Poulos competed at the Surf Life Saving Illawarra branch carnival recently, which was made up of competitors from all surf life saving clubs in the region.

She came away with three gold medals in the beach sprints, the flags and the under 10 mixed relay. 

Poulos was then selected to be on the North Wollongong state team to go up to Swansea, Belmont for the stage age championships.

She competed with the best and most competitive clubs in NSW, from the QLD border right down to the Victorian border.

Poulos was one of 150 girls in the under 10s during the championships.

Throughout the competition, she was vying for a place in the final of the beach sprints. 

After working hard, Poulos got into the top eight and ran in the finals. 

She ended up with a silver medal, and beat club favourite Cronulla.

She just missed out on first place “by a hair”, as she ran in the outside lane which was considered to be the hardest lane to run in.

Poulos said she was happy to see her hard work pay off in the competition.

“It was really exciting, it was my first carnival,” she said. “It was really hard and there were some competitive girls.”

Poulos remained focus on improvement in the lead-up to the competitions.

This has included training in Wollongong twice a week in rain, hail or shine. “I’ve been training very hard. I’ve been practising in the park with drills, technique and sprints,” she said.

“I’d like to thank my coaches Rick Watkins and Ron Thompson. They’re very good coaches. That’s why I did so well.”