And everyone knows the parent who lives vicariously through his or her children, using their on-field success as a reflection of self-worth. Whether influenced by Dick's corporate experiences seeing young athletes crash and burn or being older parents or something else altogether, the Franklins always tried not to get caught up in the race to athletic insanity.
Dick and DA knew their primary job was to keep out of their daughter's way. Now let's go have dinner. Missy took notice. The last thing you need is your parents asking you what went wrong," she says. And my mom and dad have always been there with that hug. They also put an immense amount of trust in Todd Schmitz, Missy's coach since she was 7.
Todd was just 23 when Missy started swimming for his Colorado Stars swim club, and she was immediately drawn to the silly tricks he used to keep things light, like handstands in the water. Not once did the Franklins think they could find someone better, even when other parents asked whether they planned to move to a swimming-rich state like California or Texas.
Yet despite their parents' best efforts, young athletes are never immune to the pressure of big-time competition. In , when Missy was 14, some thought she was ready to compete at the U. Not Schmitz. Four weeks before the meet, he pulled Missy aside and told her just that. Several weeks later, at junior nationals, Missy's time in the free was fast enough that it would have put her on the world championship team.
But there were no regrets. Even after Missy won three golds, a silver and a bronze at the world championship in Shanghai, even after NBC made her one of the faces of its London marketing campaign, the Franklins would still say "If she makes the team" every time they talked about London.
When people began asking how the Franklins planned to handle Missy's freestyle and backstroke double, they shrugged.
What do you want him to do? Todd and Missy decide what to do. Says Dick: "It wouldn't have even dawned on me to say something. It's not our place to get involved. In a few months, the Franklins will be forced to let her go. Missy will be off to UC Berkeley. There she'll have to learn to do her own laundry.
Make her own bed. Cook her own food. Some see a reality check on the horizon for Missy, including her new coach, Teri McKeever. And that probably will crack at some point.
And I want to be there for that. Whether or not that day comes, McKeever's presence will be critical. For more than a decade, Dick and DA have trusted Schmitz to take care of the swimming.
Now they will look to McKeever to do that while also filling the void their absence will leave. It didn't have to be this way. After she returned home from London, Missy was offered millions in incentives from corporate America to spurn college and turn pro. She could have kept swimming for Schmitz and stayed closer to Mom and Dad. But Missy wanted an experience that money couldn't buy. She wanted to swim in college. So after the world championship in Barcelona "if she makes the team," DA says and a family vacation to Canada, the Franklins will load up the SUV and make the trip to the first step in the rest of Missy's life.
Just don't ask whether they're prepared to say goodbye. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Dawn Staley fulfills promise, shares South Carolina championship net with Black coaches. South Carolina Gamecocks. American Jackson records historic skating win. Arizona 'earned respect' with upset of Louisville. Arizona Wildcats. Gymnast Lee says she was target of racist attack. Badosa stuns No. UConn star Bueckers lands endorsement deal.
UConn Huskies. Franklin were both professionals in their forties when they found out that they would be having a baby girl — something that they didn't think was possible at that point in their lives.
In an emotional speech for the Minute Maid doinggood campaign this past May, Missy noted the above details, acknowledging the sacrifices that her parents made by having her and the sacrifice that she knows she will someday have to make. Addressing her parents, the Olympian said, "One of the hardest things that I have to deal with is that I'm probably gonna about half as much time with my parents as a lot of my friends are gonna get with theirs.
But I know for a fact that I would not be the person that I am today if you didn't have me right when you did. The Franklin family is certainly taking pains to make every second together count, as evidenced by their close relationship. As children grow into teenagers, they often drift apart from their parents. But for Missy, it was the exact opposite. She grew closer to her parents and spent as much time with them as possible.
The Olympian also stressed in the same interview how her parents had been a pillar of strength as she rose in the ranks of competitive swimming, offering their wholehearted support but never putting pressure on here. Franklin even told ESPN that it was the notion of her parents' love that helped her push through a nervous moment in the Olympics.
At the beginning of the m backstroke, Franklin felt a huge sense of suffocating pressure. But then she turned her focus to the thought of her parents.
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