Diving into Triumph With the RGS Swimming Academy
At the start of the Michaelmas term, we introduced our RGS Worcester Swimming Academy, which trains at Perdiswell Leisure Centre from 6.00am until 8.00am every Tuesday morning. The Academy is designed to support our elite swimmers alongside their club training and is led by our excellent coaching team of Jon Fletcher and Mark Hill.
On Friday 17 November, we invited local Paralympian, Becky Redfern, to talk to the Academy swimmers about what it takes to achieve success in Swimming. Becky provided an inspirational talk about her journey to the top, including how she was told that she was not good enough by one of her early coaches. The pupils and staff were also interested to learn how Becky’s challenges impact her performance in the pool. When watching her Gold medal performance at the recent World Championships, Becky said that none of the competitors knew who had won the race until it was announced over the tannoy, as none of them had the ability to read the results on the screen. The pupils also enjoyed holding Becky’s medals, including her Tokyo Paralympic Silver. At the end of the assembly, Becky was wished all the very best for the Paris Games next year and we look forward to seeing her achieve her goal of a Paralympic Gold.
Following on from our success at the Regional Qualifying event for the ESSA National Relays, five of our Academy swimmers competed in the National Finals at the Sandwell Academy Centre in Birmingham last Saturday. This was the site for the recent Commonwealth Games. Lexi Agoston, Hana Duncan, Pru Goodison, Izzy Thorn and Anna Wardle Grifoll were excited about the event and knew that they had no pressure on them, as they were the only Year Nines competing against Year Ten swimmers in their age group. The first event they qualified for was the freestyle relay and the girls were up against some tough opponents. After the heats had been completed our final position was 21st. Later on in the afternoon, we had the medley relay and again the girls performed well in a very tough heat. They finished 13th overall in that event and were only one second away from a top-eight position and a final. Placing 21st and 13th Nationally is a great achievement for the girls and they should be proud of how well they swam.
The girls were a credit to RGS during the day and I know they have set their sights on a medal at next year’s finals. With another year in this age group and another year in the RGS Worcester Swimming Academy and with their clubs, we are sure that target is achievable. We look forward to hearing about the success of all of our swimmers, whether that is with their clubs or at School. Well done to all of our talented swimmers across The RGS Family.
Head of Swimming, Stuart Davis