Cahal Duffy is a young 14 year old man who knows exactly what he wants to do in the future.
He has right sided hemiplegia which, although it affects his motor skills, he will never let it define who he is.
He enjoys ski-ing, horse riding and is a brown belt in karate, but his passion is and always will be swimming.
This passion has set his sights firmly on making the Paralympic swimming team.
Cahal first went for swimming lessons when he was just 3 years old, but due to his disability, things didn’t work out for him within the main stream swimming classes. Not one to give up, his mum Susan and dad Jim got him a private swimming coach where he began to progress. Eventually his coach said it was time for him to join a club where she felt he would benefit from a group setting of his peers. Cahal’s parents realised he would never progress through the mainstream swimming process.
When Cahal was 9 his mum discovered the City of Glasgow Seals Swimming Club and contacted them for a trial and he has never looked back since. From the moment he joined, Cahal said that ‘right away’ he felt part of the Club.
When he attended his first competition, he felt very nervous, but managed to put his nerves aside through the support of his family and team mates and he went on to win 2 gold medals. In the years that have followed Cahal’s swimming has gone from strength to strength and
Cahal’s mum and dad feel he has matured a lot since joining the club. The inclusive environment has helped him to develop and grow into the person he is now and his mum and dad are very grateful to all the coaches, club members and supportive family environment that is the City of Glasgow Seals.