Ex leading Wasp Rachel Hares talks to Jon Pardoe

Rachel Hares was a leading Wasp swimmer during the late 90s. During her time with the wasps she held 3 Shropshire County records and still holds 3 Club Championship records. In 1998 she set the 15/u 100m breastroke record in a time of 1:20.75; in 2001 she set the Open 100m breastroke record in 1:19.34; and in the same year she set the Open 100m Individual Medley record in 1:13.40. She is one of only a handful of Wasp swimmers to hold a hat-trick of Club Championship records.

She’s currently training with Loughborough University for the European Trials and Irish Nationals (as a visitor), through to the British Championships in August and in full time employment with the East Midland Region ASA.

Rachel hopes one day to come back to the club in a coaching capacity and follows our success through the website.

Based on the premise that if you want success ask someone who is successful I posed a number of questions to Rachel.

What do you think is the single biggest determinant of success in the pool
Lots of hard work and enjoyment!

Do you think that great swimmers are born or trained
Some swimmers can be born with natural talent, but if they are not willing to put the work in the success will not always stay with them. Other swimmers may not be so naturally talented and may struggle during their younger years but with hard work success will come.

Did you set swimming goals - did you write them down - if so what were they?
Yes, I didn’t always write them down, but they were usually in the form of qualifying times. They started off as Midland Times then National Qualifying times and now I just aim to beat my pb!

What was your attitude going into a race - did you focus only on winning?
I always knew that I worked hard during training, so I could go into a competition feeling confident and prepared. I never focused on winning always on trying to improve my personal best; my main competitor was the clock!

How many hours a week were you training and at what ages
I trained 4 sessions a week at Whitchurch, which increased to 6 sessions at Birmingham University whilst I was a student there and now at Loughborough University up to 16 hours in the pool and 4 hours of land training.

How much of an important part do you believe sporting psychology plays in success?
I believe that the race is won on the blocks, especially if it’s a sprint event. You need to be confident in your abilities and not feel intimidated by the person next to you. You can only do your best, if you come 6th and a pb then you should be happier than if you win with a slow time!

What were your best Wasp memories?
There have been many different memories as I have been a member of the club for a very long time…..probably an early best wasp memories was when I first won swimmer of the year; I was quite young and my first bit of success.

There have then been many more as I gradually improved and probably my best memory was when I first got my national qualifying times (at 17, you are never too old) in all three-breaststroke events. I then when on to compete at the Nationals in Crystal Palace and picked up a bronze in the 50m for the under 18’s. I have not looked back since!

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