Newsletter 10 Summer 2014
Latest News Welcome to this bumper summer edition (the last in the current format). See inside for full stories about the cover photographs: our male Somersets’ BAGCATs winners (fear not girls, you’re inside), El-Presidente Mike Coles (new Somerset ASA President) and the programme cover from our hugely successful Easter Open Meet of Charlotte ‘flying’ through the water.
We reflect on another fantastic season at WSMSC, from our stars in Learn to Swim, to our Development Gala, the Somerset County and South West Regional Champs, and soon, 6 swimmers off to the nationals. The Arena National League and first 2 rounds of the hugely exciting Southern Junior League, are all in here. We also provide gala reports, news, features, polo match reports as
well as adverts from all of our 2014/15 season sponsors, to whom we as a club are hugely grateful. Please support those who are powering us this season and get behind our sponsors.
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WSMSC LEARN TO SWIM By Charlotte Bradley
Well Done Swimmers Congratulations to all LTS Swimmers! All our swimmers have worked extremely hard this term and lots of badges have been awarded. A big well done to the following LTS swimmers who have achieved their final Learn To Swim badge and are now moving up to the next level in the club, Darcey Purnell, Ben Morgan and Oscar Morris.
I would also like to say well done to Katy Norris and Leah Williams who worked extremely hard during our Spring Term to achieve their stage 7. After all their extra practice and swimming up to three times a week to help achieve this, both girls have been training with Pre–Development since the beginning of May. Well Done Girls
Thank you Since taking over LTS in October 2013, I would like to say a massive thank you to our lead teachers this year - Helen James and Christina Lowe. Both teachers have given it their all this year and LTS would have been lost without them.
I would also like to thank Caron Law and Ciara Watson for their commitment and support throughout the year. Both teachers have brought fresh ideas, fun and enthusiasm to LTS. A mention to Sarah Rees and Tom Hall. LTS much appreciates them for their support and teaching during the year. Thank you to Rachel Aldington and Keith Titchin for taking our Stage 7 classes on a Friday and Sunday evening. Swimmers are continuously improving and more swimmers are moving up to club each term! Keep up the good work team!
Young Volunteers I would like to mention and thank our young club volunteers who have helped out at LTS this past year, Jas Moroney, James Bramwell, Amy Hodder, Ollie Elliot and Emily Watkins. Having these national, regional and county swimmers in the pool supporting our teachers with very low staff:swimmer ratios, marks WSMSC LTS out from other swim lesson providers. Good luck with your future teaching, coaching and assisting.
Good Luck I would like to say GOOD LUCK to Caron Law and Ciara Watson who are planning to complete their level 2 swimming course over the summer period.
Goodbyes Unfortunately Christina Lowe will be leaving us at the end of our Summer term 2014. Chrissie has been with LTS a long time after starting as a volunteer to progressing to level 2 teaching. Chrissie has been a great asset to LTS and she has brought commitment, encouragement, support and new ideas with her. She is great with the kids and will be missed.
Good Luck in the future Chrissie, from everyone at LTS WSMSC - LEARN TO SWIM
Term Dates Autumn 2014 (September)
WEEK TUES WED THURS FRI SUN 1 2nd Sep 3rd Sep 4th Sep 5th Sep 7th Sep 2 9th Sep 10th Sep 11th Sep 12th Sep 14th Sep 3 16th Sep 17th Sep 18th Sep 19th Sep 21st Sep 4 23rd Sep 24th Sep 25th Sep 26th Sep 28th Sep 5 30th Sep 1st Oct 2nd Oct 3rd Oct 5th Oct 6 7th Oct 8th Oct 9th Oct 10th Oct 12th Oct 7 14th Oct 15th Oct 16th Oct 17th Oct 19th Oct 8 21st Oct 22nd Oct 23rd Oct 24th Oct 26th Oct HALF TERM 9** 4th Nov 5th Nov 6th Nov 7th Nov 9th Nov 10 11th Nov 12th Nov 13th Nov 14th Nov 16th Nov
