Aimee Willmott is looking forward to the opportunity of being one the athlete representatives on the Commonwealth Games England board, ahead of a home games in Birmingham in 2022. 

“I am really excited to give my thoughts and perspectives and hopefully make this home games from an athlete perspective the most enjoyable and successful home games that we can.” Wilmott said,

One of these early leadership roles Willmott has been involved in, was being part of the virtual athlete kit panel. Where 23 prospective Team England athletes from 17 of the 19 Commonwealth Sports took part in the first discussions for the 2022 kit. This was on the back of the announcement that Kukri would be kit suppliers for Team England for the third consecutive Commonwealth cycle after Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018.

“As an athlete you are excited to qualify for a team and then the next exciting part is getting the kit. To be involved in that process is a really nice moment and to have a little bit of input into the design and feel of Team England as a whole is really special process to be involved in."

"It is also key to have these discussions as something that you may not think of from a design point of view in terms of the practicality of competition kit, means it’s great to have 20 different athletes inputting their opinions.”

But before the move in roles, Willmott is set for one last hurrah before she retires from the sport after the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Before Tokyo and Birmingham, Willmott will have to first focus on getting back into the pool itself and recommencing training since the Covid-19 pandemic shut down all swimming training facilities. Which Willmott claims is difficult to replicate on dry land, 

“It's been tricky training as you can’t replicate any skills or drills outside of the pool and you can’t really swim in the bathtub. Even the flow pools that some swimmers have got access to just aren’t the same."

"A lot of it is down to the feel of the water which is hard to pick up when you get back in the pool initially as a swimmer rather than the endurance. How you move your hands through the water and your body position is a unique skill and part of the sport, which you lose quite quick when you are not in the pool.”