There’s often a point in a competitive swimmer’s journey where they realise they may not reach the elite level they once dreamed of. For many, this can lead to leaving the sport entirely. But what if there was another pathway to stay involved with swimming? Meet Romey Wiemers, a young swimmer who found her place on the pool deck as a technical official while still in high school.
Finding Swimming
Romey Wiemers’ journey begins when she started competitive swimming around age 10. Like many talented young athletes, early success came relatively quickly.
“I was pretty good at regional level, and then I made my first Queensland Sprints when I was 10. I did this massive PB, and I was like, ‘oh, that was really good.'”
By age 12, she was setting ambitious goals for the December States competition.
“I set two very big goals for myself. I said I would get PBs and I would make finals, and my coaches were like, ‘aim for those things, but it’s okay if you don’t get them.’ And I ended up getting both. I got two finals in the 100 and 200 breaststroke.”
At 13, she qualified for her first Age Nationals in Adelaide, placing in the top 25 in the country for breaststroke. This early success seemed to forecast a promising competitive swimming career.
Challenges and Identity Crisis
However, the path wasn’t smooth. A combination of physical challenges and club politics began to create obstacles.
“I had this really bad relationship where illness, injury would stop me from progressing. And I guess I made it the reason that I couldn’t progress.”
An underlying motor learning condition (dyspraxia) made certain physical movements more challenging, particularly engaging the correct muscle groups during swimming. This led to injuries that kept interrupting her training.
“My body just freaked out and my traps engaged instead of my lats. So when I went to do this new pull, it just went and caused my neck to strain.”
After battling glandular fever, pneumonia, and later COVID-19 (twice), she developed a mental block associating swimming with illness.
“My brain was going ‘swimming is causing you to be sick.’ Because I swam, I got sick, or I was getting inadvertently worse.”
This created an identity crisis familiar to many athletes whose self-worth becomes tied to their performance.
“Most swimmers go through it, whether you’re elite or younger, when you love it a lot and you go, ‘I’m not doing well, that makes me a bad person.’ There’s like this real identity crisis.”
Rediscovering Joy in Swimming
A change of clubs and a new coach helped transform her relationship with swimming.
“Troy taught me to love swimming again. He had written up on his board ‘MCF equals R squared’ – My Care Factor equals Respect squared. He always kept inside of that equation.”
The Australian Country Swimming Championships in Darwin also proved transformative.
“We literally had a break between sessions where everyone danced. There was a mob dance that we all did at the end of the pool. Everyone learns it before they rock up to the meet, wearing fun shirts and dancing. I’d never had so much fun at a swim meet before.”
The Path to Officiating
Even as she continued competing, she began thinking about other ways to stay involved with the sport she loved.
“I knew subconsciously that I was never gonna get to that level, but I’ve always wanted to do representation at that level, whether it’s through swimming or as an official. I said to mum, ‘I wanna get that maroon uniform somehow.'”
In January of her final year of high school, she approached a senior technical official.
“I went to Gary Gibson because he was our main technical official in Darling Downs. I said to him, ‘How do I go about it? What do I do? Because I really wanna start being involved so that when I leave school, if I go to uni, I can still be involved.'”
While her age raised some eyebrows, the technical officiating community welcomed her with open arms.
“They didn’t go at any point, ‘Your age is a hurdle or an obstacle.’ They made sure that if anyone had anything to say about it, then they would stand in for me. So there was never this barrier to me being an official.”
Balancing Both Worlds
Remarkably, she managed to both compete and officiate at the same meets.
“I did December States in 2023 as an official and as a swimmer. I qualified for the 50 breaststroke. I officiated the whole time, doing 10-12,000 steps a day. I was immensely cognitively tired, so I added like two seconds in a 50, which is shocking. But I did it and I swam, and I can say that I did both. Then I got back up on pool deck and officiated the afternoon session.”
This dual role created interesting conversations with parents.
“Some of the timekeepers would openly go, ‘You’re quite young.’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, I literally swam this week.’ They’re like, ‘What do you mean?’ They were really curious as to someone so young doing officiating.”
The Appeal of Officiating for Young Swimmers
When asked what would attract other young swimmers to officiating, she emphasised the familiar atmosphere and clear progression pathway.
“The atmosphere is the same. When you go from being an official to a swimmer, that feeling you get doesn’t change. You get to go to meets still, you get to practice something and get good at it again, and you can progress. It’s not just, ‘Oh, this is just Wide Bay level.’ No, you can go to states, you can go to nationals, you can become a World Aquatics official. 2032 Brisbane Olympics – I mean it’s all there ahead of us!”
Looking Forward
Now studying at university and continuing her officiating journey, she remains connected to the sport she loves while pursuing her education.
When swimmers reach that pivotal moment of realising they may not become elite competitors, the path doesn’t have to end. Technical officiating offers a way to stay engaged, continue developing skills, and maintain the connections and community that make swimming special.
As swimming in Queensland looks toward the 2032 Brisbane Olympics, developing young technical officials today creates a pathway for their involvement at the highest levels of the sport tomorrow.
For information on becoming a technical official like Romey, contact traineeto@swimmingwidebay.org.au on how you can start your training journey.
