Ben Littlejohn | Sport

I’ve been fortunate to be brought up in a home life and school environment that encourages questions and supports any challenge. This has given me the confidence to undertake exciting challenges like international exchanges, outdoor expeditions, and high level sport. I love testing my limits through new experiences and approach challenges with a focused mind. I set ambitious goals and hold myself to high standards to give myself every chance to achieve them. I’m 17 years old and in Year 12 at St Paul’s Collegiate school. I study primarily sciences and mathematics with Chinese as a side project. I’m involved in the schools ‘Over the Fence’ community mission and outreach program which aims to bridge the gap in experiences between our high decile school and the poorer area surrounding it.
I love a great book, with Fantasy and dystopian genres often capturing my imagination, recently however, books that follow interpersonal themes have connected with me. Computer games also fill a large portion of my spare time with strategy titles like Sid Meier’s Civilization, and MMORPG’s like Runescape being amongst my favourites. In regard to other sports, I have tried a vast selection of sports when I was younger such as Hurling and Gaelic football when our family lived in Ireland for a year. I’ve played at a representative level for Waikato in Water Polo and participated in the Hillary Outdoors ‘Get 2 Go’ National Final held on Great Barrier Island (our team finished 4th). I’ve been swimming competitively for 9 years and have been fortunate enough to achieve the majority of goals I have set for myself. These include Waikato and New Zealand records, National Titles and Medals at the Victorian and Queensland State Age Group Championships and repeat selections onto the New Zealand Junior Team to compete at the Australian State Teams Championships. The goals I now strive for will look to push me further down the lane of my swimming career. The drive that helps me through the long hours in the pool comes from pieces of lessons I’ve learnt from many others. ‘Inspirational’ talks by people such as David Galbraith, Graham Smith and a Perth taxi driver have helped, piece by piece, to develop my ambition and vision for what I want to be.