AUSTRALIA’S teen superfish Kyle Chalmers almost ruined his Dolphins swim team debut this year after his desire to play just one First XVIII AFL game for his South Australian school left him with a broken wrist and torn ankle ligaments.
Chalmers, 17, revealed from Australia’s staging camp in Doha before the world titles starting August 2 that he has only just conquered a pair of injuries sustained making his first team debut for Immanuel College last May.
The dual sporting champion desperately wanted to play just one senior game this year, his dad former AFL star Brett was the coach, but chipped a bone in his wrist after just five minutes but played on only to roll his ankle later in a horror afternoon of footy.
Embarrassed by the situation, Chalmers tried to conceal his ankle injury for a few weeks from his swim coaches before finally getting the issue treated with cortisone injections to ease the swelling.
His coaches have since banned Chalmers from playing football again as he pursues his Olympic swim dreams starting at the world titles in the 4x100m freestyle relay.
“I would’ve been pretty upset (to miss the world titles), but I think I had to play a game of First XVIIIs at school,†Chalmers said.
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