Chris Calvert (canoe)
Name: Chris Calvert
Age: 21
Sport: Sprint Canoe
Discipline: C1, 200m
Course: Coaching and Sport Science
Getting started
I started canoeing eight years ago at my local club in a small village called Fladbury, Worcestershire. It began as a hobby during the school summer holidays where we were more interested in swimming in the river than actually canoeing.
However, I started to take it more seriously and continued going to the after school sessions during the winter. I slowly increased the amount of sessions I went to and the following year I took part in my first races throughout various parts of the country.
After just two years, I began to compete as a junior at national regattas and this is where I realised canoeing was going to be the sport for me.
Developing through the sport
I trained more and more and became better and better at competing at the national regattas, until I eventually gained a place on the 2007 junior development team, where I was made part of a four man boat. We trained very hard as a group for two years competing at numerous international events and finally earning our place at the Junior European Championships in Poznan, Poland. We narrowly missed out on the final in both the 500m and 1000m but were extremely happy with our results at such a big competition.
That was my last year as a junior. I then moved to train with the Great Britain Team at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham. It was at this time that I also began my course at Nottingham Trent University. It was very hard to get a place on the U23 team and during my first year I had no international competitions. However, in 2011 I had been racing in a single discipline over 200m when I got selected for the U23 European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. The competition was extremely tough and I again missed out on the final but was pleased with the overall result as my first international in a C1.
Studying and training
After competing at the Euros in 2011, I was about to enter my final year at University and knew it was going to be tough if I was going to continue training full time.
I currently train twice a day, six times a week, where I fit a mixture of paddling, gym and running sessions around my university timetable, which can be very difficult at times.
I think it's hard being an athlete at university as you can't really lead the lifestyle of a normal university student. You're not able to go out much as it just makes it impossible to train properly the following day. I may have missed out on the full university experience and lifestyle but I hope it will make it worth it in the future.
Future goals
Of course I would love to get to the London 2012 Olympic Games, however my goals for 2012 are to get selected for World Cups and European Championships, and then the World Championships in 2013. I am currently on the 2016 Olympic development programme and if I keep training and progressing like I am, then I hope to be competing at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
