Simpson on cloud nine
Billy Simpson with his nine gold medals.
The nine year old from Brooklyn took nine gold medals from nine races at the Wellington Short Course Championships.
He took first place in the 50 metres and 100 metres freestyle, backstroke, fly, and breaststroke events, as well as the 100 metre individual medley.
The swimming champs featured entrants from Wellington, Wairarapa, Manawatu and Auckland clubs.
And Simpson is very clear about his role model.
“It’s great to have [Commonwealth hopeful] Gareth Keen around the club, he is so nice and always comes and asks about our competitions, and answers any questions. One of my best strokes is the backstroke and Gareth Keen is a strong backstroke swimmer, I like to watch his technique,” says Simpson.
“It’s great, you see all the good swimmers who swam here. Tash Hind went to the Olympics. Gareth Keen is involved with the high performance unit and that’s why he is as good as he is. I would like to get there one day.”
Simpson has been swimming since he was four. He trains four times a week at Kilbirnie, and stoked that his dad is going to give him $10 for every medal he won.
Simpson is a year-five Brooklyn School student, and he says it can sometimes be a challenge to combine swimming and study.
“One day I went to swimming and I had to do my homework at 10.30 in the morning. Sometimes it can be hard.”
Simpson’s mum and sister are also keen swimmers at Kilbirnie.
Simpson got involved with surf life saving at three years old and he’s full of praise for his current coach Timon Williamson, saying “he’s very good to me and offers really good advice. He trains me with an emphasis on the race that’s coming up. He says it’s about concentrating on the stroke and not just trying to be as fast as I can and splashing around everywhere”.
Coach Williamson says technique is key.
“It’s more about how he swam the race. His technique has improved and he used the moves he learns in training very well.”
Williamson adds that young swimmers benefit from seeing some of the more successful swimmers the club has produced still involved with the club.
“The kids see that a lot of good swimmers have come through this club, such as Gareth Keen and Tash Hind, and the younger swimmers look at them. They see that they have come through the club and there’s no reason why they can’t as well.”
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