Four members of Pioneer 79 Swimming Club – Declan Charnock, Joseph Murray, Niamh Robinson and Jasmin Scott – were invited to Manchester Aquatics Centre to take part in a ‘Swim Clinic’ along with a number of other selected 10/11-year-olds from Lancashire.

The day was intended to give the swimmers a deeper understanding of the amount of dedication required to succeed at a higher level in the sport, at the same time, they were given information about nutrition, technique and life experiences from two Olympians.

The two Olympians there on the day were Michael Rock and Ross Davenport.

Stockport swimmer Michael most recently won a fantastic silver medal in the 200m Butterfly in Delhi at the Commonwealth Games and Ross won two gold medals in 200m Freestyle and 4x200m Freestyle Relay at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Both Olympians were an inspiration to the children on the day. They took them for a two hour land training session, demonstrating techniques and explaining the benefits.

Then, in the afternoon, they were on the poolside to coach the children during a two hour swimming session, giving tips, advice, demonstrating techniques and giving lots of encouragement to the children.

At the end of the day, the two Olympians and their enthusiastic students were back in the gym but this time to give a presentation to the children, their coaches and parents, about themselves, their achievements, their journeys including all the hard work and their aims for the future.

The day was completed with a questions and answers session along with the opportunity to have photographs taken and also to have almost any item of clothing and swimming gear autographed.

The children thoroughly enjoyed this once in a lifetime experience and they all emerged more focused and more determined than ever.