ALUMNAE PROFILES
The Secret of my Success? Never Give Up For swimmer Alys Thomas, Class of 2009, qualifying and competing at the Tokyo Olympic Games was one of the toughest yet most rewarding experiences of her life. Swimming is essentially a solo sport: when you are stood behind the block at the start of your race you are on your own, everything is down to you; how hard you kick; how fast you pull; how quick you push off the wall; it’s you against the clock. But behind the scenes swimming, or pretty much any sport for that matter, is very much a team game. From
professionals to teammates, in both competitive and training environments teamwork is fundamental to the success of not just the athlete but the person themselves. I began swimming at an early age as a toddler and joined my first club Kingston Royals at age five. I swam with Kingston all through Primary and Secondary School, while at LEH, usually before school, so often turning up to school with wet hair in the mornings. After completing my A levels at LEH in 2009, I left home and moved to Swansea to join the Welsh High Performance Centre, where I still live and train today. I deferred enrolment at Swansea University to study Psychology for two years, as I wanted to focus solely on my swimming.
After competing for Wales in Delhi in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, I decided I would enrol in my degree the following year. I spent the next two years juggling being an ‘elite athlete’ and full-time student. I found the balance pretty simple, just be organised! I took the option to complete my final year of my degree part time to allow time for my training, taking part in my second Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014. A year later I finally graduated from University with a 2:1 in Psychology. Since then I’ve not chosen to go back to school, instead opting to focus on being a full time athlete. In the lead up to the Rio Olympic trials in 2016 I’d had shaky preparation. I had been diagnosed with bone stress in my upper arm. This wasn’t my first Olympic trials – I’d been to the Beijing
Holles Connect Spring 2022
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