British Swimmer Commits to US College...to Play Football

British swimmer Reiss Ormonde-Cunningham, first featured by SwimSwam in 2016, has committed to play NCAA Division I football at the University of Arkansas – Pine Bluff.

Ormonde-Cunningham, 25, swam at Mount Kelly School in England, one of the top junior clubs in the country that has also produced a number of NCAA swimmers, before joining the elite training group at Loughborough University.

He also played football (soccer) at Mount Kelly and in 2016, when he was 18, he turned heads with this video kicking rugby balls through rugby uprights at narrow angles and from 40 meters away – with both feet.

From there, he would eventually hook on with United Kicking in the UK, a program that trains European athletes in specialty American football positions of kicker, punter, and long snapper. Among the products from that program are 31-year-old Colorado State kicker Jordan Noyes, who garnered some minor media buzz during this year’s Colorado-Colorado State game.

At their 2023 camp, Ormonde-Cunningham was the top-rated kicker in kickoffs and ranked third in field goals.

UAPB, which doesn’t sponsor a swimming program, is 1-7 this season. Their kicker Dean Sarris is 2-for-7 on field goal attempts, ranking the team last in the conference. The team also ranks 2nd-to-last in net kickoff yardage, though Sarris is a perfect 14-for-14 in extra point attempts this season.

UAPB is an HBCU that plays at the Football Championship Level (former 1-AA) of the NCAA in the Southwestern Athletic Conference.

In the pool, Ordmonde-Cunningham last raced at the 2022 British National Championships, where he finished 66th in the 100 fly (57.13) and 85th in the 200 IM (2:13.20).