Water Babies nurtures swimming champs to achieve success

Water Babies has helped two talented young swimmers reach their potential in the water thanks to its classes.

Two swimming siblings from Bangor in Northern Ireland have sunk the competition and risen to the top of their categories after attending Water Babies classes.

Mila and Mathias Pickett have both gone on to achieve incredible things since their time at Water Babies. Mila claimed the title of Best Minor Girl at the Ards Club’s 2018 Swim Gala, as well as a gold in both front-crawl and backstroke. She also took home a silver in the challenging butterfly race and managed fourth in breast stroke. Her brother Mathias took gold in the 100m breast stroke and bronze in the 100m backstroke when he attended the Swim Ulster Development Gala.

The siblings began attending swimming classes at baby and child franchise Water Babies seven years ago, when Mathias was three and Mila was just four months old. However, the classes have not only helped the talented siblings grow into promising young sports people, but potentially saved little Mila’s life when she slipped into a pool at just 18 months old.

Mum Nicola explained:

“It was really scary. However, when Mila fell into the swimming pool, she amazingly managed to turn herself around and hold onto the side of the pool, float on her back and keep her head above the water. This is exactly what she was trained to do during her Water Babies lessons. If she hadn’t had her training, she wouldn’t have surfaced.”

She added that her daughter is able to hold her own amongst children in age categories above hers and that her previously water-phobic son was now confident and successful in his own right.

Amy West-Hurst, the Water Babies instructor who taught both children to swim, said:

“Water Babies taught Mila and Mathias life-saving skills and it’s great to see that classes have given them a passion for swimming from a very early age. Mila was one of the first babies I taught when we launched Water Babies classes in Northern Ireland and I am absolutely thrilled that they are doing so well in their swimming galas now. You never know, they could be future Olympians!"