Jess Teasdale - Sydney, Australia
Name: Jessica Teasdale Known as: Jess
Lives in Sydney, Australia Age 24
Occupation: Visual Communications Design Student at University of Technology Sydney to graduate at the end of 2022. Supervisor and Coach at Carlile Swimming.
Connect with Jess: IG Linkedin
Share an overview of your swimming Jess
I continue to swim at the same pool where I previously spent 14 hours a week during my competitive years, 2010 – 2016, the Ryde Aquatic Centre (Sydney, Australia).
This is mainly due to the convenience and the accessibility to use the pool after I have finished my day’s work as an Instructor and Supervisor for Carlile Swimming.
During the warmer summer months I love to swim outdoors at the Leichhardt Aquatic Centre, especially in the evening when the sun is setting over the pool. The views are spectacular, and the fresh air relaxing.
I typically aim for 3000m per session, preferably short course (25m pool). My busy schedule of study and work sometimes only affords me a single swim a week; but its an important part of my week.
The interruptions to pool access since early 2020, pools closed often for extensive periods due to the pandemic, means I am currently swimming less, 1500m per session.
I also play Touch Football in a state competition with the much-needed recovery assisted by my swimming.
Do you have a favourite sets Jess?
Recently I have enjoyed warm-up sets including a variety of skills. My go to right now is 500m SKIPS (swim, kick, IM, pull, swim)
In my competitive days, I enjoyed a love-hate relationship with multiple sets of 8x50 on 45sec. It was a set which quickly reminded me if I was catching water and swimming well, or having a shocker session.
I was always a big fan of technique and skill analysis with the video cameras and reaction time equipment.
Do you have a swimming bucket-list Jess?
I would love to complete the Cole Classic Ocean Swim, an annual event each February, at the iconic Manly Beach (Sydney). The 1000m swim is between Shelley and Manly beaches on a route which takes the swimmers through the middle of a marine reserve. Sea life is in abundance!
Open water swimming was strategically avoided in my competitive years but now I would love to try racing in an unpredictable environment, the ocean, and overcome my fear of sharks!
Tell us a little about your swim club years
From Ryde Carlile Swimming Club I have lifelong friendships. Ones I continue to hold close, even five years after my competitive training and racing days. When possible, I still swim with some of my old teammates.
Swimming legend Ian Thorpe states in the Amazon Series ‘Head Above Water’ . . . “There’s nothing better than swimming next to someone faster than you, it’s probably the best incentive. Nobody trains all by themselves with no coach, no support no nothing and then rocks up at the Olympics. It doesn’t happen like that”.
This completely encapsulates my feeling towards training with friends. I found, and continue to find, strength in numbers in the water. Turning to a friend in the next lane for motivation, or for pace, is encouraging. I am attracted to a good vibe and sense of community while swimming my sessions.
My move from swimming into playing Touch Football was good for me, the team culture and community is what I crave in my sport.
You and Swimming . . .
My parents started me and my newborn brother into lessons in 1999 at the same pool I now work, The Carlile Swimming Cross Street (Ryde, Sydney). (photo below - left - Jess in her early-year lessons and right - Jess at NSW State Championships)
I followed the program step by step until I joined the competitive squads in 2010.
As a child, my parents understandably wanted my brother and I to be safe around water. I always enjoyed my swimming which my parents recognised and encouraged me to look at the competitive side of the sport. I was late to racing, not starting until I was 12 years, but looking back, this was perfect timing for me. I was just starting my first year of high school and swimming helped me connect with likeminded friendship groups.
From those days swimming has shaped my personality. I continue to swim because it’s a part of my identity.
And the feeling of moving through the water continues to excite me.
Quoting Ian Thorpe (again), he mentions in ‘Head Above Water’ that “There is a camaraderie that exists in swimming, and you have that from when you’re quite young. The people who usually talk about swimming as an individual sport usually are the people that haven’t swum at that level. They don’t understand what you get from the people that are around you, the people that you grow up with that are a part of that support team”.
The two quotes I have shared compile the feelings I have always had towards swimming, and the importance of community in this sport.
If it wasn’t for the teammates who I often saw more than my own family or school friends, I know swimming would not have been as successful for myself, nor would I have continued competitively swimming for as long as I did.
