So yesterday we posted the final blog on the ‘Clubs that inspire me’ focus. Within that we mentioned a very special lady in Tracey Spinner. She is at the heart and sole of City of Norwich Swimming Club and her story so inspiring that I have decided to give her a blog to herself! Plus you can see the journey of someone with a disability and how that has inspired the club to become extremely inclusive.
Enjoy her swimming journey in full detail here….
I'd like to tell you about my journey with City of Norwich SC and my swim family. This journey started in September 2003 when my son, Alex, started with Norwich Penguins, the learn to swim section of City of Norwich SC. His sister, Jana, started the following year. We were keen that both of them learnt to swim as being based in Norfolk and surrounded by the rivers and broads it was clear that it wasn't a nice to have, it was definitely an essential skill. Alex took to swimming like a fish. Literally like a fish, he had more fun swimming under water than he did normal swimming. Jana, on the other hand, was a mermaid. She first swam solo in a private pool at 2 and a half years of age, but once she started with Norwich Penguins she progressed from doggie paddle to being spotted by the Head Coach age 7 - he told Jana she could join the squads if she could master tumble turns. So that determined little girl dragged her dad to the local pool and did tumble turns until she was dizzy but had mastered the technique. Suddenly 2 parents with no experience of competitive swimming landed in City of Norwich Swimming Club's squad structure.
Alex continued to dabble with his swimming, and when he was 6 years old he was diagnosed with mono paresis. This is the weakening of one side of the body. We were told at the time that the diagnosis was very late, but in part that late diagnosis may have been due to the early introduction to swimming. Swimming is one of the recommended therapies to help with mono paresis as it encourages the child to use a lot of co-ordination and fine motor skills. Alex enjoyed swimming, but found the training boring, so he progressed to water polo, then back to swimming, but by the time he was 14 he switched to volunteering at the club. At 16 he qualified as a Level 1 Teacher. By the time he was 18 he had his L1 and L2 Coaching and Teaching Qualifications and was employed by the club to teach and coach swimming in the Penguins and City of Norwich organisation. As a parent I found it reassuring that my child was spending his evenings working with children in helping them develop a life skill, instead of out doing things teenagers might normally do. This skill set supported him as he moved from school to University and coached for the local swimming club. The skills he developed as a swimmer, and a teacher and coach, have supported him with various other activities, including acting as a mentor and a counsellor at Camp America. The pathway offered by the club not only produces amazing swimmers, but also provides those swimmers with considerable life skills to support them as they grow up.
Back to Jana - she made it to the squad section and grew from a skinny 6 year old who had to drink warm squash at training to stay warm, to a swimmer in the Club's Olympic Way - which became the National Age squad in 2011 when the Pinnigers (Alex and Karen the new head coaches in 1991) landed. This was the squad for swimmers who had been spotted by the coach as having potential to achieve National qualifying times. Jana was a strong breaststroker, and always very tall. Her first breakthrough was age 9 when she qualified for Regionals (age up 10) in the breaststroke. She continued to make Regionals every year until she was 14, building from breast to free, IM and fly qualifications. As a swim Mum I was pretty hopeless sitting and watching. I just don't sit still. So I started to volunteer and got to know my swim family. I qualified as an official, a team manager, and started to help organise the galas. I was in my element, meeting new people, learning new skills, and remaining conscious that some people can be forgotten - such as the para swimmers. With the Club's personal experiences with para swimming we chose to do whatever we could to make our meets accessible to the para community and adjusted our meet criteria accordingly so they would have access to competition and would be appropriately looked after (making sure lanes were available and less busy, making sure we had strobes available, ensuring pools staff were notified of any particular health issues that needed to be accommodated etc).
Age 14 my mermaid qualified for her first British National championship. The experience was pretty amazing, and worth the wait. Then came GCSEs and ALevels. The club once again came to the rescue and allowed Jana to continue to swim and train at a high level but with flexibility to allow her to destress through a squad move. So she shifted from the National Youth to Regional Youth squad at 16 and continued to swim - and qualify for Nationals. She also followed her brother's path with volunteering and taking her teaching and coaching qualifications. It makes quite a difference when your learn to swim programme has regional and national qualifiers on the teaching and coaching rosta. After A Levels Jana was convinced to stay another year and continue to train whilst teaching and coaching. End result - more national qualifications, this time in Breast and Freestyle.
My little 6 year old is now a 20 year old 6'1" woman who is about to return to University of Bath for her 2nd year of a degree in Biochemistry and Pharmacology. Is she still swimming? Yes, its part of who she is. Am I still involved with the club? Of course, it’s my family. We made it through the first year of University, with a few extra trips to Somerset, and appear to be surviving COVID with myself and the core team at the club ensuring the swimmers and coaches had the tools to switch to an online programme within 3 days of pool closure. The club remains strong, and this weekend I saw the smiles on the faces of our swimmers who were back in the pool for the first time in 4 months. Do I plan to slow down and ease up with my involvement in swimming? Not just yet, its far too much fun. This club is part of my life now, and I take a huge amount of pride in the journey it continues to take in growing and supporting the swimmers. I'll keep involvement as long as I'm useful. This includes finally tackling my Referees qualification, so wish me luck!
We don’t think that she needs luck but we all wish her well and what a story she has to tell. Really a tale of three people at one club with different outcomes but all as equally important. Just shows how everyone can find something within sport and it’s stays with you for the rest of your life! Plus if you do have a disability ther are plenty of people out there is help and support you!