Dan Caldwell - Swimmer: Representing NZ at the 2018 OCEANIA Competition in Papua New Guinea

Dan is a motivated competitive swimmer based in the Waikato, and since starting out at the age of 12 has always strived to be the best at his sport. He has had many knock backs over the years but this has never deterred him from pushing himself more, and achieving great things along the way. Dan is a sprinter in the pool and has won numerous age group medals over the years, including winning a bronze medal in Victoria Australia at age 16. He then went on to finish top in NZ (in both the SwimNZ Long Course and Short Course Competitions), in both the 50m and 100m Freestyle in consecutive years at age 17 and 18. He currently holds 9 Waikato records.

Last year Dan moved into the Open Age competition and managed to win a bronze medal at the NZ Short Course Champs in October. He maintains a top 5 position in NZ in his specialty events which saw him recently qualifying for the 2018 Oceania Champs to be held this June. This is an amazing achievement and recognises the time, effort and dedication he puts into his training's, all whilst studying at Waikato University, in his 3rd year of a Health Sport and Human Performance degree.

Although Dan has been selected to represent NZ, it is totally on a 'user pays' basis, so in order for Dan to attend this Oceania competition he needs to cover the costs involved which are quite considerable, especially for a student. This is the reason we decided to set up this page, in the hope that we can raise something towards getting him there. Every little bit helps!!

Dan is now on the road to his ultimate goal of selection in the NZ team for the 2020 Olympic Games, and the experience he will gain from attending this competition will help him achieve this goal.