Yesterday, twenty Para-Swimmers from the North East region headed to Caterrick Leisure Centre for the first regional Para-Swimming session. Head coach Keith Hall (Richmond Dales) led the day, supported by coaches Zoe Cowan (Richmond Dales), Sue Thorpe (Gateshead and Whickham) and Zoe Bell (Blyth). Paralympic gold medallist Matt Wylie and retired para-swimmer Josh Surgeoner, coach at City of Sheffield also attended the day to support the athletes.

After a short introduction the athletes headed to the gym for a Strength and Conditioning session led by Ben Warman. Ben taught the athletes the concept of “RAMP” – RAISE, ACTIVATE, MOBILISE, POTENIATE and went through a series of exercises for each of the different areas. This was an interactive session with the swimmers often working in pairs.

It was then back to our meeting room when retired Matt and Josh talked the swimmers through their swimming journey. This was really interesting with lots of questions asked by both swimmers and parents. Matt also had brought his Paralympic Gold medal from Rio, which really inspired our team.

This was followed by a short classroom session, led by Keith, focusing on goals/outcomes where the swimmers worked together in small groups before we headed to the pool.

The athletes spent an enjoyable 2 hours in the pool; the focus of the session was freestyle technique. After some fun relays at the end of the session it was time for a rest and home! All had an enjoyable day.

Kathryn Stephenson (Team Manager)