South Coast New South Wales swimmers competing in the Special Olympics are grateful to be back in the pool after a long break in training.
Special Olympics is part of a worldwide organisation for sports for people with intellectual and physical disabilities.
A combination of strict COVID restrictions and South Coast athletes unable to access facilities has meant more than three years without training.
That changed over the weekend when the newly constructed Bay Pavilions Aquatic Centre officially opened.
Moruya resident Heidi Jay, 27, is a swimmer, ten-pin bowler and basketballer who lives with a mild intellectual disability and vision impairment.
Tuesday was the first day she was able to get back into the pool to train.
For the past few years, she has been desperate to resume her training.
"I've been able to do sports, but it's more fun to do it with other people competitively and it's been so long since we've been able to compete with other people," she said.
Ms Jay has competed in numerous competitions, including at the 2013 Asia Pacific Games in Newcastle, and the National Special Olympics in Adelaide in 2018.
Back into shape
With a handful of years out of the pool, the swimmers have just under two months to prepare for their next big competition.
The squad faces a state competition in Sydney that is scheduled for the beginning of August.
Ms Jay tore her ACL before the 2018 Australian Special Olympics National Games and still managed to win a bronze medal in the 50-metre breaststroke.
"I was uncertain about how I'd go in the training, but I managed to get through the session despite the cramping," she said.
But it is not only Ms Jay who has been longing to get back into shape.
Special Olympics South Coast chair Kathy Godwin said athletes were keen to take the plunge and start improving their fitness.
"I know everyone's quite interested in getting their fitness levels back up again, because that's suffered a lot over COVID times," Ms Godwin said.
Lifetime social connections
But Ms Godwin said competing was not all about winning gold medals for these swimmers.
"They make the friendships when we travel away, they meet other people and a lot of these young people don't have the skills to get on FaceTime and whatnot, so actually seeing a person face-to-face and having the contact again, it's pretty special.
"It's been such an important part of these guys' lives."
