A second year student from Salford City College’s Eccles Sixth Form Centre is one step closer to his dream of representing Team GB in the Olympics.
Lewis Clough from Tyldesley started swimming competitively with the City of Salford Swimming Club at the age of 12, and has since travelled the world taking part in competitions.
Lewis’ first big international competition was the European Youth Olympics in 2013, where the former Fred Longworth High School pupil represented Team GB. He explained: “Taking part in the Youth Olympics was amazing, and it really spurred me on to pursue swimming even further.”
Last year Lewis travelled to Samoa in the South Pacific to compete in the Youth Commonwealth Games, where he represented England. The superstar swimmer says that his career highlight so far was winning five medals at the Games in Samoa, which included three bronze and two silver medals.
The next international event Lewis will be taking part in is the European Junior Championships in Hungary this July.
Lewis is particularly excited about travelling to Glasgow for the trials for this competition, as they will be taking place in the same venue and at the same time as the British trials for the Rio 2016 Olympics.
The 17-year-old is currently in the top two swimmers in the country in his age group and 15th in the country for all ages. For this he thanks his coach John Stout, who he trains with at the City of Salford Swimming Club 7-8 times a week.
When he’s not training in the pool, Lewis is at Eccles Sixth Form Centre studying BTEC Sport & Exercise Science, as well as A-Levels in History and Biology. He finds that studying a mix of A-Levels and a BTEC works well for him as it means he has fewer exams, which takes the pressure off when he has a particularly busy training schedule.
Lewis explained: “I chose to study Sport & Exercise Science at Salford City College as I felt it would further me as an athlete. As part of my course I study nutrition, and so this has helped me with life outside of the pool by teaching me how best to take care of myself.”
He added: “What I like most about the College is the nice environment and good facilities. The facilities that I use the most would probably be the new science labs and the strength and conditioning gym.”
As a result of his international sporting success, Lewis has been offered scholarships by a number of universities in America, one of which paid for him to fly out to Louisiana last month to view their campus. The teenager says he is undecided as to whether he wants to move abroad to study, or if he would prefer to go to university in the UK, but he knows that he would like to study History.
When he finishes university, Lewis hopes to continue swimming professionally, and is aiming to make the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
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