A swimmer from Riverview was supposed to attend Olympic trials at the end of the month with the hopes of competing in Tokyo at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
COVID-19 has dashed those dreams for now.
With all facilities closed due to the pandemic, Brooklyn Douthwright is without a pool to train in right now.
She has to do her training on land at this point.
“I’m trying to balance what I am doing, so that by the time I get back into training mode in the pool, I won’t have to take a couple of months to get back into it and get back where I was physically,” Douthwright says.
She says all athletes, not just swimmers, are in the same situation.
“I imagine with every sport, especially with the social distancing, we are all impacted by it. We can’t train with our teams anymore. You need a team environment to push you everyday in practice, so everybody is really being affected by it,” she says.
Douthwright is still doing a lot of dryland training. Danielle Dorris, a Paralympic swimmer who trains out of CNBO in Moncton, has also provided an opportunity for Douthwright to train in her outdoor swim spa.
She says you can’t let this get you down, you just have to keep on training, “No matter what level you’re at, everyone is working so hard everyday for their next big meet, and trying to get their best times. Keep doing whatever you can out of the pool, stay fit and keep eating healthy. Try to stay on a decent schedule and stay motivated. Hopefully we can get back in the pool soon.”
Douthwright is a member of the Codiac Vikings Aquatic Club. She says she has never faced a challenge like this before, “Nothing where I have had to be out of the water for a month or more in a peak performance time.”
She says it’s almost worse than an injury, “If you injure your shoulder for instance, you can still be in the water and modify your movements. But in this situation, there are no pools in the region that are open to swim in.”
New Brunswick is currently under a State of Emergency due to COVID-19 and there’s no word at this point when facilities will reopen.