Oadby & Wigston Junior Sportsman Award 2015

Oadby & Wigston Junior Sportsman Award 2015

Wow, it’s been a busy few months, what with taking some GSCE exams and lots of assessments before Christmas, there’s hardly been time to catch my breath.

I had a brilliant rest over Christmas and spent as much time relaxing on my new Xbox One (usually after an early morning swim session!)

With a repetitive injury in my shoulder, I’ve been struggling with my competitiveness and fitness lately. I’ve started having sports massages and plan to visit a physio therapist soon, so it’s good timing for us to be in our short course technical cycle at training. I’ve really been focusing on my technique and hope to have improved enough to start seeing seem times drop!

Before Christmas, I was nominated (by my school) and shortlisted for a Junior Sportsman Award. We (my family) went to the evening and saw some real talent and dedication to various sports, so I was extremely pleased and honoured to win on the night.

Me with Lucy Hatton

 My award was presented to me by Team GB athlete Lucy Hatton (60m hurdles ranked 3rd British all-time). Whilst receiving the award, there were plenty of questions asked about a "day in the life of" a swimmer. Sharp intakes of breath from the audience when I mentioned about the 4.20am alarm calls and the amount of meterage/training etc. We also spoke about my main achievement of 2015, taking the Bronze at the Midlands Open Water Championships 3,000m

Talking in Public...there's a first!

  I was really nervous on the night but so pleased to have been a part of it all.

Smile please :)

  My next swimming focus is the County Championships which’ll be ran over the next 3 weekends at Loughbrough University and Braunstone leisure centre.

I’ll be swimming the following:

 

50, 100, 200, 400 & 1500 Freestyle

50, 100, 200 Backstroke

50 Breaststroke

200 Individual Medley 

Lets see how I do this year?! :)

3k Open Water Midlands Championships 2015

Fantastic result for me on Sunday at Bosworth Water and the Midlands Open Water Championships. It was my first time swimming 3000m and because of a change in the course, it sounds like we probably swam 3500m in the end :)

I was really pleased to see my name in 3rd place and had to look twice at my time of 42.56.02 though. I'd sort of expected a time of around 35 mins as i'd swam 2k in training and came in on 23.00.

It was sort of confirmed that the course was indeed longer than stated and many had the same opinion but to be honest, i'm not bothered as we all swam the same course and I came 3rd in my age group and 10th out of the 71 men and women that took part.

I really ought to see about a triathlon now!

Midlands Open Water Championships 2015

English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA) 2015 Result

English Schools Swimming Association (ESSA) 65th Inter-Divisional Championships

Sunderland Aquatics Centre 27-28 June 2015

Just a quick update...our East Midlands squad had a good time both at the pool and "resting" in the hotel in the evening, it was good to spend some time with my mates

at night too!

I was also pleased to get a small PB on my 400 free as i'd gone slower by 3-4 secs the last two outings so i was pleased to get that monkey off my back :)

It was a tough meet with England's finest taking part so we all had a our work cut but we all swam well getting PB's

East Midlands ESSA Squad 2015 (4th row up, 3rd in from right)

Swimming related, next stop for me is the 3000m Midlands Open Water Championships at Bosworth Water on Sunday 5th July...looks like it's gonna be a scorcher so should be great!

Bosworth Water Park

English Schools & Regional Open Water Championships...i'm back!

Hi everyone, it’s been a while….I’ve had a rough couple of months in terms of achieving the times I needed for English National championship invite. My focus was always on the 1500m selection for English Nationals but I could never get near a long course time. My short course time (17.03) was a great result for me but it never happened for me in a long course pool (17.41).

My 400m (4.26.81) time was a nice surprise for me but again, bittersweet, I ended up missing the cut for that invite by about 2.8secs. I was disappointed to say the least. I also qualified with 2 times in the Midlands Championships but with our scheme of work and training, things didn't really hit that sweet spot and It’s taken me a while to bounce back to be honest but I've continued to train hard and amongst school stuff, I've had two things to focus on…

Sunderland Aquatic Centre

This weekend sees the English Schools Swimming Association(ESSA) 65th Inter-Divisional Championships where I’ll be part of a squad representing the East Midlands at the Sunderland Aquatic Centre.

I'll stay in a hotel with my squad for a night, be kitted out with the ESSA teamwear and take part in some media work too. I'll only be swimming the 400m free but I'm gonna go for it!

The following weekend, I’ll be competing in the Midlands OpenWater Championships. Last year I competed in the 1500m but this year I’m doubling up to do the 3000m. My Dad and I went to Bosworth Water Park last weekend so I could get the feel for open water again as it’s been a year…it was nice to swim with the fish, weeds and smelly water again…not!

Bosworth Water Park (that's me pointing at my Dad....it's chilly!)

Thanks for reading, I hope it's gonna be a good couple of weeks!