Daniel’s already a swimming star!

 

It is due reward for the fact that he as a member of the elite squad in Pembrokeshire Swimming that is organised by Paul Dowey and is expected to put in a huge 15 hours a week training, which includes four morning sessions of one and a half hours, four evenings which take up two hours each and a Saturday morning swim into the bargain. As well as swimming around 4,000 metres in each session, Daniel and Co have a warm-up session at poolside to get them started and a ‘stretch down’ session when their training is over

 

 

The morning sessions start at 6am and finish at 7.30pm in time to dash off to school as he pre

pares for his GCSE exams, and says that he couldn’t do without the support of mum Sharon, who not only encouraged him to swim when he was very young but now ferries him to training and to loads of competitions as he seeks to improve his times at swimming events across the country.

“Mum has been brilliant and I couldn’t have managed to do so well without her encouragement and support,” said Daniel “I would also like to thank John Amos at Tenby Swimming Club for his great help when I started and Paul Dowey for helping me to improve my stroke development and technique.

 

 

Daniel now lives in Haverfordwest so it is at least easier to meet the demands of practising at Haverfordwest Swimming Pool – so his starting out at Tenby when he was three seems such a long time ago. He was swimming competitively by the time he was seven and winning club championship medals at a range of distances from 100 metres to 1,500 metres in freestyle, breast stroke, back stroke and butterfly. From there it was on to West Wales Championships which take in competitors from as far afield as Aberystwyth to Swansea. Initially they were held at Penlan in Swansea but now have Haverfordwest as their venue.

 

 

There was a real boost for Daniel last year when he represented Wales against England at Leeds and claimed a gold medal in the 200 metres back stroke, plus a silver in the 200 metres individual medley and a bronze in the 400 metres freestyle.

 

Such is the progress that Daniel has made in the pool that he is ranked first in Wales in both the 200 metre backstroke and 400 metres individual medley, as well as doing extremely well in the 200 metres freestyle and 200 metres individual medley. But perhaps most praiseworthy is the fact that he is currently ranked fifth in the whole of the UK in the 200 metres backstroke!

 

 

Outside of his swimming, Daniel also played football for Kilgetty and plays tennis well enough to reach the quarter finals of the county’s junior tournament – but such are the demands of his swimming that both have to take a back seat as his commitment to swimming continues unabated.

 

 

Ask Daniel about ambitions and he would say that there are several targets in the pipeline, including one day being an Olympic swimmer. Then there’s the Commonwealth Games and the European Junior Championships of 2015. They all might seem a long way away yet but Daniel is ready for the hard work needed. He has already qualified to swim in Switzerland next year for the Bellizone competition, a top-class event that is swum outdoors, which will be another good experience on his personal ladder. The qualifying time for the 200 metres backstroke is 2 minutes 12.96 seconds and Daniel has already swum a 2 minutes, 12.76 seconds time in Cardiff earlier this year.

 

 

Before that, though, is the matter of the ASA National Youth Championships in Sheffield in several weeks time. He is already training very hard and we are confident that Daniel Davies will give his all, as he always does, and we at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk wish him every success because he really does deserve to do well in the demanding sporting world of swimming!