TRAINING HARD, AIMING HIGH
Maya Dickson is a talented athlete and a rising volleyball star. Helen Harvey reports.
Maya Dickson describes herself as a ‘‘competitive soul’’. She reckons her friends would say she was hard driven, focussed.
Ever since Maya was 9 years old she has spent most of her spare time training - first for swimming and surf lifesaving, then for basketball and volleyball.
But while the sports have changed, the determination, the will to succeed and the focus are still the same.
Maya, who turned 17 last Monday, will represent New Zealand in beach volleyball at the Youth Olympics in Argentina in October.
She is training seven times a week for 90 minutes to two hours a session. And it’s the off season. By the time the World Champs in China come round in June, which she is hoping to attend, Maya will be training - playing games, gym work, fitness - about 20 hours a week.
But not during school hours. ‘‘I have to focus on the academics as well in case this doesn’t work out,’’ she jokes.
Maya, who is deputy head girl at New Plymouth Girls’ High School, is having a ‘‘full on’’ year. But so far it is all going to plan. In March Maya and her beach volleyball partner Tamara Otene, from Auckland, won the Under-19 Oceania Beach Championships in Australia.
She wasn’t nervous, she says. Just really excited to get it done.
‘‘To try my best and get out there and win it. It was awesome. ‘‘All that hard work paid off, finally. It was incredible. You watch the top sportsmen on TV getting the national anthem played for them and it just felt really cool it was happening to me. It was insane. Absolute elation and happiness.’’
Winning gold qualified them for the Youth Olympics - Maya’s goal for the last three years, she says.
‘‘I went to a high performance camp at the start of Year 11 (two years ago) and I just remember they were proposing that three years down the line there would be a spot for the Youth Olympics.
‘‘And then, just immediately, I was like that’s going to be me. I just started training really hard.’’
But she has been training really hard since she was 9 years old and started competitive swimming.
‘‘I absolutely loved it. The 200 metres freestyle and the 200 medley were my thing. I got quite a few national 200 metres freestyle and 200 medley at junior nationals.’’
When she was 9 years old she was training about six times a week, she says.
‘‘Competitive sport has been my life. Training hard has been my thing for a while now.’’
She started surf lifesaving probably round about the same time. All her friends were doing surf club, so she thought she would join in, continuing in the sport until she was 12.
But then it started to get a bit too much. Maya was head girl at Highlands Intermediate and had a lot of responsibilities, she says.
‘‘Also I started finding a love for basketball and volleyball.’’
Maya first got into volleyball a year earlier playing in a social league run by her dad Brendan.
‘‘I played basketball at the same time. I got to the point with basketball where I found I didn’t have time to train for that and I’d always prioritise volleyball over it.’’
Then she played for New Plymouth Girl’s High School and it took off from there.
Being 175cms (5ft9) helps, she says.
‘‘Especially because I’m the back quarter so being a bit taller compared to the rest helps me get to balls faster.’’
Maya has represented New Zealand in indoor volleyball - with the Under 17 team in Australia and with the Under 19 team in the United States at the Florida High Performance Championships, and at the Asian Champs in China.
‘‘It’s so cool, because I’ve been in the indoor programmes for the last three years for New Zealand and every time you get to put that New Zealand shirt on it’s awesome.’’
But now her focus and her future is with the beach version of the game, she says.
‘‘Because there are only two players on the court and you get to be fully involved in the game. I’m definitely going more the beach route, because that’s what I want to do to go to America, but I love indoor. It’s a great game.’’
Maya is hoping to go to university in California next year on a beach volleyball scholarship, to study business, she says.
‘‘I’m really into economics and accounting. I love it. Hopefully I’ll work in business management, hopefully CEO one day. That’s the big goal.’’
And the US is one of the strongest countries in beach volleyball, so having an American coach would improve her chances of one day representing New Zealand at the summer Olympics.
‘‘It’s tough in New Zealand to kick up to the next level compared to the massive countries. I think if I had a dedicated partner, I’m willing to go all the way. I’ve a long road ahead, but it’s really exciting. I’m loving it.’’
This year she has the Youth Olympics to train for, as well as finishing Year 13.
‘‘I’m deputy head girl at New Plymouth Girls’ High School so I have to balance everything with the academics as well. I mean I love being busy, which is great I need to love it I guess to be doing what I’m doing.’’
And she doesn’t resent having to train while her friends go out and have a good time, she says.
‘‘I just love hanging out with friends, breath of fresh air from all the intensity of competitive sport. I’ve got awesome friends that support me on my journey and I’m really privileged to have the people in my life who support me always and I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything.
‘‘I have this drive. I know where I want to go and I know what I need to do to get there.’’
‘‘Especially because I’m the back quarter so being a bit taller compared to the rest helps me get to balls faster.’’ Maya Dickson