Local swimmers make their mark
Swimming duo and former St Mary's DSG learners, Emma Chelius and Erin Gallagher, are currently competing in the Commonwealth Games in Australia.
TWO of St Mary’s DSG’s Old Girls, Emma Chelius (2013) and Erin Gallagher (2016) jetted off to represent South Africa at the Commonwealth Games from 4 to 15 April in Australia.
“Honestly, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain just how honoured I am to represent South Africa,” said Erin.
“It’s always been something that I’ve dreamed about being able to do since I was a young girl and to see that dream turn into reality, really gives me that warm fuzzy feeling inside. I really hope I can do my country proud during the Commonwealth Games. It’s a huge honour and blessing and a culmination of years of hard work, so it is really exciting.”
Women in sport
Although they believe there is room for improvement with women in sports in general, they are both really excited at the potential and promising future for women’s swimming in the country.
“Looking at swimming in particular, the Commonwealth team is almost split 50/50 with the men and women qualifiers,” said Erin. “It’s rare to see nearly as many women qualifiers as male qualifiers, not to mention most of the girls are under the age of 20 – go gals!
Emma said, “It all starts with nurturing female athletes from school level. Women are different and subsequently have different training needs. We have a large Commonwealth Games team this year and a bigger group of girls than before.”
Training
Emma and Erin’s training preparations have certainly upped the ante in the last few months before the Games.
“I can literally feel myself falling asleep by 8.30pm because of how gruelling our training set is,” said Erin, who swims for Seagulls Swimming Club under Graham Hill and Delon Dannhauser.
“I’ve had to start being strict when it comes to my diet, but sometimes I have to listen to what my heart wants and sneak a few chocolates here and there,” she laughed.Emma said her recent focus has been on endurance and strength training. “It’s been a mental and physical learning curve and I have really learnt a lot about myself through pushing my limits in training.”
Erin added, “I have no words to describe just how accommodating and supportive St Mary’s was during my high school career. If I could, I would go back and start all over again. If it weren’t for St Mary’s DSG, I don’t think my swimming would’ve turned out the way it has.
The constant support and complete and utter willingness to allow me to travel around the world to compete, and give of their own personal time to help me catch up on the copious amounts of work that I missed, certainly didn’t go unnoticed or unappreciated.”
The swimming duo dream of representing SA at the Olympics in future and love the experience they have gained from competing internationally.
