Team England Swimming Camp in Dubai

Ley Ito, U6

In early February, I had the opportunity to go on camp with Swim England in Dubai. Along with a team of 50 or so junior swimmers, I trained for four days and ended the week by competing for the final three days representing England at the Middle East Open swimming championships.

Our camp started off with a brief introduction to the hotel, before we were driven straight to the pool. From then on, the Hamdan International Sports Complex was our second home for the week. We trained at least once a day in the pool, some days twice, whilst also being transported to the local gym during the day.

What I found most valuable from the experience was the exposure that we had to the lifestyle of an elite athlete. We were surrounded by around 20 top coaches, along with physios who treated us for our injuries and illnesses. I found this very helpful as I was unwell at the start of the camp, and in poor physical shape to train well.

We were driven as a team to quality facilities and there was an abundance of food available at the hotel – buffets were organised for us for every meal of the day. On the sports-specific side, we were taught land-based pre-race routines to optimize performance, how to improve nutrition on race day, and so on.

It wasn’t just pure swimming though: we had two planned nights away from the hotel, with the opportunity to visit the high-rise buildings and the Dubai Mall before a long elevator ride up the Burj Khalifa. Unfortunately, a second trip was cancelled due to a strong dust storm.

In the first day of racing, I competed in the 200m Breaststroke, in which I made my first international A final. For each event, there were A and B finals; the A finals were the ten quickest swimmers to perform in the heats, and the Bs, the next ten quickest. After the heats, we all travelled back to the hotel, ate some food and got some rest.

During the finals session, the quality of Dubai’s facilities really came into play. The lights were turned off, and the pool lights illuminated blue. Walkouts through smoke for the finalists took place before every race and the arena erupted with the emergence of every local swimmer.

On the second day, I had the 100m breaststroke. I eased my way into the final, before being met by the world record holder of that event. It was a humbling experience. I was just off of my PB by 0.02 seconds and, since the margins in swimming are so small,