SPLASH CASH TO SAVE OUR POOLS
Peaty demands Government aid in crisis
ADAM PEATY says the Government owes it to the nation’s children and the vulnerable in society to save crisis-hit pools and leisure centres.
Better Leisure, which runs 268 centres across the UK, this week reduced its opening hours due to spiralling energy costs.
The move follows Freedom Leisure, a charitable and not-forprofit leisure trust that teaches thousands of children to swim each week, temporarily closing some pools after its annual energy bill nearly tripled.
Swim England fear 40 percent of local authorities will close or reduce services in the coming months, with 100 pools or more shutting.
Their #SaveOurPools petition, calling on ministers to extend the Energy Bill Relief Scheme beyond March 2023, has so far had 10,000 signatories.
Now Peaty, fresh from his OBE for services to swimming and mental health, has lent his voice.
“It becomes an issue when pools are having to turn down the temperature to afford the energy and entry fees are a lot higher to get into a pool,” he said. “Look at the amount of kids coming out of primary schools unable to swim [a report in 2021 predicted the number would top one million in the next five years]. It’s disgusting that the Government isn’t doing more.”
The three-time Olympic champion has his focus on the 2024 Paris Games but fears the inspiration provided by Team GB could go to waste.
“What’s the point of doing all that if it can’t trickle down to the normal working people or those who are potentially the next generation of the sport?” he said. “To protect that we need facilities open and pools in good condition.”
Peaty points to those who depend on water for their mental and physical well-being.
“A lot of people rely on swimming,” he said. “People who need the water because it’s not weight bearing. It’s also perhaps the only place they feel comfortable to do exercise.We need a massive change. Swimming is not just sport, it’s so much more.”
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LIAM LIVINGSTONE wants to pay back the “punt” Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum have taken on him making an impact in Test cricket.
A virus that swept through the England camp this week has laid low several players.
And late last night, officials were still discussing the possibility of delaying the match by 24 hours if not enough of the squad had recovered sufficiently to field a team.
But once play is under way, Livingstone’s schoolboy dream will finally come true.
The 29-year-old spinning all-rounder has played precious little first-class cricket in the last few years and thought his Test chances had gone while his whiteball career went stratospheric.
But thanks to the style and approach of McCullum and Stokes when it comes to Test cricket, the ultra attacking Livingstone represents just the sort of player who could thrive under their leadership.
“I certainly never lost interest in Test cricket,” he said.
“Whenever you have a childhood dream to do something I don’t think you ever lose interest in that.
“I guess the way cricket is at the moment sometimes your career gets pushed down a certain path.
“But in the garden with my brother you were either playing Test cricket for England or playing to win a World Cup for England so to be able to live out those two dreams in the space of a couple of weeks is pretty cool.
“The big decision I made was to try to play a little bit more white-ball cricket and to go to the IPL instead of playing Championship cricket.
“That was to get me into a World Cup squad in 2021, and it ended with a World Cup medal so I’m happy with the decision I made.
“The only way that I thought that this opportunity was going to come around was for someone to take a punt on me and the two men who would probably do that are Ben and Baz.
“Hopefully I can repay them with the faith that they’ve shown in me and my game.”
Livingstone has already repaid plenty of faith to his family after his mum and dad were able to fly out to
Australia to watch him lift the
World Cup, something his dad Steve documented on social media as the reason behind him giving up corporate world in 2018. That trip means he can’t make it out to Pakistan as well, but his son knows how happy the family will be.
“It was a trade-off, so thankfully it worked out well,” said Livingstone. “It’s a very proud moment to give back for years of driving up and down the M6 three times a week for three or four years while I was at school and college.
“Dad has always said he wants me to play Test cricket. I owe a lot to mum and dad and I guess this will be more about them than me.”
As many as 14 members of the England tour party, including Stokes, were left struggling with the virus that has caused sickness and diarrhoea, despite the presence of their own chef, who has also been struck down. Former captain Joe Root said: “I wasn’t feeling well, but woke up a lot better in the morning, so hopefully it is just a 24-hour thing.”
The match is England’s first Test in Pakistan for 17 years.