Annalise Murphy is one of Ireland’s most inspiring sportswomen. She is paving the way for budding young sailors with her positive attitude and a strong sense of determination.
We all know how hard it can be to believe in yourself when you’re young so we asked Annaleise about who helps encourage her on the days when she feels like her dreams are out of reach.
She shared that her local community was a massive help to her: “Everyone I’d meet would always say something nice to me, congratulate me on a result or compliment my training. Being from Dublin I always feel there is such a great sense of pride from communities.”
As well as her local communities in Rathfarnham and Dun Laoghaire, Annalise said her mum is her biggest cheerleader.
“My Mum was the biggest supporter of me, she always encouraged me but also let me know that if I ever wanted to stop competing that she would support my decision. Her advice was to keep sailing until I don’t enjoy it anymore and then look to do something else.”
There’s no doubt Annalise’s mum was as proud as punch when her daughter won a silver medal at the Rio Olympics.
Looking to the future, Annalise revealed she is dreaming big: “I would love to compete at the Tokyo 2020 games and win another Olympic medal but after that I need to figure out what else I want to do in life as it’s tough on the body being a full time athlete and as I am getting older I am noticing I don’t recover as fast as I used to.”
Her body may be tired but one of the best things about sailing is the impact it has on her mental health.
Annalise said the sport really helps her mentally: “Personally I think sailing and exercise really helps with my mental health, if I don’t train for a few days I feel awful and I can’t figure out why until I get out to do some sort of exercise.”
She explained: “I love being outside, so even if I have a day off training I would still go for a hike up the mountains or bring the dogs for a walk somewhere.
"I would encourage everyone to exercise as it takes your mind away from negative thoughts and gives you an endorphin boost, it also means you sleep better and being a bit fitter means you have more energy in general," she continued.
The Olympic medal-winning hero recently took some time out from her busy training schedule recently to help announce the winners of the 2018 Dublin Bus Community Spirit Awards. 85 voluntary and community groups from across Dublin were awarded a grant of €1,000, €2,000 or €5,000, which will allow them to develop new projects, improve their locality and help raise community spirit.
Some of this year’s winning groups are Children in Hospital Ireland, which works to provide play services to children in hospital and will use their grant to work on a pilot programme for teenagers; Teen-Turn works with companies to provide role models and hands-on experience to teen girls from disadvantaged communities in order to address the tech industry’s social inclusion, gender disparity and skills shortage challenges; and Parent-Line, a support service for parents to provide a listening ear and advice, who will be using their funding to expand their volunteers team.
