As the 2024 Olympic Games take place in Paris from 26 July to 11 August, we're featuring some of Ambulance Victoria's (AV) very own sporting stars.
Clyde North paramedic Anna Du represented Australia at both junior and senior levels before embarking on her career in paramedicine and said her experience as an international level table tennis player has shaped the way she works as a paramedic today.
Anna picked up table tennis through her family, quickly being noticed as a talent in the sport.
"My brother joined the local table tennis club in Dandenong after playing on our table in the garage," Anna said.
"He used to play with me on the tables between matches, then one of the coaches said I was pretty good and we went from there."
Anna representing Australia.
Anna progressed in the sport, making the junior national squad and having the opportunity to travel the world competing from a young age.
She said she loved the momentum-rollercoaster of table tennis matches.
"Table tennis is a very fast paced sport with very small margins for error," she said,
"I loved how exciting it was to play big matches where momentum shifts between players very quickly.
"But it's equally an incredibly frustrating sport!"
Anna retired from table tennis before commencing her paramedicine studies and in 2016 she became a paramedic at AV.
Having grown up in an elite sport environment, Anna said it taught her the skills to always strive for improvement which she now applies to her work as a paramedic.
Anna travelled the world playing table tennis, representing Australia at junior and senior levels.
"I always loved the process of training and fine-tuning, and when all of that translates to positive results it feels really rewarding," she said.
"The mindset of continuous analysis for areas of improvement and thinking about what could be done better really crosses over into the way I think about improving my practice as a paramedic."
The idea to work in the medical field stemmed from Anna's high school experience, where she loved learning about human biology.
"I always enjoyed the subject and on top of that, I really enjoy chatting to and meeting new people so something in the medical field seemed inevitable," she said.
"As to why I picked paramedicine specifically - I couldn't give you a good answer!
"Lucky guess I suppose, but I've never looked back.
"My favourite part of the job is getting to meet people from all walks of life and provide some comfort, reassurance and help on what we can assume is not their greatest day."
Anna became a paramedic at Ambulance Victoria in 2016.
