There is a host of talented young sports participants in our county who are beginning to make their name 'up the line' and they seem to be getting younger by the minute, as evidenced by the fact that nine year old Amy Knowles was recently ranked as No 1 in the United Kingdom for her age group in her swimming discipline.

Amy, who loves her involvement at the Haverfordwest Seals Swimming Club, was competing in the 200 metres individual medley at the City of Cardiff International Pool, known locally as the 'Tiger Bay Pool', and returned an excellent time of three minutes 36 seconds as reward for all her hard work in training, and although she has been nudged back into second spot in the interim period is looking forward to more chances to return to the top of the rankings.

Family matters – and other sports

It is fair to say that Amy hails from a family which provides every encouragement, with mum Sharon involved in fund-raising for the Seals alongside Angela Mottram whilst dad Andrew is very supportive - and although he is yet to take on a role at the club Amy and Sharon are in total agreement as they say,
"It is only a matter of time!"

Younger sister Lily is only four but already goes to swimming lessons and is taking part in the 'Learn to Swim' at stage two level.

Amy only has a limited amount of leisure time outside of her swimming but has represented Prendergast Primary School in the county's cross country event at Oakwood, and came in a creditable 14th position which qualified her for the Dyfed cross country at the County Showground in Carmarthen and was really pleased with her run over the one-kilometre course against the pick of runners from Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion.

“I think cross country is also good fun but it is a bit harder than swimming and I wouldn’t want to give up my swimming for it,” admitted Amy with a chuckle!

‘Learn to Swim’ start

She started out in the pool as part of the 'Learn to Swim' course organised by Pembrokeshire Leisure, where the youngsters gain confidence in the small pool by walking across it, gradually getting immersed and generally having good fun so that they don’t fear being in the water.

The ploy certainly worked for Amy because she took to it straight away so that by the time she was seven years old she had achieved level seven and was training with the Water Dragons after her spell with the Ducklings!

She loved being involved with the Seals, starting just once a week and then twice weekly as she learned the art of freestyle, back stroke, breast stroke and the butterfly stroke, which is difficult technically but a stroke which she managed well.

Her first competition came in a club championship event in the Haverfordwest Pool in an individual medley when she had to swim 25 metres in each discipline and was thrilled when she gained a silver medal on her debut!

Moving up a notch

Last year Amy moved into the Development Squad One and now has to train every Monday, Wednesday and Friday - and loves every second of each session with coaches Hayley Bennett, Liz Pugh and Suzanne Moses, where they start off with a supposed 'warm up' which involves swimming between 16 and 20 lengths to get those muscles going!

Then there's the high-level training component where the coaches develop six-week plans for their young charges, with an emphasis on fun, as well as physical and skill-based development.

"We also practise dive starts and turns, and sometimes we dive in, swim 50 metres, get out and dive back out," Amy told us, “and when we do it over 100 metres it is harder work but still good fun because our coaches always cheer us on!

"We finish with our 'Swim Down' and take it easy with some gentle lengths - and the time goes very quickly before our hour is up."

Raising funds – and swimming for the Urdd

Since that first outing and a silver medal, Amy has won more than her fair share of medals but just loves taking part and being involved in what is very much a family-based club. She was delighted to take part in the club's recent 'Swimathon' and helped raise funds for the club - and even missed her weekly visit to her Brownie pack, which she really enjoys, so that she could be an eager participant.

Amy has also swum for her school in Urdd competitions and gained a bronze at the national finals in the City of Cardiff Pool, to mark another stage in her progress.

Ask her about her ambitions, despite being only nine years old, and Amy would say that one day she would love to swim at the Olympics.

Her mum Sharon smiles at the charming understatement and recalls a time in 2012 when she and Amy sat enthralled watching the swimming in the London Olympics and said the same thing then!

And finally . . .

Whatever level Amy Knowles reaches in her swimming there is no doubt that she is the embodiment of pure enjoyment in sport because all of her coaches told us that she is a pleasure to have in their squad because she listens carefully to what they say and tries to put advice into practice, never shirking training and always with a smile on her face.

It was a pleasure to chat to her and mum Sharon because they typify what Haverfordwest Seals are all about in bringing on their young charges - and long may both continue to be so involved!