Walsall Paralympics star Ellie Simmonds backs swimming campaign
Walsall swimming star Ellie Simmonds is helping to inspire youngsters in the Black Country through a major campaign to promote the sport.
The Paralympian, from Aldridge, was joined by children at Smethwick Swimming Centre, on Thimblemill Road, as part of Speedo's Swim United programme.
The campaign, in collaboration with Swim England, aims to ensure all children leaving primary school in the UK in 2025 can swim 25 metres.
It has also been backed by the Black Swimming Association and Active Black Country and comes after research showed one in four children are unable to swim – with the statistic increasing to four in five among children from ethnic minorities.
The campaign aims to tackle the barriers to swimming faced by many families in the UK whether they are cultural, financial or systemic. It has been developed in partnership with Better, which runs sport and leisure centres.
Phase one of the programme will engage 40 schools across London to ignite children’s interest in swimming through activity packs and 1,200 intensive two-week swim courses, which will run through the schools and swimming pools operated by Better, helping young swimmers build much needed confidence and skills in and around the water.
Swim United was developed as a response to research from Sport England and the Black Swimming Association which shows that children from marginalised communities and minority groups are at a disadvantage when it comes to learning to swim at primary school.
It has been backed by the likes of Ellie Simmonds, swimmer Michael Gunning, and Olympian Adam Peaty from Staffordshire.
