Penny Haynes delivers moving talk
RUIMSIG – Olympic medalist Penny Heyns talks to parents about the importance of allowing their children to carve their own paths.
Renowned swimmer and record-breaker Penny Heyns delivered a touching motivational talk at Maragon Private Schools on the evening of 9 June.
Heyns, who also runs a swimming clinic at the school, spoke to the parents in attendance about the importance of swimming their own race.
“This talk was basically to help parents in areas of individual goal-setting, personal responsibility and self-discipline,” the school’s marketing manager Belinda Espag explained.
During her talk, the star shared the challenges she faced during her swimming career. She highlighted to the parents the importance of allowing their children to be the best they can be and giving them their support. “Firmly encourage your children to follow their dreams, but never push them to do what they don’t want to do or be,” Heyns said, with reference to her own experience. “Every time I wanted to quit, my parents would always remind me that I’m born for a purpose and should fulfil it.” With this, Heyns said her parents allowed her to be what she wanted to be and not what they would rather prefer her to be.
She explained that throughout her career she constantly had a conflict of giving up and trying to convince herself that it is acceptable to call it quits. She would have the conflict within, knowing that God blessed her with a talent and she needed to appreciate that talent and honour Him. Heyns also highlighted the importance of doing things for the right reasons. “Don’t do something because it will give you fame, money or medals. Do it because you love it and do it will all your heart.” Heyns explained that the danger of doing things for the wrong reasons is that one would give up prematurely if things go wrong or not their way.
“The inner realisation [is] that we have it in ourselves to run our own race, that we have it in us to complete that race. No matter how old we are, it is never too late to start.”
The other thing she emphasized to parents is the importance of living for the now. “You can miss out on opportunities because you are focusing on what happened [in the past] and also worried about what will happen [in the future].”
One of the attendees, Karen Turner said the session was informative and felt the information she received will help her in her current career.
