Sleep, swim, school, eat, and repeat. That's the reality for young up and coming para-swimmer Gaby Smith.
At just 15, she's competing on the world stage, with the goal to be on the biggest one of all in Paris in two years.
Smith has half a palm and no fingers on her left hand.
“I was born with it, the scientific word is symbrachydactyly, it’s quite a long word,” a laughing Smith said.
“I’ve always just got used to it being there, being born with it, it’s just a part of me."
Her mum, Marcia, says the rare congenital hand condition has never got in Gaby’s way.
“Monkey bars when she was little but then she found a way,” Marcia said.
“Pretty much from three months old we took her to the local pool and she loved it from word go, it’s always been her thing.”
Fifteen years later, she holds four New Zealand records.
The 15-year-old also recently won bronze at the para world swimming series in the USA, booking her a spot at the Para World Champs in Portugal next month.
“This has 700 swimmers or something crazy like that so it’s going to be massive,” she said.
“So learning from everyone around me, what other people do and how they deal with stress and how they race is something I can learn from, maybe make a final and a medal if I’m lucky.
Wharenui swim club coach Carl Gordon says “it won’t be long before the big show starts to come along”.
“She's been working hard and now starting to get some results and world champs is pretty big but the goal is Paris and trying to do Paralympics and that sort of thing but it’s a realistic goal for her knowing the work she's doing and progress she's making.”
With up to 10 sessions a week, it's a lot for a Year 11 student to manage.
Rangi Ruru director of sport Mandy Anderson said juggling high school and elite sport is a struggle.
“Our focus is on supporting them to be the best they can be as person let alone sport its about teaching those life skills how to prioritise, how to time mange, how to have open conversations so that they don't burn out and sport is one important part of who they are but it’s not only who they are,” Anderson said.
Gaby has already faced Paralympians Dame Sophie Pascoe and Tupou Neiufi.
“I competed against both Tupou and Sophie at opens last year, definitely scary at first but they're both awesome people,” she said.
Now she wants to get to beating them.
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