Positive feedback for ‘inspiring and motivating’ series ahead of final workshops

The Sharing Success series has been labelled inspiring and motivating ahead of the remaining six days of workshops available.

Recent feedback from attendees has revealed that 98% would recommend the workshops to a friend and more than half said the sessions exceeded their expectations.

One of the latest installments of the series featured Olympic silver medallist James Guy, who spoke candidly about having an open mindset, transitioning from a junior to a senior athlete, pre-race nerves, and the school-training balance.

“All the greats in sport have had problems that they have overcome”, he said, while addressing the group of 13-14-year-olds.

He reflected on his time as a young swimmer, saying: “As a youngster, what really helped me was doing all four strokes and that gave me a good background to start off with.”

When asked what advice he would give to his younger self, Guy replied: “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself and enjoy what your doing.”

Two pieces of advice he shared were: “Nerves are a good thing, it’s how you get fired up for a race. Use it as an energy tool.

“It’s [open mindset] massively important. Having trust in the process of what you’re doing, having a clear head is what you need to do.”

Upcoming workshops

Olympic medallists Siobhan-Marie O’Connor and Rebecca Adlington are among the athletes who will be making appearances across the remaining six days of workshops.

Commonwealth Games gold medallists James Goddard and James Wilby, World Championship medallist Luke Greenbank, and Paralympic hopeful and European record holder Grace Harvey are also set to take part in the upcoming sessions.

Many of the athletes are racing at the British Swimming Invitational Meet which is being held at the Manchester Aquatics Centre from March 12-14.

Day one of the competition saw Luke Greenbank smashing a 10-year British Record in the 200m backstroke which was previously held by James Goddard.

The first workshop saw Olympian Max Litchfield discussing his career, past injuries, positive mindset, and work ethic to the group of 12 and under medley swimmers.

The 25-year-old medley specialist, who finished fourth in the 400m individual medley at the Rio 2016 Olympics, told the attendees: “I was out of the water for almost a year and you guys have probably been out of the water a bit longer than that.”

Inspiring the youngsters by sharing his story, he added: “When I was out of the water, I was doing everything I could on land. You can work on things on land that make you a better swimmer once you get back.”

‘Fantastic’

Grant Robins, Swim England head of swimming talent, said of the series so far: “The workshops have been fantastic and the level of engagement by the swimmers really high, which is humbling to see.

“Our guest athletes have been both inspiring and motivating for these youngsters, and have spoken honestly about their careers so far. They are all great ambassadors for our sport and the Swim England Talent team is looking forward to the upcoming webinars”.

Para-swimming talent coach, Tom McManus, is one member of the team of four who has been delivering some of the technical content throughout the sessions.

He said: “We feel the attendees are really absorbing the information, which ultimately is designed to help shape and improve their overall performance as an athlete.

“Myself and my colleagues are excited to be delivering these sessions and look forward to the rest of the series.”

Our Category 2 members for 2021 will now be able to book onto the workshops by using the button below instead of requiring an email to gain access to the booking system.

Please view the Frequently Asked Questions document for more details and if your query has not been answered, please contact [email protected].