Welsh Interview with the sportswoman Non Evans

Description

Non Evans is a sportswoman who has competed internationally in judo, weightlifting, rugby and wrestling.

Below is a full English transcript of her interview for the Following the Flame project with Phil Cope on 22 December 2010.

NON EVANS
a fighter’s tale

My name is Non Evans. I was born on 20 June 1975 in Morriston in Swansea. I was brought up in a small village in West Wales called Pontarddulais, which is near Llanelli, and I went to a Welsh-speaking primary school in Llangennech. I currently live in Cardiff.

i want muscles!

My parents were sporty as children but never competed at a higher level. My father played schoolboy rugby, my mother played hockey, but I was born with the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck, three times. My mother says, “She hasn’t stopped moving since”.

I was definitely born to do sport. There’s pictures of me as a child in shorts and a vest and my sister in dresses with long hair. I’ve got short hair, and I’m pulling my sister around the garden in her tricycle with a rope, saying, “I want muscles!” … when I’m three years old. I used to run around my parents’ garden and my sister would time me doing laps, like the interval training I still do.

The school I went to wasn’t particularly sporty, so I took up judo in Pontarddulais Judo Club when I was about ten or eleven, and before the judo I used to do acrobatics with Bynea Acrobatic Club which was quite well known back in the ’80s. We went on TV programmes, such as Blue Peter and Going Live with Philip Schofield and Gordon the Gopher. We used to go all over the country, but I got a little bit big for acrobatics and that’s when I took up judo. I competed in the Welsh Championships up until I was eighteen when I came to university in Cardiff. And that’s when I picked up a rugby ball for the first time, and I’ve played rugby ever since.

Winning

In St Michaels, my secondary school in Llanelli, I used to play tennis. I used to win the tennis tournaments every year, although I was very small. In judo, I won competitions from day one, became Welsh Champion straight away. I was the youngest to compete in the Commonwealth Judo Championships, at the age of sixteen. I was a very competitive person. My mother said I was a naughty child but I don’t think I was. I was just busy and couldn’t sit still.

Discovery

I’ve just written my autobiography, and there’s a big piece about Ian Lewis in my book. Unfortunately, he died last year. I remember going to Pontarddulais Judo Club. He was a ‘brown belt’ at the time and, before training, he’d always be there doing his sit-ups and press-ups and conditioning training. My father was a doctor, my brother is a doctor, and I was just running around and fighting people. My father and mother wanted me to go into the more academic side of things. One day, Ian Lewis went to my father’s house. He knocked on the door and said, “Your daughter is really good at judo. She’s got the Welsh Championships this weekend and I think you should support her”. He was the first person, also, who took me running. I didn’t used to do running as part of my training and he used to take me sprint-training up the mountain, up near Pontarddulais, and he used to help me work on aspects of fitness which I wasn’t aware of. He said to me that I had become too good for Pontarddulais Judo Club, outgrown it, and he took me down to Steadman’s Judo Club in Llanelli, a very famous club. Steadman is known as a guru, and he’s got an MBE and everything, and he took me to Steadman’s. That’s where my judo developed and I became a champion.

every day of the year

I’ve always loved training, although it’s very difficult trying to compete at the highest level and also holding down a full-time job. Lots of people think I’m a professional athlete but I’m not, unfortunately. I work full-time. The hardest thing for me is fitting everything in. I get up early every morning to do my training, and then go to work, and then train every evening, so I’m constantly tired. I don’t have time for a social life because my whole diary is full, from six o’clock in the morning until ten o’clock at night. The only down time I have is when I sleep. To me, it’s become a bit of an obsession. If I don’t train, then, I probably feel guilty. When you speak to top athletes, most feel the same. I think, if you’re going to achieve, it has to be an obsession. You have to push yourself to the limit and train on Christmas Day, every day of the year, if you want to be the best.

against the odds

I don’t think women get the recognition we deserve. If I was a man, I’d be a professional rugby player and I’d probably be a millionaire by now. But, as a woman in sport, it’s always a battle. My autobiography is called Against The Odds, because for a woman to achieve in sport and get the recognition that I’ve had, it’s a battle, trying to succeed in a man’s world. Women’s rugby will probably never be professional, definitely not in my time. The England women’s rugby team gets some funding towards the World Cup, etc., but everybody has to work.

