A little about me….. I was born and bread in Exeter, I’m a Devonian and I’m proud to be British!

Family

As a family we are very close and I enjoy spending time with them. My mum is called Kim and is a teaching assistant. My dad Tony, is a commercial director in a large local building firm. I also have a brother called Ryan, who is a self employed taper and jointer and works within the building trade.

Ryan has just moved into his new house with his fiancé Becky Brooks and they are due to marry this coming year.

I have many good friends from home, some I have known from a very young age, some from school, some from swimming and others I have got to know over the years, and whenever I get the chance I like to go down and visit them.

My girlfriend is Caitlin McClatchey, a world medallist and double Commonwealth Champion. She lives and trains in Loughborough too and we are both coached by Ben Titley.

From the Start

Ever since I can remember I’ve been an outdoor person. Collecting insects and slow worms, playing football and climbing trees. Walks with my family on weekends and trips to the beach and that’s where I found my love for water.

Learning to Swim

Watching my brother learning to swim was the hardest thing, as I just wanted to jump into the pool too. But as I was two years younger than Ryan I had to sit on poolside with my mum and wait my turn. However after a year, my persistence paid off and I started learning to swim a year below age. From then on it was in my blood. I moved up through the different levels within my local swimming club Exeter City and enjoyed every minute.

Training

Training was always fun as I was around my friends, but my real passion came from competing. At the tender age of 9, me and my family travelled to Wales to race, as the age groups were different and I was able to compete in the 10 and under age group. This was brilliant and I got the racing BUG. From then on my parents took me and Ryan all over the country. It was so exciting staying over in different hotels, in different parts of the country and racing different people.

Early Mornings

When my school friends were tucked up in bed I was getting up, having my hot chocolate and heading off to an early morning session. I know this sounds terrible to most, however I loved it. Training used to be from 6 – 7:15am then my dad would drive me and Ryan back home for breakfast before he went off to work and we went off to school. I started with one early morning session a week as I was young and my parents didn’t want to push me and thought it might be too much, but as soon as I could, I went to more.

School

I’ve always had a great group of friends growing up, and I enjoyed going through the school years. I used to like that fact that at 9am in registration I had already been up for three hours when my class mates have just woken up and used to come in yawning. However one draw back was I was always hungry and by break time I had eaten almost all of my packed lunch.

The schools I went to: Ladysmith First School, Ladysmith Middle School, St Lukes High School

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These schools are still around, but have changed somewhat since I was at them. However I did enjoy my schooling years, and both my friends and the schools always seemed to care about my sport and helped as much as they could.

Growing Up

I love Exeter and growing up there was brilliant. Being so close to the countryside was great too and I enjoyed taking our childhood pet Bonny the dog on family walks. Whether it was on the cliff tops of the Devon coastline, or in the beautiful Dartmoor National Park.

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One of my favourite things is going to the beach. Exmouth and Sandy Bay were my locals, but my favourite has got to be on the North Devon Coastline, Croyde Bay.

Holidays

Each year I was lucky enough to go abroad for our family holidays. We did everything from camping in France to one of our best holidays in Australia.

We went to Australia for Christmas and new years at the end of 1999. So I saw the millennium 10 hours before my friends. It was amazing seeing the different wildlife and the world class beaches. Whilst over there I brought myself a Surfboard and what better place to do it than the Mecca for surfers, that is the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise.

Growing up I really enjoyed playing sports, and I was always playing something. However the two sports that stood out for me were Rugby and swimming. From the age of 10 -14 I played for Exeter as a winger. It was great fun and I enjoyed training and playing games on Sundays. I particularly like the fact that my dad took me and seemed to enjoy himself too. It was very different than swimming, firstly as it’s a contact sport, but it was also team focused. It was nice on a cold winter’s morning to come back to a hot shower and my mums famous roast dinners.

When I was between the ages of 14 and 15 I felt I had to choose between rugby and swimming. And obviously I chose swimming. And I have never looked back!