‘Bit humbling going from the Olympics to being the very worst player on a team that has 14-year-old girls on it'
Water polo might not be the most common answer to the 'what-the-Olympian-did-next' trope, but for Riordan, it was the right antidote to help her immediate post-swimming life. She went to her first water polo training session at the National Aquatic Centre in Abbotstown with her new club, St Vincent's Water Polo Club, just a month after the Paris Olympics. Two weeks ago, she helped them win the Irish Senior Cup in Limerick.
'A bit humbling at the beginning going from the Olympics to being the very worst [player] on a team that has 14-year-old girls on it,' Riordan smiles. 'At the moment, I'm in the mind space of 'I want to enjoy' sports, first and foremost, to be doing it because I want to be there. The Olympics were a heavy mental and emotional toll on me. I wanted a break from that.'
Co-existing with intense change has been part of Riordan's story over the past year. After the Irish women's 4x100m freestyle relay initially missed out on qualifying for Paris by one spot, Riordan retired from the sport at age 24. The twist came when Japan withdrew from the event in June, which meant Ireland got back in through the ranking system. Riordan had to unretire herself and had just a month to prepare for her first Olympics.
The breaking of an Olympic dream and the scramble to put it back together in such a short time left rough edges.
'The few months leading up to Paris were probably the most emotionally strained I've been in my life,' Riordan said. 'I think I'd already grieved, grieved the loss. I had decided, 'OK, it's not happening for me, I'm not going to the Olympics'. And then, two weeks later, it was, 'Get back to Dublin, you might be going'. It took a big toll on the mind more than the body.
'I think I kind of had a sour taste in my mouth from swimming after, even though I had this amazing experience and I'll never forget that. I didn't even want to do the swim sessions with the water polo team. I managed to force myself to do it.'
The intensity only escalated when she got to Paris. The relay team came 16th overall in their heats on the official opening day, but then she tested positive for Covid afterwards and had to leave the village immediately. The five-ringed experience didn't hit the peak she imagined.
'You do build it up in your head a little bit and then you get there and you're like, oh my goodness the food is not nice, the hotel is not nice. I got Covid when I was over there. I was not well when I raced. I tested negative before I raced and tested positive after, so I got sent home immediately.
'You walk out and you're like, this is it, this is the moment. And then you're also like, oh this is it. Two edges of a sword, I guess.'
Her new sport brings her into contact with her old home. The first time she walked into the National Aquatic Centre to go water polo training, she felt a shudder, 'post-traumatic stress disorder from all the training' from her swimming days.
While there was an element of a team when she competed in the relays for Ireland, it's not the same as competing in an actual team like water polo (a physical sport described as a combination of swimming, basketball and wrestling).
'In Paris, we were all really good friends, we were all doing the same event, but we were also all competing to get onto the relay. You're there for each other, but you're also, 'I want to beat her'. It's a hugely different dynamic. Whereas in water polo, it's like everybody is taking a share of the pressure, it's not one person's fault, it's the team. That's something I've never experienced before and it's been so refreshing to be a part of that.
'I didn't realise how physical the sport was. People are wrestling each other in the water, but it's almost refreshing to see that in a women's sport because that's not how we're meant to behave I guess, but it is very physical, very aggressive.
'It's different, even learning tactics and stuff, I've never really done anything like that, just swim in a straight line and hope for the best.'
Post-Paris, Riordan has started working as a documentation specialist with a pharmaceutical company in Grange Castle, Dublin. She's also training for the marathon in Lisbon in October.
'Something I always knew coming out of swimming is that I can't just stop activity altogether. I think I get quite down if I do. So I picked up all these sports, I'm just trying everything out. Before I used to work my life around my sport, whereas now I'm working sport around my life. It's a different dynamic for me.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Independent
3 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Wexford's Coláiste Abbáin celebrates vibrant school spirit and diverse talents with end-of-year-awards
From first to sixth year, students were recognised for top performances across a wide range of subjects. Among the first years, Charlie Kehoe stood out with awards in History, Science, French, ICT, Visual Art, and Music, while Kelsey Furlong received accolades for English, Irish, and science. In the senior cycle, students such as Lauren Cullen and Conor Foley earned multiple academic honours, with Lauren excelling in maths, chemistry, biology, French, and Irish. The Most Improved Student awards celebrated those who demonstrated exceptional growth. Ian Murphy (1st Year), Aoife Banville (2nd Year), Mathew Mullins (3rd Year), Riain O'Shea (Transition Year), Tiernan O'Brien (5th Year), and Conor Foley (6th Year) were honoured, alongside LCA students Conor Murphy and Sean Barron. The top accolades went to the students who truly embodied excellence throughout the academic year. Emma Farioli Vecchioli was named Junior Cycle Student of the Year, while Philippa Coleman was honoured as Senior Cycle Student of the Year, recognising their exceptional academic records, leadership, and contribution to school life. This year marked a landmark for Coláiste Abbáin's sports teams. The 1st Year football team won the Leinster final, while the Senior Hurling team captured the South Leinster title. The 1st Year soccer team also made headlines, winning the league and narrowly missing out