On Wednesday, February 7, 2024, Victoria Arlen, a Paralympic gold medalist, was interviewed by Marcus Brem ‘26 and Lani Waggoner ‘24 in Memorial Chapel. The event was hosted by Speakers’ Forum, Athletics, and the Epper-Wolff Counseling Center. It was also a precursor to the Men’s Hockey Team’s Mental Health Awareness game on February 9 against Colgate, and captain Ben Tupker ‘24 introduced Arlen to the crowd.
Childhood Adversity
When Arlen was 11, she developed two neurological conditions that left her unable to speak, eat, or move. She was in a vegetative state for 4 years until 2010, when began to take medication to ease seizures she was having. Then, Arlin re-learned to speak, eat, and move, and then she began to learn how to play sled hockey.
Arlin chose to play sled hockey because she played hockey from when she was 3 until she was 11, and she was always passionate about sports. After she regained her ability to move and play sled hockey, her hockey coach introduced her to swimming. She also became determined to learn how to swim when her brothers threw her in a pool as she was re-learning to move.
Paralympics
Before the 2012 Paralympics, she told her swimming coach that she was interested in going to the paralympics. Her coach told her she could not, and her mother overheard this. When she got in the car with her mother after practice, her mother told her not to let anyone say she can’t do something. Afterward, she had an outstanding performance in the paralympic swimming trials and brought home 1 gold medal and 3 silver medals in the 2012 London Paralympic games.
Mental Health
After the games, Arlin became an ESPN host in 2015, learned how to walk again in 2016, competed on Dancing with the Stars in 2017, and became a co-host of American Ninja Warrior Junior in 2020. But despite all of these successes, she still struggled with her mental health.
Arlen said that she was in denial about the state of her mental health for a long time, and it took her a long time to show up for herself and not just others. At the talk, she encouraged Union students to have a support system, because her family served as an important one to her. Two years ago, she was particularly struggling with mental health and her family knew about this, so they took her to one of her favorite lakes to cheer her up. This motivated her to do something every day that brings her joy, and she encouraged Union students to do the same.
Arlen also talked about how her idea of personal success changed. One time, one of her friends asked her if she remembered the last time that she celebrated something. Arlen realized that she hadn’t, and she decided to make an effort to enjoy the present and embrace the people around her. She encouraged Union students to not live in a constant state of forwards and backwards in life.
Arlen also talked about how she helped her friends through their struggles. She said that a lot of people seemed to have it all together, when in reality they didn’t. She knew that one friend was struggling, so when she was in town, she invited them out to dinner and they were able to have a good time. She encouraged Union students to do the same with their friends.
Advice for Student Athletes
As an athlete, Arlen also gave advice to student athletes at Union. She encouraged people on sports teams to show up for themselves and the people around them, and to treat the people around you like teammates. It’s important to remember that you win when you are working together, and lose when you are not. She also mentioned that what you see on social media is just a highlight reel, and she has even seen professional athletes have impostor syndrome.
She also encouraged athletes to enjoy the journey through their struggles and not just the destination. For example, for several years, she was unable to scratch her nose. She told herself that when she was able to move again, she would scratch her nose. She learned to enjoy the journey of re-learning how to move, and a few years ago, she got to the destination of being able to scratch her nose.
Arlen is also the author of a memoir, Locked In, where she talks about her story of recovery. Signed copies of the book were available at the event, and it can be found at a variety of bookstores. She is also the founder of Victoria’s Victory Foundation, which aims to support those with physical impairments get things like medical supplies and training and recovery sessions to get better.
Union’s Speakers Forum will host another speaker next year, and the team encourages students to attend the speaker event. The athletics department and the Epper-Wolff counseling center also look forward to collaborating on more events in the future.
