A group of Sheffield primary school children have been selected to join the city’s Junior Olympic swimming squad.
The 15 youngsters, who all train at Sheffield International Venues facilities (SIV), were talent spotted at the recent Little Olympics event and will learn the basics of becoming a competitive swimmer in The City of Sheffield Swim Squad.
The Little Olympics tournament is for swimmers from all of the lesson programmes across the City, and gives them a taste of racing, enabling Sheffield Head Swimming Coach Russ Barber to talent scout.
The promising swimmers, aged seven-nine-years-old, have all come through lessons held at Concord Sports Centre, Hillsborough Leisure Centre and Ponds Forge International Sports Centre. The children have taken part in a variety of swimming lessons through their years at the centre from Ducklings, for children aged between six months to four and a half years old, to sessions for children. Lessons also follow on for adults.
They will compete in development galas and friendly local meets, and build upon their advanced stroke technique, race starts, turns, finishes and lane discipline with regular training sessions at SIV’s Concord Sports Centre.
The Junior Olympic 3 squad is the first in five levels in the swim training scheme. The stages develop swimmers from beginners understanding the competition format, to elite athletes training for Olympics.
Justine Foster-Davis, head of sport at SIV, said: “This is a fantastic achievement and congratulations to all who have been selected.
“As we continue to encourage more children to take up swimming and not be one of the 20 per cent of children unable to swim, we must also thank the swimming instructors for helping the children to fulfil their potential.
“We have excellent aquatic facilities to train here in Sheffield and it’s brilliant that they are being frequently used by children and adults alike.”
The City of Sheffield Swim Squad is the competitive outlet for the Sheffield City Council Swim Training Scheme.
The squad’s elite swimmers will train at the prestigious Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, which has both 25m and 50m training facilities.
Olympian James Kirton and Paralympian James Crisp are just some of the star swimmers to progress through the ranks at Ponds Forge.
Ross Barber, head coach for the City of Sheffield Swim Squad, said: “It is great that we have been able to choose more children to join the training squad. They have all showed great potential and it is an exciting time for them.
“We hope to continue the success of the squad and wish our new swimmers the best of luck in the team.”
If you want to learn to swim at any of SIV’s pools visit www.sivltd.com.
