At 14 years of age Ffion Davies is one of the talented new breed of swimmers making a name for themselves in Pembrokeshire as a member of the county’s swimming squad.
 
She swims 13 hours a week in practice and this total dedication, allied to her natural swimming skills, has seen Ffion being recognised at international level as she recently competed alongside Kelsey Williams and Jordan Harding at Bellizone, in Switzerland.
 

A cold visit to Switzerland!

 
All three had to gain challenging qualifying times to be selected before they travelled to Switzerland to compete against youngsters in their age group from France, Italy and the host nation, plus other European countries. It was a novel experience because as well as swimming at such a high level the whole competition took place in an outdoor pool!

“It was freezing,” admitted Ffion with a smile, “but we just had to get on with it!”

And get on with it she did because she took part in 200 and 400 metre freestyle, 100 and 200 metre butterfly and 200 metres individual medley.  She enjoyed the experience including a stay in the local girls’ boarding school and the visits to local places during the four week stay.

This event was organised by Swim Wales and former Olympic swimmer Martin Woodruffe and Jill Jacobs were involved prior to the trip, which Ffion hopes to repeat next year.
 

Early introduction

 
She first started out in the pool when she was taught to swim by mum Sharon, who has provided superb support ever since, especially as a brilliant taxi driver to all the training sessions and galas ‘up the line’.
 
Ffion started swimming seriously from the age of seven and although she admits a preference for freestyle and butterfly she is also a very good breast and back stroke swimmer, as the heaps of medals at the Davies’ family home in Haverfordwest would attest.
 

County squad involvement

 
She was soon making the times needed to qualify for the county squad coached by Paul Dowey, director of coaching for Pembroke Swimming.  She has been involved since she was eleven and another big step forward came when Ffion achieved times needed to be considered for South Wales and Welsh squads as reward for all her hard work, with a two-day competition at Swansea setting up her time for the Swiss trip.
 

Dedication needed

 
At present she has to attend practice sessions at Haverfordwest Leisure Centre at the unearthly time of 6am until 7.30am on three mornings a week, four evenings from 5.30pm to 7.30pm and on Saturday mornings, a total of 13 hours which starts every session with warm up work poolside, followed by up to 3,600 metres (134 lengths) of the pool and then a ‘swim-down’ session back on poolside.  Throw in other demands like schoolwork and it is easy to see how dedication is a must for young swimmers like Ffion.
 
In her time swimming, Ffion has won the ‘Best Girl Swimmer’ at a number of competitions and at the moment she is ranked No 3 in Wales for her age group for the 200 metres butterfly.
 

Ambition aplenty

 
At the moment she is able to swim all distances from 100 to 1,500 metres but knows that there will come a time when she will have to focus on specific styles and distances.  At the moment she enjoys 200 and 400 metres best but still has plenty of time to decide.

Ask Ffion about swimming ambitions and her answer is immediate.
“I just want to carry on enjoying myself and would like to swim at the highest level.  I know it will take a huge amount of work but I’m ready to work for it”.
“I’ll keep trying to improve my times so that I can swim at more international events like in Switzerland”.
 

And finally . . .

 
It was refreshing to talk to Ffion Davies about her achievements so far and although she underplays her ability we at PembrokeshireSport.co.uk are confident that if she can maintain her momentum then we are sure to hear a great deal more of her in swimming in the future!