** Renewals week – please ensure you renew on time. Thank you.
Swim Supplies operate a swim shop at our Easter Open Meet at Hutton Moor each year, but sell via the internet too. Each week, they have a Wicked Wednesday set of deals. Please check out their website below. DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
WSMSC SUMMER BREAK last session Sunday 10th August (skins) re-start Saturday 30th August
SOMERSET ASA DEVELOPMENT MEET 2014 This licensed meet is THE chance to get official times across all events. Swimmers do not need to have swum the events before – you can enter with “no time” (something you cannot do at other licensed meets). The times obtained will go onto PB lists and the ASA rankings. Entries last year were £1 and the very positive feedback suggests this is liable to be repeated. The venue is Millfield; the date is Sat 4th/Sun 5th October. Eligible swimmers – be there!
WSMSC CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS 2014 These will be held at Hutton Moor and run like a licensed open meet. The meet will be officiated by licensed WSMSC officials and run with the OMEGA electronic timing system. Medals will be awarded and times swum will be entered on the PB (personal best) list and can be used as entry times for the Somerset County Championships. The dates of the championships are Saturday 15th November (12 noon to 8pm) and Sunday 16th November (8am to 12 noon). Full details will follow early next season.
SOMERSET COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS 2015 These have provisionally moved from Feb/Mar (original dates are on our website) to 10/11, 17/18 & 24/25 January but as yet remain unconfirmed. The venue is Millfield. Qualifying times are not yet available but as soon as they are, we will bring them to you, together with help desks to ensure our swimmers are entered for all the events that they have qualified. There will be no time trials to gain QTs. All QTs must be swum in a licensed meet or similar gala.
WSMSC EASTER OPEN MEET – 4th/5th APRIL 2015 If we didn’t host a large and hugely successful Easter Open Meet, training fees would rise by 20-30% per month in the main squads. Please get the dates in your diary now – Easter Saturday and Easter Sunday at Hutton Moor. Full details will follow ASAP. The parental support at this year’s meet was great, so another huge team effort needed in 2015 please.
SOUTH WEST REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2015 The best of WSMSC pit their wits against the top swimmers from not just Somerset, but also Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. Qualifying times will be publicized as soon as they are made available. The QTs for 2014 are on our website as a guide.
May 2/3/4 Plymouth Youth Championships May 16/17 Hengrove Age Group Championships May 30/31 Millfield Age Group Championships July 5 Gloucester Sprints Sept 20 Millfield Relays Nov 7/8 Millfield Senior Championships
(the Millfield weekend of age-groups represents a change from the earlier version of this document. The first date clashed with Arena League Finals weekend)
LAUNCH NIGHT Tuesday 9th September
Bar, Hutton Moor @ 6.30 p.m.
Training - Reasons why change is needed (new comp plans, impact on LTAD, new squad criteria & what we will do to support younger swimmers)
Skills Use of Logbooks targets Nutrition ASA badges British Swimming calendar Volunteering Factfile Q&A Season review Swim 21 Finances Future directions Safeguarding Roles within the club SWOT
Light refreshments provided
Parents & swimmers in Pre-Dev, Dev, Pot, Perf, Jnr/Snr & Social + young polo players and their parents are required to attend
Combined parents/swimmers talks/DVDs will take place first. Swimmers will then head off for a combined pool session. Parents will be required to fill in new membership/medical/image reproduction forms. Logbooks will be distributed at this session and must be signed for by parents. Please get the date in your diary. More details to follow YEOVIL ‘CHRISTMAS’ SHORT COURSE MEET REPORT
Millfield School Nov 30th/Dec 1st, 2013
by Tim Horsman
A relatively small group of our swimmers (although as acknowledged on another club’s website ‘a strong contingent’) went to Millfield for this club supported meet and came away with lots of strong personal bests, good individual placings, medals and the prized ‘best visiting team’ award. There were too many good performances to single anyone out here but the number of personal bests swum (172 in total) at a ranking event was worthy of note. Each and every swimmer who attended had at least a PB or medal to show for their efforts.
