About Me

My name is Bailey Conlon, I was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2005. When I was three years old I suffered an ischaemic stroke, my left side became a lot weaker than my right.  I immigrated to New Zealand where I took up swimming as part of my therapy to heal, with Sandra Blewett in Auckland.  Sandra Blewett was instrumental in ensuring that I learned how to swim in the right way. I will always remember her teaching me "windmill arms" and to "blow and turn". When I moved to Rotorua in 2016 I had to say farewell to Sandra and for a while I did not swim.

In 2018 at age twelve I started swimming again with Tina from Swim Magic. She suggested that I try swimming with David Blackmore who is the coach for the Special Olympics Rotorua Swim Team. My first meet was at Te Awamutu where I achieved my first red ribbons and I was hooked in swimming. Initially I just wanted to win because I hated losing.  Now I compete against myself and focus on improving my technique and my times. 

My swimming club is Te Arawa Swimming. I am an S14 para swimmer and I have set a number of para New Zealand records ever since I was fourteen. I have also gone on to represent New Zealand at the Virtus Oceania Asia Games in Brisbane, Australia. My coach is Henk Greupink. He is from Holland and he has been coaching me since 2018. 

I am in Mainstream Year 13. My favourite subjects are English and Sports Science. I attend Western Heights High School in Rotorua.  

I am skilled at swimming, namely freestyle and breaststroke. I am dedicated towards my training and sports, I train two hours every morning and an hour and a half every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I enjoy creative writing and gaming.

I enjoy learning about the world and various subjects, such as physiology and sports science.

 #SWIMMING #FRIENDSHIP #TRIBE #TEAM #ACHIEVEMENT #GOALS #PLACE #MATES