Martha McCabe is a 2-time Olympic swimmer in the 200m breaststroke, a world championship, Pan Am Games medallist, and the president and founder of Head to Head Mentorship Program. Recalling her days as a student in KIN, Martha speaks fondly about the learning environment and the strong influences of the people she met there. “You go in as an 18-year-old and come out as a 23-year-old. There is a lot of development and growth that happens in those 4-5 years in university. By being in a positive environment with people who I looked up to, it was easy for me to grow – this set me up for life. The people around me taught me about life skills like time management and resiliency, and to just go out and do the things that I aspired to do.”
Upon her retirement as an Olympic swimmer, Martha was inspired to start Head to Head, an organization that promotes mental resilience and physical wellness through Olympian led mentorship programs. The idea was sparked when she realized that she was receiving a lot of requests to give public talks at swim and leadership clinics across the country. Martha says, “I drove across Canada and did 55 workshops in 60 days. In doing that, it was like a test run for me to see if there was a business in these speaking events. I wanted to know if there was an appetite amongst schools and clubs to pay Olympians to deliver mentorship programs. Once that was confirmed, I thought of ways to set this up as a business to offer other Olympians this opportunity. As an individual I can only stay relevant for so long, so I created Head to Head as a way to stay involved in the community in the long term, and offer mentorships that support life skills development like managing nerves, resilience through adversity, and building healthy habits.
Inclusivity is crucial to McCabe. It’s a component of her own public speaking engagements and is championed through Head to Head. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Martha came out publicly this year with the hope that by sharing her story she could serve as a role model for other young female athletes to feel comfortable with themselves. “I want to be an example to young female swimmers and help ones who are struggling with this, so they can see it’s normal,” says McCabe. Her advice to people who are not out yet is to: “take your own time to figure yourself out. It takes everyone different times and experiences, which make you realize different things about yourself. Build up the support in your own life, whether it be from a family member, a friend. Have some sort of ally, or role model you can reach out to for when you eventually come out.” She said inclusion is a topic Olympians are encouraged to discuss, with the goal of helping young people build inclusive environments in all the spaces they occupy.