Personal bests are below (with the age group for each swimmer shown in brackets): 13 Freya King (11) 11 Hollie Wilcox (11) Caitlyn Wallis (11) 10 Ruby Soper (12) Rachel Anderson (11) 9 Maggie Hammond (10) 8 Maddie Soper (10) Bethan Anderson (9) 7 Charlotte Stanbury (12) George Langman (11) Rhianna Gardner (10) 6 Evan Brunsdon (12) Holly Richards (13) Ellie Redman (10) James King (13) Holly Hudghton (11)
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The swimmers also managed to bring home plenty of medals (as shown below)
GOLD 13 Rachel Anderson (200 Free, 100 Back, 400 IM, 50 Fly, 100 Breast, 100 Fly, 200 Breast, 50 Free, 400 Free, 100 Free, 50 Back, 200 IM, 50 Breast) 3 Bethan Anderson (200 Free. 50 Fly, 200 Fly) Sara Dykes (50 Fly, 100 Fly, 100 Free) 2 Immy Moroney (200 Free, 100 Fly) Ollie Elliott (50 Fly, 100 Fly) Jasmine Moroney (50 Free) Hannah Anderson (400 Free, 200 Back) George Langman (100 Back, 100 Breast)
SILVER 7 Maggie Hammond (200 Free, 50 Fly, 100 IM, 200 Fly, 50 Back, 200 Back, 200IM) 4 Jasmine Moroney (200 Free, 100 Back, 100 Fly, 200 IM) 3 George Langman (200 Back, 200 IM, 50 Breast) 2 Holly Richards (200 Free, 100 Fly) Maddy Soper (200 Breast, 200 IM) Immy Moroney (50 Free, 200 IM) 1 Hannah Anderson (400 IM) Jackson Harper (50 Back) Chloe Knight (200 Breast) Bethan Anderson (100 IM) Freya King (200 Fly)
BRONZE 6 Maddy Soper (200 Free, 50 Fly, 100 IM, 200 Fly, 200 Back, 50 Breast) 5 James King (200 Fly, 50 Back, 200 Back, 100 Back, 400 IM) 3 Holly Richards (400 IM, 400 Free, 100 Free) 2 Immy Moroney (100 Back, 50 Breast) Freya King (50 Fly, 100 Fly) Jess Dadds (50 Fly, 100 Breast) Caitlyn Wallis (100 Breast, 200 Breast) Maggie Hammond (200 Breast, 50 Free) Evan Brunsdon (50 Breast, 50 Free) 1 Hannah Anderson (200 Free) Hollie Wilcox (400 IM) George Langman (50 Back) Megan Richards (100 Fly) Bethan Anderson (200 Breast) Caitlin Ashurst (200im) Chloe Knight (50 Breast) Joe Ham (50 Free)
Thanks must go to all the WSMSC team managers and officials.
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The Arena League is, ‘as it says on the tin’, a national swimming league. WSMSC are in the Western Division (covering pretty much south of the M4 corridor from west of Swansea along to Swindon, from Bournemouth westwards). Having narrowly escaped relegation last season finishing in a position that Cardiff City didn’t quite manage this football season (ah well, you can’t win them all), it was game on for our fantastic swimmers following a last place in round 1 back in October (see Newsletter 9), when the mighty Plymouth Leander rolled into town.
Round 2 saw the bizarre situation of 5 English clubs crossing the Severn Bridge to compete in Newport, whilst 4 Welsh clubs headed in the opposite direction to compete at Millfield. The craziness of this was pointed out to the regional organizer of the league but one club (who shall remain nameless) complained, so the original draw stood.
After a smooth journey over to Wales, we sailed past the Coldra turning fully believing the driver knew what he was doing. As he then turned off before the Brynglas tunnels and turned the engine off outside Newport railway station, it soon became apparent that he was completely clueless as to where we were meant to be! In his defence, the incorrect postcode on the Arena website had caused mayhem with other clubs too – a pool once existed at this postcode in central Newport (perhaps back in the day of our Roman friends at Caerleon). Anyway, instead of arriving an hour early, so we made it to the venue with half an hour to spare, easily winning the best coach award as our Bakers’ double-decker made the other teams’ transportation look very Vauxhall Conference if I may slip into (yet another) football analogy. To the action and how would our swimmers shape up against all that Taunton Deane, Swim Swansea A, Exeter City, Keynsham and Swindon Dolphins could throw at us?
