What does it take to be on Team GB?
Picture this, you are stood on a runway wearing an England vest as you have been selected to compete for your country, surrounded by family, friends, teammates and competitors waiting for you to jump. You have one attempt left and you are currently in second place. The one-minute timer is counting down right in-front of your eyes, but you have to remain patient and wait for the wind to calm down. You take a deep breath and raise your hands above your head to start clapping. The whole crowd gets involved. You start running and the claps get faster and faster to match your pace, until you are in a full sprint. You suddenly reach the board and take off, flying the same length as 2.5 average sized males lay head to toe. However, you haven’t finished there. You land on one foot, exerting a force 22x your own body weight, to take flight and land on one foot again, then you finally sail into the air one last time, landing in the sand perfectly so you don’t lose any distance. You get out the sand and see the white flag emerge, notifying you it was a legal jump. You wait patiently for the distance, with your parents stood either side, and when you finally hear the distance, you jump into the air, knowing you have taken the lead and just won gold for your country. This was what I experienced 3 months after turning 15, and this was the moment I knew I wanted to pursue athletics!
Yipiyap’s Own Team GB Triple Jumper
Hi, my name is Melissa, I am a triple jumper and I’m here to tell you all about how my passion for athletics has completely changed my life, constantly building my character as well as giving me utterly unique experiences. I’m also going to explain how the unwavering support from Yipiyap has enabled me to continue my sporting journey and how I can transfer what I have learnt to help best support my students. And lastly, I am going to talk you through not only the highs but also the lows of the sport and the characteristics I have developed because of these moments and how they can be incorporated into your own lives.
1: Resilience
It all started as an extremely shy eight-year-old, and with no idea what to expect I turned up to my local running club with a pair of crocks instead of trainers, oops! (Yes, I was wearing crocks long before they became fashionable). Nevertheless, I fell in love with the community spirit and continued to show up every Tuesday and Sunday. I will have to admit though, getting up at 8am on a Sunday to run around muddy fields in the middle of winter was not the most appealing to little me, and therefore without the continued support and encouragement of my parents I would not be where I am today, showing me the importance of resilience and showing up no matter what!
Fast-forward eleven years and these ethics have stuck with me, and now I show up to training 6 times a week, sometimes twice a day. However, training at such high intensity and volume is very mentally and physically draining as well as exceptionally time consuming. Yet, working at Yipiyap has provided me with such an amazing opportunity, allowing me to balance all of this as well as earning money to fund my athletics.
And here’s how: a typical Tuesday for me consists of me waking up at 6am to go to the gym for a quick one-hour weights session. I would then shower and get dressed ready to log onto teams for 9.30, where I would get to spend time tutoring my students as well as prepping resources for upcoming lessons. Through out my working day at Yipiyap I am given plenty of breaks giving me time to properly fuel my body and stretch, so that I am ready for my second training session of the day. As soon I finish tutoring my last student at 5pm, I head straight down to the track where I meet my coach and training group to practise some jumps.
2: Perseverance and self-belief
Not only has working for Yipiyap allowed me to balance everything, but they have also been extremely accommodating with me. They were more than happy to allow me to take time off work over April, in exchange for making these hours up over the May half term, to attend a training camp in Portugal.
I flew out to Portugal with a group of 10 other athletes, for 10 days to train at high intensity in the heat. As much as I thoroughly enjoyed the trip, making some unforgettable memories, this was not your typical holiday to Portugal. Most days we would start training at 9am and not leave the track until 3/4pm (obviously with some rests in between), requiring a lot of perseverance to endure such a long day of pushing your body to its limits, in heats of up to 28°. It also required enormous amounts of self-belief to complete some of the sessions, for example; by the end of the camp I was able to quarter squat the weight of approximately two baby elephants! I must admit, I shocked myself but I also believed that all of my efforts throughout the training camp had paid off and believed that my body was capable of such things.
“These qualities of perseverance and self-belief are qualities that I try and pass onto my learners.”
These qualities of perseverance and self-belief are qualities that I try and pass onto my learners. I constantly remind them that although the road to their exams can seem very long and overwhelming, by turning up to the sessions and believing in their efforts that they put in now, they will be in a much better position to reap the rewards later. I feel very privileged to be placed in a position where I have learnt these skills for myself and am able to pass them on and inspire my students, making them more prepared for their exams and their life after education. However, as you may already know, the road to success is never how you expect it. There will be so many times where you feel like giving up, but those are the times when it’s most important to dig deep.
3: Patience
This past year I have been unfortunate in picking up some injuries. Late November last year I tore my meniscus putting me out of my regular training. I was stuck completing the same rehab exercises for two months straight, which got immensely mundane and repetitive. Yet I persevered because I knew how important it was for my recovery, and it’s like that with most things in life. The things we don’t want to do are the things we need to do in order to become stronger. It also required a lot of patience as, going back into training too early could risk making the injury worse. Not only this but it disrupted my entire indoor season giving me little preparation time and not many opportunities to compete. However, I came back out of the injury with my body stronger than ever, and just as I thought I had endured my fair share of bad luck for the season, I ended up tearing my hamstring just as I was about to open my outdoor season. So, I am currently going through the rehabilitation process all over again. Luckily this time the injury is not as severe so I should be back ready to compete soon, however the moral of the story is that unpredictable events are going to take place on whatever route you choose to take in life, testing your character, but the ability to be patient and persevere means you will bounce back stronger than ever.
“The moral of the story is that unpredictable events are going to take place on whatever route you choose to take in life, testing your character, but the ability to be patient and persevere means you will bounce back stronger than ever.”
