Amy Connell has been enjoying a bit of a festive break, catching up with friends and family. The work, though, never really truly stops.
“My next competition takes place in Georgia on January 8,” reveals the Paisley karateka. “So I’ve still been training right through just to keep myself ticking over.”
There has been plenty for her to reflect on over the last few weeks, including a successful recent trip to South Africa for the Commonwealth club championships where she took gold in the kumite -55kg category and the Commonwealths where she earned silver in the same division.
A poignant Instagram post about “an emotional rollercoaster” underlined the highs and lows of competing at the top level and a frustration with how her Commonwealth final against India’s Alisha Alisha had played out. The overriding feeling, though, was of another successful mission.
“It was a really good trip and the team did well in general,” reflects the 30-year-old. “It’s always nice to see so many other athletes doing well for Scotland. I was happy enough, too, to get a gold and silver. There’s always a bit of mixed feelings when you take a silver as you always want to win!
“There was a little bit of controversy around a refereeing situation in the final which was tough to take. As an athlete you never like getting beaten and it was frustrating at the time. But once you take a step back you realise that’s just sport and these things are part and parcel with it.
“These things happen in every sport and at the highest levels too and you can’t influence it. I was really happy with my own performance. All we can do is control the controllables and I felt that I did that. There have been highs and lows throughout the year for me but I’ve had a lot of consistent performances so I’ve been quite happy.”
There were plenty of other things going on in Durban to make Connell smile, including having her mum, Kathleen, over there as a referee.
"It was lovely to have her there too,” she adds. “She does a lot of refereeing locally for our clubs and for British karate but she had never really officiated abroad before. That was a big step for her and she did great. She was used in a lot of the finals so I was really proud of her.”
Connell remains driven by more than just medals and trophies. While over in South Africa she was asked by the President of the Commonwealth Karate Federation to lead a seminar for a group of disadvantaged local youths and was honoured and humbled to do so.
“I’ve been very fortunate to have been able to take a lot of different seminars in different countries, including self-defence classes,” adds the former Paisley Grammar pupil. “But that was the first one I had ever done when it was people from completely disadvantaged backgrounds where the kids didn’t have shoes and were given a hot meal and clothes to wear for the seminar.
“We had around 150 there on the day and they seemed to enjoy it. But it just makes you realise how lucky we are here to have what we do. It’s a privileged life we lead when you see there’s a lot of hardship elsewhere in the world.
“I’ve grown up with a lot of highs and lows in sport, injuries and the like. But with time you realise sport is a lot bigger than all those things. We’ve been given a platform and can do a lot with it. So one of my goals is to try to give back where I can.”
On a similar theme, Connell is still heavily involved in a global self-defence programme for girls and women that she helped establish.
“We did a lot last year travelling with that and this year we’ve taught a lot of teachers about it and now they’re applying it in their own local communities which is nice,” adds Connell. “Seminars here and there are great but you want it to take root locally on a regular basis. The goal now is to make that a lot more achievable for local communities.”
With this year’s festivities set to draw to an end, the Shitokai Scotland combatant is already eagerly looking ahead to see what 2025 will bring for her.
“Next year is looking like a busy one with the Europeans in May and being back on the circuit to qualify for the world championships,” she adds. “So there are lots of things ahead and I’m already looking forward to it getting going again.”
