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Jordan Swims Against the Tide

Fourteen-year-old Jordan Huggett is not your typical teenager. No sign of laziness or grumpiness here.

While most of his peers are still in bed, Jordan is honing his skills in the pool at 6.30 am as part of a grueling 11-hour-a-week training regime as a member of the Chalfont Otters Swimming Club.

The Dr Challoners Grammar School for Boys pupil has been a member of the club since he was eight and has qualified for the South Bucks and Berks County Championships every year for the past five years.

For this year’s championship he swam qualifying times for seven events and ended among the top eight swimmers across three different events.

“I think children enjoy the sports they are naturally good at. They enjoy winning” says dad, Chris, who is Chairman of the Otters in Chalfont St Peter. His wife Eileen is the membership secretary.

“All three of our children are swimmers and we were spending so much time at the poolside, we decided to give something back,” says Chris.

For Jordan, the best part of swimming is doing well, socialising with his friends and inspiring the younger swimmers – in his role as current club captain.

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Fourteen-year-old Jordan Huggett is not your typical teenager. No sign of laziness or grumpiness here. While most of his peers are still in bed, Jordan is honing his skills in the pool at 6.30 am as part of a grueling 11-hour-a-week training regime as a member of the Chalfont Otters Swimming Club. The Dr Challoners Grammar School for Boys pupil has been a member of the club since he was eight and has qualified for the South Bucks and Berks County Championships every year for the past five years. For this year’s championship he swam qualifying times for seven events and ended among the top eight swimmers across three different events. “ I think children enjoy the sports they are naturally good at. They enjoy winning ” says dad, Chris, who is Chairman of the Otters in Chalfont St Peter. His wife Eileen is the membership secretary. “All three of our children are swimmers and we were spending so much time at the poolside, we decided to give something back ,” says Chris. For Jordan, the best part of swimming is doing well, socialising with his friends and inspiring the younger swimmers – in his role as current club captain. How does he stay motivated? “I do have days when I get bored and don’t want to do it, but I set myself goals. I would not be able to do it if I was not aiming for something ,” says Jordan. His goal at the moment is to improve his qualifying time by half a second for 100m back stroke in order to qualify for the regional (South East) championships in Crawley in a few weeks’ time. Jordan’s mum was a county-level swimmer, so swimming is in his blood, but he is also a keen cricketer and won the best bowler of the year award for the Gerrards Cross Cricket Club’s under 15 team last year. He also plays hockey for Buckinghamshire, which adds another three-hour training session and weekend competitions to his already hectic weekly schedule. What about homework? “ I stay up late a couple of nights a week and sometimes stay in during lunchtime at school to do my homework. It hasn’t really been a problem yet, ” says Jordan. The ethos of the Otters is to allow club members to practice other sports as well. “We believe it is better for our members to be balanced than to dedicate themselves to only one sport. That is why our members won’t necessarily make the swimming nationals ,” says Chris. When he is not in the pool or on the sports field, Jordan can often be found perfecting his landscape photography technique and listening to a bit of mainstream pop. What does it take to be a good swimmer? Jo Lothian of the All Sports & Fitness Academy says: Teenagers have to take ownership and responsibility for their own training, as well as ensuring they get enough sleep and correct rest and recovery. With a lot of other sports, school work and socialising, it is key for teenagers to have a good sleep routine; relax with a book before bed, and eat well for the amount of energy required. A good hearty breakfast with a lot of protein consumed throughout the day will help aid muscle recovery and keep sugar cravings at bay, as well as the all-important fluid intake of 1.5 to 2 litres of water per day. At the age of 14, land training is highly beneficial to assist with power, muscle endurance and flexibility. One or two 45 minute-visits to the gym a week, working on a mix of functional movements which include body weight and cable resistance training will increase core strength and work on obtaining great shoulder strength. Always make sure you warm up properly and take time to stretch for a good 10 minutes afterwards focusing on muscles that feel particularly tight.