Many Swim Ireland high-performance athletes have today returned to the water at the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin but Mona McSharry is not among them with the European short-course bronze medallist choosing to instead stay with family in Sligo.
It was announced on Friday that swimmers who had been identified as potential Tokyo 2020 Olympians and Paralympians would be able to resume water-based training at the Sport Ireland campus in the capital of the Republic of Ireland.
This meant a return for the likes of Shane Ryan, 2018 European 50m back bronze medallist, and triple national record holders Brendan Hyland and Darragh Greene.
Photo Courtesy: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE
Breaststroke specialist McSharry was one of those given the option of returning to the pool but the 19-year-old instead chose to remain with family in County Sligo, north-west Ireland, where she grew up by the sea in Grange with brother Mauric and parents Aiden and Viola.
In an interview with RTE 2FM, McSharry said:
“I was given the offer but because I live in Sligo I made the decision to hold off because I didn’t feel like travelling to Dublin and staying there full-time was a good decision for me because I pretty much would have been alone.
“So I decided to just to wait and hopefully my pool here will be able to offer me something soon enough.
“I did weigh it up. The idea of getting back in the water sounds amazing but I didn’t want to be doing four hours of training a day and then what am I doing for the rest of the time I’m there.
“I just thought for me personally I have to keep my mental strength strong as well and kind of isolating myself three hours away from my family didn’t sound like the right idea for me. I am just going to keep working away here and like I said hopefully the pool will open eventually.”
Photo Courtesy: Mona McSharry
McSharry, who won her first senior international medal when she took 50m breaststroke bronze at the European short-course meet in Glasgow in December, is keeping fit through sea swimming, cycling, running and some gym.
Neither is she too concerned about losing ground of her fellow competitors who have been back in the water longer than she.
On the horizon is the next stage in her life as she prepares to leave Ireland for the United States and the University of Tennessee.
McSharry, who was both world and European junior 100 breast champion in 2017, is set to take flight in July and she said:
“It’s all kind of going ahead at the moment.
“I think we’re kind of all waiting to hear what the college is going to do to be honest.
“I’ve been chatting with coaches over there and my team and at the moment the plan is to just go ahead as if I am going over there so that is what I am planning.
“I think I will be going over probably at the end of July. It will definitely be a different year than other freshman have experienced but I should be over there for the year so that will be really nice because I hate to think I would have to put it on hold for another year.”
McSharry spoke to Swimming World at the McCullagh International Meet in Bangor, Northern Ireland, in February with lockdown a little more than a month away.
There she spoke about the importance of being a role model – and little did she realise how pertinent her words were at that time – the transition from junior to senior and leading a new generation.