I’m probably going to retire from international rugby this year. I haven’t been asked by the Welsh Rugby Union to be an ambassador for the women’s game, to be a role model for youngsters in Wales. You can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of well-known female athletes in Wales, and we need role models and we need ambassadors. I just find that a little bit strange when sport is really being pushed now by the government, by the Assembly, for schools, for children, for girls, for youngsters. I really think I’ve got a lot to give back. But it’s difficult to know how to do that if you’re not approached.

Judo

Judo was my main sport from a very young age. With judo, people tend to peak quite young, and I competed in three Commonwealth Championships, and won two silver medals – never a gold, unfortunately. I’ve got lots of highlights, competing in Commonwealth Championships all over the world. Judo was left out of the Commonwealth Games, so suddenly they held a Commonwealth Judo Championships in Mauritius. Nobody was complaining about that. I got to the final. I used to fight under 61 kilos for the judo but this particular year, even though I’d won the Welsh Championships and was Welsh Champion at 61kg (I think I was British Champion at the time, as well), they decided to pick another girl in 61s and put me up a weight category to the 66s, which sounds ridiculous now considering I’d just fought in Delhi under 55 in the wrestling. So, I was very much an underdog, but I managed to win all my fights. In a way, it was slightly easier fighting 66s rather than 61s, because I was that much faster than all the other girls, and they were also taller than me, so I had a lower centre of gravity. You could get underneath them. I won my first fight, won my second fight, won my third fight, got to the quarters, semis, and next thing, I was in the final. I came up against the English girl and it was a really good fight. I went for it and then she caught me and threw me, and she won outright, no arguments there. But to win a silver medal in a weight category that wasn’t mine against bigger girls was probably the highlight of my judo career.

Rugby

I think I’ve always been a little bit of an individual athlete. From a very young age, I enjoyed individual sports. Nobody can let you down. If you win, it’s down to you, and if you lose, it’s down to you, and the more effort you put in, the more reward you get out. Although I’ve thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the rugby over the years, I have been very frustrated playing in a Welsh team that perhaps hasn’t been that successful. I trained a hundred per cent and gave everything to my rugby, and practised my skills, my passing, my kicking, whereas other girls in the team perhaps weren’t putting as much effort in, and then we’d lose games.

I think the nature of the position I play, fullback – you stand at the back on your own – perhaps that’s the best place for me, out of the way at the back. It’s probably the most individual position on the field. But, in saying that, I’ve loved being part of the Welsh rugby team. All my best friends are from the rugby team. I’ve travelled the world with rugby. I’m probably recognised in Wales more for my rugby than any other sport because of the nature of the country we live in. I play the most popular sport in the country. I’ve been to New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, all over, playing rugby. Probably one of the best experiences was playing for the World XV. I was the only Welsh player to be selected in 2003, two test matches against the world champions New Zealand, played at Eden Park, fullback. That’s probably the pinnacle of my rugby career.

But also beating England for the first time ever, the season before last. Wales had never beaten England in the history of women’s rugby, in twenty-two years of trying, and when you look at how small a nation we are and the resources we have compared to England, it’s very much a David and Goliath situation. It came down to the last kick of the game. It was 15-13 to England and we got a penalty. I take the kicks at goal and the referee said, “There’s no time for a line out, no time for a scrum”. So, you either tap and go and try to score a try, or you take the points. It wasn’t the most difficult kick in the world but it was the fact that it was the last kick of the game. If it went over, we beat England for the first time ever; if I missed, we lost!

The captain said, “Do you want to take it?” I said, “Okay”, and stepped up and, thank goodness, it went straight through the posts, and then the referee blew his whistle. I didn’t hear the whistle go because I got mobbed by the rest of the team jumping on top of me. We won 16-15, and it really has put Welsh women’s rugby on the map. We had more coverage probably after that game than we’ve ever had, and to beat the old enemy and the manner in which we beat them, by a point, was absolutely brilliant. I still have nightmares now that I miss that kick but, thank goodness, it went over.

