Talking to Yasmin - sports aficionado
This week we sat down with a close friend of ours, Yasmin. She has to be one of the craziest people at Imperial who has the most packed timetable we’ve ever seen. We felt tired just listening to what she does in an average week, I hope you enjoy reading this interview.
Who are you?
I was born and raised in London and I went to a state school where I was on the basketball, athletics, and football teams. I have been rowing, skating, ice skating, and playing football during my time at university. Apart from sports, I am quite creative – I draw and sculpt and I’m also into entertainment and comedy, so I am creating my own radio show and podcast.
What is your university academic background?
I study chemistry at Imperial College. I really enjoyed the subject at school and I liked how Imperial is a STEM-related university where science is the main focus. Because imperial has so many societies and clubs, it sounded great to have the ability to take a science degree and play sports and therefore have the best of both worlds.
What is your sports background?
I started skating when I was three on quad skates. I used to skate around Hyde park every day, and I started inline skating when I was five. I have been skating ever since. I joined the London speed skating team last year, because the coach saw me skating through Hyde park and asked me to trial for their team. I am now working towards competitions this year, and looking to progress professionally within skating.
A coach at Aldwych Speed Club, an ice skating team, saw potential in me training in ice skating during one of my skating training sessions.
I also occasionally play for Hammersmith Women’s football club, where I play right back. I was the captain of my school’s football team. There was a big gender gap between the guys and girls teams, and I wanted to change that and try to make football more accessible, regardless of gender so everyone could enjoy the sport.
Do you do any sport at Imperial?
I am also a senior rower at Imperial. I started rowing as a novice in my first year at Imperial, and I now train full time as a senior. I am looking to compete in BUCS head, BUCS regatta, and hopefully Henley in the coming weeks and months. I am proud of my improvement in the sport and I recently won the ‘Golden Flipper’ for most improved rower.
What other activities do you do at Imperial?
I’m in the process of creating a radio show/podcast with ICRadio, where Imperial students, and any one really, can write in to us with any issues they are having, and we’ll light-heartedly discuss it with friends and guests to try and solve the issue. It’s more like a chat show than a serious project, but I think it’ll do really well and I’m excited to see how it goes.
So what does an average week look like?
I wake up at 4:45am on a Monday morning, leave the house at 5:15am on my skates, where I skate to Imperial Boat Club in Putney which takes about 45 minutes for a 6 am water session. We usually row about 14-16km from Putney to Chiswick, so the session finishes at around 8am. I do an erg session at the boat house before leaving, rather than doing it later on in the evening because of my busy schedule. I then skate from there to South Kensington, where I get breakfast and get on with my degree.
I leave campus at 5pm, as I get the train to Guildford, which usually takes about 2 hours for a 7pm training session. The training session finished by 8:30, and I make my way home back to Paddington where I usually arrive by 11pm to sleep.
On Tuesday, I wake up at a late time of 6:45am and skate to rowing for a strength and conditioning session by 8 am. University finishes again around 5:30 pm, then I skate to rowing for a 6:15pm water session which takes 2 hours, similar to the Monday session. I leave the boat house at 8pm, and skate home around 9.
Wednesday I just have to do an erg session in my own time in the gym, and I do university work in my own time. I’ve got ice skating again at 7:15pm, so I make my way to Guilford.
Thursday is a repeat of Tuesday, normally.
Friday is again an erg in my own time, and that is it for the day! No skating training! But I do university work in my own time.
Saturday is a big day. We have a 6:45am start at the boat house, which I skate to, where it’s a longer rower outing, usually about 18-20km, followed by circuits at the boat house, which if you don’t know, is absolute pain! Sunday is an off day from rowing, but I do have skating training with the speed skating team. It is from 10-12 at Tatem park, which is quite a trek, where they have the only outdoor track in London.
