HCT students win BBC Midlands Disabled Sports Person Award
Herefordshire College of Technology’s Secretarial student, Nyree Lewis and Accounting student, Sascha Kindred, made a double credit entry to their glittering list of career achievements, when they jointly won the BBC Midlands Disabled Sports Person Award in Solihull on Sunday evening, 2nd December. The inspirational couple met in 1996 at a training weekend for people with Cerebral Palsy (a condition they both share). From that date they have been making a huge impact on the swimming world with their enthusiasm and total disregard of their condition which they do not consider a disability!
Sascha and Nyree receive their award from ex England cricketer Dennis Amiss
Our thanks go to BBC Midlands for supplying us with the photograph
Swimming Superstars Sacha and Nyree have many Paralympic gold, silver and bronze medals to their names. Sascha started the winning trend by achieving a silver medal in Atlanta 1996, followed by two gold, a silver and a bronze medal in Sydney, 2000, two gold and a bronze medal in Athens 2004, competing in several swimming disciplines. Inspired by watching Sascha win gold medals in Atlanta, Nyree decided to train and compete as well. Nyree won a silver and two bronze medals in Sydney, two gold, two silver and a bronze medal in Athens.
When their much loved and respected coach Emma Patrick moved to Hereford from Manchester, Sascha and Nyree knew they had to follow her. Keeping them at the peak of fitness, Emma coaches them for 9 two hour sessions a week at Halo Leisure Centre in Leominster. Halo have been extremely accommodating, making sure they get the time they need to train. “Combining study with training, competing and travelling can be tricky but HCT have been very helpful and supportive to us with our very busy swimming schedule” commented Sascha. Having two such inspirational students is definitely a credit for the college! The couple are currently training for the selection trials in April, when they hope to qualify to compete in Beijing 2008!
