Taunton Prep School swimmers selected for National Development Programme

Two Taunton Prep School students have been selected to attend the first phase of the Swim England National Development Programme.

Evie Linden and Ronan Hill, both from Taunton, will now take part in a series of online and in person training camps which will help prepare them for national level competitions. The camps cover the technical and tactical aspects of their stroke as well as nutrition, mental wellbeing, race execution and post-training recovery.

The national programme identifies and supports talented athletes for the Olympic, Paralympic and Commonwealth Games of the future.

The two swimmers are both in Year 8 at Taunton School, where students can begin swimming from Reception age up in the school’s two indoor pools. All pupils have swim coaching from qualified coaches in their weekly timetable from Nursery up to the end of Year 4, after which swimming forms part of the rota of sports in the weekly PE Lessons. Pupils of all ages can swim several times a week by choosing to take part in after school clubs and many pupils swim at club, regional and national level. For the adventurous minded, many pupils complete open water challenges such as the 3.5km Plymouth Breakwater swim in aid of the Chestnut Appeal Charity.

The Prep and Senior swimming programme at Taunton School is overseen by Head of Swimming Graham Davidson. He says, “It’s wonderful to see two of our swimmers heading towards a bright future in the pool. Evie and Ronan, along with many of their peers, work very hard attending the 5:45am starts so it’s nice for the school to be able to cheer on two of their own.”

On the pathway, Grant Robins, Swim England head of talent (swimming), said, “The pathway will be a fun, positive experience for the athletes selected – and it is hoped that it fosters curiosity within the sport and encourages an environment of lifelong learning leading to some fantastic performance outcomes. Our job as Swim England Talent is to guide athletes along their swimming journey and add value to their daily training environment to and enhance their development, not only as swimmers but as individuals too.”