Ryan was selected to attend the ASA North East regional talent training camp on 1 October 2016. Only the top 28 swimmers in the North East were selected for this opportunity. The camp was co-ordinated by Fred Furniss, who is the England Swimming Talent Officer. This camp will be the first stepping stone to progress hopefully to England Phase 1 camps in the future, where Ryan can meet top England coaches, learn and progress. Overall, Ryan really enjoyed the opportunity and came away with some useful tips and advice.
Secondly, Ryan participated in the annual club getaway to Carnegie in Scotland on 29th to 30th October. This meet was a Level 2 meet, which meant that Ryan was swimming against people who swam at Scottish national level. At the gala, Ryan managed to come away with 12 gold medals. Some of the highlights of the gala were achieving times of 58.94s in 100m freestyle and 26.97s in 50m freestyle. Ryan also won the top boy award for the best performance in the meet.
Finally, Ryan managed to qualify for the ASANER age group short course championships, which was a meet at British regional level, on 5th and 6th November at the Sunderland Aquatics Centre. There, he managed to come away with nine gold medals, one silver medal, one bronze medal and a British record for 50m backstroke in the 12 years age group with a time of 29.46s. Ryan also became the fastest 12 year old for 50m freestyle in the country in the last 12 months with a time of 26.88s. This was a fantastic way to end the short course season this year!
Hopefully, Ryan will continue to improve his swimming times and be able to qualify for the British summer nationals next August. Good luck, Ryan, NSB is very proud of you!