Aquatic Athlete - Sarah Paschoud
Coach: John McDaid
Sarah is 15 years old. She has been taking part in swimming competitions for the past few years.
Sarah says: “I love swimming. It’s good exercise. I get to go in competitions and win medals and trophies. One time I got three gold medals. I feel very proud when I win medals.”
Sarah has always loved the water and when she first tried swimming at the age of 7 she decided she preferred to be underwater.
Mum, Jackie says: “When she learned she swam underwater for a quite a long time before she came up and started learning the strokes. When she was little she was always being a dolphin or a mermaid. We had lots of flooded bathrooms!.”
Because of problems at birth Sarah will always be small and has poor muscle strength. She has stopped growing at 4ft 11 and weighs 6 stone. But, although she still has trouble lifting a 4 pint carton of milk, the hard work she puts into her swimming has paid off.
Mum, Jackie says: “She had a lot of trouble building her stamina at first. But she stuck at it. Now she’s training on 3 week nights and a Sunday and she can swim1600 metres.”
Coach, John says: “Sarah has a number of learning disabilities so she’s not the quickest learner, but swimming was something she just seemed to pick up naturally. She’s a wonderful individual. And exceptional. She has a lot of problems with concentration but she makes up for it by trying so hard and being so positive. She’s very committed and it’s extremely rare for her to miss a training session.”
Sarah has Tourette’s Syndrome which gives her problems with concentration. But her mum Jackie says swimming is the one place in Sarah’s life where she has complete focus. Because she wants so much to do it she really applies herself.
Sarah’s favourite is the breast stroke. She can swim all strokes but says she finds butterfly the hardest.
Coach, John says: “Actually Sarah’s fly is developing very well. But breast stroke is her best. And it’s the most technical of all the strokes, difficult to learn and to coach because it all depends on timing and coordination of the arms and legs. But we break it down and she’s learned it bit by bit. And Sarah’s swimming has improved tremendously in the past 18 months. It’s fantastic to see.”
Mum, Jackie says: “It’s amazing. Sarah didn’t do the breast stroke well at all until last summer. Then for some reason suddenly it clicked and since then she’s just got quicker and quicker.”
Sarah competed in the SOGB national games at Glasgow in 2005 and has swum in a lot of regional galas. She recently made the very tough qualifying times for the ASA London region. In Shanghai she will compete in the 50m and 100m race swimming backstroke and freestyle.
Sarah says: “When I came home from school mum said I’ve got great news…. you’ve been picked for Shanghai! I was so excited. I thought it’s going to be great. Me, I’ve never even been on a flight before and it’s 11 hours to Shanghai. It’s a huge city with a big river.”
Mum, Jackie says: “She’s become completely fascinated by Shanghai, looking on the internet and on the SOGB website. She loves the idea of different food, buildings, people. She’s very excited about competing in the world games. And it’s a big independence thing too.
Sarah has had a weekend’s training with the GB swimming squad and is impressed by her team. It’s inspired her to work even harder at her own preparation. She says her coach John is a bit hard but that’s good because it pushes her to improve.
Sarah says: “I’ve been training really hard, working at my backstroke and tumble turns. And my diving, but in the competition we’ll do starts from in the water. I want to get a bit stronger and a lot faster.”
Coach, John describes Sarah as a “competition animal”. He says she’s aiming for the top of her sport and is always very excited about competing. Sarah often has to work at calming down before a race with breathing exercises.
Sarah says: “The world games will be huge. It’s my biggest competition ever so I feel quite nervous. But before a race starts I’m always thinking I should win this so I can say to mum look what I’ve got.”
Sarah attends Parkwood School, where she is the only pupil to reach a Level 10 in swimming. The school have always been very supportive of her sporting success. In recognition of this she recently earned their Jack Pecci Award for outstanding achievement.
Sarah says: “My school knows I’m going to Shanghai. They think it’s brilliant, everyone says you’re very lucky to be swimmer Sarah. My friends all say if they had the money they’d love to go and see me swim in the world games”
Sarah’s two brothers and her sister think it’s fantastic that she’s doing something so big. They’ll be in Shanghai with mum and dad to cheer Sarah on.
Apart from her swimming, Sarah also does trampolining. She is a big football fan. She supports Arsenal and thinks Thierry Henri is an amazing player. And she was once presented an award at the Millwall stadium. She also has a musical talent and plays in a steel band. She has appeared in ‘Annie’ and ‘Oliver’ and will perform in a production of ‘The Sound of Music’ in July. Sarah is very good at drawing and likes computer games, but she finds outdoor activities more appealing. She loves camping and the family have spent a lot of summer holidays camping in France.
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TELEPHONE: 020 7696 5569 OR EMAIL TO: pr@sogb.org.uk