on the Leinster title after a hard-fought final. Standout athletes such as Barry Sweetman, Morgan Nash Colfer, and Ella Fitzpatrick earned Player of the Year titles in football, hurling, and camogie. Erin Walsh also shone across disciplines, receiving awards in athletics and team sports. In the arts, Lexi Rose Blanzy received the Senan Lillis Perpetual Musician of the Year award, while Philippa Coleman was named both MJ Booth Art Student of the Year and Senior Cycle Student of the Year. The school's Junk Kouture entry, Treasured Costs, was designed by Ava Kehoe and modelled by Ciara Czere, impressing judges with its creativity, sustainability, and impact. The Junior Craft Fair winners, Cian Murphy and Leon Ryan also earned recognition for their innovative Christmas wreaths. Prefects and student leaders were also acknowledged, including Head Boy, Milo Farioli Vecchioli and Head Girls, Alyssa Kelly and Lucy Wise. The coveted Ethos Award went to Faye Hynes for embodying the school's values. Ava Kehoe and Alex Sheehan received the Transition Year and LCA Spirit Awards respectively. Top honours included the Senior Sports Person of the Year awarded to Morgan Nash Colfer, and Junior Sports Persons of the Year jointly awarded to Mikaela Kavanagh and John Foley. Historian of the Year went to Eimear Doyle, while Gavin Ryan and James Delaney were named Agricultural Students of the Year. The ceremony also highlighted contributions to school life beyond academics and sport. The STAR Programme acknowledged Traveller students across year groups, and the Meitheal team for 2026 was introduced, reflecting the school's commitment to leadership, inclusion, and support. Coláiste Abbáin's Achievements Day 2025 was 'a true celebration of hard work, talent,' said Mr Dean O'Connor. 'It's our strong school spirit that makes the community proud. We'd like to congratulate all students, staff, and families involved in this year's successes,' he added.
Irish Examiner
4 hours ago
- Irish Examiner
Colman Noctor: Using a sports psychology game plan to manage exam stress
In the heat of exam season, students will grapple with anxiety, self-doubt, and the pressure to perform. The stress can closely mirror the psychological battles faced by athletes competing at the highest levels. While sports psychology is used to enhance athletic performance, it also offers a rich toolkit of mental strategies that can boost academic performance and help students cope with intense pressure. From goal setting to visualisation, from self-talk to arousal regulation, the principles that help elite athletes perform under pressure can also be effective for students preparing for state exams. The connection between sports and academic exam performance might seem tenuous. One involves physical prowess, the other intellectual rigour. However, the psychological demands are strikingly similar. Athletes and students must prepare over extended periods, perform under pressure, manage expectations, recover from setbacks, and maintain focus over time. One of the core principles in sports psychology, a discipline founded by American Coleman Griffith in the 1920s, is effective goal setting. Athletes often break down long-term aspirations, such as qualifying for the Olympics, in to a series of smaller, manageable goals. Similarly, students can benefit from setting SMART goals: Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Rather than vaguely aim to 'do well in my exams', a student might set specific targets, like completing a past exam paper in a day or mastering a topic within three days. This approach can create direction and help sustain motivation, especially when the exam date is looming and they are feeling overwhelmed. Also, ticking off these mini goals from your to-do list can boost their sense of accomplishment, a key predictor of performance under pressure. Elite athletes use visualisation, or imagery, to mentally rehearse their performance before stepping on to the field. According to Canadian performance psychologist Terry Orlick, if an athlete can visualise themselves successfully executing a particular skill, that activates similar neural pathways to the ones used during the actual performance. For example, when golfer Rory McIlroy is standing over a crucial putt, he would have been encouraged by his sports psychologist, Bob Rotella, to visualise the previous putts he had successfully executed, rather than flood his mind with the ones that he had missed. For students, visualisation can be adapted in multiple ways. One technique could involve imagining sitting calmly during the exam, confidently answering questions, and managing time effectively. Another involves mentally rehearsing the steps needed to solve a complex problem. Visualisation is believed to not only reduce anxiety, but also improve recall and problem-solving speed. One of the central concepts in sports psychology is the relationship between arousal (a physiological and psychological state of alertness) and performance. The inverted-U hypothesis, first proposed by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson in 1908, suggests that performance increases with arousal to an optimal point, after which further arousal can be detrimental. For athletes, this means finding the right level of intensity. If they are too relaxed, they risk underperforming, and if they are too tense, they could freeze or make errors. The same applies to exams. Mild anxiety can sharpen focus, but excessive stress can cloud thinking and impair memory and concentration. Students can learn to regulate their arousal levels through techniques like controlled breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and mindfulness meditation. These help to bring the body back to a state where performance is optimised. Positive affirmation Athletes often rely on self-talk to boost confidence and focus during competitions. Phrases like, 'I've trained for this' or 'I can handle this moment' can help them manage pressure and redirect negative thoughts. The same approach can apply to students who experience self-doubt. They, too, can use affirmations and constructive self-talk to build resilience. This technique can be used to counter