Mikayla Gross's lifestyle has gone from 100 hundred miles an hour to something resembling - for her - a screeching halt.
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An insanely active teen pre-coronavirus, the 2019 Australian Schoolgirls water polo representative has been restricted to the odd street run while isolating.
As a result, she has channeled her fierce drive into her studies - and is counting the days to next week, when schools fully open again. The 17-year-old is in year 12 at Tamworth High.
But it's a bit tricky at the moment. I'm a bit lost.
- Mikayla Gross
"It is quite hard," she said. "I do go week by week with a routine, I could probably call it ... but it's a bit tricky at the moment. I'm a bit lost.
"I'm just trying to put time into my schoolwork .. I go for a run every now and again, but there's not much else I can really do."
That's a massive change to how she conducted her life pre-pandemic, when her mother, Kim, told the Leader that she did not know how her daughter "fits it all in".
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Last year Gross played for the Newcastle-based Hunter Hurricanes in the Australian National League (ANL). She also played for Lake Macquarie in the Newcastle competition.
On top of that, she competed in Tamworth's schoolgirls competition, and played in the local men's and women's competitions on Sunday.
Each week also involved three swimming sessions, while she tried to fit in gym work and other water polo sessions. She also taught kids how to swim four times at week at 360. Obviously, there was school work as well.
The onset of the virus meant Tamworth water polo was halted at the pointy end of the season, while she also missed out on ANL action and her last chance to play for North West at a CHS championships (the open tournament in Newcastle this year was cancelled).
"I do miss it a bit," she said of her stalled water polo career.
