'I've completed uni assignments at the Paralympic Village.' Anu Francis on being a professional athlete.

Thanks to our brand partner, Charles Sturt University

If you ask Anu Francis to describe herself in a sentence, she has to take a moment to collect her thoughts. The problem, of course, is that she does so many things that it's hard to summarise it all.

"That's a great question," she told Mamamia. "I have so many titles." Just some of those titles  include Australian Paralympic triathlete and world champion, triathlon coach, disability support worker, and disability advocate — and as if that weren't enough, Anu is also currently studying a Masters in Exercise Physiology at Charles Sturt University.

Anu's life has certainly taken her to some unexpected places. "It's been a non-linear journey," she said. "I've just turned 30, and I've been at university full-time since finishing Year 12 — that's 12 years!"

When Anu received her first diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), she was on her way to becoming a vet. At the time, she didn't realise that the diagnosis would derail her dream of working with animals, but she was ultimately told that it was unlikely that she would be registered as a vet, even if she completed her qualification.

"Why am I working so hard to be in a profession that doesn't want someone like me in it?" She remembers thinking. "I left that childhood dream behind, and started thinking about what I wanted to do next. I thought, what do people with disabilities do? The most positive role models I saw were Paralympians, so I decided, that's my path." At the time, people diagnosed with EDS weren't eligible to be Paralympians, but Anu decided to investigate para-sport anyway. She had always been a sporty kid, until the symptoms of her EDS — which affects joint movement, among other things — began to slow her down.

She joined a local para-Badminton squad, and ended up competing at Nationals with the team. In the course of her badminton training, she was diagnosed with a further neurological condition — Dopa-Responsive Dystonia. That diagnosis explained a number of Anu's symptoms, which had been incorrectly attributed to cerebral palsy. It also meant that Anu was eligible to compete in the Paralympics.

Image: Supplied.

"At the time, I was getting into the triathlon space, where I met my exercise physiologist. He was a gym coach and ran a triathlon squad, and he said he would coach me. He's the one who got me to the Paralympics and trained me to be a World Champion — most importantly, he showed me how much I could improve my quality of life using exercise as medicine."

That coach encouraged Anu not only to be an elite athlete herself, but also to study exercise physiology. "He said, 'The industry needs you'," she recalled. This year Anu started at Charles Sturt to study her Masters flexibly.

That's on top of Anu's work — as a disability advocate, a disability support worker, and a triathlon coach. She schedules her paid work around her elite sporting commitments and her university workload.

So what does a day in the life of a woman with a hundred different titles actually look like — and how does Anu possibly balance it all?

"It's a bit of everything every day — it's all about consistency and having a good routine," she said.

"There'll be times where I'm away competing, I'll be factoring in that I won't have much time to sit around and do uni." Anu recognises that she's juggling a lot of balls: if that means doing an assignment in the Paralympic Village, then that's just what needs to be done. If it means taking a week off serious training to focus on uni exams, then she'll make a plan for how she can do that without entirely derailing all of her preparation.

"When it comes to uni exam time, I accept that I'm going to get one little training session in a day in that week — maybe a quick run, a short swim, a little bike ride. I'll prioritise uni for that week, but I'll try to get one exercise thing each day."

A "normal" week in Anu's world might be travelling to Japan or Montreal to compete in Triathlons. "The last three years I've been overseas competing for 3 to 4 months of the year," she told Mamamia.

Image: Supplied.

"Charles Sturt has been so good for this kind of flexibility — that's why I chose it. It's awesome — all of the course content is recorded, so if I can't go to live tutorials while I'm competing, it means that when I'm recovering I can watch everything I've missed.

"They awarded me Sportsperson of the Year; that really gives kudos to the uni in how they look after and respect para-athletes so well," she said. "The head of the sport program fought to have me included in uni sport Nationals when initially I couldn't race. Originally, people with disabilities didn't have a place in higher education sport, and I am passionate about making sure that they do."

Find everything you need to upskill or reskill at Charles Sturt University.

Feature image: Supplied.

Thinking about a career pivot?

You're 3 steps away from a change. With Charles Sturt University!

1. Explore your course options.

2. Prep for your pivot.

3. Study with support from application to graduation.

Get started study.csu.edu.au/career-change