellent super accomplished swimmer he is… I think [in his speech] he was very matter of fact about [mental health] and acknowledged that these are challenges that most people deal with in some way in their lives and especially students at Andover face pressure that can affect [mental health]. I think his perspective on what we value about ourselves was really wise and helpful. It’s hard to do, but as students and faculty, if we can do that better, we’ll take better care of ourselves,” said Domina.
Malcolm Tolbert ’26 is one student who has experienced struggles similar to those discussed by Wilson. Hearing Wilson’s candid advice helped him shift his mindset. He realized that thinking only about results can detract from one’s appreciation of their progress.
“I think I’ve kind of struggled with quantifying my success or allowing my sports success or athletic performance to affect my self esteem… I feel like I kind of had to learn over time to keep enjoying what I do despite the actual result and focus on the results. So I think that kind of resonated most with me, his talk about focusing less on results and more on the process and enjoying what you do,” said Tolbert.
Alfonso Gonzalez-Cano ’27 was inspired by Wilson to reflect on his past successes with Wilson’s words in mind. Gonzalez-Cano realized that Wilson’s ideas applied to all aspects of his life.
“I think [the speech] definitely evoked a lot of reflection, reflection not just in my sport life, but also every other factor of my life, my own hobbies, my own relationships with my friends and other important people in my life. I think it really made me think back to all those situations and really see if I had really attained the level of success I was wishing [for], and if that success was based off of something that was within my control,” said Gonzalez-Cano.
Wilson concluded his speech with a declaration to Andover students, urging them to slow down and relax. He asserted the importance of valuing one’s Andover journey, rather than getting lost in the stress of student life.
“If you’re still with me, let me be clear. You’re doing a good job. Take a deep breath, and enjoy your time in this special place just a little bit more, so you have more memories to look back on down the road,” said Wilson.
