She is only fourteen; but Vaidehi Patel has made a name for herself in the UK swimming circles through her performances at various championships in the inter-school and national levels.
This year she will be competing in (100m backstroke and 50m butterfly categories) the under 15 category in London – for the ISA (Independent Schools Association), National Swimming Champs and the Kent County ASA swimming championships in 2017. This calendar year for her is also peppered with individual club galas and competitions.
Vaidehi has been representing her school from a young age, and swam at the London Regional Swimming Summer Championships, held at the Aquatics Centre in 2015. She achieved her personal best of 35.02 seconds in the under 13 category girls – 50m backstroke.
She was ranked 13tth in the London region and 148th in the country. Vaidehi also won two medals at the ISA National Swimming Finals the same year – achieving Gold in 50m backstroke, with a personal best of 35.45 seconds and Bronze in the 50m Freestyle that she covered in 31.57 seconds.
For swimmers like her, it takes hours of practice and years of discipline to reach these personal best benchmarks. But for Vaidehi swimming and being in water came naturally. Vaishali Patel, Vaidehi’s mother, says: “Vaidehi had always enjoyed splashing around in water from the age of two. In 2006 when she was four, we found a coach Tim who started giving her one-on-one half-hour sessions on swimming and technique. Two years later, he suggested we take her for time trials at a local swimming club – which we did and her journey began.”
She joined the Beckenham Swimming Club in the Development Squad, swimming two sessions a week and is now a part of the top squad – a prestigious membership decided stringently based on the participant’s hard-work, the hours dedicated to swimming regularly and commitment to the sport. “Vaidehi was swimming an average 16 to 17 hours a week, sometimes twice a day; including before-school sessions,” says Vaishali.
Striking a balance between studies and sports during the formative years can be challenging, but Vaishali says that it is a work-in-progress and as her study load increases, they teach her to manage her time. “These days there are many day-to-day distractions like the social media, but we try to stay focussed. Whether it is during a car journey, or between races at the pool-side, homework is done and handed in on time.”
Time management is key, and not every child is the same, says Vaishali.
“We are often asked ‘this is all good, but what about her studies?’ or ‘what is the point of all this training, where will it take her?’ We believe that she will succeed in what she enjoys doing the most. It is important to remember that she may be fast in the pool, but that speed is not always transferred across when it comes to tidying her room,” chuckles Vaishali. “One has to remain patient.”
Asian women are under-represented in sports in the UK, especially in swimming, but the mind-set is changing among the community. “It is most definitely generational,” says Rajesh Patel, Vaidehi’s father.
“I have family and friends in India whose teenage daughters are paving the way for themselves, both nationally and internationally and are equally encouraged in sports and spending their school holidays at sports camps abroad,” he says.
Vaidehi’s school, family and friends play an invaluable role in shaping her with their encouragement and enthusiasm. “On a daily basis, we are the chauffeur, the counsellor, the parent or the dietitian. However, it all rolls into one, and is very much a team effort,” says Rajesh.
Over the years, Vaidehi has been inspired by the 2012 and 2016 Olympics. She was fortunate to meet Olympians and Para-Olympians Ian Thorpe, Derek Redmond and Susie Rodgers. For most sportsmen, the end-result is what really matters, but for young Vaidehi, the reward is in a workout done well. She looks for rewards in her improvements, those simple moments that may seem inconsequential in the grand scheme of accolades and medals. “If you accumulate those countless little moments where I did it right and did it better, it soon dwarfs the shine of that gold, silver and bronze medals,” says Vaidehi.
Like a young teenager, she is secretive and did not want to share much about her dreams, promising to discourse once she had achieved them. She has a motivational poster by Speedo that says “No matter how slow you go, you are still lapping everyone in the couch.”
“Olympic champions spend years training for that one chance, that one moment. They find value and meaning in what they are doing. You don’t need to be an Olympic champion, or chase some pool-shattering record to understand this,” says Vaidehi.
Vaishali describes her daughter matter-of-factly as ‘your average teenager’ who enjoys reading, socialising, listening to music and watching Bollywood and Hollywood movies. But there is a lot more to this than this extremely talented and robust young lady, and it is a matter of time when she will blossom and make the British Asian community proud with her swimming accomplishments in the international arena. You have all our best wishes, Vaidehi. Go girl!
