Para-swimmers from Great Britain Discuss the Influence Swimming Has Had on Their Lives

Top para-swimmers from Great Britain have spoken out about the value of the sport and the effect it has had on their lives.

The importance that pools and facilities can have on swimmers with impairments was demonstrated by the five members of the British para-swimming team as they discussed their experiences both in and out of the water.

It comes at a time when Swim England is raising awareness to make sure the Government offers more support for swimming pools and leisure facilities.

By the end of 2022, nearly 50,000 people had endorsed Swim England’s #SaveOurPools initiative.

A petition with 48,928 signatures has been delivered to the government asking MPs to “recognize the particular vulnerability of swimming pools and leisure centers as part of the Energy Bill Relief Scheme Review.”

To prevent a “dire” situation from getting worse, it was intended to demonstrate to the government how important swimming pools and recreation centers are to localities all across the nation.

In an effort to cut costs, a number of pools have already temporarily closed as a result of rising energy prices. Others have reduced their hours of operation or water temperature.

When Zach Washington-Young suffered spinal injuries and was told there was no chance of him ever walking again by medical professionals, he discussed how swimming aided his recovery.

He said: “Swimming gave me an opportunity to feel free again.

“To able to put my physical impairments behind to one side, you know, quite literally at the side of the pool while I got in the water and felt free and it enabled me to feel and to reconnect with how life used to feel like.

“And it was at that moment when I started to develop more and more passion for sport. I’m thankful that now I’m at a point where I get to do what I love every single day.”

Accepting Us as Who We Are

The British Para-Swimming team is coming off a successful 2022 that included a strong performance at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and a fourth-place medal showing at the Para Swimming World Championships in Madeira (with 32 medals to their name).

The team has spoken about the positive effects the sport has had on both their physical and mental health as they get ready for a home World Championships in Manchester this summer.

Ellie Challis, a world champion and Paralympic medalist, shone in 2022 and claimed that she met some of her closest friends in the water.

“I’ve made the closest friends over the last couple years in swimming and it’s a more fun way for me to do physio and that’s still how I see it now – it’s just what I enjoy more.

“Physio, to me, I used to get a bit bored sometimes so it’s just another way of doing the same thing, but something more enjoyable – and the racing, it’s just the best part of it.”

The Humphrey twins, Eliza and Scarlett, both made their international debuts in 2017.

The two S11 swimmers, who are both visually impaired, discussed what it meant to see what visually impaired swimmers can accomplish.

Eliza said: “In 2018, we watched on YouTube the European Para-Swimming Championships in Dublin, and it was really exciting to watch people with the similar impairment to myself with visual impairment racing, and it was quite exciting to see what people with visual impairment can achieve.”

Scarlett added: “My team-mates just accept us as who we are rather than our impairment and the squad itself is really inclusive. So swimming offers us a space where we can be independent and enjoy ourselves in an environment that’s also able to support us.”

News source: swimming.org