Warrington Warriors membership open as Tokyo Olympics inspires

That is the message from head coach Darren Ashley in a week when one of his former swimmers made her Olympic Games debut and another connected to Warrington won the town's first ever gold medal.

Former Great Sankey High School pupil Kathleen Dawson, 23 – European and British record holder – finished sixth in an Olympic record 100m backstroke final in the Tokyo Aquatics Centre pool on Tuesday.

Kathleen Dawson in her early days with Warriors of Warrington Swimming Club

But for the University of Stirling student it all started on LiveWire's Learn 2 Swim scheme at Great Sankey pool and through her progress in the Warriors elite swim squads programme.

And Ashley, concerned about the impact the coronavirus pandemic has had on children's lives, would like more youngsters to take the Warriors pathway in a bid to emulate Dawson's success and that of former Cardinal Newman High School student James Guy, a member of the Team GB gold-medal winning men's 4x200m freestyle relay team.

James Guy, third from left, with the golden Team GB 4x200m freestyle team

“The sad thing for us is that we’re losing a lot of members at the moment," said Ashley.

"I would imagine sport in general has been hard hit with what’s gone on in the last 18 months.

“Kids are suffering both mentally and physically through all this.

“We’re looking to take on more kids to give them the opportunity that Kathleen had but we’re struggling at the moment to try and fill those places.

“Without the support of Livewire we’d be really struggling at the moment.”

Dawson's dedication and commitment to her sport shows what can be done with the grounding gained at Warriors of Warrington, whose first Olympian swimmer Helen Slatter competed in Seoul in 1988, Barcelona in 1992 and Atlanta in 1996.

"For someone as good as Kathleen to come out of the town and go to the Olympics is definitely a good thing," said Ashley.

“I think anybody who is of that mindset and has the ability there’s definitely the opportunity to do it in Warrington.

“Her dad will tell you when he first came into it he never thought it would be taking over his life as much as it did.

“Kathleen was doing eight to 10 sessions per week at the age of 15/16 which a lot of parents are not cut out for. But if your child’s going to swim at the Olympics I think you’d do anything to get to that level.”

Covid-19 lockdowns, with their swimming pool closures, did make things difficult for the Warriors and things are still to settle down, but members were racing again at the weekend.

“We’ve struggled in that the water times are here, there and everywhere for training but I’ve been told the water times will be going back to normal in September and I can only hope that’s the case," said Ashley.

“Starting racing again for the first time in 18 months in the Festival of Swimming in Manchester at the weekend gives the kids a goal for what they’re actually training for.

“I think there’s various reasons for losing members. Kids have come back, they’ve put on a lot of weight and I think they’re struggling mentally to try and get rid of it. And having not had a goal at the end of it I think it’s another reason why they’re not doing it and dropping out of the sport which is a shame.

“But I would imagine it’s the same for all sports.

“We’ve probably lost 10 to 20 percent, mostly young swimmers who we couldn’t offer anything during the lockdown. We couldn’d do land work with them because they were too young to do land work.

“So we’re starting at the foundation upwards, from the ages of six and seven. We have had some interest in rejoining recently and I’m hoping the relaxing of restrictions will mean we get an influx of more kids over the summer.

“But I still think there’s a few parents out there a bit wary about where this is all going. You don’t know what’s going to end up at the end of it all.”

Anyone interested in joining Warriors of Warrington can contact Darren Ashley on headcoach@swimwarriors.org.uk or 07717 558369.