Alia provides the answers

Swimmers and athletes in general often have questions about how they can rise to the top. A book, launched last Saturday by retired world record holder Alia Atkinson, has answers. Titled Day 1 not one day, the publication is designed by Atkinson to respond to the queries and to get the individual on track to creating solutions.

The book was launched at the Conference Room at the National Aquatic Centre, Independence Park where Atkinson explained why she authored it.

“I wrote the book to help, to help the youth. So right now, especially after COVID-19, we’re seeing a lot of athletes just too much into dem head, a lack of confidence, doubt just pouring out of them, like they’re filled with it. But mostly, not just in Jamaica, but in the Caribbean and around the world, we’re seeing a lot of people asking questions and wanting to reach out and wanting that interaction,” she said.

“I wrote it because, one, I’m not swimming any more, so I don’t get to reach the athletes that I normally reach, so I wanted to write something they can bring into their home, and work at it,” the 2012 and 2016 Olympic 100 metres breaststroke finalist added.

“It’s also a workbook,” she detailed, “so it allows them to have those deep conversations with themselves. Why do they swim? What do they think are their weaknesses? What are some doubts? What type of athlete do they think they are? Things to get them thinking, to get them motivated and to transform themselves, physically and mentally.”

Perhaps because she is the first black to be a swimming world champion, people turn to her for answers.

“Last year I just got so many requests on Instagram, just about ‘Alia, how do I do this?’ ‘Alia, I don’t know how to do this. I don’t understand how you did this or this.’ Just so many questions, and not just the youth. It was older athletes as well. ‘How do you keep up in the sport? I’m 20 something now. Should I continue? What’s the point?’ ... just so many questions. So, I wanted to write something to answer those questions to help a little bit,” she revealed.

She expects to reach more people with the book, which will be the first in a series, than she could on an individual basis.

The book encourages readers to write down the challenges they face and to pinpoint the steps to a solution. “When you write it down,” she underlined, “it doesn’t look as scary as you thought. Once you write it down and see it on paper, you know how to dissect it.”

She concluded on an inspirational note.

“I want you to remember, especially with this book, that you decide how your story’s going to end. So you get to choose that, and people forget that sometimes,” Atkinson emphasised.