Swimmer gets a bronze at All Africa Youth Champs
Talented Uplands College swimmer, Matthew Ives managed to swim his way to a bronze medal at the All Africa Youth Championships last month.
The event was held at an indoor pool in Cairo, Egypt and saw the best of Africa’s young swimmers compete in various events and styles.
Ives, a grade 10 pupil, was a member of the Botswana team and came third in his age group for the 50-metre butterfly.
The Botswana-born, whose parents live in Francistown, says he has been swimming for the national team for a while and gets along well with his teammates.
He is part of the Uniswim Club based at Uplands College and trains with them for the various swimming competitions. He’s taken part in the various SAs and levels and will be competing in more events during the next few weeks.
This was Ives’ third time at the championships but he says it’s overwhelming each time, with some very tough competition in the water. The swimmer also says this is the first time he has won a medal and he went into the competition with high hopes to achieve some great times. “I thought I’d make the finals and maybe win a medal when I compared the times of the swimmers in my age group,” he explains. He competed in the 100- and 50-metres free and butterfly styles and says the latter is his favourite.
His impression of Egypt is hot and busy with crazy traffic, but he believes it’s a great experience. The team also went to see the pyramids and did all the stuff people do when visiting the desert nation.
Ives says he didn’t follow a special training programme but swam his usual four kilometres per day. “If you train too much, you stop enjoying it,” he remarks.
The young sportsman says swimming is not his sole passion as he he tries to participate in whichever sport he can fit into his schedule.
