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BMX star Saya Sakakibara almost quit, then learned a trick to face the fear
The championship-winning BMX racer talks about her mixed relationship with the sport with host Lisa Ramuschkat in the latest episode of the Mind Set Win podcast.
For Saya Sakakibara keeping a training diary is the key to her BMX racing career. But the Australian athlete only realised the benefits behind this technique once she had to confront and capture her positive and negative feelings. To her, journalling is like magic, because it helps her solve problems and process her emotions without actively thinking about doing so.
The Australian champion explains this and much more in the latest episode of the Mind Set Win podcast, where the 24 year old chats with host Lisa Ramuschkat.
At the beginning of the 2023 UCI World Cup season, Sakakibara was in the middle of rebuilding her relationship with BMX racing, following a serious crash the year prior. After losing the first race of the 2023 season, she'd texted her coach to ask: 'Is it bad that I'm really happy that I didn't make it to the finals?', to which her coach responded with, 'kind of'. Reflecting on this moment, Sakakibara knows that she was at a stage where she was torn between wanting to race BMX, but battling the fear she came to associate with it.
A few weeks later she won her first race of the season - at the track where she crashed on the previous year. "When I won that course, I just couldn’t believe it. That's where I crashed the year before and I came back to win that race," Sakakibara explains. This breakthrough showed her that she could finally trust herself again.
It's not just her own serious injuries which almost caused her to quit, but also the career-ending accident of her brother Kai in 2020, who was also a professional BMX athlete. Kai was in a coma for six weeks, a time in which his family were uncertain of his future. While he went on an impressive road to recovery, Saya continued chasing their dreams.
Saya Sakakibara
© Brett Hemmings/Red Bull Content Pool
It was a horrific time. You don’t have any answers
For Sakakibara, the aftermath of the accident and the impact this would have on her own career came two years later, after completing the competition the siblings were working towards. “It was a horrific time. You don’t have any answers. I don’t think I had the time to process everything,” she explains. “After that, everything came crashing down and I realised what I had really lost.”
This, as well as her fifth major concussion, lead Sakakibara to question a career in BMX: "When I sat with that feeling of, 'okay it’s happening, I'm really quitting', it was just that nagging feeling that got bigger and bigger as the days and weeks went on. Like, 'you're not done yet. I can't quit now, this is not the right decision’ feeling."
Documenting this journey of perseverance and determination, the film Saya Sakakibara: Ride to Redemption shows Sakakibara's experience through her eyes as she pushed herself to honour her brother's legacy, all while preparing for success on the road to Paris.
46 min
Saya Sakakibara: Ride to Redemption
After her brother’s injury, BMX athlete Saya Sakakibara pushes for success on her road to Paris.
The fear Sakakibara still feels daily is something she’s had to learn how to deal with. She attributes a lot of her success to journalling, as a way of systematically approaching that fear and anxiety. "It just feels like magic, you don't even think about doing it and at the end you've kind of solved your own problem," she explains. Ultimately, what drives her however is the accomplishment she will feel after completing a race: "When you do your best in that situation ,despite how you feel, and get to the other side, that's when you feel incredible. Because you know how you felt, you know how hard it was and you still did the thing."
How you can use journalling to improve your mindset
In Part B, host Lisa Ramuschkat and sports psychologist York-Peter discuss the power of journalling and how they both use it in their daily lives.
York-Peter highlights the versatility of the mental tool, as it can be adapted to individual needs based on the questions you choose to answer. “Everyone can use it for the purpose that they need it for,” the sports psychologist explains. For example, asking, ‘What are three things that I am grateful for?’ enables you to remind yourself of the positive things in your life.
The key is that journalling forces a strategic approach to your goal/problem, as it requires you to think about the choice of words. He recommends using pen and paper to answer your chosen questions, as it slows down the journalling process even more, allowing you to fully focus on the task.
“These little questions, it takes no time at all but it has a powerful effect for the rest of your day,” York-Peter explains.
Listen to the full conversation between Saya Sakakibara and host Lisa on Part A of this week's episode of Mind Set Win at the top of the page. Then, listen to Part B above to hear more about journalling and how York-Peter and Lisa both use the tool for different goals.
