Fuji Xerox Australia Sponsorships

Hello to you all

This month has been pretty much full on for me.

I had only been back from Canada a couple of weeks and Mum told me not to be busy on the next weekend because we were going into the city to an Awards Dinner. It was the Qld Young Achiever Awards and I won the Queensland Young Achiever Sports Award. It was a big surprise because I didn‘t know my Mum had nominated me. She did it while I was away overseas. It was a great night and the measure of talent and initiative in the young people there was amazing. I was very proud to have won that award.

Then, the next weekend I was the guest speaker at the Redcliffe Sportsman‘s dinner. It‘s always pretty scary when I have to get up and speak but the Emcee – Rupert McCall – was fabulous, and it wasn‘t that bad after all.

The next thing on my agenda (& the next weekend) was a radio interview with a Sunshine Coast radio station, then an autograph session at Chandler Aquatic Centre. I left straight from there and drove down to the Gold Coast where I was on a distance training camp all the next week. So much hard work! I don‘t normally do distance work so it was all a new experience for me.

The VIII National Special Olympics were on from the 4 – 6 October and being the Ambassador for the Down Syndrome Swimming Team I went to Chandler on a couple of the days and met with everyone, signed autographs and handed out medals.

Three years ago, when I was 16, I made the Team to represent Australia at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival. I had the best time at the Youth Olympics and did very well, winning 4 Gold medals and 1 Silver medal and it was at this meet that I became only the 3rd Australian woman ever to go under the minute for 100m butterfly. Susie O‘Neill and Petria Thomas were the first two. Anyway, the 2007 Youth Olympic Festival Committee was doing a media launch to mark “100 days to go” and because I had worked my way up through the Youth Olympics, then on to Athens Olympics, World Champs Montreal, Commonwealth Games Melbourne and finally onto my World Record at the Pan Pacific Championships in Canada, they asked if I could be the face‘ of the promotion for the 2007 Youth Olympics. That was so exciting! I went to Sydney for the launch and they really looked after me well. I met John Konrads when I was training (I had to keep up the training) and I had a great time.

Another surprise for me was that I won “The Spirit of Sport Scholarship” from the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. As luck would have it, the Presentation Award Dinner for that was the next night after the Youth Olympic launch but it was in Melbourne.

So I hopped on a plane in Sydney and flew down to Melbourne and attended the black tie dinner at the Crown Palladium. It was a huge affair. John Bertrand is the General Manager of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and he was on stage a lot. The Emcee was very good and there were heaps of sporting heroes there. I have never seen so many famous people in one room at one time in my life. It was a great evening. When I received my Award, I also was appointed a “Mentor” and a “Hero” from the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and – I was so excited when they announced my mentor is Susie O‘Neill and my hero is John Konrads.

I had met John the day before in Sydney so it was great to see him again in Melbourne and to meet Susie was absolutely awesome for me. We all chatted throughout the evening, then had breakfast together the next morning, then I even flew home on the plane to Brisbane with Susie on the Wednesday, so we just talked and talked – she is so friendly. I am so happy to be part of such a great experience.

Back home – I had another couple of School Assemblies and Sports Presentations to go to, a Swim for Cancer fund raiser to attend and also a couple of Swimming Club appearances to attend. These, along with the Telstra Australian Championships launch in the City last week have kept me very busy. It‘s so hard trying to fit in training, my job, sponsorship commitments and volunteer work, but I try my best.

That will do for now, I‘m sure I‘ll have more to report next month

Thanks for everything

Bye for now

Jess :)