Weightlifting

I just used to love lifting weights in the gym. I used to do clean and jerks and snatch, and one day someone came up to me and said, “You’re lifting a lot of weight, there. How much do you weigh?”. And I said, “About 57, 58 kilograms”. I was lifting way over my body weight and he said, “You’ll probably qualify for the Commonwealth Games if you went to the Welsh Championships”, and, being a competitive person, I thought, “Well, I’ve nothing to lose”. So I went to the Welsh Championships and won it, went to the British Championships and won it, and qualified for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. But it was difficult in Manchester, because I was doing the judo and the weightlifting. Doing two sports in one Games is one of the hardest things I’ve had to do, but I wasn’t going to give up the opportunity to lift for my country and fight for my country, so I did it.

Weight-lifting is a very different experience to judo and wrestling, because you’re not fighting against anybody else. With weight-lifting, it’s just you and the bar. You know what you can lift in the gym, so, when you go into a competition, it’s very strange how you can lift more. You always put a little bit more on. One competition, probably the toughest competition I lifted in, was out in Greece where weight-lifting is a huge thing. For some reason, that day, I lifted about five kilograms more than I’d ever lifted before. I was going for my second lift – which was also going to be a personal best – and I lifted the bar and it went up really easily, and, as I went to jerk the bar up, it whacked me in my chin. I actually chipped a bone and the weights fell on the floor, obviously a no-lift. So, my third lift, I had to go out and lift the same weight again which, psychologically, was very, very difficult because I knew I’d whacked myself in the chin with a bar just before. I used to get quite nervous with the weightlifting because you could easily make a fool of yourself … and I had on that particular day. But I managed to do the third lift. I did a personal best. I won a silver medal out in Greece which was full of champion weight-lifters from all over the world.

Wrestling

The wrestling is obviously my newest sport. I only took it up this year. I’d had enough of rugby, needed a change. My old judo coach, Alan Jones, had set up the Welsh wrestling team and, when we used to do judo, we’d quite often take our jackets off and just wrestle. Judo and wrestling are very similar, similar techniques, you score in a similar way, so it wasn’t as if I’d plucked a brand new sport out of the air. My aim was to qualify for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, so every competition I went to was a pressure competition, because I had to win every competition I entered, or at least win a medal. Probably the toughest one was the Welsh Championships which, compared to my other sports, is probably not as big, but I had to win in my first year as a wrestler in order to get that title of Welsh Champion and then do all the other qualifiers for Delhi. Wrestling is very tactical, but, when I fought in that first competition, I was like a bull in a china shop. I was trying to batter everybody and win every point. I absolutely killed myself. I’ve never been so physically exhausted in my life, but I won every fight. After that, I became a lot better tactically and learnt how to pick up points and not wear myself out, because six minutes of fighting is very tough. But I did it, and managed to qualify for Delhi. To lose out on a bronze medal by a point, though, was probably one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to deal with. Getting to Delhi was hard in the first place. Making my weight was very hard, making 55 kilos, because we had the rugby World Cup in August when my weight went up to about 59/60 kilos, so I had to drop four and a half kilos. The scales in Delhi were heavy so I had to drop an extra half a kilogram. But the most disappointing for me was the draw. Wrestling is all about the luck of the draw. You weigh in and there’s like a roulette wheel on the computer screen. You press a button and it lands on a number and one fights two and three fights four, etc. The Indian girl had already weighed in and she was number six, so I wanted any number in the bottom half of the draw or the top half that wasn’t number five.

