Ponteland High’s Evelyn (Y7) leading the way
Evelyn (Eve) is someone who has shown a desire to achieve excellence in swimming from a young age.
She had her first swimming lesson aged 3 when living in Germany with her family and she’s not been out of the pool since. She completed her lessons at Ponteland Leisure Centre when she was 7 and after enjoying her first gala with Ponteland at West Denton Pool, she joined Newcastle Swim team shortly before her 8th birthday.
In 2019, at age 9, Eve qualified to compete in the Northumberland and Durham County Swimming Championships, the youngest ever female swimmer from Newcastle Swim Team to achieve this.
In 2020, aged 10, she qualified again and won an astounding 7 County Medals. She became County Champion in the 50m Backstroke, 100m Backstroke and 200m Backstroke; she won silver medals in the 50m Fly and 200m Individual Medley; and bronze medals in the 100m Breaststroke and 200m Breaststroke.
Within a matter of weeks, the COVID pandemic struck and she and her teammates spent 5 months out of the water. It was incredibly difficult to go from training so frequently to nothing but she kept up her fitness with running, cycling and pilates. This enforced absence from the pool made her determined to come back even stronger.
Eve returned to the pool in August 2020 and was back into the routine of training really quickly. In lieu of any gala competitions, Swim England created a new virtual gala called Level X for clubs up and down the country to enter. Swimmers raced in their home training pools, and all the results were uploaded to a National leader board. In October last year, the club squeezed in one round of Level X competition (4 races) and Eve topped the Level X National leader board and won gold in the 100m Backstroke.
Eve is currently topping the National leader board in the latest round of Level X for 50m Backstroke and is in second place for the 200m Backstroke.
Eve competes for Newcastle Swim Team in the National Arena Junior League competition, which is for swimmers aged 9-12. Her team are currently sitting in 4th place in the National League Table after the first round. The top 8 teams after 3 rounds will meet head to head in a National final in September.
Her first face to face gala since March 2020 is the Festival of Swimming taking place at the Sunderland Aquatic Centre at the end of July. She’s so excited to get back on the blocks and race properly again.
After that, Eve will be preparing for the 2021/22 season, which kicks off in September with what she hopes is a full competition calendar once again. She’ll be heading to Ponds Forge in Sheffield in early November to compete in the North East Regional Short Course Championships.
Eve trains 7 times a week (6 swimming sessions and 1 land training session) 5 of those sessions being in the week with two of them being 5.30am sessions before school. She’s in the Regional Age Group squad under her coach Matt Allison. She is incredibly driven and just loves swimming.
Ms Byers, Head of Girls PE, said: “Eve is a wonderful student and someone who shows real drive and determination in everything she does. Her achievements in swimming are outstanding and I’m sure even greater things lie ahead for her if she continues to apply herself with such dedication.”
