Blog: “Swimming keeps me happy”
Activity Alliance features a blog post every Friday which shares the experiences of disabled people involved in sport and exercise at all levels. In this blog we continue this theme and hear from 15 year old Joe who tells why swimming means so much to him.
Hi I’m Joe, I’m 15 years old, I’m a swimmer and I live in Worthing. I have moderate learning disability, autism, dyspraxia and sensory processing disorder.
I swim with the Littlehampton Swimming Club and train almost every day. I compete all over the UK too, and sometimes I get to race against two of my friends.
I’ve always loved swimming - I started when I was a baby with my parents. I had swimming lessons from the age of nine and then I joined Littlehampton Swimming Club in 2015. My mum always says I’m safer and happier in the water than anywhere else!
Swimming keeps me happy, and feeling happy is important to me. I also enjoy the travelling side of things too.
Swimming has opened up opportunities for me, like meeting lots of people who also like swimming. This makes me happy as I enjoy watching them swim, and sometimes break records!
Swimming supports me to stay calm and to learn well. I enjoy training every day - going out training makes me feel social and I get to see and talk with my friends. It also helps me stay healthy.
When I’m training I feel determined to push myself so I do well in competitions. Training always finishes late, so after I feel tired and sleepy but I sleep well at night.
I get a lot of support from family, especially my parents. Even when I’m at competitions a long way from home, I get support from other families who have children swimming. National para-swimming feels like one big family and I’m slowly building up a great group of likeminded friends.
The rest of the year sees me doing my GCSE in PE - my sports are badminton and swimming. I’ve also have a lot of swimming competitions planned this year which are over the UK, including ones in Sheffield, Bristol and Glasgow. We usually drive, but we are catching a plane to get to Glasgow which I’m excited about. My goal is to get personal bests in all major competitions. I also want to travel to other countries, and swim for ParalympicsGB.
My advice to other disabled people wanting to take part in sport and activity but not sure where to start is - just to do whatever sport you want to do, especially when you could go to places that you might not have gone to if you didn’t get into a sport.
Find out more about the Littlehampton Swimming Club on its website.
For more information about swimming activities near you, visit the Just Swim page on Swim England website.
