Swimming star owes his career to Haverhill pool
Monday, 27th September 2010.
Abbeycroft Leisure’s sporting ambassador, swimmer Tom Cole, is to compete in the World Downs Championships in Taiwan next week and defend his world record.
Tom, who learnt to swim with Haverhill Leisure Centre’s Swim Scheme, will be competing in the 400m freestyle, 100m back stroke, 800m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 200m back stroke, 400m individual medley, 100m individual medley and an additional relay event.
This is the fourth time Tom has competed in the world championships and he will go up against downs swimmers from 28 countries.
Tom, from Sudbury, currently holds the world record for 400m individual medley as well as five European records in the 200m individual medley, 200m back stroke, 200m breast stroke, 400m freestyle and 800m freestyle.
Tom trains every week day at Haverhill Leisure Centre as part of the swim scheme, West Suffolk Swimming Club and in the gym.
His mum Barbara said he would not have learnt to swim, let alone achieved these amazing successes with the support of Abbeycroft Leisure, his Haverhill swim coach Pat Jason and former swim scheme coach Lesley Cowie.
She said: “I couldn’t find him a place to learn to swim until I contacted Haverhill Leisure Centre and they accepted him in the swim scheme. He had one-to-one lessons with coach Lesley Cowie and won swimmer of the term.
"He then entered the ASA Kelloggs competition in 2000 and won the special achievement award and that was the start of his career. He left the swim scheme for a while to attend a school in Ipswich but he needed to learn to dive to progress further. It took me 18 months to find a coach to teach him and Lesley found Pat Jason, a Haverhill coach who taught him to dive in just five months.
“The swim scheme has helped Tom endlessly and the sponsorship and support from Haverhill Leisure Centre and Abbeycroft Leisure has been amazing.
"When the Leisure Centre closed for a year for refurbishment they allowed Tom to use a lane of Bury St Edmunds swimming pool to continue his training. They have gone that extra mile for Tom.
“Tom is excited about the world championships because he loves to go away to compete but I think he is nervous too. I’m very proud of him. He has a lot of willpower and really enjoys his swimming.”
Haverhill coach Pat Jason will be flying out to Taiwan to see Tom compete in a world championship for the first time.
She said: “The amount of training and dedication shown by Tom and his family has made Tom reach great heights. He will give his best and he deserves to do well because he has put in a lot of hard work, training seven times a week for an hour and a half, doing an average of 3,800 metres each time. Tom started off by having lessons at Haverhill to learn to swim and he is a great example of what can be achieved.”
Tom, who learnt to swim with Haverhill Leisure Centre’s Swim Scheme, will be competing in the 400m freestyle, 100m back stroke, 800m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 200m back stroke, 400m individual medley, 100m individual medley and an additional relay event.
This is the fourth time Tom has competed in the world championships and he will go up against downs swimmers from 28 countries.
Tom, from Sudbury, currently holds the world record for 400m individual medley as well as five European records in the 200m individual medley, 200m back stroke, 200m breast stroke, 400m freestyle and 800m freestyle.
Tom trains every week day at Haverhill Leisure Centre as part of the swim scheme, West Suffolk Swimming Club and in the gym.
His mum Barbara said he would not have learnt to swim, let alone achieved these amazing successes with the support of Abbeycroft Leisure, his Haverhill swim coach Pat Jason and former swim scheme coach Lesley Cowie.
She said: “I couldn’t find him a place to learn to swim until I contacted Haverhill Leisure Centre and they accepted him in the swim scheme. He had one-to-one lessons with coach Lesley Cowie and won swimmer of the term.
"He then entered the ASA Kelloggs competition in 2000 and won the special achievement award and that was the start of his career. He left the swim scheme for a while to attend a school in Ipswich but he needed to learn to dive to progress further. It took me 18 months to find a coach to teach him and Lesley found Pat Jason, a Haverhill coach who taught him to dive in just five months.
“The swim scheme has helped Tom endlessly and the sponsorship and support from Haverhill Leisure Centre and Abbeycroft Leisure has been amazing.
"When the Leisure Centre closed for a year for refurbishment they allowed Tom to use a lane of Bury St Edmunds swimming pool to continue his training. They have gone that extra mile for Tom.
“Tom is excited about the world championships because he loves to go away to compete but I think he is nervous too. I’m very proud of him. He has a lot of willpower and really enjoys his swimming.”
Haverhill coach Pat Jason will be flying out to Taiwan to see Tom compete in a world championship for the first time.
She said: “The amount of training and dedication shown by Tom and his family has made Tom reach great heights. He will give his best and he deserves to do well because he has put in a lot of hard work, training seven times a week for an hour and a half, doing an average of 3,800 metres each time. Tom started off by having lessons at Haverhill to learn to swim and he is a great example of what can be achieved.”
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