The most prominent tournament of 2018 remains for Swift Current wrestler Aleah Nickel, as she looks to round out a hardware-heavy past 12 months of wrestling.

The grade 11 student at SCCHS and member of the Swift Current Titans Wrestling Club will be headed across the Atlantic Ocean on Canada Day to represent her country at United World Wrestling's World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

"Words can't describe it, but I'm super pumped and stoked," Nickel shared. "Right now everything is kind of calm and settled, but in the back of my head and during training I'm like 'this is happening, this is coming soon'."

Nickel has enjoyed a season of prominence where, dating back to August 2017, she started her run of capturing four medals at varying levels.

Silver in 56kg division at 2017 Canada Summer Games
Gold in 60kg division at 2018 SHSAA Provincials
Gold in 61kg division at 2018 Juvenile Nationals
Silver in 61kg division at 2018 Pan-Am Championship in Guatemala City, Guatemala

The opportunity to represent her country once again and don the maple leaf is an opportunity that won't be getting old any time soon.

"To represent the country means a lot especially since I am kind of the only Saskatchewan athlete there. There's another one but he's from Flin Flon and is kind of more Manitoba," said Nickel, noting it's about a mix of self-improvement and national pride.

"Definitely just trying to go out there and do the best I can. It doesn't matter what really anybody thinks of me, it's more for how I can improve myself and make sure that Canada was represented well," she said.

Aside from the competition, it's another fantastic opportunity to see life and wrestling culture on a different continent.

"Going to different places is definitely great to experience different cultures," Nickel shared. "I love tasting their food even though I have to watch my weight, but afterwards I can go do what I want. Like in Peru (for the 2017 Pan-Ams) we got to do a training camp afterwards and it was great to see how the different countries wrestled and how they trained.

Nickel will be competing in the 61kg division of Women's Wrestling at the World Championship, and kicks off the qualifying round Thursday, July 5 at 10:30 a.m. - that will be 2:30 a.m. back home in Saskatchewan.

As the countdown to the competition continues, Nickel will be continuing to ramp up her training intensity.

"Basically what my coaches want is a week before is hard training, getting in a lot of scrimmage time, and making sure I'm physically prepared," she said. "Then the week of, it's more about perfecting the technique, making sure my head's in it, and what not. Right now I kind of have a few off days just because they understand my balance between school and wrestling."

"It is more technical right now, just to make sure I don't overwork myself. That week before I'm making sure I am prepared to face what I need to face."

The training and game-planning for World Championships won't necessarily include pre-scouting any of her competition, but Nickel says it's more of carrying a mental checklist into each match.

"Most of the time my coach and I set goals for myself. If I'm going into a match, I want to take three double-leg shots no matter what," she explained. "If I'm on the ground I want to either do an ankle lace or a gut wrench. I go out into the match with a game-plan. It doesn't matter what I've done at previous tournaments, it's what I want to do at this tournament."

For the time-being, and starting today, Nickel still has to round out the academic side of her high school year with a couple finals on the agenda before she's off for the summer.

Despite the common theme of students excited to escape for summer break, the balance of studying and training is much-needed relief from the intensity of a big tournament on the horizon.

"If I focus all into wrestling, then it feels like I build up and then I crash right before it actually happens. I get like 'Oh no, I can't do this - Oh no, I'm super nervous'," she said. "But, I use finals and wrestling to help each other. I study to get my mind off of wrestling but then I go and have a one hour training session to get a brain break from finals."

Flashing back nine years to the start of Nickel's wrestling career, she says the seven-year-old version of herself wouldn't have been able to envision this rapid growth.

"I probably didn't think I'd go this far. When I was four-ish I was in figure skating, when I was six it was hockey, when I was seven I joined wrestling - I hadn't really picked a sport that I liked," she said.

"So it was my second year of wrestling and I was like 'hmmm do I really like it? Yeah, I get to kind of slam some people, but is it really for me?' I stuck with it and now looking back I'm like 'Good job, good job me' (laughs). I definitely didn't think it'd bring me this far, let alone what's to come for my future."

And the future looks bright for the Swift Current product, who still has one more high school season left, before furthering her wrestling resume - a shot at the world's biggest stage is at the top of that list.

"I started wrestling when I was young and I went to the Winter Games, Western Canada Summer Games, Canada Summer Games - it's kind of been a process. I went to Peru for my first Pan-Ams, I've been to Japan, traveled around and got all these experiences," she explained.

"Now, this is the biggest competition I'll have been to, but it's focusing more for my future. I want to go to university to wrestle and I really want to go to the Olympics and I'm training for it and what not. So, it's about working my way to it, and being able to compete as best as I can for the future."