Nell Kinch '20 Recruiting Profile

I have always loved to swim.  Swimming is what makes me the person that I am.  That person is dynamic, determined, committed and focused.  With a training schedule that involves 12-14 hours a week in the pool and 3 hours per week dry land training I have to be very organised and efficient to ensure that I stay on top of my studies.  I have succeeded in that so far.  In July 2017 I sat 11 GCSEs and achieving  5 at A* and 6 at A.

I came to competitive swimming relatively late.  I joined my first swimming club at the age of 11 and entered my first club champs at the age of 12.  I knew then that I loved to race.  Other swimmers of my age were faster and stronger.  Over the years I have caught them up and left them behind.  I am now the club’s most successful female swimmer in my age group.

Early on my main stroke was fly.   During the 15-16 season I suffered a shoulder injury so I moved my focus to backstroke and freestyle distance.   At the end of the 16-17 season my progress was not as I had hoped.  I know that girls of my age can plateau.  During my 2017-18 pre-season preparation I radically changed my diet and significantly increased my dry land strength and conditioning training.  The results can be seen in recent PBs.   For the first time I have secured a QT for the English Nationals in 800 free – not easy when the age group is now 17+.  I missed a QT for 400 free by one place and was close to a 200 back place.   https://www.swimmingresults.org/individualbest/personal_best.php?mode=A&tiref=1103311

I am very confident that this is the beginning of a new phase of improvement for me and that I am at the foot of an upward trajectory.

I am very much a team player.  I provide a good role model to the younger female swimmers and encourage them to achieve their goals.  At my school there is no swimming tradition but as swim captain I am working hard to create a team of swimmers so that swimming as a sport can be better recognised in school.

Academic study and achievement is important to me and I am looking for a place where I can study to a high level and achieve my academic goals, train at least as regularly as I do at the moment and compete at a high level.  I want to use these years to see how far I can progress in swimming whilst preparing myself for a career outside of swimming should that be the path I take.