![Thomas McDougall and Ruby Rule celebrate their enormous success at the recent Junior State Age championships in Sydney. Picture by Kootingal-Moonbi Swimming Club. Thomas McDougall and Ruby Rule celebrate their enormous success at the recent Junior State Age championships in Sydney. Picture by Kootingal-Moonbi Swimming Club.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ijfQKXbsEKgSKGW5xB5NiF/d6dba66c-0994-453c-b2e3-6eebefde074c.jpg/r0_893_1848_2374_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Countless facets need to coalesce for an athlete to be successful.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Their training needs to be effective and specific, they need to eat well, sleep well, and understand the correct tactical approach to their given sport.
But, perhaps most importantly, they need to have the right mindset.
And it is exactly that gift which allowed Kootingal-Moonbi Swimming Club juniors, Ruby Rule and Thomas McDougall, to shine at the NSW Junior State Age swimming championships in Sydney over the weekend.
"They're both racers," club co-coach, Graham Johnstone, said.
"You need that 10 per cent mongrel, which they've got, but they get on so well with the other kids. That's the best thing about them, they're not big-heads.
"You see so many kids that are good and they know they're good, where these two are just like anyone else in the squad."
Also read:
Between the two of them, McDougall and Rule produced two silver medals, one bronze, five top-ten finishes, and five personal bests.
Though Johnstone was "ecstatic" with the results, they did not come as a surprise to the veteran coach.
"At country, they did really well," he said.
"And both of them train really well, they're probably two of the best trainers we've got, which is half the battle. They're keen, which makes Greg [Poetschka, co-coach] and my jobs as coaches so easy."
While McDougall has swum with the club for some years now and been consistently successful, Rule has only taken to the sport in the last 12 months.
But, Johnstone said, he knew from her first training session that she had a special talent.
"I've been coaching for 20-odd years, and as soon as I saw her in the pool and saw her breaststroke kick, I thought 'Wow. That's the best breaststroke kick I've ever seen'," he said.
"I just knew she was a natural."
Some of the parents were in tears of joy after Rule, who claimed silver in the 100 metre breaststroke and bronze in the 50m breaststroke, and McDougall, who snared silver in the 200m butterfly, finished their races.
"The kids were ecstatic as well," Johnstone said.
"I think they had high expectations ... they were up there. I said to them, if they got the finer things right, they were half a chance at a medal, but to come away with three [was amazing]."
This weekend, the club will host another of its Intro to Squad sessions this Sunday from 10am at the 360 swimming pool.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark northerndailyleader.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News