Tyler Rix: Swimming for Higher Shores : Melbourne Indymedia

The next plunge into a pool by 11 year old Tyler Rix will probably be infront of one or more cameras, as presentations of swiming advancements is made on screen in production of Ian Thorpe's temporary return to screens as a swimmer.

An appearance of Thorpe preparing to dive won't be the center of plotting it seems but a carefully written path of trials "of a small boy moving from humble beginnings to becoming a world swimming sensation" "a representation of a talented swimmer's journey to the world championships." but "The performance is not centred on Thorpie" according to Greg Bowman.

Try as some might to skip the journey-based scenes that will dominate the film, the charachter Rix plays need not depart quickly from our minds in the pursuit of personal reflection of a career one soaring. Thorpe is gone, off to do new trials in the acting scene, as is his main ambition now.

The prosecution of events for Tyler Rix's charachter are no doubt unlikely to be mixed with liberal amounts of positive and negative influences with the individual trait of perseverance in the face of friendly competition, tainted by the odd unscrupulous rival, to acheivement beyond peer expectations. It's an old story angle, but familiar to all who aim high in a human society.

Rix expresses recognisable feelings of cautious anticipation and external awareness of the performance expecation he's signed up for: "I'm getting nervous because it's getting so big and everything. I've got a weird feeling," he says. "At school, the teachers will be explaining something and I will start thinking about it and running through what I will be doing." (quotes from 'Thorpe tipped to make a splash diving into championship act', The Age, Daniella Miletic
March 14, 2007).

The last segment of this chapter of Tyler Rix's life has to be fair and broad in possibilities since our school years are the basis for life choices and singular proposals for advancement. Not all are laid on your lap a second time. Professional swimming has more than one lane to stroke up and try as teachers might to be more optimistic than objective analysis reveals of what the possibilities lie ahead for Tyler Rix in the industry there's less to praise career advisors for on this issue than Rix might be aware. Intelligence hopefully ensures he isn't swept off to one of the lands above the Magical Faraway Tree to return only to adults with their back to him, locked school gates eerilly gloating at his dissapointed face.

There's a great deal to praise Master Rix for now and will be in the future. The next year's maze he's to walk to the center of won't give all options for consideration, but while the sun pre-emptively dawns on professional swimming's vacancy we can be assured from his enthusiasim that secondary school will mark a new beginning with a second chance in the background for application but with broader choices tied to greater rewards.