11-year-old Lottie Armstrong brings three multi-class medals home from State championships

A swimmer from Geographe Bay Swimming Club’s inclusion squad became a three-time State champion at the Swimming WA Junior State Championships in Perth at the weekend. Lottie Armstrong, 11, was victorious in the nine to 13 girls 50m multi-class freestyle, breaststroke and backstroke events. Multi-class swimming is the competition structure for competitors with intellectual or physical disabilities. Geographe Bay Swimming Club president Rich Penn said Lottie would not have been involved at the club if they had not taken the step of starting an inclusion squad a few years ago. “For (Lottie) to have those achievements is awesome,” he said. “The idea of it is to eventually integrate into the main squads . . . but they need specialist coaching to start with because they’ve got certain issues or anxieties. “It’s quite hard for them to integrate into the main squads because there’s a lot of swimmers around.” Penn said the club had been told by Swimming WA they were the only club in WA with an inclusion squad specifically aimed at swimmers with intellectual difficulties. Lottie travelled to the State Championships with her coach Kylie Rann.