Half-time Chat with Siv & Alyssa Conley
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"I’m not a sprinter anymore – I’m a rugby player"
Running in your own lane is one thing. Having to change lanes – at speed – is another thing. Fortunately, doing things at speed comes naturally to Alyssa Conley, a former 100m and 200m SA champion sprinter and Rio 2016 Olympian. Over the past few months, she’s side-stepped her way off the tracks and onto the sevens rugby field!
Having only touched a rugby ball for the first time earlier in 2019, “AC Speedstar” as she’s known, is running her new race on grass, and in a pair of rugby boots. She’s had to make a lot of mindset shifts along the way, such as changing from straight-line running to side-stepping, and learning how to decelerate quickly.
Her goal is to make the Africa Cup Squad in Women’s 7s Rugby, and then to advance to the Rugby Sevens at the 2020 Olympics. In episode 5 of Half-Time Chat, she chats to Siv Ngesi about rising again after crippling injuries and sporting disappointment, and about her goal to be an advocate for girls and women in sport.
Quotes from Alyssa's interview with Siv Ngesi:
• I’ve been a sprinter for 21 years and my body is programmed for straight-line running. I needed a new challenge; I needed something that was gonna be hard
• Muscles that I never knew existed are having to wake up!
• I want to be an advocate for women in sport and show the young girls that if I can make a switch from athletics to a team sport at high demand, then they shouldn’t give up on their dreams
• To be the fastest woman on the rugby field – I’d love to get that title at 2020 Olympics
• I’ve always had a thing for the underdog. My switch could bring attention to women’s rugby
• I’ve been racing for 21 years. But the minute I announced the switch there was so much more interest in me and my racing.
Running in your own lane is one thing. Having to change lanes – at speed – is another thing. Fortunately, doing things at speed comes naturally to Alyssa Conley, a former 100m and 200m SA champion sprinter and Rio 2016 Olympian. Over the past few months, she’s side-stepped her way off the tracks and onto the sevens rugby field!
Having only touched a rugby ball for the first time earlier in 2019, “AC Speedstar” as she’s known, is running her new race on grass, and in a pair of rugby boots. She’s had to make a lot of mindset shifts along the way, such as changing from straight-line running to side-stepping, and learning how to decelerate quickly.
Her goal is to make the Africa Cup Squad in Women’s 7s Rugby, and then to advance to the Rugby Sevens at the 2020 Olympics. In episode 5 of Half-Time Chat, she chats to Siv Ngesi about rising again after crippling injuries and sporting disappointment, and about her goal to be an advocate for girls and women in sport.
Quotes from Alyssa's interview with Siv Ngesi:
• I’ve been a sprinter for 21 years and my body is programmed for straight-line running. I needed a new challenge; I needed something that was gonna be hard
• Muscles that I never knew existed are having to wake up!
• I want to be an advocate for women in sport and show the young girls that if I can make a switch from athletics to a team sport at high demand, then they shouldn’t give up on their dreams
• To be the fastest woman on the rugby field – I’d love to get that title at 2020 Olympics
• I’ve always had a thing for the underdog. My switch could bring attention to women’s rugby
• I’ve been racing for 21 years. But the minute I announced the switch there was so much more interest in me and my racing.
