Mikaila Martin was a 21-year-old college student when she gave birth to her first child. On Thursday, her 3-year-old daughter cheered her on at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in Eugene, Oregon.
Martin was a track and field star at the University of Houston when she had to put her athletic career on hold to care for her daughter, Camryn.
“Before I had Camryn, my day was already hectic,” Martin recently told Good Morning America. “After I had her, I had to sit down with myself and make a schedule of how my day would look like so I could see it on paper.”
For the past three years, Martin has relied on her mother and sister to help care for Camryn while she attends school, trains, and works a part-time job.
“It really takes a whole village,” Martin said.
“When we found out she was pregnant, on our side, nothing changed,” said Will Blackburn, associate head coach for the Houston track and field program. He recruited Martin out of high school and has been one of her biggest supporters since she became a mom.
“We thought, ‘Let’s go on, let’s go after your goals and aspirations,’” Blackburn continued.
“I know it was tough on her, no doubt, in part because the time management was totally different,” he continued. “[After becoming a mom] she had an hour or hour-and-a-half practice time and that was it.”
“She was extremely focused and it spilled over into competition,” Blackburn added. “Her focus improved a lot and her skill improved greatly.”
During the coronavirus pandemic, Martin cared for her daughter at home while taking classes on Zoom and continuing to train.
“I would find a nearby park and let her play and then put her in the wagon while I did some training,” said Martin. “During the pandemic, it was really, really a struggle.”
The hard work is paying off. Earlier this month, Martin became the first UH woman to earn All-America honors in the Hammer Throw at the NCAA outdoor track and field championships, where she finished 12th and earned a berth in the U.S. Olympic trials.
Martin plans to go pro after she earns a graduate degree in human resources. In the meantime, she continues to marvel at how much she has improved as a hammer thrower since becoming a mom.
“In the beginning, I thought, ‘I’m not the same athlete I used to be,’ but I learned to work with my body and once I did that, that’s when things started to come into play,” she said. “And you really are more focused as a mom because before Camryn, I used to be so nervous at track meets, I would shake. Now, I’m so in the zone and focused and I never used to feel like that.”
Martin will graduate UH in May 2022.
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