Just as I was getting back from Nationals the term Covid 19 or Corona virus entered our vocabulary. Usually as I work at home I have international news playing in the background. I think it is an attempt to stay in touch with life outside the four walls of my flat but I think it is also because I wanted to be part of that world as a journalist for a few years of my life. At the time I heard the term ‘Corona virus’ it was still in China and the East. As it spread further and further the World held its breath. I returned to gym and training hoping against hope that the experts could get a handle on the virus so that we could continue life as we then knew it. I was still waiting for the team to be announced and I was hoping that the fact that I had a mechanical issue and not a performance issue meant that they would still select me.
Because I had not been home for December holidays, in fact I hadn’t seen my family since my annual holiday in October, I decided to go home for a few days at the end of February. I thought this would be the perfect time to go and see my family before my training really gets serious for the international season. I would return to Stellenbosch by mid-March and hopefully we would leave for Italy by mid-May. I did return to Stellenbosch at a time when the first cases of the virus were just surfacing in SA. By the time the SA team was announced, and yes I had made the team again, there was no reason to celebrate. Italy was in the woes of a growing worldwide pandemic and the chances that we could travel there, or anywhere, was dim and growing dimmer by the day. I, being an optimist, wanted to believe that there was a way especially since this was the first year that I was going to be receiving funding from SASCOC. I had made the long list for the Paralympics, even when people had said that I had no chance. Surely things couldn’t fall apart now?
I actually started limiting my contact with the world outside my house a week before the first Presidential address. I have always been more susceptible to getting sick faster and more severely than most. So when there is a virus or a bug going round I always have to be more careful. My awareness of this has also increased as my sport has become more important. My body is what I use to perform so I have to be aware of things that can have an impact on my body. A week of being sick with the normal flu can put my training back three weeks or more. That first week or so it was really difficult to choose what to do and what not. I love going to gym. It not only helps me with my training but is also a social outing and gets me out of the house. But sadly that was the first thing that disappeared from my calendar. Instead I bought two dumbbells and decided to train as well as I could at home. But soon that would change.
On the 23rd March our President announced that we would start a 21 day lockdown, one of the strictest in the world, on the 26th. My family had agreed that if a lockdown happened I would return home to them because apart from being very lonely, there was no way that I could cope without my domestic worker and friends coming by to help me with food preparation and other domestic chores. After the announcement I started looking for a lift home. Due to the fact that the virus was already spreading in my province I didn’t want to use public transport and risk getting infected. I had an amazing response from my friends and their friends that by the next morning I had a couple who didn’t even know me willing to drive me four hours just to drop me in George and then turn around and drive straight home! There was one problem………. I had two hours to get ready and packed! Thankfully a friend of mine came over to help me pack and get my flat in order so that I could be ready for my lift. Packing my stuff I wasn’t sure what to pack and there wasn’t much time to think. I just had to take and go.
The first few weeks at home was really stressful and uncertain. Not only was I sharing a small cottage with my mother (we even were sharing a double bed because there was only one bed) but at that stage none of our competitions were cancelled yet so I felt the need to stay in peak condition even though we were in lockdown and weren’t allowed to exercise outside our properties. Thankfully my mother had an exercise bike and I had packed some ankle weights and an exercise band into my luggage. In those first few weeks I was very thankful to have to exercise as it gave structure to my day and gave me purpose in a world that had just gone crazy.
As weeks went by we all realised that this virus was going to be with us for a while. I think as an athlete a big day was the day that they announced that the Olympics and Paralympics were going to be postponed for 12 months. For many athletes it was a huge disappointment. They had planned their whole lives around the Games. Those who had planned to retire in six months were now facing another eighteen months. For me it was different. I wasn’t planning to be at the Paralympics until I heard that it was a possibility late in January. Six months just didn’t seem to be enough time to make such a big adjustment to my life and to prepare. So for me when I heard that the Games were postponed there was an element of sadness but more relief and a renewed hope that now I had more time to really prepare should I be given the opportunity next year.
As soon as the Paralympics were postponed, the other competitions followed suit by either cancelling or postponing. It soon became apparent that for us as para-cyclists the international season was a non-starter. I waited for the sadness to set in but it was just never came. In fact, with the prospect of achieving a lifelong dream of taking part in the Paralympics, which just a few weeks ago was an impossibility, I expected more than just sadness but perhaps devastation. The absence of such feelings brought me to a place of introspection and a revelation that to me was more than the worth of a medal.
When I started cycling I started it for fun, to broaden my social circle, and to become more active. As I became more competitive and successful I became known as a cyclist and often conversations I had with people started and ended with cycling. One of my goals was to keep cycling as an important element of my life but it had its place in my life. I vehemently rebelled against the comment that some people made that ‘cycling was my life’. Yes, I loved cycling and I work hard to be the best cyclist I can be, but I am much more than a cyclist. I am a daughter, a sister, a friend, a Christian, a writer, a speaker, and so many other things. The fact that I could cope so easily with the cancellation of the biggest season of my life told me one thing: I had been successful in carving out a space for my sport in my life but it had not encompassed my whole life!
May that be a lesson to all of us: to keep elements of our lives in perspective and to live balanced lives.
Comentarios