Many at Sevenoaks Swimming Club embraced lockdown and kept their love of water alive by taking to the open water.
Local company Triswim organised, safe sessions for the club at Chipstead and Haysden lakes, where they provided many of the clubs members with the opportunity to experience open water swimming for the first time.
Two of the club’s converts were Sam Martin Young and Zac Howard. Having enjoyed the experience, they were keen to show their appreciation for access to water during this difficult time, raising money for Level Water Swim, a charity that itself provides opportunities for children and young people to access water. Sam and Zach swam an impressive 10km in approximately three hours. To date, all participants have raised in excess of £10,000. A spokesperson for Sevenoaks Swimming Club said: “We are so incredibly proud of Sam and Zach, they surpassed all expectation and were always smiling, both before and even after!”.
Returning to the pool
Sevenoaks Swimming Club went the extra mile during lockdown to stay in touch with all its members. Like many sports clubs, members also benefited hugely from the social interaction and camaraderie. The club rallied round to provide a mixture of interactive sessions, both training focused and just plain fun, to provide continued, much needed, support for all.
The club’s spokesperson added: “Without question, returning to the pool has been the best! The dedicated club coaches and parent volunteers worked tirelessly to ensure that as soon as the green light was given, members could safely return to the pool.”
With the full support of members, parents, volunteers, coaches and Sencio’s Sevenoaks Leisure Centre, the club successfully returned to the pool on July 27th. Although not up to full training capacity, everyone was grateful to be back swimming and demonstrating the discipline of sport in action.
“All have adapted to the ‘new norm’ effortlessly. Whilst the club knows that the road ahead will be challenging, we have fundraising plans for the future that will help make sure that the future really is Red!”
To learn more about Sevenoaks Swimming Club’s progress and fundraising please visit: uk.teamunify.com/team/sosc/page/home or follow @7oaksSwim on Twitter.
