MATTHEW IS DOUBLE NATIONAL SWIMMING CHAMPION!

 

Theale Green Community School student Matthew Sandell recently became a double national  champion at the National Schools Swimming Championships held in Gateshead.

 

Matthew, who is 14 years of age and a year nine student at the school, won the 100 metres Backstroke competition for the Junior age group and was a member of the gold medal winning 50 metres Freestyle Relay Team. For these he was awarded gold medals, certificates and badges to mark his achievements.

As a result of these victories, Matthew has been selected to swim for England Schools against teams from Wales, Scotland & Ireland in March 2000. He will swim in the Backstroke, Backstroke Medley Relay and the Freestyle Relay teams.

These victories are the result of very hard work that he has put in during his training. He swims eight times every week, getting up at 5.30am four mornings a week to train as well as four evenings, each time for two hours of very hard swimming practice. He estimates that he covers about 35 miles per week, doing swimming training, plus whatever distances he covers in competitions at the weekend!

This is all a way of life to Matthew, who has been swimming from a very young age. He takes his sport very seriously and has ambitions and targets that he wants to achieve in the sport, his next being  to win gold at the 200 metres Backstroke final at the National Championships in August 2000.

He says, “I want to take it all just one step at a time in achieving my ambitions. My brother was also a national swimming champion and I want to be better than he was, as I am just as good!”

With a training rate to match his ambitions Matthews future in the sport looks very bright indeed!