Swim England 8–10 Artistic Swimming Programme is ‘exciting time for the sport’

Swim England will team up with Everyone Active and City of Bristol Synchro Club to launch stages 8–10 of the Swim England Artistic Swimming Programme.

Olympic hopefuls Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe will attend the launch, also joined by GB teammates Cerys Hughes and Daniella Lloyd, at Horfield Leisure Centre in Bristol.

The hopes of the launch are to inspire the next generation of potential artistic swimmers and showcase the talent in Bristol and the South West region.

It is the first in a series of display and taster events in the city, marking the beginning of a full grassroots programme delivered by Everyone Active and City of Bristol Synchro Club.

This partnership aims to provide the local community with the opportunity to experience artistic swimming in a fun and friendly environment.

The beginner sessions will feed into an athlete pathway within the city which will lead to talented athletes being identified and signposted to continue their careers as artistic swimmers.

Olympian and now Swim England Artistic Swimming Talent Project Officer, Katie Clark, believes this is an ‘exciting time’ for the sport.

She said: “With the help of Everyone Active and Horfield Leisure Centre, we have been able to encourage as many young people as possible to try something different through running a free artistic swimming taster session and display.

“The launch of the Swim England 8–10 Artistic Swimming Programme is a very exciting time for our sport.

“Thanks to the support we have received from the UK Sport Aspiration Fund the GB Duet, Kate and Izzy, have been able to drive the grassroots development in the South West.

“They have been key figures in inspiring a generation of new artistic swimmers in the country.”

The 8–10 stages will build on the fundamental movement skills learned in stages 1–7 of the Swim England Learn to Swim Programme and combine them into fun, energetic sequences to music.

Three VIP guests will be at the launch and will take part in the taster sessions, these are the gold, silver and bronze winners of the ‘design an artistic swimming costume’ competition, set in December 2019.

Jasmin Seco was the gold winner, followed by Amelie Baptiste (silver) and Niamh Barton (bronze). The competition was launched to all pupils who attend Key Stage 2 swimming and are part of the Learn to Swim framework at Everyone Active sites in Bristol.