Latest / Between The Rounds Official / Inside Camp | The Matador - My Final Week in Team Ireland HP
Transcript
- Sarah: Week 10, Inside Camp the matador. It's week 10, I came back from Poland with a list of things I wanted to sharpen for my final week. Being more of the matador while disguising my attacks, being more intentional with my shot selection, classic Cunningham moment played out. I tripped in the ring during school of boxing. sprained my ankle. Now at that point I could have called it a day and wrapped up camp but we didn't. We adapted, we tailored the pad sessions and the bag work, maybe stretched the rules a little bit from what the physio approved but the coaches were brilliant. Both Lynne and Jay had me working through it, keeping me thinking, getting myself in range to be effective, closing the distance, edging forward while keeping my shape. Thinking about my defence, staying switched on, because something is always coming back. Now the learnings from the international tournament will have to wait. Those improvements won't happen overnight. They're going to take time and reps and a lot of patience. And that might be the biggest thing this 10 weeks has taught me, to stop rushing the process. Now this was the first week everyone was back. The team had returned from Brazil, we were back from Poland, and the Ulster squad came down to high performance. It was a full room, but it was a lighter session for those of us who returned from Poland, because the coaches recognized our bodies were probably a little bit battered from competition. Now we were all game to keep training hard, but they made the call. to pull back and protect us and tailor the week slightly. Now this entire experience has felt like my very own Olympic camp. Michaela Walsh was my opponent at the elite national finals in January. Five months ago, she was the person across from me in the ring at the national stadium. And this week, she gifted me something from her very own Olympic cycle. I nearly burst into tears. Total appreciation for where I was. And while people kept telling me I earned my place on merit, I believed them mostly. but I'd still catch myself in a pinch me moment thinking, is this really my life right now? I was trying to cherish every second of it. I was also so grateful we got to share some rounds of sparring together earlier this week. And just when you think, ⁓ I'm making some decent adjustments here, You're quickly reminded the quality of the levels that exist in this sport. Now we all got to work on multiple styles and attacks. The coaching feedback was on point. Be intentional with your lead hand when fainting. Keep moving your head, Especially with someone like Michaela, because she times her attacks to perfection. And the one that stuck, when you're teasing, teasing, teasing, just watch yourself. The moment you draw your hand in, you're telling them the attack is coming. And I was pretty much telegraphing my shots. Week 10 and I'm still getting corrected. And that's a good thing. It means there's still more to build. I came here to level up in boxing, but I'm leaving with so much more. Real sisters for life. Now there's another camp in August, a domestic international. And if I can gather up enough funds to make it work and sort care for my dog, I'll be there in a heartbeat. That's the honest answer. Not a dramatic declaration, just I want to be in high performance environment again and I'll figure out how to get there. I'm still learning clever tactics and defence movements I didn't have 10 weeks ago. And that tells me this programme isn't finished with me and I'm not finished with it. I'm Sarah Cunningham and I wanna thank you all for joining me on season one of Inside Camp. I'll see you all on Between the Rounds.