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Amazing talent

Bill McLaughlin
28/ 8/2008

LITTLE Katie Cassidy has been hailed an ‘amazing’ natural talent after learning to swim at the tender age of two.

She can swim five lengths of the Worsley Pool without arm bands or other inflatable supports.

And City of Salford Swimming Club coach John Stout said: "Youngsters usually learn to swim properly around the age of four and upwards. So what Katie has achieved is pretty amazing. When you see her in the water she just looks so much at home.

"For Katie to be able to swim so well is a real safety bonus when it comes to holidays and days out near to water."

Katie lives in Swinton and she took to swimming like the proverbial duck to water after her mum Lindsay took her to the Swim City Tots group at Worsley Pool at the age of one.

The Tuesday morning classes for 12-week to three-year-olds are designed to get tots used to the water and ready for learning how to swim.

But Katie proved to have a real love of the water and, after ditching swimming aids, she first swam the full 25-metre length of the Bridgewater Road pool just five months after her first visit.

Lindsay, who works in the Salford Community Leisure’s IT department at Minerva House, said "She just keeps getting better and better and is quite fearless in the water.

"Katie can now swim five lengths of the 25-metre Worsley Pool and she has even started to learn different swimming strokes, such as the backstroke. We are all really proud of her."

Worsley’s Elly Fraser is another local swimmer excelling at an early age.

The four-year-old, who swims at Broughton Pool, can perform all four swimming strokes and she recently completed a full strokes 200m swim.