I pressed the button and what came up? Number five. So I lost to the Indian girl only by points. She went on to win gold; I went on to the fight for bronze and got to the last fight against the Nigerian girl and only lost by a point in the third round. She just pushed me out of the area, but, to be honest, although I’d only lost by a point, I’d never really looked like winning; she was probably the strongest person I’ve ever fought against. Look at the photographs of me fighting her. If you took me out of the picture, you’d think it was a man. I’ve got muscles but I’ve never seen a woman with such strength and definition in her muscles. There was no technique involved: all she did was grab me, hold me and then push me out of the area to get a point. It was more like Sumo wrestling! She had complete control, although she didn’t throw me or pin me. She knew exactly what she was doing to win that point and win the fight. It was really disappointing as I’m probably never going to compete in the Commonwealth Games, again. It would have been lovely to win a medal for Wales, but considering I only took up wrestling this year and it was just after the World Cup, to get a fourth place, I can’t be too disappointed.

double trouble

I became the first person in the Commonwealth to compete in two separate sports at the same Games. You’ve got people who’ve switched sports in the Olympics and Commonwealths. There was an athlete who went from cycling to rowing or something like that, but to do separate sports in the same Games was a record. It was very tough because I was weight-lifting under 63 kilograms and I was fighting with the judo under 57 kilograms. I was weight-lifting and trying to become stronger and obviously the more weights you lift the bigger your muscles become, and then I was dieting to get my weight down for the judo. It was absolutely ridiculous. Luckily, the judo came first and then the weightlifting. If it had been the other way round, I really would have struggled. I dieted to make 57 kilograms and I remember I weighed in on the Wednesday morning at 56.1 kilos, fought in the judo all day, and the next morning I weighed in at 62.8 in the weightlifting. Because your body is so dehydrated and you’ve starved yourself and haven’t had much fluid, your body is like a sponge and soaks up all the fluid, so when I weight-lifted I was nearly five kilos heavier. I think it took me months to recover from that. It really did take it out of me.
I do make my life very difficult for myself. People often ask me, “Why do you put yourself under so much pressure?” and if I could answer that question I think I’d be a lot happier person. I can’t sit back and be second best. I’ve always wanted to push myself to achieve.

I’m not happy just playing rugby for Wales. I want to be the best player for Wales and I want to win all the fitness tests and I want to kick all the points and score all the tries. It’s difficult because I constantly put myself under pressure and, even in my life outside sport – I work as a medical rep for a pharmaceutical company and I sell a drug for rheumatoid arthritis – every year, I put myself under pressure to have the best sales figures in the UK, and if I don’t finish as number one, and win all the prizes and accolades, I’m very disappointed.

fluffy pink clouds
People who don’t know me and who see me, perhaps on television or see me competing in sport, often think I’m a very confident person. Arrogant is the word that’s been used. I think that if you compete in sport, you have to have a slight arrogance, that competitive side, to do well. But, actually, I’m very, very soft. I don’t like arguments. I like looking at the world in fluffy pink clouds, and I don’t like nastiness in life. It probably is quite strange that I’ve chosen such violent and aggressive sports, but I just love fighting people and smashing people to the floor, pinning them down and arm-locking people, and strangling people, and handing people off and tackling people. It does give me a huge buzz, and from the moment I started doing sport, that physical side of it is probably what I’ve enjoyed most. The feeling I have when I walk off the mat, off the rugby field, after smashing people, is really good!

no regrets

I think I’ve achieved everything I want to achieve in my life. The only thing I haven’t done is competed at the Olympic Games. I’ve achieved everything I could have in rugby. I’ve played for the World XV, I’ve got the world record in tries for women’s rugby, and eighty-seven caps for Wales. Unfortunately, it’s not an Olympic sport, but I don’t have any regrets.

Wales

I’m very proud to be Welsh. Welsh is my first language. I speak Welsh at home with my family. Pulling on the Welsh rugby jersey is an amazing feeling and when you line up and sing the Welsh national anthem, even after playing for Wales all those times, it still sends shivers down my spine. I’ve competed for Great Britain over the years in lots of different sports and played for the World XV, but I think there’s something about playing for Wales. That’s why the Commonwealth Games is so special. It’s the only chance people get to compete for Wales in athletics, and if they win a gold medal, you hear the Welsh national anthem and you get to carry the Welsh flag around.

