Poppy Richards has the Paralympics in sight

Poppy Richards has always dreamed of making the Paralympics. In her application to Sport Access Foundation, it was very clear she was putting all her resources into swimming to achieve her goal of being an Australian Paralympian. A member of the Swimming Australia Development squad, Poppy is aiming towards Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Paris 2024 Paralympics.

We recently caught up with Poppy and her mum, and with the National Paralympic Swimming trials only weeks away, she is still a chance of making the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Poppy will travel to Adelaide for the trials, and the teams for the Olympic and Paralympic will be announced on the 17th June.  

Poppy was awarded our 2019 Pathway to Paralympic grant, and she continues to inspire us with her determination to reach her potential. Poppy and her sister also a keen swimmer, have had the wonderful opportunity to connect with Cate and Bronte Campbell through swimming and they all share passions of supporting charities in the disability sector.

With up to 25 hours of training a week, along with her Year 11 studies in Physics, Chemistry and Math, she has had the difficult challenge of managing her swimming with her studies.

Poppy is also an active patrolling lifesaver Alex SLSC - Surf Sports Group  inclusion in a number of ways and Poppy loves to help with the seahorses program for nippers with a disability and was involved in the introduction of a perpetual trophy for athletes with a disability in the mainstream nippers program.

Poppy used her Sport Access Foundation grant to help towards the cost of the Sydney Open held in NSW last week. She was really pleased with how she went gaining two small PBs in her target stroke - freestyle. Races were multi-class meaning that all athletes of different classifications race against each other using the multi-class points system.

All the best Poppy with the upcoming trials and your studies.

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