Olympic pole vaulter Eliza McCartney has returned to her old school to open a new gym named in her honour, telling students to follow what brings them joy.
McCartney, who won Olympic bronze only a couple of years after leaving Takapuna Grammar School, cut the ribbon on the gym and spoke to students about following their passions.
Speaking to students, she said they didn’t need to have their futures mapped out.
"What you're doing now doesn't need to dictate what you are going to do for the rest of your life. What you can do is you can follow what brings you joy, you can follow what is fun," she said.
The bronze-medallist tells students they don't need to have their futures mapped out and to follow "what brings you joy". (Source: Seven Sharp)
"If you enjoy something and if it's fun you are more likely to stick with it through the challenging periods, because there will almost always be challenging periods."
At school, she said, she pole vaulted simply because it was fun.
"There was no other reason why. It was because it was fun, I enjoyed it, I was good at it and I didn't put any other, I suppose, pressure or expectations on what it could lead to."
That changed in her final year, when she won bronze at the World Junior Championships.
"It really just shot my profile up quite quickly, and that actually did bring pressure, and it actually led to me not doing particularly well," she said.
"That's why I do really believe that, particularly as kids, you just need to enjoy what you're doing, not feel so much stress and pressure, particularly around something like sport."
McCartney said she had planned to become a doctor and focused her study on science and maths.
"I loved it, that's absolutely what I wanted to do, and I would have gone ahead and tried to do that, absolutely, if pole vault hadn't started to take off."
Inspiring the next generation
Year 12 student Jess Lathwood and Year 10 student Kate O'Connell both took up pole vaulting after starting at the school.
"She's so inspiring. Sometimes she's training alongside us at pole vault, which makes the vision feel achievable. It makes it feel possible," O'Connell] said.
"She's so lovely. She's always smiling, always chatty. She'll always come up to us if she sees us," Lathwood said.
McCartney regularly helps out at Takapuna Athletics Club's Wednesday training nights, coaching young athletes.
"Not many professional athletes do go back to the community and just be there on a regular Wednesday helping little kids," Lathwood said.
McCartney said she got as much out of it as she gave.
"It's really meaningful to me to be in the community. It's not that I'm just giving necessarily, it's almost like I'm taking as well," she said.
Lathwood and O'Connell now help coach younger children at the club themselves.
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