Tarryn a golden girl in swimming
GRADE 10 Collegiate Girls' High School pupil Tarryn Els recently returned, medals in hand, from a top swimming competition in Zambia.
The 16-year-old, who competed in the 10th Africa Junior Championships, won gold medals for the 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly and 200m butterfly. She also won a silver medal for the 100 m freestyle, and was part of the girls' relay team which won three gold medals and broke two junior Africa records.
But she did not stop there as she was the runner-up for Victrix Ludorum in the girls' 15/16 age group.
Els and her teammates took on 16 countries from all around Africa, with the strongest competition from Egypt and Kenya.
"It was a good experience for me to travel to another country and to get exposure and swim at a higher altitude then I am used to.
" I was nervous when I left Port Elizabeth as I had to fly by myself to meet the team at OR Tambo, but once I arrived in Lusaka with the team I was quite happy," she said.
This was Els's first time on her own and also to represent South Africa.
She will be tackling the Level 3 Nationals in Cape Town in March and the Senior Nationals in Durban during April.
After matric she would like to continue swimming, with the aim of being selected for South Africa in more international competitions. "Hopefully I can obtain a sports bursary to study at a university in South Africa, maybe one that has a highperformance centre," she said.
Her coach, Mark Edge, said his wish is for Tarryn to be selected for senior teams. After a year or two, the next aim will be the Commonwealth Games.
At Tarryn's level, Edge said discipline is extremely important, especially during the exam and December period. "No December holidays for Tarryn," Edge said, as most of the national swimming events take place in February and March.
Els agreed. She said you need to be disciplined "so when that alarm clock goes off at 4.15am, you know you have to climb out of bed and go to training".
She added: "You need good time management to be able to train and still do academically well at school. Stay motivated to improve and achieve your goals".