In this episode of the Wrestling Mindset Podcast, Gene Zannetti talks with Titan Mercury Wrestling Club’s Marilyn Garcia about the honest public reflection she posted after the US Open, and what it took to actually sit with her feelings and figure out where her head was at.

Marilyn says writing it out helped her settle things. Instead of staying in the embarrassment of not competing the way she expected to, she listed what actually went well and asked herself the question she puts to her college athletes all the time: how would you talk to your teammate? She says that reframe is what got her through the grief that follows competition, something she believes every wrestler goes through at some point.

She traces her goal setting back to a coach at World Team Trials two years ago who asked what her goals for the tournament were. Her instinct was to say winning. He pushed further, asking what she wanted to do mindset wise and technically. That question made her start setting smaller, bite-sized goals she could actually concentrate on instead of trying to swallow the whole competition at once, and it is the same thing she now tells her girls before every tournament as a way to minimize pressure.

This year those goals were concrete. On weight, she wanted to be within five pounds of her weight class the week before competition, because the fear of missing weight had followed her every year even though she always makes it. Meal prepping and extra work in the final two months meant she walked in knowing her weight was in check and she could just focus on wrestling. Technically, she worked on finishing, since she knows she can get to anyone’s leg but wanted to shoot in good position with her head up rather than take mindless shots. Mentally, she set a goal not to go to a dark place when she was down.

She is proud of how those held up. Down 4-0 late in her first match, she told herself she knew who she was and knew how to take a shot, and she took it. She lost the match by a point, but she had done the thing she set out to do. In a later match she caught herself wrestling scared, holding position and not moving, until her coach used the 30 second break to ask why a shooter was not shooting. She says she did not stop firing for the rest of the tournament, which proved to her she could reset mid match even when she was not there mentally. Underneath it was something someone once told her: it does not matter how you feel, your body knows what to do, and a bad day does not erase the years and the reps behind it.

Marilyn is candid that getting out of the funk was hard and that it still hits her sometimes. What helps is remembering that almost all of her success came after some kind of loss or heartbreak, and that 12 years in the sport have brought plenty of peaks and valleys. She talks about the value of recharging rather than rushing back into the room, and the reality that senior level athletes go year round, so the only breaks are the ones you choose or the ones injuries force on you.

She also explains how coaching keeps her accountable, because if she says something to her athletes she feels she has to live it herself. Seeing their anxieties up close lets her relive her own, and she asks what she would say to them before saying it back to herself. She points to Tamyra Mensah-Stock as her biggest inspiration, remembering how genuinely kind she was to a wrestler she did not know, and the vision board she once showed Marilyn with Olympic champion and WWE Diva written on it long before either happened.

Asked about Real American Freestyle, she says she would honestly love to do it. She has no competitions on the calendar right now, which is hard for someone who jumps on every opportunity, and she notes that last year an invitation to India with Titan Mercury came just weeks after World Team Trials. In the meantime she is experimenting with food she actually likes so eating well does not feel like a punishment, and working with her coaches on film, because at this level progress comes from small tweaks to stance, position, and setups rather than big jumps. Her biggest takeaway from working on her mindset is giving herself grace and holding onto the bigger picture, dropping the shoulds that tear her down, and enjoying the process while she trains to be the best wrestler she can be for 2028.

Timestamps

• 0:34 – Sitting with her feelings after the US Open and why she posted a public reflection
• 1:26 – The reframe: how would I talk to my own athletes if I am tearing myself down?
• 2:51 – The coach question at World Team Trials that changed how she sets goals
• 3:21 – Smaller, bite-sized goals so the whole competition does not feel overwhelming
• 4:18 – Making the weight cut a controllable: within five pounds the week before
• 5:53 – The technical goal: finishing shots from good position, not mindless shots
• 6:53 – The mental goal: not going to a dark place when she is down
• 7:09 – Down 4-0 late in match one and taking the shot anyway
• 7:43 – Resetting mid match after her coach asks why a shooter is not shooting
• 8:47 – It does not matter how you feel, your body knows what to do
• 9:53 – Getting out of the funk and remembering the peaks and valleys of 12 years
• 11:27 – Recharging, and why senior level athletes never really get an offseason
• 12:58 – How coaching keeps her accountable to her own advice
• 14:20 – Tamyra Mensah-Stock, kindness, and the vision board
• 15:45 – Would love to compete in Real American Freestyle, and the trip to India with Titan Mercury
• 16:40 – Small tweaks over big jumps: stance, position, and setups
• 19:00 – Biggest takeaway: giving herself grace and training toward 2028
• 20:30 – Rapid fire: pin over tech, underdog over favorite, and a suplex

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