Swimming All Stars - Jordan Anderson

Jordan’s determination, commitment and perseverance is something that was noticed by his swimming teacher from the very first lesson they had together.

Jordan describes his journey since leaving hospital as a paraplegic on 18th June 2021 and starting to learn to swim:

“I didn’t have much confidence. I decided I wanted to start swimming but was nervous about swimming with my SCI. When I started swimming with Tanya, my confidence grew. I quickly went from using loads of floats to just using one. When I went on holiday with my family, I swam independently. When I got back, I started swimming without any floats, working on being able to sit up. Swimming has made a huge improvement to my confidence and independence."

His swimming teacher, Tanya, describes just how much of a delight it was to teach Jordan, and how rewarding it was to be a part of his progression in and out of the water:

“Jordan Anderson is one of my one to ones. We’ve been doing these lessons since the start of March. Jordan is a paraplegic who became paralysed 12 months ago. When starting our lessons, I was very unsure of the progression we would make due to this being totally new to me as I had never taught someone who was paralysed before.

So, for the first few months, Jordan’s mum Dawn got in with me to help support Jordan. But as time has gone by and Jordan has become stronger, I no longer need anyone in the water with me. When we first started, Jordan needed floats and to be able to hold onto me for support. Fast forward a few months of hard work and determination and Jordan no longer needs floats all the time. He can scull on his back for 25 metres with no support and is so much more confident in the water! It’s so rewarding to see how far he has come already and how much he enjoys his lessons; I can’t wait to see where he goes from here.”

Swimmers like Jordan are the reason we created the All-Star ‘Hall of Fame’. His journey of overcoming something so serious is enough to inspire even the most professional of athletes.

You can’t teach this mentality, it’s something you are naturally gifted with. We are certainly looking forward to seeing where Jordan progresses to with him swimming.