In this blog, we got the chance to catch up with Rosanna. She is the club manager for our Tottenham Green club and has swam at every one of our clubs! Rosanna shares her journey to becoming a confident swimmer and the amazing role she plays in her community.
Rosanna, tell us a bit about how swimming became a part of your life.
I learnt to swim as a young child, but I wasn’t good at sport at school so that put me off doing sport as I was too embarrassed. It wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I started swimming regularly. I now swim 4 times a week.
Swimming is the most important part of my mental wellbeing. I find when I am immersed in water, I switch off, I get in flow and I can lose myself. Everything else in my life is better when I have swum.
Swimming has also become a major social and supportive community for me. Swimmers are just lovely people!
I still hold some fears, but I am trying to push myself to swim more and take on challenges. This year I am hoping to do a 10km swim from Sealand to Felixstowe raising money for Aspire and WeSwim.
Swimming makes me feel fully alive, it allows me to be alone with my thoughts. It both calms me down and energises me. I feel braver and happier every time I swim.
What made you want to volunteer with WeSwim?
I have volunteered at lots of organisations but wanted to find something that was closely linked to my passions of swimming and mental wellbeing. I have personally experienced the positive impact of swimming on physical and mental wellbeing so I wanted to be part of a charity that is championing this for people who might not have easy access to pool facilities. It’s the perfect way for me to combine my love of swimming with having a positive impact in my community.
Having often feared sport, I know how daunting it can feel so this pushes me to try to create a welcoming and supportive environment for everyone.
Seeing the joy when people enter the water each week fills me with so much joy!
The community element feels as important as the swimming, and I love chatting to new people so it is my dream role – swimming and chatting 💜🏊🏾♀️
What was your first session like?
It felt a little daunting being unsure whether I would support people in the right way. Once I relaxed and spoke to the swimmer to see how I could support them we had a great time – lots of laughs as well as lots of swimming!
Thank you Rosanna for everything you have done for WeSwim! Any closing thoughts on the future of our clubs?
I hope we can support more swimmers and grow the number of clubs. Importantly I hope that funders see the benefits of WeSwim and can support us even more.
