Inverness teenage swimmer called to represent Great Britain squad for the British Down Syndrome Swimming Championship
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A teenager from Inverness has been selected to represent Great Britain for the British Down Syndrome Swimming Championship next month.
Matthew McCreadie, (19), was born prematurely with Down Syndrome and has since overcome various medical hurdles, but has always been very 'motivated and determined' to try numerous sports.
The young athlete demonstrated a real passion for competitive swimming when growing up, and soon decided that it would become his focus despite being a late starter to competitions.
Whilst he is unable to swim Breaststroke in competitions due to previous medical operations, he has been a keen member of both Inverness Amateur Swimming Club and Highland Disability Swim Team.
In October of 2021 he was invited to training sessions across the United Kingdom with the Down Syndrome Great Britain Team and he was officially invited to join the team last year.
Matthew is currently the only Scottish male swimmer presently in the Down Syndrome GB team.
After his intensive training efforts he was selected to compete in the European Championships in Padova Italy during September, where he competed for the first time as a part of the GB Team.
Matthew is now training for the British Swimming Championships in November, and has a several week training programme to prepare for the event.
His mother, Susan said: "Matthew has worked extremely hard to improve his technique over the last few years, and now that he is back from the European Championships, his training has increased, as well as his swimming sessions.
"He has quite an arduous, few days over the weekend which will hopefully pay off."
However, Matthew and his family haven't been able to secure any sports funding from any of the sporting bodies to help him compete, and whilst he is representing Scotland and Great Britain in competitions, there is no help available.
Susan said: "We will have spent a staggering £9,000 in training, equipment, travel and other related costs, including his Italy competition, so far in 2023."
Due to this, Matthews family have set up a fundraiser on GoFundMe to give him the support he needs as he rises through the ranks as a professional swimmer.
When speaking about the fundraiser, Susan said: "Although somewhat hesitant, the reason for setting up this fund is on the back of requests from friends who have said that they really want to support Matthew and have indicated it is preferable to them than attending a fundraiser.
On the back of this, Matthew swam a total of 1,473 lengths during August to represent the number of miles it is from Inverness to Padova after competing there for the European Championships.
Susan has also started creating T-shirts, for Matthews training sessions at the gym, with everyone's surname who has donated to his fund.
She said: "We wanted to show our appreciation to you all.
"Matthew loves this and I will make some more as he wants to wear them to the gym and whilst out and about."
Next, Matthew aims to compete at the World Championships in Turkey during 2024.
