“If you don’t believe you are the best, then you will never achieve all that you are capable of”.

These words of football legend, Cristiano Ronaldo, is the inspiration of a young local swimmer from TuksSwimming, Pieter Coetzee.

“From a young age, Ronaldo was never content. He wants to win more than other people and to show that he is better than the rest. This extreme will to win and be the best motivates him to work harder. I am striving to do the same,” Coetzee explained.

That is why the youngster is on an endless quest to learn, to improve, and to evolve. Not only to please the coach but because it is vital for him to be satisfied with what achieves.

Coetzee is already reaping the rewards for being so dedicated.

During last year’s African Junior Championships in Tunisia, he won five gold medals. At the World Junior Championships in Budapest, the Tuks swimmer set personal best times in each of the backstroke events. He missed out by a mere 0.06s to compete in the final of the 50m-backstroke.

He has now set his sights on trying to qualify for next year’s World Shortcourse Championships (25m pool).

“I am possibly not yet strong enough to swim the A-qualification standards, but I can get real close to the B-qualification standards in the 50m and 100m-backstroke events,” he said.

Swimming was not always Coetzee’s first love. He wanted to run. Whether it was on the athletics track or with a rugby ball in hand. It did not matter. Running was what mattered.

His sister was, however, a swimmer. So, he tagged along when she competed at galas. It was his mom who suggested to him to also ‘dive in’, and he did. To his surprise, he enjoyed swimming galas. By the time he got to high school, swimming was his only sport.

“Swimming is possible one of the most challenging sports. You got to put in the hours in the pool. But I love it. My reward is when at galas, I get to improve on my times,” Coetzee remarked.

Does it not get monotonous to swim up and down and up-down day in and day out?

“No. It gives me time to think things through” was the Tuks swimmer’s honest answer.

He was just as honest when asked what he needs to work on to improve his times.

“I definitely can work on improving my start, as well as my underwater turns. I have watched videos of last year’s World Junior Championships. My overall swimming speed compares favourably to that of the international swimmers. It was during the turns that I tend to fall behind,” Coetzee replied.

According to Coetzee, a definite perk to swimming is that he gets the opportunity to travel. It is a passion of his.

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