Emily Deasey: Kootingal athlete on the cusp of a great adventure | PHOTOS

They pointed her out. She was about to swim a 50m butterfly heat - part of her exhaustive multi-stroke, multi-discipline schedule at the 2021 Kootingal Moonbi Swimming Carnival.

On a perfect summer morning, the 17-year-old finished second in her butterfly heat and then sat down with the Leader and unpacked what is a momentous period in her life - including radiating a happiness she had not felt before, while celebrating her Tamworth High formal on Thursday.

A resident of Kootingal and a member of the Kootingal Moonbi Swimming Club, Deasey is in her final season as a junior swimmer - symbolic, in a way, of the transitional nature of her life at present - as she eyes university, womanhood and the road ahead.

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She plans to have six months off and then start a degree: physiotherapy or exercise physiology, perhaps, at the University of New England or the University of Newcastle.

She will probably keep swimming after this season, but just for exercise.

"And maybe in two or three years I may get back into competitive swimming," said the teen, whose best result in the pool was a top-10 finish in the 100m breaststroke at the junior state age championships.

Deasey said she was "more into netball at the moment".

This year she played for Tamworth's 17 and under side at the state netball championships. She is unsure if she wants to pursue a netball career, having seen how hard her elder brother, Luke, has worked chasing his elite cycling dreams.

"So, I think it's just deciding whether I want to put everything aside just for a sport, because I've seen the way that he has to do it."

Deasey has a younger brother, Josh. When asked who would play her in a film about her life, she replied: "Honestly, I reckon my little brother could give it a good go. He always likes to mock me."

Josh, 14, would not have to spend time with his sister to get to know her prior to shooting; he would already know that she is terrified of spiders, chews her nails and hates early rises.

"I'm the grumpy one at training," she said of morning pool sessions.

Josh would also know that his big sister is no shirker.

"You have to work hard for what you want; you don't just get it," she said.

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