Go Behind the Extraordinary with Alexa Leary

Intro I am living my second life and I'm loving it. Hi, my name’s Alexa Leary. I am a para swimmer and I compete in the 50 and the 100 freestyle. Lifethreatening accident I was in a big life-threatening accident where I nearly had to say goodbye to my life and my loved ones. I lived in Royal Brisbane Hospital for five months, and then I also lived in a brain home. So when I got out, I had to restart a whole new life. I still didn't have my licence, I had no hair. Support team I didn't have much at all. I have a big support team. My family. My mum and dad fought so hard for me to be here. I do have a behaviour coach, and then I do have an OT, and this is a good one, support workers, love them. With them every day. So Science and Jon, they were great as a good swim team. This is Jon, my coach. Coach I guess what's really unique about this althete, coach, and team situation is with Alexa's TBI, traumatic brain injury, her learning is different than everyone, so we had to allow for that longitudinal plan. You have to be continually adaptive in your approach. I've tried to think outside the box, lean on my team, lean on the support staff, lean on Lex and listen, because as coaches, sometimes we need to spend time reflecting and listening, and then you grow together as a team and you move forward. This is Simon, or as Lex likes to call him, Science. My main role with the team is around movement analysis. So I’m a movement scientist at QAS. My role is generally around technical development and then talking around areas in terms of both in and out of the pool that can help kind of build that up and make her faster. I'm just a very passionate person and determined. When I want something, I'm not going to let it flow like, "Oh yeah, I'll try." It's like, "No, I will." So I was like, "I want to train with Jon and I want to become something. Wow."