5 minute read
Keeping the Dream Alive
This year, a lot of plans have been upended and lives have been put on hold. For some of Ivanhoe Girls’ keenest athletes, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed their lives in ways unimaginable a year ago.
Emilia Year 10
Advertisement
What were your plans for 2020?
I’ve been swimming competitively for six years. This year would have been my third year on the National Team, representing Victoria. This year I qualified for three events – the 100m and 200m Backstroke, and the 200m Individual Medley. I was aiming to qualify for the Olympic trials, which were in June.
It was about three weeks out from Nationals when our coach suddenly told us it was cancelled. We all kind of looked around at each other and thought what are we going to do now? We’d been training for a whole year and we were probably in the best condition of our lives. After that, training was kind of pointless, we didn’t really know what to aim for, or what we were doing. It was really hard for all of us.
How did you adjust to lockdown?
During the first wave we were at home for 10 weeks. After that we were able to get into the water for about a month, and we were just getting back into hard training when we went into lockdown again. The second time has been much harder.
You can feel your swimming fitness disappearing. Every competition this year and next year has a big question mark on it so we don’t really have anything to aim for. That’s been one of the really hard things. You just have to try and overcome that and try and think ahead.
Our coach said something to us that resonated for me, “Discipline and motivation are two different things”. When you have discipline, everyday you just keep going. Eventually when we get out of all of this, the motivation will come back.
How did you come to terms with the disappointment?
It has taken a little while. I can’t control what the whole of Victoria is doing. I can’t control what stage of restrictions we are in. I can’t control the numbers. I can’t control anything except for myself. Knowing that I’m in control of my own body and I'm in control of the exercise I do, and my fitness has made me feel a little bit more grounded.
How have you adapted?
Before, it was easy to stay fit because we were swimming seven days a week. Now I’ve been exercising every day. I normally train two or three runs in a week, and I'm lucky enough to have my own gym equipment in the garage. Our coach is really in touch with us. He’s been sending out motivational videos and recipes and just trying to keep the squad and everyone together and letting us know that we are all in it together. Everyone is trying to support each other and I think it's definitely helping. It would be so much harder if you were on your own.
What have you learnt most about yourself?
I still have goals and I still really want to reach them - I’ve just had to change it up a little bit. I never really realised how strong I was until I was tested. But now it's surprising. I’ll take the mental skills that I’ve learnt into the future with me. This time has been a really good test of everyone’s resilience, not just in sport but in life in general.
Margo Year 10
What were your plans for 2020?
At the start of this year, in January I qualified to swim for the National Australian Artistic Swimming Team. I was really proud. We were planning to go to Quebec to compete in the 2020 FINA World Artistic Swimming Championships. I was really excited to be able to compete with the older girls in the team and learn a lot from them.
Margo qualified for the National Australian Artistic Swimming team
What’s been the most challenging thing for you?
It was sad to hear that the competition wasn't going ahead. Setting yourself up for a year of competitive training and lots of different events - you have a whole plan. But very quickly it just turns around completely. You need to take a step back and look at what's going on and what you need to do next moving forward.
How have you adapted?
We’ve begun doing online Zoom sessions six times a week. So we workout together and we’ll spend time stretching as well. I do sessions with the Ivanhoe Girls’ team, my team outside of school, as well as sessions with the Victorian High Performance program. Sometimes we do sessions with the Russian coaches with connections to Coaching Australia.
As an Artistic Swimmer, teamwork is essential. How do you manage that on Zoom?
For the Ivanhoe Girls’ team we are starting to choreograph routines. We do it over the phone and [coaches] Gemma and Katrina help us to learn the new choreography. It's awkward because sometimes the camera is flipping… so it can be all over the place but we’re getting there, we are learning.
For my other teams we haven’t focused on routines for the past few months. Instead we’ve gone back to foundations and worked on really building up our strength and endurance and trying to improve our flexibility. We probably won't be choreographing routines until restrictions ease.
What have you learnt about yourself?
I've definitely learnt that life doesn’t always go as planned. This year is kind of a testament to that! I've also learnt to really roll with it and work with the scenario you’re given and just try to do your best even if it's not what you expected.
Have you lost any of your passion for your sport?
Not at all! It has strengthened my passion. When it’s day after day of going to the pool, training, coming home late, you don't think this is what I love to do. You’re thinking I’m so tired, I have so much homework, I just want to sleep. Now I have all this time, I realise how much I love this sport and how much I miss it. I just want to get back in the pool and see all my friends!
