Almost a year ago I wrote about being scouted at swimming. It was the first time I’d been in the pool since my amputation and Derby Swimming Club’s incredible para coach, Wayne Davies, happened to be there. He timed me, said I had massive potential and asked me to come and trial with the club in January.
Unfortunately the start of 2023 didn’t go quite as planned and I had to have a couple of lung surgeries, so swimming competitively was completely out of the question.
Following a summer of building my strength and soaking up the sun I decided I was ready to commit to a club. Derby SC’s main pool is almost in Nottingham and I realised it just wasn’t feasible to train up there three or four times a week, so I went on Swim England’s club finder.
My closest two clubs were Bilston and Boldmere, so I went for a trial at both. Both were fantastic and both clubs really wanted me to join, but neither had any other para swimmers and even though Robin Surgeoner was the Head Coach at Boldmere and he’d previously won 9 gold medals at the Paralympics, I just felt I’d be missing out on the expertise of a coach who’d worked with other above knee amputees. Plus the training sessions were in Sutton Coldfield, again, just that little bit too far to fully commit to.
Then something really quite magical happened. Wayne Davies messaged to say he was joining Cannock Phoenix, my local swimming club, as Head Coach! I couldn’t believe it! The top para coach in the country was moving to the club that’s literally on my doorstep!
Safe to say I trialled immediately and was signed on the spot.
I am so excited about my swimming future. Gold medals here we come.
