Irish 19-year-old Mona McSharry is already an established elite racer, but in many ways, her career is just beginning.
After making waves across the junior swimming circuit, including snagging 100m breast gold at the 2017 World Junior Championships, McSharry has transitioned nicely into the senior ranks of international swimming.
Last year McSharry claimed bronze in the 50m breaststroke at the European Short Course Championships and owns a monopoly on the Irish national records in the long course breaststroke events and all but one short course distance as well.
The Sligo native has now turned her sights onto the United States’ NCAA college racing sector, journeying to the University of Tennessee this fall to train under head coach Matt Kredich. Before she gets there, however, she is hunkering down in her home town to get as much exercising done as she can outside the pool, as her home base has yet to re-open.
McSharry said that, although she’d be able to dive back into the water now that the Dublin NTC opened as of today, June 8th, the physical benefits would not outweigh the mental hardships the new locale would bring.
“I was given the opportunity to travel and train in Dublin at the Irish National Training Center,” McSharry told RTE Radio this week. “But I’d be there alone and hours away from my family.”
As reported, Ireland’s National Performance Director for Swimming & Diving, Jon Rudd, confirmed the following to SwamSwam: “Potential identified Olympians and Paralympians from Monday, June 8th [can train] in the National Aquatic Centre in Dublin, on the Sport Ireland campus.
Weighing this option, however, McSharry explained that “the need to keep up mental strength” is a critical component of the sport of swimming and this factor impacted her decision to stay in Sligo and hope that her pool opens up soon. In the meantime, the breaststroke ace is keeping fit via cycling, running and gym training.
“Now I work a lot on visualization and having a healthy, mental well-being. I have worked on it a lot in the last year more than any other time in my career.”
You can listen to McSharry’s interview with RTE Radio here.
Bare legged Joe knows the curlew’s cry
He runs with the hares when the summer high
A tinker boy is fancy free
In the quiet greens of Sligo.
Don’t wish someday that you could go
With a bag on your back& a pace that’s slow
Leave your home in the city smoke
With the tinkers to go roving .
The Irish Rovers .
Good for her to realize that there’s more to life than just swimming. Impressive that she’s able to make such strong evaluations of herself and her well-being at such a young age as well as willing to make her own choices and not being pressured to go just because other people around the world are starting to train.
Yeah… let’s all just wait for all this to pass at our living rooms with our stretch cords.