Belinda Hocking
Current role: Police Officer
Current organsiation: Victoria Police
What sport did you hold a scholarship for at VIS: Swimming
Time as VIS athlete: 2012 - 2017
Tell us about your life after your time as an athlete at the VIS?
I was with the VIS towards the end of my career from 2012 until my retirement in 2017. I had previously been at the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport) and the VIS welcomed me with open arms. From helping me move interstate, set up all my training needs and getting me straight onto a career advisor to help start planning for the next phase of my life. I always knew that my career would end whilst at the VIS and it was really important to me to have guidance on finding what my life after sport would look like. I studied Primary School Teaching and did an Advanced Diploma of Event Management during my career and post-retirement. The VIS connected me with people at the Victorian Olympian Council where I started working after I stopped swimming.
Retiring was probably one of the hardest times of my life. I was lost as to what I wanted to do and who I was, even though I had studied during my career. I continued to work at the Victorian Olympic Council and plan my wedding to my husband, Max. During 2017 and 2018, I tried to work in as many different industries I could to understand what it was that I wanted to do after being Belinda ‘The Swimmer’. One day it came to me whilst sitting at traffic lights on the way to work. I heard sirens and a police car came speeding past, I felt a sense of adrenaline that I hadn’t felt since I competed. I went home that night and applied to become a Police Officer.
I have always said that the Police Force is a lot like sport. You have a team that you work with. You have a coach that you can rely on and that challenges you. Every day is different, you never know what to expect and you get that sense of adrenaline that sport always gave me. I finally found my career after my career. I have since had the greatest two little gifts of life who keep me on my toes, even more than my job, our sons Sonny and Spencer.
What’s the one career achievement you’re most proud of?
My greatest achievement was in 2016 when I made my third Olympic games. I had recently taken time out from swimming and thought about retiring in 2014. During that time I had much needed shoulder surgery, which I had continued to put off. In 2015 I decided that there were still things that I wanted to achieve in the sport, which drove me back in the water and trying for a third Olympics.
With 9 months until the Olympic Trials I remember saying to my coach, Rohan Taylor, "I will give you everything I have, if you give me everything you have in return". I was coming back from surgery and had taken close to a year off from swimming, yet I have never trained smarter in my life.
I went to the Olympic Trials and came 3rd in the 100m Backstroke, just missing the Olympic Team. Two days later I had the 200m Backstroke which I won and in a personal best time. I made my third Olympic Team. Everything from there was just a bonus.
What’s the most valuable lesson you learnt during your career as an athlete at the VIS?
You have to ask for help if you want or need it. It’s a simple lesson but one that I learned and still use to this day. We are always quick to judge and blame people (myself included) however we have to know when to ask. I found that the times I have asked, I have always received the help I’ve wanted or needed at the time. The VIS were always there for me when I needed during and post my career.
