A first chance to reach Athens

By Nyree Lewis and Sascha Kindred
British Paralympic swimmers

Our first chance to qualify for the Paralympics comes this week and we are desperate to get it over with.

We are really feeling the pressure at the moment. It is so stressful not knowing whether we are going to Athens or not.

So if we can qualify at the ASA National Championships in Sheffield then it will be a big relief.

Sascha and Nyree have their first chance to qualify for the Paralympics

We just want to shift our focus forward to Athens but at the moment all we can think about is the trials.

We have been training really hard since the beginning of the year and now we are starting to taper off just before the trials.

Each individual has a different way of tapering down but before a major competition swimmers do less meterage and concentrate on speed work.

So, it is a shorter distance but higher intensity.

I (Sascha) normally swim about 36,000m a week but two weeks before a major event I will reduce that to 17,000m.

The idea behind tapering is that you are more relaxed and rested. It also makes sure that we have the speed in our legs so we can peak at the right time.

We feel confident that we will qualify for the Paralympics at the first time of asking.

We are both ranked number one in the world in at least one of our events and the qualifying times are set somewhere around the third in the world mark.

SASCHA KINDRED FACTS Age: 25 Classification: S6 SB7 and SM6 Events: 50m freestyle, 50m butterfly, 200m medley, 100m breaststroke Honours: Two short course world records Three long course world records Three gold world medals Three European gold medals Reigning Paralympic 200m medley and 100m breaststroke champion Toughest opponent: Myself - I put too much pressure on myself

Our first event in Sheffield is the 200m individual medley on day one so if we can qualify in that then we can just relax and swim the rest of our events.

The way the qualification system works is that if you qualify in one event then you can put forward your name to compete in other races.

Tim Reddish, the performance director for British disability swimming, will then decide whether we are medal chances.

Of course, there is always the fear that if we don't reach our target times in Sheffield we will have to wait another month until the next chance in May.

Every athlete has their thoughts trained on the 2004 Paralympics but in our spare time we are looking even further ahead.

Our British team-mate Sarah Bailey is head coach for the junior squad in the North-West and we help her with the training sessions every Sunday.

We have been around a long time and have a lot of experience we can pass on.

There are 23 junior swimmers in the squad and last month they came second at the national championships which was a real achievement.

A couple of the squad are on the potential programme. They are 12 and 13 so they are looking at making the senior squad for the Bejing Olympics and beyond.

The idea is that when we retire there are more athletes developing behind us to pick up where we left off.

One big bonus is that we will pass on the headaches and nerves of qualifying for the Paralympics too!