From captaining Ulster Schools at hockey to representing Northern Ireland at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham at weightlifting, it has been a unique sporting journey for Caroline Doyle.
The 29-year-old’s hockey career was ended by injury, with Doyle then taking up CrossFit before discovering weightlifting.
The Ballymena native will compete in the 64kg class in Birmingham and hockey’s loss has been weightlifting's gain.
Read more: Hannah Crymble and Caroline Doyle chasing weightlifting glory
“Growing up I started playing hockey from when I was five and competitively from aged 11 through to the age of 17,” explained Doyle
“I played for my school Ballymena Academy and my club Ballymena, then I got the opportunity to play for Ulster Schools who I captained prior to tearing my meniscus.
“I actually can’t think of an exact time when it happened, but it would have been playing hockey, and with the nature of the sport constantly changing different directions it was maybe one individual moment or just the general wear and tear of the sport.
“I got keyhole surgery to repair it and tried to go back to hockey but with the nature of running I was unable to keep it up competitively, so I had to find the next best thing.”
After hockey Doyle was looking for a new sport to compete in.
“I found weightlifting through CrossFit," she explained.
"I have always competed in team sports growing up, so weightlifting was an opportunity for me to step outside my comfort zone and do something as an individual.
“I entered a competition and won it and you think how far can I take this and here we are at Commonwealth Games qualification so it has been a good run.
“My first weightlifting competition was in August 2019.”
Doyle adapted to weightlifting quickly.
“When you first go into the sport you do see a lot of progress quickly," she said.
"One thing I noticed was I got strong quite quickly which I put down to having been always competitive in hockey.
“One of the local competitions came up at an opportune time, I took it and won so then it was an opportunity to see within the Northern Ireland space how far I could get.
“The meniscus has been fine, weightlifting is a quite a static sport compared to hockey so I definitely know now what I can and can’t do and I would rarely feel any knee pain which is great.
“It has been a lot of fun, obviously the pandemic threw a spanner in the works, but there was an opportunity to do online competitions. I do feel like I have had a good experience.”
Weightlifting is more than just who can thrust the heaviest bar above their head.
There are two disciplines - clean and jerk, and snatch.
Each competitor gets three lifts in each discipline with the combined total determining you overall ranking, so strategy and tactics are a key part.
“It depends what you want out of the competition," Doyle added.
"When I did the British Championships in 2020 I wanted to win and when I did them in 2021 I just had qualification for the Commonwealth Games in mind and I wasn’t to fussed on my ranking.
“It is what you want to achieve from the competition. A lot people go in looking for a certain total rather than a ranking and if you rank high that is a bonus but you want to go and win.
“Everyone has a preference whether they prefer the clean and jerk or the snatch. Given that your overall ranking is based on your total whatever you are better at you will take a bit of a risk with it because you are a bit more confident that it will pay off.
“With the lift that you are maybe not so confident with in you might start a bit lower to get that total on the board before you increase for you next two lifts.”
Doyle is looking forward to soaking up the whole Commonwealth Games atmosphere.
“I’m looking forward to competing on the day but the experience as a whole we have the opportunity to be in the athlete village we you are surrounded by the best of the best in the Commonwealth and their sport," she said.
“Hopefully I will get to speak to many people and learn about different sports but ultimately to represent Northern Ireland is going to be a lot of fun and I’m really excited to do that as well.”
Emma McQuaid achieved a fourth-place finish at the 2018 games on the Gold Coast in weightlifting.
“Emma is a great friend of mine, and she has been really great encouraging me throughout this process as well," Doyle said.
“She is a great person to train with and she obviously did so well to come fourth in 2018 but to be honest my overall goal the ranking is really important.
"But I just want to walk away knowing I’ve lifted the best I have lifted and where that puts me in the ranks is out of my hands.
“As long as I walk away knowing I couldn’t have done any better then I’ll know I’ll couldn’t have done any better I’ll be satisfied.”
Doyle would encourage anyone to take up weightlifting.
“Even if weightlifting isn’t your primary sport no matter what sport you are part of strength is one of the key things you’ll need to be successful so even integrating weightlifting into your training will ultimately benefit you in what ever sport you are in," she said.
“So whether competing in an Olympic weightlifting competition is your goal or not just getting that strength element into your programme can be so beneficial.”
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