Multiple Olympic gold medallist Ariarne Titmus produced wisdom beyond her 21 years at The Examiner's Junior Sport Awards on Wednesday night.
Speaking via a link from Brisbane in a 40-minute interview with The Examiner's sports editor Rob Shaw, Titmus summed things up with some advice to Northern Tasmania's budding athletes.
"As an athlete, there's always going to be a lot of people that think they know best and think they know what's best for you and some of your friends that want to steer you in different directions," she said.
"But if you have a goal in your head, you've got to chase after it and do what is best for you, so that's what I did.
"I came to training every day and regardless of what my friends were doing, I knew what was best for me and that was put my head down, butt up and I've continued to do that for my career.
I wasn't the most talented swimmer, I was always told that I never had that natural ability that others had, but I definitely worked very hard for what I've achieved.
In an interview that covered everything from Titmus' 2014 Junior Sports Award victory to her first meeting with coach Dean Boxall, in which she described him as "a nutcase", the Launceston-born swimmer had the crowd's attention.
While her move from Launceston to Queensland is well documented, Titmus gave the audience a major insight into her initial reluctance and hesitation before making the leap.
"We moved in June of 2015 and I remember two years before I was a 12-year-old really loving my swimming and even the thought of moving to Hobart, I hated," she said.
"I loved my school, I loved my friends, I felt very settled, we had a great property, I loved living in Launceston and I knew no different, I never really had to make a friend in my life [as] I'd gone through primary school and then into St Pat's with all my mates from primary school and I felt very settled.
"So at that point, moving wasn't really on the cards, but it wasn't until it was coming closer to when we did move ... I was just noticing at training that I'd had enough of being the only one really doing all of the sessions and the only one actually striving to achieve my goals.
"I felt like it was very social and I was on a different wavelength and it kind of felt like I was on my own a bit."
It wasn't until former Launceston Aquatic Club head coach Peter Gartrell moved back to Queensland that Titmus had a major reason to pack up shop, despite not having a place to live yet.
"I only told my school two weeks before I left, I told my friends a week before - everything was very rushed," she said.
"We had to come as quick as we could because my coach left me in April, so from April to June, he was texting me my sessions every day and I wasn't training with LAC [so I was] swimming in a public lane, trying to do sessions that he was sending me."
Josh Partridge
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
As a sports-mad fan who loves to remain challenged, sports journalism always seemed the path for me and it's allowed me to do things I never thought possible. A keen racquet sports player, I'm experienced in that field, allowing me to do my job at a strong standard.
