Aspiring Athlete – Isabel

The Aspiring Athlete Scheme is a programme designed to help athletes get to that next step in their sporting achievement. The programme provides expertise these partnerships have to offer.

The scheme is available to residents of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire, with the aim to provide assistance and free access to the leisure facilities to allow athletes to train and achieve their goals.

Isabel has recently joined the scheme, this is her story

Isabel always loved swimming and been confident in the water, even as a baby. Starting lessons at a young age, she progressed through all the swimming stages quickly, achieving many awards in her lessons, including swimming her 4000m award at just eight years old. She then went onto join Biggleswade Swimming Club.

Once a club swimmer, breaststroke was her natural stroke, and she trained and practiced hard on perfecting her form. Isabel achieved her first gold medals at county level in all three breaststroke distances at just aged ten, she has been undefeated in her age group since this achievement.

Isabel has gone on to achieve further success, achieving junior champion three times, medalled at regional level and has qualified for the Summer Nationals for the past two years.

Looking forward at age 16 she has been selected to represent the Swim England National Team Championships, a competition where the counties from England compete in swimming events in Shefield, where she hopes to continue her winning streak, having qualified for all three distances, 50m, 100m and 200m events.  

The scheme is run on a yearly basis and is open to applicants aged between 11 – 28 years of age, which can be extended to aged 35 in the cases of disabled athletes.