With dreams of becoming an Olympian as well as undergoing a PhD in Geography, Sophie Rooney isn’t just your average student. As a professional canoeist here at Nottingham and set for a first class degree, we’re surprised we were lucky enough to interview Sophie with her busy routine! Thankfully HC got the chance to ask Sophie about her amazing successes, what it takes to stay on top, and how sporting has given her the ‘can do’ attitude to achieve anything.
When and why did you start canoeing?
I started canoeing when I was about 11 years old. I was very sporty even at an early age and swam for my local swimming club on a regular basis. I took a liking to canoeing when on an outdoors holiday with school. I found a course in a local swimming pool and decided to give it a go – and the coaches were impressed and asked me to join the club. The club was great and I really enjoyed the challenge and I have just been canoeing ever since!
What does your training involve, and are there any sacrifices that you have had to make as a canoeist?
Training is intensive and quite time consuming. I do two sessions a day and this can include anything from paddling, running, swimming, gym or core sessions. Over the winter it tends to be more heavily gym based – which can be nice when it is freezing out on the water. Each training session lasts 1-2 hours so most days I spend about 4 hours training.
The type of training I enjoy the most is being out on the water. When you are in a group it’s a great competitive environment and when you are on your own you get to appreciate being able to train in such beautiful places.
The early training hours and intense program means that I perhaps have to sacrifice having as much of a social life as other people my age but luckily I have lovely friends who are very understanding.
What would you say your biggest achievement is so far?
My biggest achievement so far was an individual silver medal in the 200m K1 at an international regatta in Sobeka, Belgium, earlier this year. This is the event which I hope to be able to compete in at the Olympics in the future so it was a special moment for me to do so well.
Where do you aim to be in 3 years’ time?
In three years, the dream scenario would be to be recovering after the Olympic games in Brazil. However, more realistically, I would hope to have been identified as potential for the next Olympic cycle culminating in Tokyo 2020. I also hope to have some medals under my belt from major international competitions such as European and World Championships.
Outside of sport, I plan to do a PhD in Geography so I will hopefully be well underway with my research and continuing to enjoy my studies.
Do you think that sporting has helped you to rise to any other difficult challenges?
I think that being involved in sport from such an early age has made me a massively competitive individual. This means that whatever I do, I always see it as a bit of a competition and I always try to win. I think that this has probably helped me as I seem to always have an attitude of – yeah I could do that, and so perhaps don’t find challenges as daunting as perhaps some other people might. It has also given me drive and I think it has made me a more confident individual which definitely helps!