- 2022 Spotlight
Personal Statement
My name is Jessica Hanley and I have spent all my 16 years living in Turkey. As a child, my British and Kazak parents tried me out at anything in which I showed an interest. After spending time and enjoying reasonable success at chess, ballet, junior basketball, and in a Russian speaking art club, I noticed at the age of 5 how much my father enjoyed swimming endlessly up and down a 25 metre pool with a group he had joined. That was the moment I decided the pool was where I wanted to be. My parents enrolled me in a club and they spent much of their free time in the tribune watching me swim. Swimming seemed to come easily to me in those early years that followed, and I suppose it is fair to say that over the last decade of my life it is this sport, with all its trials and tribulations, that has defined me.
The swimming developed and the competitions began. I won my first medal at 9 and though I have won so many since then in far more serious competitions, that first one is really my most precious. I became a breaststroker but have competed often in butterfly and IM races as well as on relay teams, and have so far represented Turkey at national team level on 7 occasions. One of my best moments has been a bronze in the British Summer nationals of 2018 when I swam for the City of Manchester Club (COMAST). My performance gained the interest of the Swim England national swim development programme selectors and I also had a request to swim for the county of Lancashire in North West England. This was not possible as I was already swimming for the Turkish national Junior Team. A gold in the Turkish national medley relay’s win over the more highly fancied Italians in Slovenia in the LCM Penguin cup in 2019 is definitely my other high point. My time of 1.12.78 for my 100 meters breaststroke leg stood for almost two years in competition at that level. The last 18 months have been psychologically tough due to Covid related pool closures and disturbed training schedules, but somehow I kept going, and finally in the 2021 Summer long pool championship in Istanbul, I came in 1st in 100m breaststroke to become national champion in my age group, and 3rd in the open age category.
Of course life would be boring were I only a swimmer. Me becoming a foodie is something that the pandemic lockdowns really aced: not just a happy eater though, I have developed a healthy interest in world cuisine and the sort of healthy recipes that a swimmer needs to stay in shape. I am also an avid reader and have discovered a talent for drawing too, as well a strong interest in learning Spanish, something that I tend to pursue passively at the moment, but have attended one online course and intend to do much more of in the future.
School grades are mainly what we are judged on here and regardless of whatever else we are interested in or wish to follow, these are our lifeline. Hard work and a lot of Mum and Dad support have helped me maintain a 99 percentile between the 4th and 8th grades and even during the pandemic I have managed 98% throughout my 9th and 10th grades. I am in a science high school so focus on math and sciences. To get into this high school I had to be in the first 3% of students who took the high school entrance exam when I was 14.
Regarding goals in life, representing Turkey in competition at the European Junior Championships has to be at the top of my list and like three or four of my swimming peers who recently competed in Tokyo, Paris is very much on my radar. Outside swimming I will have a career choice to make, and course of study to focus on too. My jury is currently out on this but science or business is where I am looking and at the moment am having sessions with an academic and careers counselor in an effort to make these decisions while being able to focus on my sport too.
Four years ago I attended a Northwestern University swim camp in Chicago, and American attitude to sports coaching and athletes, and life in general is so dynamic and motivational. I am in regular contact with an aunt and cousins who live there, so in the US would have a ready made family support network. My father is British, my mother Kazak, and I live in Turkey. I have a pretty wide perspective on life and am totally enthusiastic about everything I do. I believe there is only one thing we can do in life and that is to improve. Through swimming injuries and setbacks I have never given up, and wherever I end up I am looking at a two way street: the university I go to will benefit me and make me a better person, and I will return this back to that institution. Let’s call it a win win!
Jessica Hanley
