From This Side
Sara Neto – the medical student in the WTA ranking
Among dozens of e-mails, there was an unread message that said:
"I would like to know if you might be interested in publishing an article about an athlete who trains in Cascais, at the Estoril tennis club; she is ranked in the national top 10 and is the number 1 in the qualification for the national FPT Masters, a competition that decides which are the 8 best national players. She's also a 6th-year medical student at the FMUL, and never failed to get a passing grade. She trains every day, balancing the faculty with her training sessions and competes almost every week, both at the national and at the international level. She could be an inspiration for many young people." – João Pedro (Sara's fitness coach)
Her name is Sara Neto and each day of her life is a perfect puzzle where no piece can fit even a millimetre from where it should be.
A student at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon, she says she gets discouraged in her studies when, due to some injury, she had to miss her training sessions. It's as if one thing no longer makes sense without the other. Is that easy? No, it's not easy at all. Sara wakes up at 6 a.m. and spends the early hours of the morning studying; then she trains between 9:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m., and at 2:00 p.m. she's already on her way to her curricular internship, at the Military Hospital, in Lumiar, while working for her thesis. By the end of the year, she will have to go to the Cascais Hospital and the Santa Maria Hospital to complete her internship.
She goes back to training later in the afternoon, saving her energy to study a little more until 11:00 p.m., when she goes to bed.
Currently in the 6th place of the Portuguese tennis ranking, she also managed to win 1 point in the WTA ranking, "this is the worldwide ranking of the professional tennis circuit, where all athletes "dream" to enter and progress. It's very competitive and demanding at all levels." She explains that she only goes on international trips when she is on holidays, when she can better manage her sports agendas and that, during the academic year, she only participates in national competitions, which force her to travel to Coimbra and Porto several times a month.
Whether in Portugal or abroad, she's constantly training and that's why she progresses. But this means that there are always choices to be made, "it means a lot of effort, and giving up a lot of things when it comes to my social and family life to be 100% available to play. I probably go for a night out twice a year; I barely see my friends."
Highly motivated by challenges, she admits that she has a "love/hate relationship" with tennis, which sometimes lead her to break down, "but those are just fewer good phases, when you need to be strong to bounce back, trust in the right people, and keep working until you see the results!"
And you can indeed see them; Sara Neto's success does not happen on its own and would not exist without the support of her tennis coach, Ricardo Cochicho, and a few brands that sponsor her with sports products and food supplements, while logistics and travel expenses are paid by her family and with the "little" money she earns by participating in tournaments. Sara also relies on institutional motivations, as the Faculty and the Estoril Tennis School adjust their schedules to her needs, to make sure that she doesn't fail either as a student or as an athlete. "The Professors at the two schools have helped me a lot and they change my schedules so I can follow the lectures, but I'm also very lucky to have friends who give me their notes and information when I miss school; there is an amazing spirit of mutual help!"
When we ask her what she hangs on to when things go wrong, Sara remembers a specific match, "in a tournament away from home, to which I had gone alone; it had taken me 5 hours to get there, I was almost losing and playing badly, with a defeated attitude! Then I remember thinking to myself: "so, you came all this way alone, you spend money and you get here and you lose in the 1st round?! No way!!" From that point on, I took hold of the match, I won it in 3 sets, and I actually won the tournament!"
Tennis and Medicine go hand in hand along her path. She knows that, precisely a year from now, she'll be taking another National Seriation Exam. She will be part of the first group that will face a new examination system that includes the Harrison, but also many other, more practical cases, she tells us. In the future she sees herself working in internal medicine, because she has to run around the emergency ward, and adrenaline is her best adviser. So, tennis will have to keep up with her main activity, even if, as she told us, this means that she has to review her competitive goals.
Sara is an inspiration to other medical students who often feel incapable of managing their time, but she's also an inspiration to those who want to give up when faced with the first adversity.
As for us, we can only wish the future Dr. Sara Neto can earn many points, whether in the WTA or not.
Joana Sousa
Editorial Team