Marissa Meandro has dreams. Big, big dreams.

The challenge, the 23 year-old Sudbury native is beginning to realize, is when her academic / career pursuits (medicine or health care field) infringe upon her athletic passion of karate, making any remaining goals less and less likely.

Meandro is not the first athlete to encounter this dilemna - nor will she be the last.

All of which does not make it a whole lot easier when that forks in the road inevitably arrives.

"It's challenging after identifying as an athlete my whole life and now looking to pursue a career where it will consume close to 100% of my time," said the graduate of the Health Promotions program at Laurentian who has represented Canada in Series A events in Egypt, Portugal and Turkey in recent years.

"I am still at a point where I am working towards Medical School, so I can still pursue karate," Meandro added. "But I do understand that I will have to walk away from my sport, soon."

"I can still be involved in other aspects, but I will have to walk away from the competition side. That's tough to think about. There's so much more that I would like to try and do in the sport."

It's a situation made none easier given that fact that she forged forward throughout Covid, despite missing her final year of competitive junior eligibility. "I could train by myself most of the time anyways," she said. "It really didn't impact me too much."

Workouts were maintained. Meets, not so much.

"Getting back into competition, everyone was a little rusty at the start," she said. "I felt kind of out of whack, for sure."

Then came senior trials in Calgary - and a breakthrough bronze medal performance from the northern Ontario representative.

"I remember it so vividly," said Meandro. "There were no spectators allowed. My dad was there, but he wasn't watching in the venue. He was watching on-line for the hotel room. It was such a milestone for me."

Truth be told, the convergence of the pandemic along with the natural life progression that Meandro would endure simultaneously gave way to a very different athlete - and a very different person.

"I think a lot of it came from maturing as an athlete, everything ranging from conditioning to what you do in your day to day life to allow for recovery time, all the way to those small details like the motion of your hips, just a smidge over to get that snap."

"I learned a lot during Covid," Meandro continued. "I think everybody did. It made me appreciate sports a lot more, just being grateful to be able to do what I do. Even after the pandemic, every single competition I was going to was a new learning experience."

Marissa Meandro was learning about herself.

"I figured out the physical preparation much better," she said. "I do so much better with proper rest and hydration compared to when I was putting in like eight hours of training a day. I noticed such a big difference in my performance."

Given all of this, it's easy to understand why the Sudbury woman who states unequivocally that she ranks in the top three in her particular class of kata contenders in the country would like to hold on until she can no more.

"I am still kind of in a limbo phase," said Meandro with a smile. "Provincial selections start soon; I should be good to nationals next year - but playing it by ear beyond that."

In the end, she will most certainly follow her dreams - be they athletic or otherwise.