The event got off to a good start with Lucy landing 4 points for a third place in the 200IM. Event 4 and the 11&U boys went one better in their 4x50m freestyle relay. First win of the night, event 11, Rachel in the 50 back, destroying the field by more than 3 seconds, immediately followed by a super third for Jackson in the same event, and another third for Immy in the 13&U 100m breaststroke. The next top 3 finish came in event 19 and another first place for Rachel, this time in the 50 fly, followed by a fine third from Toby in the same event. Lots of great swimming, but the 5th and 6th places were taking their toll as the points tallies were read out. After 10 events we were last (23), 3 behind both Keynsham and Swindon. After 18, we had rallied a little and were now 5th, one ahead of Swindon and 4 behind Keynsham. Taunton had already broken the hundred-mark and were well clear of Swansea.
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After 26 events, and with no more top 3 finishes, our lead over Swindon was 4 points (66 v 62) though Keynsham (78) were slipping out of reach. Who better to land a fine second-place finish in the very next event than Bethan R in a super 42.61 50m breaststroke. This was immediately followed by a fab second by George in the same event. A third place from Will (100 fly) and things were picking up. A second from Lucy in the 100 breast was the last top-3 finish before the crucial final relays. We had ground to make up. Going into the last 8 relay events, we now trailed Swindon by 2 points (110 v 108) with Keynsham completely out of reach. It was all getting very tense – even Giles was poised to launch the official on our lane into the pool for his over-zealousness in almost getting into the pool to check that all our changeovers were legal.
First relay – 11&U girls medley. Two minutes 30.18 seconds later and happy days – 6 points are ours (only 1 for Swindon), landing only our third win on the day. The boys event in this same age group landed 4 more precious points for a great third place. Two fifth places in the 13&U relays wasn’t disastrous as Swindon were 4th and 6th in the girls and boys’ respectively. We were still ahead – could we hang on? Four points apiece from the 15&U relays for Swindon and ourselves, so the maths became easy: 2 events to go, WSMSC on 126, Swindon on 122. Event 49 – the girls canon (aka 6x50m freestyle relay). A 2.58.99 was only good enough for one point for Weston, but mercifully Swindon came 5th, meaning there were now just 3 points in it. Come on boys – event 50 – the same canon. With Swindon fielding a swimmer who had swum such a ridiculous time earlier that prompted Reece to blurt, “gosh, that was quick” (certain words may have been changed here), we had to finish within 2 places of Swindon to bag the crucial 2 league points from a 5th place finish. With Swansea home inside 2.29, it was neck and neck between Swindon and Taunton, with the latter ultimately touching home in 2nd, to leave Swindon 3rd. With Exeter home in 4th, we had to beat Keynsham which was duly achieved in 2.36.46. Crikey, that’s what you call a close one! Fifth place, one point ahead of Swindon on the night.
Position Club Points 1 Taunton Deane 259 2 Swim Swansea A 216 3 Exeter City 173 4 Keynsham 143 5 Weston-Super-Mare 129 6 Swindon Dolphins 128
What better way to finish such a tense afternoon with a bite to eat (or even an industrial-size family BK meal eh Ev – was it just the six portions of chips?) at Gordano Services (apparently they are still replenishing their supplies of loo rolls).
Let’s Get Motivated You and your opponent want the same thing. The only thing that matters is who works the hardest for it.
The only workout you'll ever regret is the one you didn't do.
Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't. The upshot of this was that after round 2, we were 16th in the pecking order as shown below.
Gala 1 Gala 2 Total Gala 1 Gala 2 Total Gala Position Club League League League Points Points Points Points Points Points 14 Seagulls A 125 129 254 2 2 4 15 West Wilts Force 5 105 111 216 2 2 4 16 Weston Super Mare 134 129 263 1 2 3 17 Swindon Dolphins 102 128 230 1 1 2 18 Newton Abbot 74 83 157 1 1 2
With the bottom 5 teams set to slug it out on 14th December at Hutton Moor, it was time for the abacus and a steady nerve. It was going to be tight, very tight. Come third behind Seagulls and West Wilts and it was Goodnight Irene – division one next year (3 teams are relegated). Beat one of them and not beat Swindon and, oh my word, …… too stressful to contemplate. Let’s crack on with the action.