It’s frustrating sometimes being Welsh, though, because we are so narrow-minded and I think, if I was English and had succeeded in the sports I have in England, I would definitely be an ambassador and would be up there doing things to push women in sport. But Wales doesn’t make the most of our athletes, we don’t make the most of successes in Wales. I think it’s just the mentality of Welsh people sometimes. We’re so engrossed in our little country.

We are a very small nation and when you look at how successful we have been over the years in sport, it’s incredible. When you look at the facilities England have, the population England has, the funding, not just in terms of women’s rugby but in all sports, we have been very, very successful. The Welsh men’s rugby team, over the years, I think has beaten England more times than England has beaten Wales. Considering we are so small, that’s a brilliant achievement.
I think it’s the passion, the fact that people want to play for their country and want to do well for Wales. They’re willing to go that extra mile in order to compete for Wales.

london 2012

I think 2012 is going to be absolutely brilliant because it’s London and it’s a home Games for us. Even if you’re Welsh, it’s still a home Games, and I think you’ll see a lot of Welsh athletes doing really well, the established athletes such as Christian Malcolm and Dai Greene, those household names, but also a lot of youngsters coming through, as well. We won medals in the swimming pool for the first time in Delhi, medals on the cycling track for the first time in a long time, and these girls who did so well in Delhi are only eighteen years old, so by the time 2012 comes around, they are going to be twenty or twenty-one, and they are going to be hitting their peak.

My aim was to try to qualify for 2012, in wrestling, but even if you’re the British number one, it doesn’t mean you’re going to go to the Olympic Games. You have to qualify and be ranked in the world. At the moment, they haven’t given us what we need to do to qualify. The frustrating thing about the wrestling is the British coach is Ukrainian. There’s a lot of Ukrainian athletes training full-time in Manchester who are going to be ‘British’ by 2012, and I’ve been told the only way I will qualify and get a chance to compete is if I move to Manchester and train full-time up there, and that’s not going to happen. I’ve got a mortgage to pay, I’ve got a really good job. It’s very frustrating that I haven’t got that opportunity to try and qualify for 2012 by living in my home and carrying on with my job. I think deep down I’m perhaps going to retire.

sport number five?

I’m not looking for a fifth sport. It’s the first time ever in my life that I don’t know exactly where I’m going. My life has been mapped out every year. I’ve known what I was doing month on month. I could easily carry on playing rugby for Wales. I’m fit. I’m healthy. I’m playing probably the best rugby I’ve ever played, but, after the World Cup in 2010, eight to ten girls have retired from the Welsh squad. A few have gone traveling, the coaches have gone, the backroom staff has gone. They’ve just advertised for new coaches, so if I did carry on playing for Wales this year, I think I’d find it very frustrating, because it’s going to be brand new players, youngsters coming through from the under-20 squad, and it’s probably going to be a frustrating few years in terms of results.

So, I think, I’d rather finish at the top and look back at a very successful career rather than continue playing for the sake of playing. But, in saying that, you’re a long time retired from sport, so if I’m still capable and enjoying it, then perhaps I’ll carry on. Enjoyment is the key. I’ll still do sevens rugby. I played in Dubai Sevens this year. I play touch rugby for Wales. There’s a touch rugby World Championship this summer, so I’ve got all that to look forward to.

ready to finish?

I was talking to Linford Christie the day before yesterday, and he said to me, “Make sure you’re ready to finish”. I’ve been really depressed since I came back from Delhi. There’s a girl who plays rugby for Wales and she’s got 112 caps or something, and about the last fifty caps she’s had are off the bench, a minute here and two minutes there, and she drives down every week. She lives in Ipswich or somewhere and she’s about thirty-eight, and I think it’s quite sad. I’ve played eighty-seven games for Wales and I’ve started and finished eighty-six of them. It was only when I broke my leg, I didn’t. I don’t want to be one of those people, “Oh, there’s Non Evans. She’s still carrying on”, kind of thing.

The three words I would use to describe myself would be competitive, self-critical and obsessive.