Tribulations of a swimmer

2nd February 2023 A swimmers Life….years of making it   Liz and Lewis Warner

Lewis started his swimming journey as an 8 year old with Calverton and Bingham Swimming Club and achieved his first County medal in 2015 in the 200 Fly.  It’s quite a lonely life existence spending 3.5 to 4 hours most days pounding up and down a swimming pool, which I can confirm as my nephew Andy Rolley swam in the Barcelona Olympics in the 400 Individual Medley in 1992 .

Consequently, Lewis enjoyed the ‘Relay Weekends’, but then came Covid and ‘lockdown’ and he was fortunate to be able to continue his training in a swim tank of friends in West Bridgford, plus many gym workouts! So, things changed following lockdown and he finished up moving to Bassetlaw Swim Squad, based in Worksop and Retford.  This obviously had some impact on ‘Taxi Driver Mum’ Liz who spent about £6.5k on transport in 2022, but he achieved his first National Race in December 2021 gaining two bronze medals in the 50 and 100 back events.

We saw Lewis’s trunks, a small conventional pair for training, then an American pair like shorts style for racing, at a cost of around $400

His regime often finds him rising at about 04.30, swim training from 5.30 to 07.00, back to 6^th form college, then evening training 16.30 to 18.30, followed by some stretching exercises and consuming about 4 to 5000calories per day, retiring to bed at 22.00.

The members were posing various questions as the presentation progressed, all of which were expertly handled by either Lewis or Liz. The future is hopefully in N.Carolina at a specialist Swim College and we wish him the best of luck.

Gerry T gave the Vote of Thanks suggesting that the original title we had was “The Trials and Tribulations of a Swimmer” was an accurate phrase.  With his Mum’s support and his determination, dedication, commitment and achievements the sky’s the limit….keep going!               AR