In August this year, Sophie Etheridge, the Founder of Adaptive and Disabled Open Water Swimmers (ADOWS), aims to become the first person with complex regional pain syndrome to swim the English Channel solo and will be raising funds for the Swimming Teachers’ Association (STA) charity campaign titled STARLIGHT.

STARLIGHT

Sophie will not only be taking on the biggest challenge of her open water swimming career when she attempts to swim the English Channel solo, she will also be raising funds for STA’s new UK-wide educational charity campaign called STARLIGHT which is aimed at upskilling swimming teachers for free and qualifying them as specialist disability swimming teachers.

The name of the campaign, STARLIGHT, highlights the need to shine a light on disability swimming and reflects not all disabilities are visible – and, like stars, everyone is different and STA wants to equip swimming teachers with the skills and knowledge needed to teach disabled swimmers of all differing abilities – and make them shine bright and enjoy all the benefits from being in the water.

Any money raised by Sophie will be used by STA to offer even more free disability swimming courses and upskill even more swimming teachers.

About Sophie

Sophie, aged 31 years and who grew up in Hastings by the sea, is a Disabled Marathon Swimmer and an STA Open Water Coach, and by taking on this huge challenge, she hopes to raise awareness of open water swimmers with disabilities and show what those with disabilities can achieve with the correct support and people around them.

The first contact Sophie had with swimming and the STA, was at just 18 months when she first learned to swim; as a teenager, she volunteered as a swimming teacher and completed her lifeguarding qualifications. Through the Hastings Voluntary Lifeguarding club, Sophie was introduced to sea swimming and open water swimming and instantly fell in love with it and, as they say – the rest is history!

At age 18, like many, Sophie went to university and continued teaching swimming. However, in her 2nd year, she was knocked off her bike by a car, and this accident eventually led to her being diagnosed with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome and, ultimately becoming an ambulant wheelchair user. Four years later, Sophie decided to try getting back into swimming; she struggled to get in the pool because of the pain but after 6 months Sophie was ready for the challenge of getting a wetsuit on and getting into open water; a day she honestly thought would never come.

It has not been easy and Sophie is still in incredible pain, but since then, she has completed many open water swimming events, including an English Channel Relay in 2022. In this time, Sophie has also trained as a swimming teacher, become an STA Level 2 Open Water Swimming Coach, founded the largest community of open water swimmers with disabilities that exists, and campaigned for swimming to become more inclusive and become an STA Brand Ambassador.