Athletes from Kiama Swimming Club will make their way to the NSW State Swim Titles over the next two weeks.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The early 5.30am starts have paid off for the 24 swimmers taking part in the major event.
The swimmers range in age from nine-year-old Kyah Shipley to Liam Williams, 17, and will compete in a range of individual and relay events.
For Libby Hartley, Matt Maguire, Ivy Miller and Layke Shipley, this will be their first State Championships individual event.
Special mention goes to Jayden Madge and Nick Bamford, who both qualified for eight individual events, while Kaylah Brennan qualified for seven individual events.
Kiama Swimming Club has also announced two new captains for 2018.
Sarah Williams, 15, has recently signed up for her seventh year with Team Kiama.
She trains five mornings a week with Coach Victor and is in year 9 at Kiama High School. Sarah’s favourite swimming events are the 50 and 100 metre freestyle.
When Sarah is not at the pool she loves hanging out with her friends, shopping for new swimmers, walking her dog Saxon and listening to music.
But the highlights in the pool for Sarah this year have been attending the Thredbo Elite Training Camp with her squad and making the state finals in the 50m and 100m freestyle at the Combined High Schools NSW Swimming Championships.
Sarah’s tip for young swimmers is to “just keep swimming”.
Nick Bamford, 13, is Kiama Swimming Club’s youngest captain.
Like Sarah, he also trains five times a week and his favourite strokes are freestyle and butterfly.
Nick loves the competition of swimming and the great social fun that he has with fellow club members and kids from other clubs.
Nick’s tip for young swimmers is “if it was easy everybody would do it”.
Want more from the Kiama Independent? Try these: