Sport Committee

How to stay positive without testing positive

COVID-19 lockdowns and heavy restrictions over the last two weeks have had a huge impact on everyone’s sporting life within the College and around the community. Restrictions on gatherings and team activities has meant everyone has had to find different ways of staying active physically and mentally. Often this is negative, but it can also have positive outcomes. I was fortunate enough to speak with one of my Year 9 peers, Mia Newbold, who is heavily involved in school and club sports. Mia plays both representative and club hockey, as well as athletics and term sports for Mt A. 

I started off by asking Mia the question "How has lockdown affected the sports you do?" She explained that most of her sports were team-based which meant she wasn’t able to train or play as a team due to the restrictions. However, luckily for Mia, she was fortunate enough to have a tight hockey community who did virtual training sessions and workouts together and set time aside to stay fit by going for a run or walk.

When asked how lockdown impacted her goal setting and downtime, Mia told me how before going into lockdown she didn’t have any extra time to sit back and relax or set any personal goals as she was always busy playing her usual sports. When Mia was made to slow down she took the time to set goals and ways to achieve them. "COVID-19 gave me the opportunity to rehabilitate sore limbs and stretch more often", Mia said. Mia realised how important it is to take time to herself and take a breather from sport; she even had time to pick up a new knitting hobby. 

Mia is committed to continuing to find ways to embrace her downtime in a way to help heal her body while also trying to keep up with knitting or hobbies that aren’t sport-related.

We can all take a negative and turn it into a positive by finding new ways to challenge ourselves physically and mentally while also leaving time to heal, rehabilitate and using spare time to rest.