james - kirton

swimming

What was your sport and how did you get into it?

My sports was swimming. I only got into it originally because my parents wanted to give me the life saving skill, I had no family connections to any sport at all.

Tell us about the highlights of your sporting career?

My career highlight would have to be competing in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing with the Olympic trials being a very close second.

What were some of the challenges you experienced and how did you overcome them?

Any career has challenges if you are trying to become better. My career was no different, there were small challenges such as the 4.30am alarm going off every day, to go and swim for two hours and injuries that would play such a pivotal part in my journey. The day to day challenges were just part of the sport I was in, but the injuries were pretty tough. I was lucky to be quite mentally tough and surrounded by some great people. I honestly believe these were the two biggest factors that enabled me to get through the tough patches.

What have been your highlights while working at the Trust?

Highlights of working with the Trust have to be the chance to go home after each day knowing you’ve tried to help people. I have hundreds of stories about young people that I have played a small part in their journey, this alone fills me with pride.

What do you do now alongside working for the Trust?

Apart from the Trust I work with a few other companies that use the power of physical activity to engage with a broad variety of people through my mentor role. This has given me the chance to work with hundreds of thousands of people from primary schools to prisons. I also own a swim coaching company that delivers swim clinics to younger swimmers allowing me to give a little back to the sport that moulded my life. I also spend some time public speaking, I've been lucky to do this in some pretty cool places both nationally and internationally.

What life advice would you give a young person?

The advice I would give to a young person would be to ‘spend time celebrating the little wins’. We all know so many people that have had huge success, but I can promise 99% of those people started out by just trying to be a little bit better each day. When I think back to my career there were only a few BIG moments, but thousands of little ones that eventually created the big ones. 

What does Being Me mean to you?

Being Me is trying every day to be a good person. This starts with being a good Dad, I want my boys to grow up being proud of the man I am and seeing me trying to help and support as many people as possible. I'm also passionate about being able to look in the mirror and being satisfied with what I see, this isn’t about what I look like, its about the decisions I’ve made and the path I’m trying to create. 

Competitive Record

2008

Beijing Olympic Games – Mens 200m Breaststroke 

2007

Melbourne World Swimming Championships 

2006

Budapest European Long Course Championships 

2005

2005 – 2011 over 10 smaller international meets 

2005 –  Trieste European Short Course Championships