As the saying goes. “The battle isn’t over until the war has been won”

Today we were reminded that challenges are a reality. No matter how good one could be, how prepared you think you might be or how positive you might be, life throws you ‘Lemon’s’.

Today, I would like to remind you of what it feels like to compete at the highest level of competition; the Olympic Games or equally the Paralympic Games, or for any other sport the equivalent highest level of participation. (For this particular post let’s take the example of Olympic/Paralympic Games and swimming).

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A swimmer is to report to the call up room 30 minutes before their event. Should you be there 1 minute later, you are disqualified. There can be up to 4 heats in the call up room at the same time, crowded, tension and nerves running high. All athletes deal with this in a different way. Some use music to drown out the chatter or the noise, some speak nervously, some use stretching to calm the nerves and zone in to race mode. Others, try and psyche out competitors and some just purely get on and do as they would do at home – just be themselves. The important thing to note is that these 30 minutes can make or break you and your performance.

For myself in particular, it was important to be the latter, it was important to not take note of those that were trying to psyche me out or be thrown off balance (excuse the pun) by those that were stretching or listening to music.

My last moments before walking out to stand behind my block In front of a crowd; of which I could never estimate the size of; were spent messaging those that were important to me. The last words of encouragement, reminders of weak points to focus on were the zone in moments.

Standing behind the block is nerve racking. All the training and all the hard work, the people that believe in me, the time spent training, the money spent getting me to where I am at this present moment all weigh heavily on my mind. The whistle blows and I find myself on top of this particular block, lane 4, the lane that is expected to win the race, ready to swim the race of my life. I look down at my knee as the starter says take your marks. The artistic flowers drawn in pen or the sometimes strange looking faces, remind me and make me focus on my weak points - these I must remember to use, especially when I get tired. It was easier to not use the one that I have, as the one that I do not have has thrown me off balance. I have had to train a little harder than everyone else, just to be able to compete at the same level. But in this moment, this is not what I must focus on. Remember to focus on what is important – I keep telling myself!

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I will focus on the one thing I am meant to. I will believe that I have trained the hardest I possibly could. I will believe that I have done everything in my power to be at the top of my game. I will leave every bit of energy in the swimming pool, in lane 4 to be precise. I will touch the finish time board with the feeling, the knowledge and the gut feel that I could not have given any more of myself. I will prove all the nay sayers wrong. I will make all those that have rooted for me proud to know me. I will be my best that I can be.

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Today, we will be reminded that anything is possible because possibility is hope and hope together with hard work, belief, tenacity and team work, will create the outcome we dream of