negative inner dialogue, such as, 'I'm going to fail', which is common before exams. Replacing these thoughts with statements like, 'I'm prepared and capable' or 'I've done the work' can create a more self-supportive mental environment. This practice is not about naive optimism, but about reminding oneself of genuine preparation and real strengths. Elite athletes often use pre-performance routines to help focus and block out distractions. Like tennis players who bounce the ball before serving or a rugby kicker methodically stepping back to approach the ball, they're not just following superstition; they're engaging in a ritual that helps ground their attention and engage their muscle memory. Students can apply similar routines before study sessions and exams to enhance their performance. Perhaps a few minutes of deep breathing and organising of materials can help shift the brain in to 'performance mode'. Similarly, a pre-exam routine that incorporates controlled breathing can help maintain calmness and clarity. Another overlap between sports psychology and exam preparation is the ability to plan a response to inevitable adversity. There will be failures and setbacks in sports and exams. What distinguishes successful performers is not the absence of failure, but the response to it. Sports psychology interventions can make a crucial difference to performance, according to a recent review of the sports psychology literature by Italian scientist Dr Selenia di Fronso, from the Department of Medicine at the University of Chieti, Italy. One such intervention is promoting a growth mindset, where challenges and mistakes are viewed as opportunities for learning rather than threats to self-worth. Reflecting on mistakes without ruminating and then adjusting your strategy to maintain effort are core aspects of athletic training and exam preparation. Adopting the mindset of an athlete does not mean treating exams as a battlefield or pushing oneself to the point of exhaustion. Instead, it involves intentional preparation, mental discipline, and practices like breathing and visualisation to manage high levels of arousal and gain clarity in stressful situations. Encouraging students to incorporate sports psychology techniques in to their academic routines is not just about memorising facts; it is about training their minds to handle pressure, stay focused, and perform at their best when it counts most. A day of rest Another metaphor from the sporting world is the importance of taking breaks. In any fitness regimen, rest days are crucial for progress. The brain is like a muscle: It needs to relax to refill. And, much like a muscle in your body that is being trained, it needs time to repair and grow back stronger. Many stressed students fail to see the value in rest periods and so will try to power through, even though they are unable to retain new information. Reminding them of the risks of over-training a muscle can help them to see the necessity of rest periods and ease the guilt sometimes associated with taking breaks so close to the exam period. Marathoners do not run five marathons the week before the race — they conserve their energy by doing shorter runs in the lead-up to the big day. In an era of rising academic stress and competition, the need for effective coping and performance strategies has never been greater. The field of sports psychology, which was once confined to the locker room, can also serve a purpose in the exam hall. By harnessing these principles, students are not only preparing for exams, they are also developing life skills that will serve them far beyond the first three weeks in June. If your child comes to you in a panic about the state exams, there may not be time to cover the whole curriculum. Still, there is scope to help them manage these acute, panicky feelings and remind them of the skill set used by elite athletes to keep the mind calm when the central nervous system is spiralling in to overdrive. I've used sports psychology tips with exam students in recent years, and many have reported that they found them helpful. Hopefully, your child will report the same once they reach the finish line. Dr Colman Noctor is a child psychotherapist
The Irish Sun
7 hours ago
- The Irish Sun
Former European champions set to be offered 70,000-seater new stadium as mayor backs ‘$1billion' new project
FORMER European champions Hamburg could be offered a brand new stadium as part of Germany's Olympic bid. The city is set to enter the race to become the nominee for Germany for the second time. 2 A new 70,000 stadium could be built for Hamburg 2 Hamburg have played at the Volksparkstadion since 1953 Credit: Getty Hamburg residents previously rejected the opportunity to become the select city for the games at the ballot box in 2015. But now they could be persuaded by the promise of a new stadium, which would become home to Hamburg after the Games. The new $1billion arena could boast a capacity between 60,000 to 70,000. And it will be built even if Germany's bid to host the summer Olympics fails, according to Germany Interior Senator Andy Grote. READ MORE IN FOOTBALL Hamburg mayor Peter Tschentscher has backed the project and handed over the necessary bid documents to the DOSB - Germany's Olympic body. He said: "The bids of previous decades consisted of a city being rebuilt to accommodate the Olympic Games. And we reversed this principle." The city shouldn't adapt to the Games, "but rather we adapt the Olympic concept to our city," he added. The new stadium would be built right next to Hamburg's iconic Volksparkstadion, which has been their home since 1953. Most read in Football BEST FREE BETS AND BETTING SIGN UP OFFERS A refurbishment of the ground was completed in 2000 for the 2006 World Cup - it seats 57,000 fans. Germany's Olympic body still needs to decide whether to bid for the 2036, 2040 or 2044 Summer Games. 'Looks class' - Three-time English champs release incredible video as they prepare to build one of UK's biggest stadiums Germany last hosted the Olympics in 1972 in Munich. Bids from Berlin for 2000 and Leipzig for 2012 failed, while Munich's bid for the 2022 Winter Games was also stopped by a referendum.
