Arista Siebrits –Type 1 Tennis Star In The Making
Arista, thank you so much for joining me today! Jumping right into the discussion, can you tell us about your passion for tennis?
I started tennis at the age of nine – a good friend of mine invited me to join her practice session and I loved it since the very first second. I think a big part of my passion for the sport lies in the competition - planning, strategizing, executing as close to perfection as you can possibly get – I love the adrenaline rush of competing.
Can you share with us your experience being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes while you were a professional tennis player?
Being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes came as a great shock to both my loved ones and I. T1D was something we knew nothing about, therefore not at all expecting it. It was a very intense moment in my life, but I also believe a very defining moment. At first I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do what I love again, but when I heard that I could, the joy of that news definitely overcame the shock. There were a lot of things to learn and get used to, but it was very important for me to accept and handle it as soon as possible, in order to live my life to the fullest.
Did your diabetes diagnosis affect your game at all?
I think Type 1 Diabetes plays a much bigger role in my entire preparation for matches than it does in my actual game. If your preparation is good, it is very rare for the T1D to hinder your game. You have to be very disciplined when it comes to the right food, how much you push yourself, and most importantly, your emotions. The smallest thing can completely mess up your blood sugar for an entire day, so you have to think wisely. Of course, it’s all trial and error, meaning you have to take chances and figure out how your body reacts in order to make tournaments a smooth operation - that’s what practice is there for. My team and I always like to say: T1D makes it difficult now, but in the long-run it will make me the better player, because I will know how to deal with the tough situations – it’s all about decision-making.
How did you get your ‘mind’ back into the game after diagnoses?
The answer is simple: my mind never left the game. There wasn’t time to stop and think about what has happened; sometimes you just need to go do what you have to do. Thinking turns into overthinking, and overthinking creates doubt. A week after my diagnosis, I was back on court. I played five minutes a day and no more – I lost all my muscle and was weak, but it was crucial for me to get back on court as quick as possible. For me it was about seeing myself back where I was, competing against the best in the world. A month after my diagnosis I won my first two tournaments again – u16. Three months after my diagnosis, I represented my country at the u12 World Championships. Those first few weeks after my diagnosis were the most important- it was fight or flight; if I wasn’t going to come back now, I was never going to.
If you can talk to newly diagnosed T1D children – what advice would you give people who have concerns about managing diabetes with an active lifestyle?
Being active is going to save your life. It most certainly saved mine on several occasions. I know this sounds super-cliché, but you only live once- why throw it away because of a condition? In the beginning it will be really difficult and you will struggle, but when you get activity and blood sugar mildly under control together, the results will be life-changing. Being active does not only open your beta cells (what you have left ha-ha) to produce more insulin and regulate your blood glucose, it releases a feel-good hormone that makes you feel ten times better. It allows you to go into a world where you can forget about your condition, even if it is for thirty seconds, and is physically very beneficial. Don’t stop being active – learn to manage your blood sugar while being active even if it takes a long time. In the end, it will bring the best out of your mind, body, and spirit.
You travel a lot. What are your biggest challenges when you travel and when you move between different time zones?
Travelling while managing your blood glucose is very hard, but not impossible. When I started travelling again after my diagnosis, especially after my honeymoon phase, it was a complete nightmare. My blood glucose would spike and not come down, I wouldn’t be able to get the food I needed, and I would drop suddenly after a long day of travelling between places and it would leave me feeling terrible. Another challenge was travelling with my insulin; it had to stay cool and protected and then there was the airport security, permanently pulling us off to inspect my insulin and my needles. Soon, we learned to pack the insulin in the correct way and made sure we had all the official letters to allow me to pass through a country. Concerning my blood sugar, it wasn’t that easy to learn how to manage it, but after a lot of mistakes and trials, we finally found a better way of coping with it. These methods include lots of water, always having different-amount-of-carb snacks with you, and trying to do some physical activity while waiting for transportation to come.
What is your ‘blue sky’ dream in tennis?
I have three main goals in tennis:
- To be a better player every day.
- To play college tennis for Stanford University.
- To become the number one singles and doubles player in the world.
How did i-Port Advance help you in your daily diabetes management?
The i-Port was a great help in managing my Type 1 Diabetes. I never wanted a pump, but in order to manage my blood glucose, some days I had to take insulin up to every hour. Having an i-Port allowed me to do that, without not wanting to because I didn’t want to puncture myself with needles anymore. The iPort really helped me regulate my blood sugar.
What do you like most about the i-Port Advance?
I love that it can stay in me for up to three days. This means I only prick myself with a needle (excluding finger pricks) once every three days, which is amazing!
Posted by Ronel Hentschel