From the Ice to the Auditorium: How Steve Emt Rewired His Mind to Compete at the Highest Level
There’s a quote Steve Emt keeps coming back to. Lindsey Vonn's words, spoken in a television interview with Mike Tirico during the Games: that winning isn't everything, that showing the world you are a great leader and a great teammate is what truly matters.
For Emt, a three-time U.S. Paralympian in wheelchair curling competing at the Milan-Cortina Winter Games, that message rewired him. "I wrote that quote down, I put it in my room in the Paralympic Village, and I read it probably 47 times a day," he recalls. "It changed my perspective on my sport, and it changed my life."
He eventually mailed Vonn a letter about the impact. A decade later, he got to tell her in person.
Third Time’s The Charm
Most elite athletes will tell you that the first Olympic or Paralympic experience is a blur. Emt is no different. "The first Games, I was a mess," he says with a laugh. "I don't remember much of it." Beijing was better, simply because, as he heard another athlete put it: "It wasn't my first Games." But Milan? Milan is something else entirely.
"I'm in the best place I've ever been in my life," he says, and he's quick to clarify what that means. "It has nothing to do with my physical game but actually everything to do with my life and my mental approach."
"It's not all about winning. Not everybody can win. That hit me. That struck a chord." — Steve Emt
Ask Emt how he defines success at the Games, and he doesn't reach for a podium color. He lists the little things that highlight a deep commitment to the process: sleep quality, hydration, protein intake, pre-shot routine, breathing, positive imagery, and seven minutes of meditation.
"If I answer yes to all that, I know it's going to lead to success," he says. "And that's all I care about." It's a simple philosophy but much more difficult in practice: control what you can, release what you can't.
"Once the stone is off the stick, it's gone. We can't control the ice, we can't control the other team. I'm playing the stones. I'm playing the ice." - Steve Emt
He cites Mel Robbins' book 'Let Them' as a source of inspiration, that daily life becomes measurably better when people stop trying to manage what's beyond their reach. "In everyday life, if people just concentrate on themselves and what they control, we're going to be a lot happier. The people around us are going to be a lot happier."
In competition, this translates to Emt’s striking mental clarity. "Whether I'm playing China, Canada, Korea…it doesn't matter. I'm playing the stones. I'm playing the ice."
Trust as a Competitive Edge
Emt competes in the mixed doubles discipline alongside his partner Laura Dwyer, a partnership on ice that is built on trust.
“I know I can basically say anything to Laura, and she knows she can say anything to me. Good, bad. She can say, 'Steve, what are you doing? Get your head out, let's go.' And you can't do that with everybody."
In curling's mixed doubles, neither athlete can physically affect the other's shot. The trust is entirely psychological.
"She's just believing in me. I'm just trusting that she's believing in her. It's special to know that we’re going to do our best for ourselves, for each other, for our country. I know that. She knows that.” - Steve Emt
Paying it Forward On and Off The Ice
Half of Emt's life is spent on ice. The other half is spent in high school auditoriums across America, telling his story to teenagers. In March 1995, Emt was paralyzed from the waist down after a drunk driving crash.
Just seven months later, he gave his first public talk, soaking wet and covered in mud after falling from his wheelchair in an unlit parking lot, with no one around to help. He dragged himself to his chair, got back in, and went on stage anyway. "Any chance of me being embarrassed or shy…absolutely gone," he says. "It was probably the best thing that could have happened to me."
Last year, he visited approximately 170 high schools. By June this year, he'll have done 57 more.
"Everybody's got a story, and everybody's story should be heard by somebody. A simple smile, a good morning…I don't know what kind of day you're having." – Steve Emt
When speaking, he thinks about three words from Tony Robbins: be brutally honest. “Because there are people out there going through things, and they can relate to that."
Emt and Dwyer fell just short of the podium in the Paralympics’ mixed doubles wheelchair curling event. His sights are already set to 2030. "I love the journey I'm on right now."
ABOUT THIS SERIES
I'm Amy Wotovich, and I am on a mission to interview 100% of Team USA's 2026 Olympic and Paralympic athletes to create the most comprehensive mindset record of a single Games cycle. What do elite competitors actually believe about pressure, identity, failure, and joy? Steve Emt is one of hundreds of athletes sharing their unfiltered answers. Follow the journey!