Swimming competitively has changed my work values. Dedication, determination and never-ending improvement- they are all values I continue to hold, as I now play Touch Football, in my employment and with my friendships.
Now six years since I stopped competitively swimming, I continue to support the future generation of young swimmers through my coaching which gives me a wholesome full circle moment. Seeing these kids grow through the Carlile Swimming program and follow the same steps I did; I know they will have a fulfilling swimming career and have every opportunity to be the best they can.
Jess, where are the best places you’ve swum?
My competitive swimming carnivals were predominantly in Sydney. The majority were at the 2000 Olympic Games Aquatic Centre which was at our doorstep. There was minimal need to travel outside of Sydney to compete.
But I have also been fortunate to visit some of NSW’s most beautiful beaches with my family.
Two most memorable beaches I recommend; Merimbula beach on the south coast of NSW (5 hour drive south from Sydney) and Kingscliff Beach in the Tweed Heads Region (a 9 hour drive north of Sydney). I have distinct memories of clear blue water, white sand and skies with no clouds.
The long car drives, with my family when younger, and now solo (I recently drove to Byron Bay on my own) are just as much a part of the destination, and I am so grateful to explore the towns and cities between home and my holiday.
I often remind myself to return and visit Merimbula once more. instead of my normal habit of travelling north to the warmer climates of Australia.
When visitor comes to Sydney where would you suggest they swim?
For a pool swim, you must visit the North Sydney Olympic Pool. Situated right under the Sydney harbour bridge, the 50m 8 lane pool is a popular spot to see a unique view of the Harbour Bridge and Luna Park. (Editor: closed till 2023 for renovations)
If you’re looking for a beach, you can’t go past Freshwater beach on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. The small inlet provides a variety of waves for surfing and casual swimming, and for laps the 50m ocean pool which hugs the north end of the bay provides stunning views and clear salt water.
Tell us about one of your proudest swimming achievements / moments.
During my competitive swimming years, making selection for the 2015 Open Nationals and Age Nationals 4x100m club relay team (swimming breaststroke) was certainly the peak.
Individual swim highlights were being a NSW state finalist in both butterfly and breaststroke. The 100m and 200m distances are my speciality.
Funnily enough though, outside of competitive swimming I felt inspired to try my luck to qualify for the University Nationals Swimming in 2021. To do so meant achieving new qualifying times as my PBs of four years earlier were not eligible.
I was excited and quietly confident I could still swim under 39.00 seconds for the 50m breaststroke. Fast forward two weeks, I raced in the last heat of the 50 Breaststroke at the Unisport Nationals dropping 0.55 off my entry time,
I have always been proud of a fast reaction time on the race start. At the Unisport Nationals my reaction was recorded as 0.59 seconds. (photo below - left)
Even though I have been away from racing for five years I was incredibly proud this part of my swimming identity was still alive.
Tell us about your transition into swim teaching and coaching – why and how did you become involved?
I have an undeniable connection to the pool from my early childhood lessons. After completing high school in 2015 and whilst I was continuing to competitively swim it felt natural and seamless when applying for a swim teaching role at Carlile Swimming.
Apart from my own excitement to be involved in the teaching, coaching side of swimming, my parents were also excited for me to be working at the same pool I grew up in. With some of my swimming friends also working there, it felt the right fit. As of now, it has been a much-rewarding six years of teaching the young swimmers, from their early stages of learning through to the pre-competitive stages of their swimming journey.
What are the key stroke technique fundamentals you often reference?
When teaching, the key indicator I like to share with younger children is to keep their head down.
There are significant skills which are fixed when the young swimmer keeps their head down. This should be the first point of correction for swim teachers before trying to fix anything else.
For the older swimmers, I like to focus on the freestyle kick: to kick from their hips, and ‘keep the back of their knees up’ encouraging the small, fast acceleration from the kick action.
What are a couple of fun fact about yourself Jess
Some of the teachers and coaches of my own swimming days I now work with, and for some, I have taught their own children!
I am an un-natural leftie! One afternoon in preschool aged four I was running up a flight of stairs, tripping, landing hard and injuring my right arm.
With a cast on my dominant hand and in the prime age of learning to hold pencils I was taught to use my left hand as the alternative which I stuck with since.
They say lefties have bad handwriting, but I think mine is okay!
