NCAA All American Shares What it Takes to Seek Greater Heights: Amber Melville
Total task focus. That's how high jumper Amber Melville found herself on the podium of the ACC Championships during her first year of college. Attending only to the factors she could control during competition - the elements of her jump, the excitement and positive energy she felt from getting the chance to compete - Amber never realized there were only two other jumpers still jumping. She surprised the conference and her own coaches in that freshman-year ACC Indoor Championship. Who she didn't surprise? Herself. Of course she was going to stay in the competition - she knew she would do whatever it took just to keep jumping.
That total task focus - identifying what she needs to make this jump right now and letting go of anything else - is how Amber soared to the top of NCAA competition, clearing well over 6 feet as a college student, and qualifying for USA National Championships to compete alongside professionals before she'd even graduated.
Maintaining this total task focus takes work. And championship meets tend to come at the time of year when student athletes' lives are filled with competing demands for time and energy. In this video, Amber shares how she filters the many demands and challenges elite student-athletes face both within their sports and beyond them, so that when she is competing, she can jump - and when she's training, she can see the larger vision for which she's sacrificing.
Amber Melville is a three-time NCAA All-American as a high jumper in Indoor and Outdoor Track and Field. She's won more ACC-Championships that we can list here, and a Big10 championship too. All while attending a top-ranked university, where she graduated in four years. Amber has competed at the World Trials, is training for the 2016 Olympic Trials and for a world-class career.
Follow Amber's journey on Instagram @20believe16.