On Tuesday 6 July, the St Mary’s girls were given the opportunity to take part in a live fitness session on Zoom with seven Olympians. The girls are finding sustaining motivation to exercise quite tough, so it was a little disappointing to see that a greater number of them did not take part in this once in a lifetime opportunity and experience. It was the brainchild of Kelsey Thomson (St Mary’s head of aquatics), who then found a suitable time for all the sportswomen going to the Tokyo Olympics as well as two of our past Olympians to meet and motivate our St Mary’s girls.

The Olympians each gave us a brief overview of theirs sports careers and what this pinnacle of achievement means to them. We then did a workout based on each current Olympian adopting one of the colours of the Olympic rings. Our girls were able to pose questions, which we were all answered, and then we ended by giving them a St Mary’s shoutout and good luck for the Games.

Most rewarding was the feedback sent to me after the session where the most common words used were honoured, privileged and inspiring. I was able to give this feedback to the girls about to head to Tokyo. I think inspiring the youth is a responsibility of a top performer and these sportswomen are doing a fantastic job. To Ros Howell (hockey coach 2004), Cindy Brown (hockey 2008), Lisa Deetlefs (hockey 2008, 2012 and 2021), Lilian du Plessis (hockey 2021), Kelsey Thomson (water polo 2021) Amica Hallendorff (water polo 2021) and Daniela Passoni (water polo 2021) I cannot thank you enough for giving up your time to give the St Mary’s girls such a unique and special opportunity.

QUIX
DIRECTOR OF SPORT