315 aquatic athletes from across the country have benefited from a total of £162,350 worth of funding thanks to the GLL Sport Foundation (GSF), in partnership with SportsAid and British Swimming.
The athlete support programme, run by charitable social enterprise GLL, focuses its work on supporting the talent pathway and helping young athletes across the UK reach their potential. Funding is designed to help young athletes who show promise to achieve sporting success, with 97% of awards recipients being under the age of 21.
This year 37 divers, 209 swimmers, 31 synchronised swimmers and 38 water polo players have received a GSF award.
GSF supported swimmer and ambassador 22 year old GB swimmer Aimee Wilmott explains her drive for Olympic success: “My ultimate career goal is to win an Olympic medal in Rio 2016 – preferably a gold medal,” Willmott said. “My aim is to qualify in my two main events, the 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly.
“I aim to inspire young children who also wish to become swimmers, or follow a path in another sporting career. This award is beneficial to me to fund a specialist gym coach to write and supervise my gym sessions.”
Another GSF supported athlete, and junior GB synchronised swimmer, Emma Critchley explains the impact of the award on her sporting ambitions: “We are training towards Olympic qualifiers next year and will be competing at World Championships in Russia in July. I will also be competing at the 2015 European Games in Baku. This award helps towards these costs and helps me to achieve my dream of competing at the next Olympic Games in Rio.”
Top junior national diver, Ben Cutmore, who is competing at next week’s ASA National Diving Championships in Sheffied, explained how his GSF award will support his ambitions moving forward: “My future goal is to compete for Great Britain as a junior and senior diver, this award helps greatly towards training and travel costs”.
To view the full list of athletes who have received a GSF award this year, click here.
Swimming news courtesy of the ASA.