This is something I try and teach my students, as a lot of them are resit students, but despite not passing their exams the first time around or even the second, even though this isn’t the path they expected to take, I have a strong belief in them that with the right mindset there is nothing that they can’t achieve, they just have to keep showing up.
4: Self-motivation
Another unpredicted obstacle that we all faced was Covid. Over this period, having athletics taught me about the ability to always find a solution, a quality that I tap into when tutoring my students. During the first lockdown when gyms shut and tracks closed, I had no equipment at home, however I didn’t let that stop me. My dad and I created a makeshift barbell from a broomstick pole, some duck tape and some old weights, using two wheelie bins as a weights rack, and I used these limited resources to train everyday religiously. This ability to create a solution to a problem rather than be defeated at the first hurdle has transitioned into my tutoring; when students struggle with a concept or question that I have just shown them, I am determined to find a different way of explaining the problem, using diagrams and breaking it up into smaller steps, as many times as it takes until my student understands.
During the second and third lockdowns, self-motivation came heavily into play. In the height of winter, with still limited access to the track but also a gruelling training programme to complete, I found a stretch of pavement, under a tunnel sheltered from the elements, which I used to sprint along. Now usually, during these hard winter sprint sessions I would be running side by side with my teammates and my coach there to support me. However, instead I was running by myself, having to motivate myself to hit the target times and be strict with the recovery period, all whilst feeling like I was going to throw up (and sometimes I did)!
“ And my ‘why’ was that I wanted to be the best. ”
5: Vision
The discipline and self-motivation I had to endure definitely tested my character, but a lot of people asked me how. How did I convince myself to push my body so far that it became unbearably uncomfortable? And my answer is, you have to remind yourself of the ‘why’. Why did I start this journey, and ultimately what is the bigger picture/end goal? And my ‘why’ was that I wanted to be the best. The best triple jumper and the best version of myself. I could go away from every training session, knowing I had given everything, so when I step on that runway, I know there isn’t more I could have done. I applied this theology when I was completing my own A-levels, and it really paid off. So now I try and express this to my students, that when they are struggling, reminding them of the bigger picture helps them refocus. But also reassuring them by emphasising the fact that by turning up to these tutoring sessions and giving all of their effort throughout them, means that they should be proud of their outcome, regardless of the result.
6: Joy
Coming out of this lockdown, I was stronger than ever before, my second competition into the season, I jumped a lifetime best and was selected to compete a month later for team GB, in the junior team. Competing against all senior women I earned the silver medal, only a month after turning 17. Putting on my GB kit for the first time, is a moment I will never forget. The pride of getting to represent your country is an unmatched feeling, and I was lucky enough to get selected again later on in the year. Since this I have also been invited to compete at four senior British Championships, where the best in Britain battle it out for the top spot and I made the final each time, despite being one of the youngest athletes there. The events are often televised on the BBC and the support from the crowd before each jump creates such a surreal atmosphere, making me so grateful that my athletics has given me the opportunity to experience something so unique as this. However, as fun as it all seems, there is a lot of pressure that comes with it too. Before I started triple jumping, I was a long jumper, however my intrigue got the better of me so one day I decided to try the triple jump for a bit of fun. With no training whatsoever, I leaped a jump that ranked me 4th in the country for my age group, and so naturally I tried pursuing this route. At first, I felt unstoppable, my natural ability combined with my hard-working mindset led to me breaking records and beating people that I probably shouldn’t have for my age, and it was all a lot of fun.
“So, this is a reminder to anyone reading that no matter how desirable someone’s life looks from the outside, many people are often struggling with an internal battle that is not always shown”
However, I soon started to feel the pressure of winning. I felt that going into competitions I was expected to perform well and at points I let this get the better of me. My fear of failure lead to me enjoying competitions less and less, as it became something that I felt I had to do rather than wanted to do. I let the psychological side get to me rather than remembering why I love the sport. My coach once told me it’s 99% a mental battle. When you are competing against other very talented athletes, what gives you the edge is the ability to control your mental state.
By being present in the moment of your jump and focusing on only yourself you have the ability to regain control. This mindset tool is something I try to bring into my tutoring sessions. I portray to my students as hard as it may be, by not focusing on how other people are performing and focusing on the process rather than the outcome you put yourself in a much better mental position going into exams as it can stop you becoming too overwhelmed by it all. Although I still struggle with the pressure of competitions, it’s something I am continually working on and I am finding my love for competing again, reminding myself why I started. So, this is a reminder to anyone reading that no matter how desirable someone’s life looks from the outside, many people are often struggling with an internal battle that is not always shown.
I wanted to share this with you to show you why it’s so important to not compare yourself to other people and their achievements, as everyone is on their own path and by focusing on yourself you are able to help become the best version of yourself.
Where now?
Following on from the theme of learning to enjoy competitions again, I’ve just flown to Slovakia to compete at the JBL Jump Fest. I competed in the centre of Košice on a track built in the street in front of the cathedral. Locals are invited to fill the streets and support the athletes who are flying in from across the globe. I had been so genuinely excited for this event, as competing abroad has been something that I’d always wanted to do. The event is renowned for its exceptional atmosphere with athletes getting to choose a song before they jump to hype themselves up!
But most importantly I would like to emphasise how extremely accommodating Yipiyap have been, in making this possible. Without their support I would not be able to take time off work to fly out to this competition, and for that I am ever so grateful for them. Thank you Yipiyap for allowing me to maximise my potential throughout my gap year, helping me grow not only as an athlete but as a person as well!