This year I moved from Brisbane, in Queensland, to Hobart, here. Before I moved, I went to St Peters, and had swum with a group called St. Peters Western, which you may recognise due to the influx of famous swimmers it held, including Ariane Titmus. I had swum at SPW for around 2 years, joining in 2020.
Originally the purpose of me joining swimming at SPW was to make friends, as I had not yet started at St Peters but was enrolled to begin there in the following year. I had always liked swimming, and the whole thing that had got me into it was from when I was a toddler to around 7-8 when I had finally hit squad at Aquatic Achievers, which definitely isn't the biggest flex but I was pretty proud of it back then. So obviously, when I joined SPW I thought I would love it and I would beat all the other kids effortlessly; of which I was wrong for both. I found it extremely, extremely hard to keep up with the other kids and I honestly felt pretty pathetic compared to them as I was getting lapped in 100s, which I felt that I wasn't struggling to do, but I imagine I was definitely looking like it compared to the other kids who dominated me.
Nearly every morning, or afternoon before and after swimming I would cry, because I had hated it so much as I couldn't keep up, everything was so hard for me and so much more advanced than what I could do at the time but I chose to keep pushing through it, which was very hard as you could probably imagine when kids younger than me were getting times that could stack in mine by 3, not to mention the fact I didn't even know you got timed in swimming when it wasn't the Olympics! Months had gone by, and I kept doing it, despite some of the other kids and coaches calling me slow, which didn't bother me too much but nonetheless was pretty mean.
The months became a year, and my times were slowly going up, even getting a PB by 20 seconds (which is probably a worse than good thing but I was glad for it). Around early 2022 I had started to join swim meets, or swim nights, which were hosted every Friday night after school to do some races which I mostly didn't like (especially relays) but kept doing and ended up really enjoying. I was proud to see my times get better every single Friday, and it went through the year like that, with a combination of up's and down's and then during 2022 I went to regionals as well, which I was also proud of.
Then, this year I moved to HC. I, once again, thought I was going to dominate easily, which I was, once again wrong about but still happy that I got into HC Gold and might be going to State which is a huge advancement for me. From there it has been pretty good, I cannot say I enjoy getting up early, and I still have a lot of lessons to go to catch up, but I have already seen some of my times improve up to 6 seconds which really makes me proud and I am glad I still get to swim at a great club despite moving, and can't wait to see how my journey continues.
Finn Elliott
HC Swim Club Gold Squad Swimmer
