Rising swim star Ethan Potter has been selected to represent England at the World School Games in Brazil — potentially the biggest meet of his career.

But the 15-year-old former Sutton Swimming Club member has to raise £2,750 funding for the trip of a lifetime.

He has already been backed by his school, Ashfield School, Kirkby (£100); East Midlands ESSA (£300); and The Armchair Club (£500) — taking his fundraising total to £900 so far.

Ethan, who currently swims for City of Sheffield Performance Club, is now appealing for businesses and individuals to back his dream.
Eventually the ambitious swimmer aims to represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games.

His dedication to the sport means that the teenager travels to Sheffield to train six days a week, completing eight two-hour sessions — three of which mean having to get up at 4.20am to start at 5.30am.

“I also have a comprehensive strength and conditioning land training programme to support my swimming, and take GCSE PE, so on some days I have seven hours of physical training of some description,” he said.

“This amount of dedication and effort is what I feel is necessary to fulfil my ambition to represent my country at the Olympics.

“To be selected to represent my country at the World School Games is my first opportunity at an international level along my Swim England Elite Talent Pathway Programme.”

Ethan, of Sutton, has continuously been selected for national swimming camps, and has won medals at British National Championships.

He competes at national level in all four disciplines — freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly.

As a result he has become highly competitive in the 200 metres and 400 metres individual medley, thriving at distance events from 200 metres to 1500 metres where he has swept up a plethora of gold medals at county and regional level.

Ethan started swimming competitively with Sutton Snipes when he was nine, and by the age of 12, in 2020, be became county champion — winning 12 gold medals and a bronze out of 13 races entered at the Nottinghamshire County Championships.

He was on course to do equally as well at the East Midlands Championships before the pandemic brought competitive swimming to a halt.

During lockdown Ethan kept himself fit and motivated, and when the pools reopened he had a successful trial with the City of Sheffield Performance Club, based at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre.

The World School Games, organised by the International Sports Federation, is a multi-sport event involving 22 sports and three para-sports.

One of his backers so far for the Brazil trip, The Armchair Club, is a group of local businesspeople who have previously supported the likes of Rebecca Adlington, Sam Hynd, Ollie Hynd, and Molly Renshaw, all of whom went on to compete in swimming at the Olympics,

Now it is hoped that Ethan may be the next homegrown talent to hopefully one day achieve the same accolade.
Ethan said the generous support he has received so far was greatly appreciated.

Any local businesses or individuals who would like to sponsor his efforts to go to Brazil to represent England at the World School Games can make a donation and find out more information at Ethan’s GoFundMe page —go to https://gofund.me/60a4843c