With the phrase forefront in her mind, she won the Victorian high jump title every year as a junior, was a regular member of state teams at national championships and represented Australia at the world youth titles in 2009.

Standing 1.74m tall herself, the powerful combination of natural talent and positive thinking has helped Denise soar many times over a bar set well above her own head.

But the past four years have proven to be a bit of a leveller for the Eaglehawk YMCA athletics club member, who has battled on bravely as her performances plateaued.

In fact, she had not set a personal best since clearing 1.81m as a 17-year-old in 2009.

That was until April, when she leapt 1.82m at the Australian Open Championships in Sydney, claiming the silver medal and signalling her long-awaited return to top form.  

“It was such a great feeling to finally get that PB,” says Denise, now 21 and a third-year occupational therapy student at La Trobe Uni- versity in Bendigo. 

“It had been such a long time since I achieved that. When I equalled my PB of 1.81 at the Victorian open championships (in March), I thought I might be on the way back. 

“But I had been plateauing for so long. It’s quite frustrating, but you need to stick to it and keep a positive mindset.”        

Denise went into the national meet determined to break the PB drought.

Jumping out of her skin, she entered the competition at the starting height of 1.65m and was successful first go at each height she attempted. At 1.82m, she flew over on her first attempt to set a new PB.

“I instantly got goose-bumps,” she says of the instant she realised she had cleared the bar.

“I attempted another PB at 1.85, but I didn’t get it... just clipped the bar with my calf muscles, so if only they were a little bit slimmer!”

For all elite high jumpers, the higher they go the harder it is to keep on improving.

In Denise’s case, the decision to take 12 months off athletics to concentrate on her VCE a couple of years back probably hindered her short-term progress as well. 

But that time away also strengthened her resolve and brought her to a realisation: she is a high jumper and, despite the obstacles, she’s not going to throw in the towel.  

“When I had the year off, it was like I lost a part of my identity in a way,” she explains.

“It motivated me to get back into athletics because I knew that’s who I was and it’s what I wanted to do. High jumping is a part of me that I don’t want to lose.”

Denise grew up in Swan Hill and followed older siblings Daniel and Melissa into athletics. Her dad and coach, Warren Snyder, was also involved in the sport.

“I started doing what everyone else at little aths did, having a go at everything,” she recalls.

“I just had so much energy. Dad said I looked unco-ordinated and lanky, so I think he was a bit surprised I ended up having as much talent as it’s turned out!”

At her first state competition, Denise surprised her parents and herself by claiming gold in the under-9 high jump and bronze medals in the 400m and long jump.

It was the first of many accolades that culminated in her qualifying for the world youth titles in Bressanone, Italy.

“Getting the phone call to say I was in the team was the most exciting thing,” she says, “and getting the uniform sent home and trying it on for the first time was pretty amazing.”

And while wearing the green and gold has been the highlight of her career, Denise rates jumping PBs as almost as thrilling.

“It’s hard to explain what it feels like, but it is an instant adrenaline rush and you have to try to save that energy for the next jump... even though you just want to run around and hug everyone!”

While her dad is still her official coach, Bendigo athletics stalwart Peter Barrett has been helping guide Denise through training sessions since she moved to the central Victorian city.

“It’s hard at the moment, being here at uni and having dad working in my home town of Swan Hill.

“I still call him to discuss training programs, but he’s not here to see my progress. So it’s been really good to have Peter take an interest in me.

“I like the fact he’s taken me on board, and he’s so good technically. It pushes me along to have someone local other than dad to coach me.”

Warren and Janine Snyder follow their talented daughter all over the country to watch her compete and she thrives on their constant support.

She talks about the time she cleared 1.81m at a national under-20/23 championships in Adelaide without them, as the competition clashed with her brother’s graduation ceremony.

“I actually did it without my parents being there, which was a really big thing for me,” she says, as if she can still hardly believe it. 

“I have had help from other coaches along the way, but dad is my coach and not having my parents there was a quite a big challenge for me.”

Denise has been competing for the Eaglehawk club since she was 16, regularly travelling from Swan Hill on weekends to be part of the strong athletics community in Bendigo.

Still, she says leaving home after finishing high school was tough. 

“I am so close to my family, so it was hard to move away and start all over again, even though I had the connections here, which helped a lot. With that year off, I lost a lot of confidence. It has been very hard to build that back up. You have to have a strong mind; and it has to remain positive. 

“You can’t tell yourself you can’t do something, because then you won’t achieve anything.”

That mental strength has been a key to Denise’s success – and she likes to remind herself of that before every jump she attempts.    

“I always say a few key words to myself. Something dad and I developed when I was in under nines: ‘I can run fast. I can jump high. And I will.’ That makes me feel more confident.

“At nationals, I knew I had to keep my hips high, so before I ran I would stand up really tall to remind myself. 

“There are also lots of technical things that occur when you are taking off that you think about as well: making sure you have your arm up and not leaning in, that’s a really easy habit to get into and doesn’t create the space required to clear the bar.

“Little things like that you tell yourself before you jump. Really, there are a dozen things that go through my mind, but I try and focus on that jump to try and get over the bar the first time.”

Denise admits she can be her own worst enemy when it comes to putting pressure on herself: and winning titles only increases the personal demand to live up to your own expectations.

“But you can’t do any more than your best – that’s one thing my granddad used to say to me,” she says of the late Simon Snyder, who died last year but who is never far from her mind. 

“I would always get a phone call the night before an event and he’d say, ‘you can’t do any better than your best, sweetie, so just go out there and have fun’

“So that’s what I tried to do.

“That is something I keep with me and I find it quite special to think about.”

Away from athletics, Denise has enjoyed other sports, including tennis and netball.

For many years, she played as a goal shooter and goal attack for Swan Hill, but could not commit to the training earlier this season.

Instead, she’s lining up for Nyah in a team coached by her sister and is having a ball.

As for the future, Denise says she has always been motivated by striving to do her best.

“I always wanted to represent Australia and I have done that, but now I still want to do even better,” she says.  

“The Olympics and Common- wealth Games have always been a dream. The Commonwealths are probably more realistic first up, then we’ll see where it goes if I get there.”

Her medal-winning performance in Sydney has only made her hungry to raise the bar even higher.

Now she’s in career-best form, Denise is being urged to set her sights on 1.92m, which is a B-qualifying height for the IAAF world athletics championships in Moscow.

The question is, can she possibly do it?

“I reckon I can,” she replies. “I hope I can.... I should say, I believe I can.”