Swimming clubs in Pembrokeshire do a wonderful job in encouraging children to start out at the earliest possible age and one such happy participant is Finley Bennett, who loves being part of the set-up at Haverfordwest Seals at just seven years of age!
 
Finley started off with the 'Ducklings' when he was four, just after the Leisure Centre was opened at St Thomas Green and went through the stages of having fun whilst gaining confidence in the water, before learning to swim.
 
Gaining confidence as an early step
 
In the early stages Finley and his pals had to learn to walk across the pool with confidence, holding hands across the small pool and encouraging each other, and then immersing themselves gradually as far as their confidence allowed.
From there it was on to doing 'push and glides' using mushroom and star floats - and eventually gaining enough confidence to start learning the skills of the front crawl.
 
Once that was achieved the next stage was to complete half widths across the pool, with the boom narrowed to help them out.
"They were a bit like water boatmen on a pond," said dad Gareth, who is the team manager of the Haverfordwest Seals after first starting out like a lot of other parents, when his daughter Briony (11) started swimming and is now in the Development Stage Two squad.
 
Family matters
 
Gareth works in security at Puma in Milford Haven and was part of the organisation system for the club's recent 'Swimathon' fund-raising event in the Leisure Centre, where over 100 youngsters were involved in trying to complete more than 100 miles in five hours (the previous best was 98 miles!)
 
Finley was one of those involved and he was hoping to raise money for swimming an amazing 60 lengths during his time in the pool!
The family swimming commitment is maintained even further because mum Hayley is a Level One coach and is involved as a swimming teacher at the leisure centre, along with her work there as a receptionist.
 
Ready to be a Dragon – and already a Red Devil!
 
By the time Finley reached Stage Five with the 'Learn to Swim' course he was swimming and since he has learned other strokes in Stage Six he is now ready to join the 'Water Dragons' with the Seals and gain even more specialist coaching.
 
Outside of his swimming, Finley likes football and played for a little while before swimming took over in terms of time, but he readily admits to supporting Barcelona and Real Madrid, plus Manchester United in this country!
 
He is also looking forward to starting out in golf at the Milford Haven Junior Course set up by Simon Nicholas, whom he has already met through his parents and thinks is brilliant!
 
Keeping very busy in the pool
 
Back in the swimming pool, Finley is very busy because as well as one session a week still with 'Learn to Swim' and another with the 'Water Dragons' he also enjoys a 'Swimfit' class where the emphasis is on building skills and stamina, with lots of practice swimming lengths - and on Saturday mornings he loves an early start in the pool as he takes part in basic lifesaving classes organised by Darryl Sable.
 
"We start at nine 'clock," Finley told us, "and it is brilliant!"
 
Finley has already passed Level One of the Bronze award, which involves swimming on his back and gaining experience at pulling 'the casualty' into the pool edge, as well as coiling a rope beforehand and then  throwing it to help someone in distress.
Then there's learning how to enter the water safely and how to fall backwards whilst avoiding injury, all of which he really enjoys doing.
 
The next stage is Bronze Two and then Bronze Three, with more difficult tasks involved but which Finley is already looking forward to.
"I've also got my swimming badges," Finley told us, "for 25, 50, 100 and 200 metres in front crawl and last week I got my 400 metres badge, although I did have to do a little bit of butterfly to finish, which I enjoy doing - and I've got my 200 metres badge for that as well."
 
And finally . . .
 
The next step for young Finley is to take part in competitive swimming and he has already broken the ice under the guidance of Sam Jones, who along with his boss Craig Nelson does a brilliant job of raising the profile of Pembrokeshire Swimming.
"We had loads of fun races and also had to dive off the starting blocks for the first time and I can't wait for the next time!"
 
Ask Finley about ambitions and short term it is to enter his first real gala in September and eventually to gain selection as part of the county set-up, firstly with the skills group, hopefully when he is nine, followed by the Performance Elite squad later if he can maintain his current rate of progress and commitment.
 
One only has to talk to Finley Bennett for a short while to see his absolute love for swimming and the wonderful support he receives from his family, coaches and other officials at Haverfordwest Seals - and long may this cheerful and friendly seven year old stay that way as a great example to others of what swimming in our county has to offer!