Hi my name is Liam, I am 13 years old & I live at Golden Beach QLD.
I have high functioning Autism & anxiety. I deal with many challenges daily nobody would imagine. I started swimming competitions 3 years ago recommended by my integrated doctor to help calm my mind & get me out of the house. I excelled in s short time representing my region 3 years in a row in mainstream plus I made friends & had fun at competitions. I compete in mainstream because I wanted to be good at something & I wanted to be included in sport activities. I have been dedicated to seimming trting over and over to perform and train the best I can but I deal with many challenges daily people don’t see.
I always wanted to swim in the surf. I joined a year ago but was only able to show up twice in the hole season. The 2nd time it took me over an hour to get out of the car because there were so many people at nippers. My mum got me out of the car and I was able to put my feet on the sand & then had to quickly go back to the car. I told my mum how much I wanted to be in that beautiful ocean but I just can’t. My mum drive me away from everyone beside the nippers training in a quieter environment and taught me how to run in the ocean and catch some waves. I had fun this day away from everyone training and I was never able to return to nipper sessions or get out of the car.
I tried again this year joining SLS with friends from swimming training. They made me feel included as s part of the group & even though I haven’t been able to ever show up for SLS training sessions more than once I still continued my swimming training as much as possible & I'm still able to show up to every single carnival I have been nominated for. My club makes me feel included & I am now even attending states with my team. We got gold in branch titles for the Cameron relay. I am also swimming a 2km ocean swim at national titles. My first ocean swim was January 2019 for Australian open water championships in Adelaide performing a great 2.5km swim in a development junior excellence program for juniors. I’d never swam more than 50m out in the ocean before so this was scary. I was successful and swam a great swim. I am going to attempt now SLS National Championships 2km Ocean swim. I do not only do this to show myself I can do it. I do it to show others that they too can achieve anything they want no matter what challenges they are facing. I feel free in the water where all my worries and everyone’s judgements no longer exist and it’s just me and my own mind.
Ive always wanted to be in the ocean but it’s taken me years to mentally be able to get out there. I wouldn’t be able to do it without my good close friends in my small swimming squad that help make me feel included. Also with the age managers and other parents that make me feel welcome and support me knowing I have autism. I also need a board to train in my quit beach I live near because it is hard for me to attend training with so many other people. I want to start doing board in competitions. My mum is a single mum and is my full time carer. I would appreciate any support you are able to provide to help me get continue my swimming training, continue my nutritional recommended supplements and drinks and to cover accomodation and travel to be able to attend these events.