At Paul Sadler Swimland we encourage all of our swimmers and parents to aspire towards achieving our Swordy 1 km Gold Medal, and feel great pride when any of them accomplish this challenge. Ben Van Raay had been swimming at Paul Sadler Swimland for 14 years, and in Term 4, 2010, he and his coach, Hellen Aitken, set a goal for Ben to achieve his 1 km Swordy Gold Medal. However, Ben is a little different from other swimmers – he has Spina Bifida. Although he does not have the use of his lower body and has limited strength in his upper body, Ben was determined not to let this stop him. Together, Ben and Hellen devised a way to achieve his goal. As Ben is not able to lift his head to breathe when swimming on his front, he swam the entire 1 km swim on his back, doing backstroke, with his legs dragging behind him. Ben kept himself motivated during the swim by listening to his favourite music on the underwater MP3 player that Hellen had found for him. It took Ben 55 minutes to complete this amazing achievement, and his mum, Cindy, and coach, Hellen, were reduced to tears of overwhelming pride. Ben was presented with his 1 km Gold Medal in the presence of his physiotherapist and many of the other Narre Warren staff, and he proudly wore his medal to school for the whole day. Congratulations to Ben and Hellen on another very proud Paul Sadler Swimland moment.