Well, since my last blog on swimming classification things have moved fast!! I entered the Staffordshire County Swimming Championships and won Gold in the 100m back, 100m free, 50m back and 50m free, all with new personal bests!
I was then invited onto Sam Fletcher’s wonderful BBC Sport Radio Show where we discussed how much fun I was having in this new world of swimming:
…and something must have sparked the interest of BBC TV because the next thing I knew I was being filmed for a news segment! If I’m honest it wasn’t really about my swimming prowess (I’m still just a novice) but more about how I’m moving from the very top of one sport – Golden Boot Winner at the Women’s Amputee Football World Cup – to the bottom of another – para swimming.
I then made my way to my first big para swim event at the Welsh National Pool in Swansea… and what an eye opener that was! I actually found myself in the fastest heat for the 50m Free alongside the current World Record Holder Callie-Ann Warrington S10, and other Paralympic medalists – all of them had the proper speed swimsuits and racing hats and I was just there in my swimming cossie from Amazon! But I think I did okay? I didn’t get a PB but I was the 4th fastest S9 swimmer which isn’t bad given the fact I’ve only been classified for 4 months!
However, what I am quickly learning is that you don’t get to race against people in your classification, until you compete internationally! I assumed I’d go to these para meets and swim in a race with all of the other S9 swimmers and have the challenge of moving from 4th best S9 swimmer into a medal position… but it doesn’t work like that at all!
You race against people with a similar time to you, so you could be in a race with an S10, an S7, an S14 e.t.c and your time is then converted into para points. The closer you are the to World Record in your classification the more para points you get. So I could lose the race but win the medal… stay with me!
Here’s an example: If I swam closer to the S9 World Record than the faster S10 swimmer who beat me in our race, but wasn’t as close to the S10 World Record… I would get more para points – confusing I know!! But it essentially means I am not in competition with the other S9 swimmers, I am in competition with ALL the other para swimmers regardless of their classification! I assumed Swim GB would take the best swimmers from each classification S1-S14 to international competitions, but they don’t, they rightly take the ones who are closest to the World Record, the ones who have the most para points.
So if I did want to take my swimming journey further, then SERIOUS work needs to be done. But I’m currently just enjoying the fun of the adventure and as I explained to the inspirational Xavier Wiggins: I’m learning it’s okay to be happy where you are in sport, it’s okay not to be the best and not to want to be the best, to just enjoy the journey.
I’m learning it’s okay to be happy where you are in sport, it’s okay not to be the best and not to want to be the best, to just enjoy the journey.
Have I got what it takes to get to the top in swimming, maybe? But have I got the time at the moment, absolutely not! I have such huge respect for all of these para swimmers and it’s been so wonderful dipping my toe into their world, but they’re there because of the hours they put in, because it’s their lifelong dream, because they’re dedicated and committed and focused… whereas I’m still figuring out who I am and in what direction I want to take my life – there’s just so much fun to be had and so many opportunities keep coming my way! I’m obviously still going to sign up to all the competitions and keep trying to improve my PB, but training more than 3 times a week just isn’t possible at the moment.
I do, however, love the fact my story is inspiring others to just live life and say yes to adventure. I was actually eating breakfast in a gorgeous Hilton Hotel the morning of my first day on set as an actor (I’ve had to sign an NDA so no spoilers here) when BBC Breakfast ran the piece nationally and I just smiled and thought: what a crazy life I live!
