St Georges Basin's Talika Irvine was last month named the Illawarra Academy of Sports (IAS) Swimmer of the Year Award winner, for her exceptional 12 months in the pool.

"Winning the swimming athlete of the year means to me I have trained to the best of my ability to improve in the water as well as out of it," Irvine said.

"It also means my achievements have been recognised as the top by any swimmer in the Shoalhaven and Illawarra regions.

"Receiving awards like these make me want to work harder towards higher achievements and goals."

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This year marked the third year the 15-year-old had been part of the IAS program.

"The IAS has been so helpful, allowing me to work on my strength and conditioning skills," she said.

"Along with this, I was able to participate in the online webinars where I was able to learn about nutrition, media, sports psychology and medicine.

"I have also been able to improve on my techniques in the pool due to the swim camp that the IAS held for the swimming athletes with underwater filming."

All this is added on top of her normal schedule (when not in lockdown), which includes eight pool and two gym sessions a week.

"Every day no matter rain, hail or shine I will go to the outdoor pools and do a light session or focus on my technique," the St Johns student said.

"In the afternoons, I normally will go for a bike ride or a walk with my family and if not then I will do a workout to keep my dryland up to scratch."

It's this intense schedule that saw Irvine have her best year to date in the water, which included claiming a bronze medal at the Australian Age Swimming Championships' in the 400m individual medley.

At the same meet, she finished fourth in the 200m IM and 10th in the 200m backstroke - with Irvine finishing just outside that mark in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke races.

"The 2020-21 season was successful as I was able to reach all of my set goals and go even further with them by medaling at nationals," she said.

"Although COVID-19 has interrupted many of the carnivals, forcing Swimming Australia to cancel them, I was still able to compete at both country and nationals where I succeeded well.

"Before nationals I also competed at the NSW Open Championships, where every athlete is versing each other no matter if they are an Olympian or not.

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"In the event of the 400 IM, I was able to make the B final, however, it turned out that too many people pulled out so there wasn't enough to complete the B final.

"This then saw me elevated to the reserve A final which is an awesome achievement as I was up against Olympians.

"I was really happy with my results all season round but particularly at the state open as I competed in the 400 IM, where I swam a time of 5:04.04 which made me only 0.01 of a second off making the Olympic trials."

Another goal Irvine ticked off during was the past 12 months was gaining selection in the NSW Sharks team.

"The 2020-21 season has inspired me to achieve even higher goals for next season," she said.

"Seeing the Australian trials and watching the Olympics and Paralympics has inspired me to qualify for the Australian Commonwealth Games trials.

"All of my achievements from this season has made me train harder than ever to take myself to the next level."

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Luckily for Irvine, she can train alongside one of those swimmers that competed at Tokyo in 2021, in Jasmine Greenwood.

"Seeing Jasmine compete at the Paralympics and being successful was incredibly special to me," Irvine said.

"Having Jas as my training partner has inspired me a lot over the past five years and watching her receive the silver medal at the Games has motivated me even more.

"It's great to have a training partner like Jas where we can work together to achieve our own goals."

As well as the Commonwealth Games trials, Irvine has her eyes fixed on winning a gold or silver medal at nationals and being invited into the NSW performance pathways team.

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