AN 11-YEAR-OLD boy who dreams of swimming for Great Britain at the Olympics won a regional title this week.
Reece Thompson, from Great Houghton, won the 100m butterfly for his age group at the Swim England North East Regional Championship in Sheffield.
He also took bronze medals in the 400m freestyle and 50m butterfly and finished in the top ten in ten of his 11 races, being disqualified in the other which has been appealed.
There are no national championships at his age group so it is the top event he can currently compete in.
Reece has been swimming since the age of four and competing for Borough of Barnsley Swimming Club for the last two years, previously winning medals at Yorkshire level.
He is homeschooled around his gruelling swimming schedule which sees him train seven times a week at Dearneside, the Metrodome and Hoyland.
Reece’s mother Terri Thompson said: “We took him out of school after year five to homeschool him.
“He is up at 4.30am twice a week and, on other days, he is swimming until 9pm. So we have to homeschool him when he’s not tired.
“He takes it very seriously with his diet and sleep schedule.
“Everything he does is based around his swimming career.
“He wants to make a career of it when he’s older and the ultimate goal is to compete for GB.
“The immediate next step is to do well in the national championships when he’s old enough.”
Reece added: “It was a good achievement to even be there but I was really happy to win medals.
“I just love swimming, all the training I do and the races. My dream one day is to be in the Olympics.”
Other Barnsley swimmers competing were Oliver Austin, Brodie Charlesworth, Louie Ennis, Joshua Guy, Esme Hays, Sophia Hewings, Georgia Lee, Oscar Lugton, Lucas Morton, Millie Northrop, Poppy Pearson, Noah Wragg, Harry Austin, Olivia Byrne, Aiden Driver, Russell Green and Alexander Matze.
Earlier in the month, Borough of Barnsley collected several medals at the Yorkshire championships.
Joshua Guy claimed two golds and silvers, Olivia Byrne won a gold and bronze, Alexander Matze took two bronzes, and there were bronzes for Harry Austin, Aiden Driver and Francesca Matze.
