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Raise Your Game: Why sailing?

Hannah Mills: I started sailing because I had to stop playing tennis so much as I had bad knees. I took up sailing when I was about eight-years-old and did a week in the summer when I was on holiday.

I got into the Welsh Optimist class squad when I was nine or 10. I did some national events and got into the national squad when I was about 11 or 12. I won the nationals when I was 14. I loved it and just carried it on really.

RYG: What sort of sacrifices have you made to get you this far?

HM: Not massive sacrifices. Just things like when your friends go out from school in the week or at the weekend, you miss out on a couple of parties and things like that. But then you get to go sailing instead, so it's not really a sacrifice as such. It's something you enjoy doing.

RYG: What does it take to become a competitive yachtswomen?

HM: You need a lot of determination and commitment. It's the same with most sports. You have to enjoy it too.

RYG: You burst onto the sailing scene by winning the Junior Optimist Class of the National Championships (a first for any girl), what was that like?

HM: It was quite bizarre actually. I went into the event thinking I could possibly win, and then everything went right that week. You get weeks when everything goes your way. It was amazing to beat all the boys (laughs) and it made me feel really proud.

RYG: What does a typical week's training involve?

HM: I'm not sailing full time at the moment because I'm at university. I try and fit gym time in as much as I can during the week. Sailing isn't something you can do in the evening. It takes up a lot of time.

I go to the gym about four or five times during the week and then I go sailing on Saturday and Sunday for about four or five hours. It gets quite tiring when you come back from a weekend of sailing and you have to go straight back to university. It can also be hard if you're feeling under the weather.

RYG: How do you stay motivated when you're feeling tired and in need of a break?

HM: You just remind yourself why you do it. Getting through the harder days makes you better I think.

RYG: How important is a good diet if you want to be competitive?

HM: I'd say it's important. Before events you need to get a good carbohydrate load to build up your energy. During events and training you eat quite a lot because you're burning an unbelievable amount of calories. Most people don't realise how much they're burning when they're sailing.

You need to keep it reasonably healthy in between. It helps you get to the gym because you've got more energy. It's nothing ridiculous. It's just a normal, healthy diet.

RYG: What have been the highlights of your career so far?

HM: The first one was winning the Optimist Ladies Worlds when I was 15 in Gran Canaria. Moving into the 420 class and qualifying for the Youth Worlds in 2005 in Korea was great. We ended up fourth which was a bit of a pain. Then in 2006 we won the 420 Ladies World Championships.

RYG: And the lowlights?

HM: In 2006 we had the selections to go to the Youth World Championships. We had a good chance of doing it but we had a really bad week. Nothing quite went to plan so we ended up second and we didn't qualify. They only send one girl and one boy so we messed up a little bit there. That was probably one of the worst experiences.

We took loads from it. In hindsight it was probably quite a good thing because we were much more focused for the Worlds, which was the only big event that year. We knew we just had to perform well there.

RYG: What does it feel like to represent Great Britain in a competition?

HM: It's pretty amazing to be honest. You realise that not many people get that experience. You're part of a team and it's really good fun. You get to know people really well. Wearing the team uniform is quite an experience. They have opening and closing ceremonies for the big events which are really cool.

RYG: Not everybody can be an Olympic athlete, but why do you think more children should get involved in sailing?

HM: It's just a really fun sport to do. You get to meet loads of people. You get to travel and it's something anyone can do. Some people start when they're four-years-old, sailing with their parents. It's a good family sport too, which is nice.

RYG: Who were your sporting idols when you were growing up?

HM: In sailing it was Ben Ainslie and Iain Percy. Outside sailing I'd say it was Jonny Wilkinson. I read his book and it was amazing to find out what he puts himself through to be the best.

RYG: What advice would you give to children wanting to sail at an international standard?

HM: You've got to be sure you really want it, otherwise you're never going to be good enough. You've got to be able to take the bad events with the good ones. You've got to learn to deal with them, and learn to take as much as you can from those. Have fun and put as much as you can into it. As long as you've done your best, that's all you can do.

RYG: How important has it been to have the support of your parents?

HM: Very important, especially when you're younger because you do a lot of travelling. You need your parents to take you away for weekends. It's a lot of commitment for them as well. It's quite a team effort.

RYG: How do you prepare for a big race?

HM: I like to relax a lot the night before a race. I like having people around me. I don't like being on my own particularly. Music helps psych you up too. I like something energetic that helps to get you up for it. When you're sailing out to the start line it's just you and your crew in the boat. You talk about the day to get you both focused on the job in hand.

RYG: How do you balance the demands of sailing with your academic studies?

HM: I don't find it too bad to be honest. It just meant that, when I started doing a lot of sailing, I still did the same amount of work, I just had to do it at specific times so I could fit it all in. I have to be more organised with my time and use it productively rather than just leaving everything. I always want to do well at whatever I do so I make sure I do enough work to get good results.

RYG: How do you control your nerves before competing in a big race?

HM: As you get more experience you learn how to deal with it better. I think it's about sticking to the routine that you're used to before any race. If nothing is different and everything's the same you're more relaxed. When something out of the ordinary happens you can get thrown. Learning to cope with stuff like that helps.

RYG: Any superstitions?

HM: Not really. There's the typical sailing one about not having green on your boat. I'm not sure where that came from, but I don't really like having green on the boat. That's it though.

RYG: You recently moved from junior to senior level - what has that been like?

HM: Some parts have been easy but some parts have been quite demanding. The boat we're sailing is quite similar to the one we were sailing before - the 420. It's bigger and it's got a lot more controls, so we're just learning the setup of the boat. You have to be more organised, do more sailing and more fitness.

RYG: You race in a double-handed class, which means there are two of you in the boat. How important is teamwork in that situation?

HM: It's very important. Some people don't get on with the person they sail with, but I don't think I could sail with someone I didn't get on with off the water.

You have to both make sure you're aiming towards the same thing. If one person wants something and the other person isn't as driven, it makes it hard on the partnership. You start blaming each other which is never good.

It's something that takes time. You can't just get in a boat with someone and be great straight away. It takes a lot of time to get used to each other. You need to learn how the other person reacts to certain situations.

RYG: What are your goals for the future?

HM: Over the next couple of years we need to get to grips with the 470, which is the boat we've just moved into. We need to try and move up into the top 10 or 20 in the world. By 2012 we need to be getting into the top 5 in the world. Hopefully we'll be selected for the Olympics. If we get selected the aim would be to win or to get a medal.

RYG: How do you stay focused on a long term objective like the 2012 Olympics?

HM: You always have your main goal which you're working towards. Each time you go sailing you'll have small things that you're working on. It helps to write these down. After the session we write down if we've achieved what we set out to, and what else we need to work on.

That way you've got something to look back at and you can see how you've improved in different areas. You can see what you need to work on. If you don't write anything down then you end up just plodding along. It helps you stay focused on the here and now rather than looking too far into the future.