Zara Williams
Zara has been swimming competitively since the age of 10, swimming 18 hours a week. She added water polo to her swimming, but this wasn’t enough for Zara and when Gary Lee, water-polo coach, suggested that she try lifesaving as a sport, she did so - and hasn’t looked back. Fast forward a couple of short years and she has travelled to many places, including Copenhagen (team GB, European Juniors), Spain (GB senior team, South Africa (Commonwealth Championships), Australia and Japan, competing and representing the UK.
Zara typically will have five or six swimming sessions with the Swimming Club, which in total is about 10 hours alongside training in the pool with the Lifesaving Club, have three sessions in the gym and three sessions on an exercise bike at home. In total she trains for about 20-22 hours per week.
Representing TeamGB, in 2 1⁄2 years Zara has already won medal upon medal, including Gold at Commonwealth Championships (she also won the overall female title in the Commonwealth Championships in 2011) and a silver medal at Rescue 2012 in Adelaide. She also holds two British records: one in the 50m Manikin Carry and one in the 100m Rescue Medley. (To provide some context to a competition, at Rescue 2012 this year Zara had 13 races in two days).
This is an athlete who trains hard in a sport that needs an increased profile and for this Zara we salute you. Well done and good luck for the future!
This is indeed an athlete to watch going forward.
Zara’s training and pool time are critical to her and it’s due to the Freedom Leisure Trusts talented athlete scheme that she has all the time she needs. This scheme provides Zara and 29 other athletes’ free access to all of the Freedom Leisure facilities around the country. Without this kind of support Zara and the other athletes in the talented athlete scheme would be unable to put in the training they need to pursue their dreams.
To find out more and to apply, visit www.freedom-leisure.co.uk for full details and application forms.