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Grove Park, WSM, BS23 2QJ Opening times: 1000 - 1800 (Mar - Oct)
Club Website - Check out www.weston-super-mare-swimming- club.co.uk for all your latest WSMSC news, fixtures and information.
Club Shop - Visit Jon and Leanne in the club shop on Tuesday evenings to see the fantastic new ranges in stock, including our new purple kit (shirt and shorts) and embroidered purple WSMSC towels. The shop carries all of your swim training needs: goggles, fins, WSMSC purple and LTS white hats, kickboards, WSMSC net bags, pullbuoys, drink bottles, WSMSC kit bags, and much, more, more – all at incredibly reasonable prices.
Noticeboard - Our noticeboard is used heavily to get information out quickly to swimmers and parents. We frequently pin up team sheets and The hair-do certainly other information. Prior to galas, there are sign up sheets for swimmers suits you Bob – not (for the likes of SJL and Arena League) AND parents (e.g. for team sure about the shirt managing at galas, courses for officials/team managers, etc.). Please though. check it every week. Are you ready? Lucy certainly is. She’s on the blocks and in there – fly, back, breast and free – the 200 IM, and what a marker to set down. First place and 5 points. Next in Marcus and 2 minutes 15.4 seconds later, he’s home for 4 points in second. The great start continued with relay wins for the 11 & U and 15 & U girls free, and the boys 13 & U medley, with super seconds for the girls 13 & U medley and the female open medley. Ten events down and all is well with the world – we’re top with 39, with West Wilts (34) and Swindon (33) in hot pursuit (a bit of Dukes of Hazzard creeping in there!).
On to the individual events and first in Rachel, taking first in the 50 back by almost six seconds. Third for Toby in the same event, followed by thirds from Immy and James (both 13 & U breaststroke), before more firsts courtesy of Lucy (100 breast, 15&U), Evan (100 fly, open), Rachel (50 fly), Immy (100 back, 13&U) and Evan (100 fly, 15&U). At the half-way mark, things have swung. West Wilts Force 5 are certainly showing that the force is with them – somewhat ominous as they now lead on 89 points (2 clear of ourselves). Seagulls are now third (76), with Swindon on 73. The endeavour shown by Newton Abbot’s swimmers, in their first season in the Premier League, has earned 47 points (or about 2 seasons’ worth of points if you’re Cardiff City FC in the Premier League).
Seventeen more individual events before the final eight relays. Could the magnificent swimmers in purple hats activate the electronic timing sufficiently quickly to secure Premier League status? The 17 events yielded just 2 wins (Evan and Reece, both 100 free, 15 & U), but a further 6 second places (Bethan and George, 11&U – 50 breast; Will (100 fly, 13 & U); Marcus (100 breast, open); Freya (50 free, 11 & U) and Lucy (100 breast, 15 & U). After 42 events, winning looked tough as West Wilts were now 17 ahead (on 157) though we were still 12 clear of Swindon (128) and had a 15 point margin over Seagulls. Surely we could hold off Swindon and Seagulls – couldn’t we?
Nerves were settled somewhat as the 11 & U team recorded their second win of the night, coming home over 7 seconds ahead of West Wilts. The next 2 relays (boys 11 & U medley and girls 13 & U free) both landed 4 points each for great seconds. The boys 13 & U free then landed a fantastic first place – immediately matched by the 15 & U girls in the medley relay. Although we gave other teams a chance in the canons (6x50m free relays), we’d done it! Second place with 171 points, 13 behind West Wilts but crucially we had seen off the threat posed by Swindon (156) and the Seagulls (143). Full marks to Newton Abbot who went back down to Division One on a high, claiming second in the final canon.
