17 January 2022

Well done to Lara Thom­son, Leah Schlosshan and Jess Wid­dow­son who were 3 of the select­ed 100 swim­mers for Phase 2 of the Swim Eng­land Nation­al Event Camps.

The group of 15 – 16-year-old ath­letes were select­ed based on their per­for­mances from the Fes­ti­val of Swim­ming and the 2021 Swim Eng­land Nation­al Win­ter Championships.

The selec­tions have been described as a ​‘sig­nif­i­cant step towards cre­at­ing an inclu­sive and ful­ly inte­grat­ed tal­ent pathway’.

The ath­letes will now expe­ri­ence a mix­ture of train­ing ses­sions, edu­ca­tion­al work­shops and phys­i­cal screen­ing, as well as an event-spe­cif­ic camp to be held in Birm­ing­ham lat­er this year.

There will also be an excit­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty to race at the Com­mon­wealth Games Test Event at the Sandwell Aquat­ics Cen­tre which is planned for May 2022.

The young­sters select­ed will receive bespoke train­ing sup­port and ath­lete devel­op­ment from a num­ber of spe­cial­ist head coach­es. These are Dan Pil­brow (form & indi­vid­ual med­ley), Emma Collings-Barnes (freestyle), and Marc Fos­ter (open water).

Addi­tion­al­ly, 15 skills coach­es will accom­pa­ny the head coach­es and assist in the deliv­ery of the event camps to the athletes.

‘Ful­ly inte­grat­ed tal­ent pathway’

Tom McManus, Swim Eng­land nation­al tal­ent offi­cer, said: ​“These selec­tions include swim­mers and para-swim­mers which is a sig­nif­i­cant step towards cre­at­ing an inclu­sive and ful­ly inte­grat­ed swim­ming and para-swim­ming tal­ent path­way ahead of the new sea­son in Sep­tem­ber 2022.

“Phase 1 of the Nation­al Event Camps saw a selec­tion of 161 ath­letes access an inter­ac­tive online edu­ca­tion last Novem­ber which was led by our prac­ti­tion­ers and sup­port­ed by our tal­ent­ed coach­ing team.

“All ath­letes showed fan­tas­tic engage­ment and will­ing­ness to learn and devel­op them­selves both as ath­letes and individuals.

“The camps in Birm­ing­ham will be held in Feb­ru­ary and con­sists of pool and land train­ing ses­sions as well as edu­ca­tion­al work­shops and phys­i­cal screening.

“Atten­dees will learn more about them­selves, both as ath­letes and as peo­ple, and apply these learn­ings back into their dai­ly train­ing envi­ron­ments to sup­port the remain­der of their swim season.”