Sammut to take up scholarship in uk

To succeed requires a very positive frame of mind. This applies particularly to young people whose philosophy is to work towards fulfilling their ambitions, socially, through academic advancement, and in other spheres of life, whether cultural or sporting.

Mark Sammut's talents fit this frame.

The 16-year-old swimmer from Marsascala is deadset on exploiting his qualities in the pool as well as pursuing his academic studies.

Reaching these goals has been a dream for this lad.

Soon after turning 16 on September 7, Sammut got the surprise of his life when he won a two-year scholarship at the renowned Kelly College, in Tavistock, Devon.

It all started with a trip to England, some weeks after he returned from the World Swimming Championships in Rome. Upon a recommendation from a friend, Sammut was introduced to Kelly College which caters for full educational studies alongside high-quality swimming development.

Suffice to say that British swimmers of Olympic fame such as Sharron Davies, Mark Foster, Andy Jameson and Robin Brew, among others, emerged from Kelly College and helped to give it the stature it has today.

In all, there have been over 50 international swimmers and 12 Olympians based at this college since it was set up in 1978.

It is also interesting to note that Christian Gialanze was a former squad member of this college, which had as one of its first swimming mentors Archie Brew, whose ties with Malta in his UK military service days have waterpolo ramifications as he used to play for Balluta, Valletta and then Marsaxlokk.

His son, Robin, now Director of Swimming at Kelly College, has an impressive CV.

A Commonwealth silver medallist in 1982 and former Olympic record holder in the 200 IM, as well as being captain of Britain's squad at the Los Angeles Olympics, Brew was also a swimming mentor for Olympic Modern Pentathlon gold medallist, Stephanie Cook, and five times world triathlon champion, Simon Lessing.

Assessment

Brew took great interest in Sammut and after a thorough assessment, the boy was offered a two-year scholarship.

Sammut quickly had to change his plans of pursuing his post-secondary studies at De La Salle College and last week he was assimilated into the Kelly College swimming and academic programme, which also prepares students for their 'A' levels.

Sammut started swimming with Skolasport before moving to Neptunes. He then had a useful stint at Iasis and started breaking records, before returning to Neptunes and then was selected for the national squad.

Since then he never looked back, and presently holds 11 individual records at different age-group levels, besides being part of the Malta team which set national records in four relay events in Rome.

National coach Andy Colbourn summed up Sammut's selection for Kelly College.

"The lad deserves this scholarship, a once in a lifetime opportunity. He is a very talented swimmer and a valued member of our top squad," Colbourn said.

"He will be missed but he will get the attention, opportunities and competition he needs to reach the highest levels at Kelly.

"Unfortunately, until Malta embraces sport as a whole and not just a couple of disciplines, our swimmers will have to look for places abroad to study and train in an ideal setting.

"With the current rigid school and exam schedule we have, and the lack of understanding about the needs of sportsmen, we just cannot offer local athletes the opportunity to have the same standard of training despite doing our best, as was shown by the results of the national swimming team."