Alice Tai MBE: Sheffield man who learnt to swim using YouTube set to tackle Channel challenge with Paralympian

Harry Harrison
By Harry Harrison
Published 11th Sep 2023, 13:28 BST
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Tom Peters mastered his swimming technique using YouTube videos, after a nerve condition left him in permanent pain.

A Sheffield man who re-taught himself to swim using YouTube videos will swim the English Channel as part of an inspiring team, led by Paralympic gold medalist, Alice Tai MBE.

Tom Peters, aged 28, watched videos on YouTube to master his swimming stroke, after developing a painful condition five years ago.

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He said: "All my passions have been stopped by this. Everything I had done for 15 years had gone, so I went swimming."

Tom committed to swimming every day, but found it difficult due to the constant pain in his foot caused by a nerve injury - so he turned to the internet for help.

"I went to YouTube and searched 'how to front crawl' and found techniques that didn't need much kicking," he said.

Soon, Tom was an expert in an endurance style mostly propelled using the arms and swimming became a new passion. He swam every day, before eventually stumbling across the Channel swim on social media.

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