Swimming maynot be everything in her life, but …
JO-MARI van Zyl can swim. She can swim exceptionally well. In fact, she is ranked first in the 18 age group for the 50m and 100m freestyle. She is also the current record holder of the 200m freestyle for girls 18 and over in Gauteng.
On top of all this Jo-mari has been part of the SA national swimming squad for the past three years. With her matric year done, she is focusing all her time on training hard for selection as part of the SA 4x200m relay team for the 2012/16 Olympics.
“I know this sounds cliched, but I wouldn’t have been able to cope without the support of my family,” said Van Zyl.
The St Mary’s student used to play hockey at school, but had to give it up because swimming and schoolwork were taking up most of her time.
“There’s a big difference between matric and Grade 11. There’s a lot more work to do,” she said. She plans to study for a bachelors degree in Financial Accounting at the University of Pretoria and hopes to one day become a financial analyst.
Asked if she had to choose between swimming and finance, she replies: “I can’t make that choice. I need something to fall back on. We’ll see where I am in five years.”
A typical day off from school saw her wake up at 8am to study, taking short breaks until 2pm. From 2pm she went to Tuks for swimming training until 7pm.
Then she was back home to eat dinner with her family and do some revision for an hour before bed.
“I haven’t had close friends, because I never have the time, so I spent most of my time with the family,” said Jo-mari.
Maths and science are firm favourites with her, because she loves knowing how things work. “I’ve always wanted to do environmental work and thought of going into biomimicry, but I can’t see myself in a lab coat,” she said.
She often goes for runs and recently changed her diet.
“I used to love Steers, but now I don’t eat fast foods and chocolate anymore. My younger sister and I made the decision to stay healthy,” said Jo-mari. Even though she has a rigid training programme ahead of her, she is going to spend the 10-day break she gets in Thailand with her family. “I might just go swimming with the fishes,” she said. Jo-mari passed with eight distinctions.