Games boost for Valleys trio after selection for Birmingham
DYLAN Broom, Rebecca Lewis, Meghan Willis and Lily Rice make up the largest Welsh para swimming squad to travel to a Commonwealth Games when they take on some of the world’s best para athletes at the newly-built Sandwell Aquatics Centre in Birmingham this summer.
Each of the four swimmers had to rank in the top eight in the world for their event and class to seal qualification for the Games. It is testament to the work being done across the Swim Wales Para Performance Pathway that four athletes, across three classes, from three Performance Clubs earned places at Birmingham 2022.
Torfaen Dolphins will be represented by Broom and Willis, who will compete in the 200m Freestyle S14 and 200m Individual Medley SM10 events respectively.
Pembrokeshire County’s Rice, who is already a World Champion in Women’s Wheelchair Motor Cross, will race in the 100m Backstroke S8, and Rhondda Cynon Taf Performance Swim Squad athlete Lewis is set to take on teammate Willis in the 200 IM SM10.
Matt Kendrick, Swim Wales National Para Pathway Manager said: “We have seen a period of significant growth in para swimming nationally and we are incredibly proud to have representation across multiple classifications and multiple events at the Games this summer.
“I want to recognise and give thanks to the Performance Club coaches working with our qualified para swimmers; Nick Russell (Pembrokeshire County Swimming), Keith Morgan (Rhondda Cynon Taf Performance Swim Squad) and Ian Rosser (Torfaen Dolphins) who have all truly embraced and driven an inclusive high performance culture within their respective club programmes. I also want to take the opportunity to recognise the outstanding work that our Lead Para Swimming Coach, Aled Davies, has done in getting our para swimmers into this position.”
Action will be across six days of swimming, from July 29 through to August 3.
Abersychan’s Broom, 20, whose condition affects his processing speed, reaction time, stroke rate admitted he almost gave up the sport at the end of last year. But after conversations with his coaches and a British Swimming sports psychologist, he is back to his best and ready to take on the world this summer.
He said: “At the start of this year I was considering quitting swimming. I wasn’t making any progress or improvements to my times. I think it was a mental block, physically I was fine but mentally I couldn’t get there.
“There was a couple of things that changed that for me. British Swimming got me talking to a sports psychologist. I had a really good chat with my other coach as well and that really made a difference.
“It’s amazing to be representing Wales, this will be the biggest event I’ve ever competed at. It’s a home games, my brother and all my family will be there and even my friends bought tickets which I was surprised about because they’re so expensive! I’m going to have to perform for them now.”
Cwmbran swimmer Willis is the youngest of the quartet at just 14. The SM10 athlete, who was born without a right hand and partial forearm, has recently won youth gold medals at Para Swimming World Series events in Aberdeen & Italy to earn a nomination for the Disability Sport Wales Emerging Athlete of the Year Award.
Lewis, from Church Village, will compete in the SM10 200 Individual Medley event alongside teammate and friend Willis. Lewis, who has mild hemiplegia cerebral palsy on her left side, underwent hydrotherapy as a young child and discovered an ability to swim.
She said: “It’s an honour to be able to represent your country, I come from a family of proud Welsh people. I’m really excited but I am a bit nervous for Birmingham.
“I had to do hydrotherapy when I was younger and that’s how I discovered I was a strong swimmer. I started lessons at five, joined Pontypridd SC at nine then moved to RCT when I was 10 or 11. Swimming has always been a release for me, I love being in the water no matter where I am.”