Talented swimmer Mikey makes a splash (From Western Telegraph)

Talented swimmer Mikey makes a splash

10:00am Monday 3rd September 2012 in Sport

Mikey Hire hails from Milford Haven and has shown his swimming talent by becoming a member of the Pembrokeshire Elite Squad quartet which recently won the 4x50 medley relay final at the British Gas National Swimming Championships in Swansea.

Not content with that brilliant team success alongside Jonathan Orchard, Daniel Thomas and Sam Withers, however, Mikey went on to win the medley individual events at 4x50 and 4x100 metres. It is fitting reward for almost ten years' involvement and dedication to the swimming cause because Mikey is so committed to his swimming that he travels to Haverfordwest Leisure Centre for morning training sessions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (from 6am!), and each evening and Saturday mornings.

After a poolside warm-up session, he can swim upwards of 6,000 metres (almost four miles) in the two-hour sessions. This is followed by a 'swim-down' before he has been going back to school at Milford Haven Comprehen-sive or completing homework for GCSEs, for which he received his results last week.

He works hard with Paul Dowey, the Pembrokeshire Swimming Development Coach, assisted by Phil Thomas and Chris Davies, and also of course has total support from his parents Stephanie and Michael (Snr), who take him everywhere he needs to go in pursuit of his swimming, plus older sister Loren. His successes at the National Finals, where the squad broke the meeting record with a time of 56.97 seconds, show how much he has improved since he set out as a nipper of six years with Linda Bryant and Gaynor Almond at Milford Haven Leisure Centre.

Mikey wasn't over-keen to start but he persevered because he knew how important it is to swim in our coastal county and has been so involved ever since that he has literally hundreds of medals from galas as proof of his progress.

After excellent support from the Milford Tigers Swimming Club he moved across the Cleddau Bridge and from 12 to 13 he swam with the Pembroke and District Swimming Club and then joined the County Performance Squad to further develop his skills. It has meant almost total commitment so that, although he loves other sports like football, rugby and tennis, he is unable to take them up seriously because there simply aren't enough hours in a day!

Ask Mikey about his future and he is considering taking up accountancy in terms of work but there is the matter of swimming to be considered before that, because there is no doubt that he is a talented young fella when he gets in the pool.

He aims to continue to give that his best shot and after having to manage his time so carefully this year, what with training, attending competitions and his studies, he has shown great commitment - and who knows how far he can go with his natural talents in the future.