I’ve loved sport my entire life. From the age of 4, I could be found out in the back garden endlessly kicking a ball against the wall. My childhood was spent playing countless hours of football and by the age of 12, I was already asking Santa for my first set of dumbbells.
And the rest is history.
But it wasn’t easy. I played competitive soccer, netball, and even twirling, and in later years, rugby and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. As a teenager, I came home late and got up early to fit it all in. Back then, we were young and recovery wasn’t cool yet, so we worked until we dropped and then we got back up again to keep going.
The years went on and I won games, made friends, and even got my hands on a few AIL titles. But I never reached my childhood dream of becoming a professional soccer player.
Why not? Well, I’ll never know for sure, but I think there were some key factors that kept me from reaching my full potential.
A lack of KNOWLEDGE, non-existent higher level OPPORTUNITIES for women in sport, and insufficient RESOURCES.
The infrastructure for young women in sport wasn’t good enough when I was growing up and it’s still not great. I wasn’t taught how to lift or cross-train and I wasn’t given the training tools to succeed. I trained hard and long, but not efficiently.
One of the biggest drivers of my career is my desire to change the access women have to knowledge and resources when it comes to training. To provide the knowledge and support that women maybe didn’t have when they were growing up.
I would love to be able to go back as I am now, to coach and lead my younger self to achieve her goals. And the first thing I would have told myself, is that I was doing too much by splitting my focus and trying to hit goals in different sports that didn’t complement each other.
As I was recently reminded by my own personal trainer;
“You only have one arse, so you can’t sit on two horses.” -Eoin Lacey
And the same goes for my clients when it comes to training. I spend time getting to know my clients and their interests, expectations, and drivers, so that together we can help develop a plan to meet goals that are specific and focused.
So whether you’ve been coming to me for years, or if your next time in Lift is your first time, ask yourself - what goal am I trying to achieve and what does my success look like?
One thing that I did have right as a kid was my dedication, determination, and relentlessness. When you start down the path to good health, never give up. Even if you don’t hit that target weight or lift a new personal best, use that failure to shape your new approach.
And most importantly, never forget why and where you started. Your beginning reminds you of your inspiration and that’s why I still have those dumbbells 28 years later…