NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Bella Hindley '19 had a clear plan following her outstanding swimming career at Yale. She was going to spend a year training for the Olympic Trials with the goal for earning a spot on the English team that would compete in Tokyo in the summer of 2020. After that, it would be off to medical school.
 
All appeared on course when the calendar turned to March, 2020. Hindley was coming off an outstanding performance at a TYR pro series competition in Iowa.
 
"Having gone best times in all my events at the competition in Iowa, I was so excited for trials and believe I was in the best shape physically and mentally leading into it," she said.
 
Then, everything changed. The COVID-19 pandemic shut down the swimming world and put Hindley's quest on hold. She returned to her native London from Tennessee where she was training with the Tennessee pro group. Her desire to compete in the trials remained but there were obstacles. She did not have access to a pool during the lockdown, so she purchased a small above ground pool and tethered herself to a cord. She added running and cycling to her routine and was pleasantly surprised by the results.
 
"While it was very frustrating not being in the water, I think the break was actually very useful to get mentally stronger and to really put everything in perspective," she said. "So often we're consumed by everything that's happening in our lives, and so the break really taught me to stop, adjust my perspective towards the sport and use the time to work on some little things outside the water that I normally wouldn't have the time to do."
 
The Tokyo Olympics were rescheduled for the summer of 2021 and restrictions have eased so Hindley is back in the pool training for the trials, which are now set for April of 2021. To further prepare, she recently joined Iron, a Hungarian professional team in the International Swimming League. The season starts in October and runs through mid-November.
 
"The way in which I was selected for Team Iron was through social media," she explained. "I reached out to most teams through their Instagram accounts, explaining that I had recently turned professional and was training for the Olympics with the Tennessee pro group. Some ISL teams then sent me an email address to which I sent a little explanation about who I was and what my times were. The conversation then went from there and I was lucky enough to be chosen by Team Iron! Despite Team Iron being a Hungarian team, athletes can be chosen from anywhere in the world which I think is a really exciting aspect of the League."
 
Hindley, who hopes to return to Tennessee to train after the ISL season, enjoyed a remarkable career at Yale. She is the school record holder in both the 50 and 100 freestyles and the 100 backstroke, was the Ivy League champion in the 50 freestyle in each of her four seasons and was a three-time 100 freestyle Ivy champion. As a senior, she earned the Career High Point Swimmer Award at the Ivy League Championship. Her success with the Bulldogs gave her the confidence to continue her career and pursue professional and Olympic opportunities.
 
"Swimming at Yale prepared me immensely for this challenge," Hindley said. "I am so grateful to have had such incredible and passionate coaches who made me the best student-athlete I could be and gave me the confidence that I could take the sport further."
 
And she had immediate success after graduation, competing at Nationals in England with her hometown club team, traveling to Italy for the Bolzano International meet, her first event as a professional, and taking part in the TYR pro series with the Tennessee Pro Group.
 
"Throughout my entire swimming career, I have always had the pressure of managing swimming and academics concurrently," Hindley said. "This past year I was excited to see what I could do when I no longer had the added academic commitments and I could dictate all of my time to swimming. More than anything, I think Yale gave me the mental strength and toughness to be a professional athlete."