I am lucky enough to have Yelena Makoyed on my team at North Central. So, I wanted to hop inside of her mind and learn some of her tips and tricks.
She has an impressive list of credentials, and they are as follows:
2021 Collegiate National Champion
Second at 76 kg at the USA Women's Wrestling Nationals and Juniors/U23 World Team Trials
Gold medal at 76kg at the United World Wrestling Cadet & Junior Pan American Championships
4th at U.S. Olympic Team Trials
Academic All-CCIW
Jack Swartz Academic All-CCIW award recipient
NWCA Scholar All-American
I started off by asking Yelena her credentials, in which she added “future Olympic champ.” This is the mindset of someone who is driven and dedicated to their goals.
Yelena is the type of person to be upfront and vulnerable about her journey. This is what makes her such a well rounded athlete.
“I am also a human– full of flaws and shortcomings that I have to learn to work with. Wrestling has been a journey full of self denial, growth, as I am at a constant battle with myself– looking for ways to grow mentally, physically, and emotionally. One thing that became more clear to me throughout my journey is the importance of decisions. Our whole life is made up of different decisions you make. We decide what to wear in the morning and what to eat for breakfast; we decide where we go for college and where we work. We also decide our attitude and how we respond to situations. Life throws things at us that we don’t expect and the beauty of it is that we have the freedom to respond however we want– not to say there won’t be any consequences to our responses. This is why a growth mindset in the sport of wrestling but also in life, is crucial.”
Next, we talked about the changes she made from freshman to sophomore year in her training and lifestyle. She responded with wisdom that translates from wrestling into life,
“It is so easy to choose the short cut, or the easy way out but in the end, it is the collection of choices that we make which lead to the destination we desire. It’s not one decision but the culmination of many good ones that will eventually lead you to become an olympic champ, or the CEO of a company, or whatever success means to you. Every day I experience a crossroad where I can make the decision to either choose growth or complacency, discomfort or comfort, what I need vs what I want.”
She has paid attention to the top athletes, and observed the things they do that lead them to success “Most of the changes that I made over the past few years are things that I have heard successful athletes and coaches talk about for a while.”
“And many of those changes were things that I should have changed a long time ago, but I, being the stubborn person I am, only made changes when I understood the reasons for myself. I had to experience it to believe it. After losing some very humbling matches I chose to respond in an adaptive way. I began to think: I am already a pretty good wrestler, but how much better could I be if I made some changes?”
“I understood I had to eat healthy but I didn’t start eating clean until I began to see the detrimental effects of a poor diet in my everyday life. How not eating nutritious foods or overeating made me sluggish in practice. How a lack of sleep made me lethargic and mentally slow. After realizing these things I started making the small changes that used to seem irrelevant, for the sake of myself and my team.”
“A lot of the other changes I made were simply changes that just felt right. Taking the stairs everyday, no more partying, waking up early even when I didn’t have to, switching to military time, deleting my Netflix account and uninstalling my social media apps. If I make my life challenging now while it doesn’t need to be, when the real challenges come my way, I will not be stirred.”
“Another thing I decided is to just wrestle harder in practice. Little injuries, pains and aches don’t phase me anymore. They are a part of wrestling. They are but a pebble’s worth of an obstacle on the road to success. A ‘work smart, not hard’ attitude will not get you through wrestling. There are no shortcuts, only grit and hard work.”
You have become a leader on our wrestling team at North Central, what would you say are the key factors in creating a successful team? How have you enforced these ideals?
“Being a leader comes with its sacrifices. I have to take initiative when I don’t want to and make decisions that I don’t want to make.”
“For example: I didn’t start sleeping 8 hours a night until I saw that my lack of sleep was not only deteriorating my health, but was also depriving my partner from a good practice.” “Because of my poor choices I was not able to push my practice partner as much as I would during a great practice. As a consequence, my partner doesn’t learn as much/doesn’t get better, and then they can’t make other teammates better.” “My bad decisions, even the small ones, were causing major collateral damage. I was wasting my time, the coaches' time and my teammate’s time. At such a high level of wrestling where the outcome of the match can be determined by who had a better pre-match warm up, I could not afford a bad day of practice.”
“I realized that I had to be the one to push others and encourage them to put in more work. I can’t do that when I’m slacking off because that’ll make me a hypocrite. As a leader I have to stay on top of my game for myself and for those that look up to me.”
“Leadership also requires us to uplift, encourage, and spur people on towards greatness. Adam Johnson–an ’08 NCC athletic hall of famer– once told me something along the lines of, ‘everyone can be a leader, but not everyone can connect with the people around them.’ Wrestling is an individual sport– sometimes a little too individualistic. Many times we may feel isolated and alone in our journey towards success. Thankfully, my coaches, and teammates have supported me through my wins and my losses, through my times of growth and struggle. It is important that I do the same for them.”
So you recently signed with Titan Mercury Wrestling Club. Tell us a little about that.
“Many good decisions tend to lead to many good rewards. Deciding to work hard, listening to my coaches, and making changes led to more wins and eventually a sponsorship by Titan Mercury Wrestling Club. TMWC was truly an answered prayer– I have always wanted to be sponsored.”
Do you have any words of advice for new female wrestlers?
“To all the female athletes out there: You have more control over your life than you think. Don’t wait for others to tell you what to do, start making the decisions yourself. Change what you need to change, and do what you need to do to get better. Furthermore, be a leader, take initiative, and encourage others”