Lena Bailey is the proverbial “jack of all trades”.
The 15-year-old Marlborough Girls’ College student has shown her prowess in a wide range of sports, being currently involved in, and excelling at, rowing, netball, cross country, touch and athletics.
Her promising sporting future has been underlined by recent cross-country success.
At the MGC champs, Lena not only won the under-16 category, she also clocked the fastest time in the entire college. From there, she continued her winning streak by placing first in her age group at the Tasman district cross country championships, qualifying her for the secondary school nationals. At nationals she finished an impressive 33rd out of the 114 competitors in her age group.
Lena relished rubbing shoulders with the country’s best, describing the course as “really fun”.
Her success earned the attention of a Nelson coach, who is interested in having Lena represent Tasman at an upcoming national cross-country event.
Despite her recent success, Lena says, out of all the sports she plays, netball is her favourite. She recently returned from a trip to the South Island secondary schools junior netball tournament with the MGC 10A team, which finished a very creditable fifth from 32 teams.
“I get to play with all my friends and it’s just fun to be with your friends and play sport,” she explains.
Playing five sports at school and provincial representative level may seem like a lot of work, but to Lena it is simply about making the most of the benefits of living in this province.
“I was from a small school so there weren't as many opportunities in sport. So as soon as I got to Bohally I picked up every sport I saw, well, just about,” she adds with a chuckle.
Lena’s weekdays are now filled with variety. During cross country season she aims to run “three times a week”, along with two netball trainings and one game per week.
Summer season is equally busy, as she switches out cross country and netball for rowing training and competition, plus touch games and even a bit of adventure racing with her mates for good measure.
Lena states that her favourite aspect of sport is the friendships she makes, the different locations she gets to play in, and the people she meets.
“Oh, and it keeps me fit, and when I’m fit I get to eat most things that I want”, she quips.
When asked about where she sees her sporting future heading, Lena said that she hasn’t really thought about it, and for now she will just keep “doing what I am doing”. And doing very well by the looks of it too.
