Geelong paramedic and athlete Brenna Kean will be back on the global stage soon, for weightlifting’s Commonwealth Championships and World Championships.
The former will take place in Fiji next week (17-21 September), with the World Champs to follow in Bahrain this December (4-15).
For Brenna, the competitions will mark a return to the international stage after finishing the latest Olympic quad.
Brenna competing for Australia.
“My last international competition was the final Olympic qualifier in Thailand in April, where I just missed out on a spot for Paris,” she said.
“It was a pretty slim shot – we had very limited spots and we’re not just competing against Australia for weightlifting, we’re competing for a continental spot.”
Brenna only began competitive weightlifting in 2021.
Just the following year, she scored her highest achievement to date – fifth place in the 59kg event at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“That was actually my second ever international competition,” she said.
“My first one was the Commonwealth Games trials at the start of 2022 in Singapore.”
The paramedic’s quick ascent through the ranks of the sport came off the back of significant sport and fitness experience since childhood.
Brenna grew up as a competitive swimmer, before stopping to prioritise her paramedicine studies, then joined a gym which led to a brief wade into the world of powerlifting, then into CrossFit once she’d begun her career as a paramedic.
“I fell in love with CrossFit and the weightlifting side of it,” she said.
“After a couple of years, a coach reached out and asked if I’d thought about trying a weightlifting competition.
“I did a novice competition to see how I liked it and ended up winning, and it snowballed from there.”
Brenna had become a paramedic at Ambulance Victoria (AV) in 2017, after joining the organisation as an Ambulance Community Officer (ACO) while completing her studies in 2016.
ACOs are trained to provide advanced first aid and employed by AV on a casual basis to work on-call in rural and remote communities where the ambulance caseload is low.
Brenna and her dog Hank, at work at AV.
“I worked as an ACO in Anglesea for about six months before I graduated, then I landed a position as a Graduate Ambulance Paramedic in Lara,” Brenna said.
“I then worked in the metropolitan region for a few years before I went back to Geelong where I’m based now.”
Brenna said the move back to her home region of Barwon South-West has made a big impact on her ability to find balance between her sport and work as a paramedic.
“When I first started competing in CrossFit and weightlifting, I was working in metro and it was busy so I was training after work, before night shifts, after night shifts,” she said.
“I was not prioritising my sleep and it was pretty tough, but it was what I wanted to do to become competitive.
“Getting my position in Geelong really helped with work-life balance because I didn’t have to commute up to Melbourne anymore and the workload is different down this way.
“Going into the Commonwealth Games in 2022, I required some roster flexibility which helped me prioritise my training hours and work my roster around that.
“I’ve carried on with that through the Olympic quad and AV have been really helpful with organising it and allowing me to prioritise my competitions while I’m young enough and able to.”
Brenna with AV’s first Peer Support Dog, Bruce.
Brenna said it’s still a juggling act that requires a lot of organisation and forward-planning, but she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Most people will think I’m crazy for doing it all but it’s what it takes to be a self-funded athlete,” she said.
“I’ve always loved sport, I’m passionate about fitness and feeling good and pushing myself.
“But I think elite sport gives you that extra drive to always want to do your best and be the best that you can be.
“The jump from everyday fitness to elite is the hours that’s put in and the dedication, and I love that side of it.”
Brenna said weightlifting has provided benefits to her work as a paramedic, and vice-versa.
“In terms of being able to manage stress, sport has been an outlet for me but it has allowed me to better deal with stressful situations on the job as well,” she said.
“It’s a hard job and it’s a hard sport that I’m doing so I think both have taught me a lot of dedication.
“And overall, it’s health and wellness – I work in healthcare and I’m doing a sport that’s going to help me long-term to look after my body.”
