SCOUT COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHT - Meet April

Meet April! You might recognize her as she is one of our Reformer instructor here at Scout. And we love that many of our instructors not only thrive at teaching pilates or yoga, but also have inspiring passions and personal projects on the side of teaching. April is one of them, as she loves to swim and recently won two medals at the Australian Winter Swimming Championship 2022. Keep reading to learn more about her swimming story…

Hi April, can you share a little bit of your background and what brought you to this passion for swimming?

I always trained swimming in high school and was a lifesaver. Moving to Sydney I hear about Clovelly Eskimos which is a perfect combination of them both. The club meets in the winter on Sunday morning and race in the ocean. After your races we meet in the surf club and have homemade soup and a beer. It’s competitive in the water but as soon as your race is done you can have a laugh and a drink with the people you competed against. The welcoming community and like minded people reminded me of Queensland and I’ve been addicted since.

Can you tell us more about what category you just won?

In Australian Winter Swimming Championship 2022 I brought home two medals. I won a gold in ‘Womens over 25years 50m freestyle’ and a Silver medal in ‘Womens Opens Freestyle Relay.’

What does a typical training day with Clovelly Eskimos look like?

The Clovelly Eskimos meet every Sunday and we race in the open water (ocean) every morning throughout the winter season (May-September).

What qualities are required when preparing for such a competition?

The Australian Winter Championships are held yearly. Winter clubs over Australia are invited to compete and your race time in your club qualifies for your race. But everyone and anyone can join the club and swim in the winter season

What was the biggest challenge you had to face?

The biggest challenge for me on the Sunday morning training in all different weather conditions. Swimming in the open water does make this challenging at times and not to mention the freezing water. That’s all if you haven’t had a few wines the night before…oops.

What goal do you hope to achieve next year / next season (or any exciting other things if not swimming-related)?

Next year I would like to just beat my personal best time a medal is just a bonus. Next year as always I would like to build myself in the pilates world and work on Alignwithapril.

What advice would you like to give to someone who wants to start competing in any sport but hasn’t dared to take the next step yet?

My advice is: The only regret you have is not doing something. I’ve used that advice in swimming and first starting studying being a pilates teacher and have never looked back.

When you’re not swimming or on a Reformer bed, what are you up to / how do you like to spend your free time?

Even though I loveeee pilates and swimming if I’m not doing these things I’m generally lying on the beach or camping with friends. Not to mention eating good food and drinking wine.