Meath world champion on road to recovery

Meath woman Lyndsey Conway achieved a remarkable feat late last year when she won two gold medals for Poland at the ITF Taekwon-Do World Championships, but she also sustained a career-threatening knee injury that deprived her of a third medal at the Benidorm event last October.

Some years ago she made a decision to move to Poland where she teaches English in a language school in Lublin and there is a more consistent level of competition.

However, there was a major negative to her success in Spain as she sustained a serious knee injury in the third of three competitions and she has been sidelined since.

There followed a number of operations at the Sports Surgery Clinic in Santry and she is now on the road back to full fitness, but she still has a hard slog ahead of her.

“This injury is my second knee problem, I had the other knee repaired three years ago, that was after I won three European medals and then had to sit out the rehabilitation period, but at least I got back to full competition again,” she told the Meath Chronicle last week.

The Ratoath woman, who has lived and worked in Poland for the past five years, was the first non-native to represent the Polish national team when she made her debut. She has three sisters, Virginia, Joanna and Emer and one brother Michael.

This month she is in England and will follow that with a spell in Guernsey and New York as part of a working and training programme geared towards full competition next January or February.

“My aim now is to get through the recovery process and then I can start commuting again with the Ryanair flights from Dublin direct to Lublin,” she said.

“I feel a bit ahead of my targets at the moment, but I have to be patient with this and not do too much too soon.

“After the reconstruction of the knee it took a long time to get myself walking and going up and down stairs again.

“The physio that I was getting in Ratoath with Edel Daly and Rory O’Neill was super and consistent, two or three times a week, the dreaded ice baths, all very intensive and helpful.

“My family were very supportive, my friends were very important and my team colleagues in Poland kept in touch with me also and that was a great boost.

“In the last two months or so I started more serious, more functional training with Jay Farrant from Santry Sports Clinic, he is the Irish weightlifting coach.

“There was a pretty intense training regime with Jay and that was stepped up a bit recently, that was tough, it is tough, very exhausting, I was in a lot of pain initially, but I’m over the worst of that now.

“I’m getting stronger, I feel stronger, confidence is up and I’m ahead of my targets at this stage,” she added.

However, despite her progress and the positive attitude, she is focused on her ultimate goal which is getting back to full fitness and competitive action with the national team in Poland. She still has another six months to go before any serious action will be even considered.

“My next competition will be the World Championships in Italy in 2015, obviously there will be some smaller tournaments before that, but I won’t take part in any serious competition this year.

“I was asked to compete in Jamaica, but it would be far too early in my recovery to attempt that. There was also a possibility of going for the European Championships last month, but I discussed that with my coach in Poland and we decided against it.

“I have to be patient, it would be plain stupid to give it a go and see what happens, anything could happen.

“Financially, it’s not easy, I receive a stipend from what would be the equivalent of the Irish Sports Council in Poland, it’s a small grant from the Polish government through the Polish Taekwon-Do Association.

“It helps with my training costs, with nutrition also, but I’m also working with my dad and helping him with his business, I’m fairly adept at repairing lawn mowers and servicing strimmers and that sort of thing.

“The bonus also is that I get to 'hang out’ with my dad, that’s cool also, it’s good to be able to help my parents because they have been so good to me,” she remarked.

One of the problems facing most minority-type sports in Ireland is a lack of recognition, publicity and sponsorship.
Like many other of the lesser-known sports in this country, Taekwon-Do officials struggle to attract major sponsors in the same way that the GAA, FAI or IRFU might attract financial support.

The Ratoath woman is aware of this and is doing her bit to get the message out there that Taekwon-Do has lots to offer.

“There isn’t any great awareness about this sport in Ireland, although exposure at the Meath Sports Awards was a great boost for me last January, I have also featured on TV3 and on Newstalk radio, I was on their 'Off The Ball’ programme and hopefully will feature again later this year.

“Ireland is ranked second in the world at the moment, behind Poland, it’s a bit unusual as my two gold medals for Poland made the difference in the rankings.

“At the moment I’m training at Integrity Martial Arts in Ashbourne Business Park, it’s a great place for children to learn and the local GAA club, Donaghmore / Ashbourne also benefits from some of the training techniques. There is a very positive atmosphere about the place.

“Recently I was in Ratoath NS and I got a great welcome from the pupils, they had a display board about my achievements, I even noticed that there were some Meath Chronicle stories displayed,' she said.

Now that she is half-way through her rehab, Lyndsey is heading off on her travels over the next few months with the added bonus of some financial return as well as improving her fitness levels.

“I will be in England for a five-week stint in a language school in Berkshire, there will be children there from South America, Japan and Europe for an intensive language camp and I will also instruct Taekwon-Do and general well-being, fitness and positivity,” she commented.

“After that I will be going to Guernsey to work with a group called Storm Force Fitness, it will help my rehabilitation, that will be a 10-day programme.

“I plan to be home in September and then I will be going to New York to work in Equinox Gyms until November, there will be boot camps involved there. I had an interview soon after my operation in Santry and it was a great boost.

“There is a lot of corporate work involved, but I’m not sure at this stage which gym I will be based at in New York.

“I’m always researching new ways of doing things in relation to fitness. I will be home for Christmas and then it will be back to Poland next January for some serious competition.

“That’s the plan, but you never know what way it will pan out,” she concluded.