A former Olympic swimmer has set up her own business teaching the sport to children at a school in Bodiam.
Lisa Chapman, who competed for Great Britain at the 2004 Games in Athens, is running Whoosh Swim School which is based at Bodiam Manor.
Bodiam resident Lisa said: "All through my swimming career I always said 'one day when I quit swimming I'm goi
ng to be a (swimming) teacher'."
But the 24-year-old admits it wasn't at the front of her mind until her husband, Adam Hart, who is helping her run the swim school, suggested it to her.
The couple thought about it for a while and contemplated the best way to go into it before coming up with the swim school which was inspired by Lisa's Olympic coach Ian Armiger.
Having done the courses to get herself ASA qualified and CRB checked, her aim now is to provide quality swimming tuition to children using the ASA National Plan.
The plan promotes a steady, fun and rewarding progression from having never entered the water to accomplished swimmer.
Whoosh Swim School runs a 12 week course separated into two terms and runs along with the academic school year. The first set of courses will start next month.
The school has three classes - bump 2 babes (pregnancy to four years), swim school (four years upwards) and one 2 one (dedicated coaching and tuition).
"It would be lovely to take a baby that came to me when they were in their mum's tummy and progress them to something amazing," continued Lisa, who has a 10-month-old daughter Xanthe.
Lisa was just six months old when her mum first put a set of armbands on her and, by the age of four, she was already showing promise and joined Hastings Seagull Swimming Club.
At the age of 11, Lisa was finally allowed to swim at national level and was swimming twice a day to push herself harder and raise the bar a little.
She continued to go from strength to strength, winning cups and setting records galore en route to winning a place in the British junior squad at the age of 13.
Lisa made her first appearance for the British senior team two years later, and broke the British and English junior records for the 100m individual medley.
She took a break from swimming at 16, but inspired by the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, Lisa returned under the watchful eye of Armiger at Loughborough University.
The many hours of training paid off as she won a place in the British 4x100m freestyle relay team for the 2004 Olympics and swam the anchor leg as they came sixth in the final.
But Lisa wasn't finished there because, in December 2004, she broke the English record for the 100m IM at the European Short Course Championships in Vienna.
The following year, Lisa broke the British record for the 50m butterfly at the Commonwealth Games Trials before retiring from competitive swimming and starting a family.
Lisa went on: "I've got so many years of experience behind me so hopefully I can bring something new and fresh. The response we've had so far has been immense."
British swimming is very much on the up at present with Rebecca Adlington's heroics in Beijing last week and London 2012 just around the corner.
"It's exciting especially with the way we've been performing at this Olympics. London will come round before we know it and maybe now people will start taking note of swimming," Lisa added.
More information about Lisa and Whoosh Swim School can be obtained by visiting www.whooshswimschool.co.uk
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