A great Arena League campaign for WSMSC, claiming 15 wins, 11 seconds and 9 third place finishes on the night. The final table is reproduced (overpage), showing that once more, the talent and determination of our swimmers secured Premier League swimming once more in 2014. Don’t be fooled by a “lowly” league position – as a small club, we are punching well above our own weight in competing so well in the Premier League. Huge congratulations to EVERY swimmer who competed for us in any of the rounds. Thank you to all of our coaches, team managers, officials, and supporters who coached, encouraged, organised, recorded times/legality of strokes/finish order, and shouted like crazy in supporting the team (delete as applicable). A big thank you to Jenny for masterminding the whole thing - sending everything off in time each round, booking coaches, chasing up swimmers, and sorting out volunteers – clearly other clubs need someone with Jenny’s eye for detail as point deductions were made in other galas for unregistered swimmers and for clubs not supplying the requisite number of qualified officials.
Western League Positions After Round Three - 2013
PREMIER DIVISION Gala Gala Gala Gala League League League League Bonus Team Points Points Points Points Points Points Points Points Points R1 R2 R3 Total R1 R2 R3 Total Plymouth 261 278 364 902 6 6 16 10 38 Leander Millfield 232 232 253 717 6 5 14 10 35 Taunton Deane 256 259 233 748 6 6 10 10 32 City of Cardiff A 212 216 240 668 5 5 12 10 32 Swim Swansea A 208 216 199 623 4 5 8 10 27 Swim 179 235 193 607 5 6 6 10 27 Bournemouth A Bridgend 177 174 171 522 4 4 4 10 22 Yeovil 200 188 139 527 5 4 2 10 21 Exeter City 168 173 170 511 3 4 4 5 16 Soundwell A 152 180 173 505 3 3 5 5 16 Nofio Sir Gar A 143 143 146 432 2 3 3 5 13 Keynsham 189 143 122 454 3 3 1 5 12 City of Newport 191 77 133 401 4 1 2 5 12 West Wilts Force 105 111 184 400 2 2 5 0 9 5 Weston Super 134 129 171 434 1 2 4 0 7 Mare Seagulls A (rel) 125 129 143 397 2 2 2 0 6 Swindon D (rel) 102 128 156 386 1 1 3 0 5 Newton A (rel) 74 83 91 248 1 1 1 0 3
By Sue Gardiner
Weston-Super-Mare Swimming Club has once again been performing at the highest level of British competition with three of our top swimmers racing at the British Championships and Commonwealth Games Trials in Glasgow earlier this year.
Evan King and Lucy Davies, both age 15, were entered into the 200m Butterfly and 200m Breaststroke respectively and swam well amongst fierce competition. Lucy narrowly missed out on a spot in her event’s final as she finished ranked 9th with her time. Evan progressed to her final and finished a respectable 7th place, improving her personal best time over both heat and final races by 2.03 seconds.
Marcus Gardiner, 17, was entered into the 100m Breaststroke race and despite a nervous start, managed to improve his personal best time by 0.53 seconds and th advance to the final, finishing 7 .
All three swimmers found the event to be a valuable experience with the heightened media attention and esteemed international standard competition. Much was achieved and the three represented Weston commendably so far away from their home club.
Apologies to Evan for not being captured
by a photograph but we did see you on
live TV!!! WSMSC Volunteer News By Jim Stanbury
Will Joins Up Will Daniel becomes the 11th member of WSMSC’s highly sucessful Youth Coaches Scheme. Will, seen here with Head Coach Rachel Aldington receiving his Coaching Manual and not looking a bit embarrassed, is the latest of our young swimmers to volunteer his time to assist our Coaching Team poolside. Will now will, along with our other youth coaches, be working towards his Level 1 ASA Swim Coach Qualification. Good luck Will! A possible Head Coach of the future!
Captain Marcus Qualifies WSMSC launched the Young Coaches Initiative during the summer and has had a fantastic response from our young swimmers. Club Captain Marcus Gardiner (above) has become the first member of the scheme to achieve his ASA UKCC Level 1 Award in Teaching Aquatics qualification. Marcus took the course during February Half Term, having to juggle the course, A-Level revision and training for the upcoming Commonwealth Trials. A fantastic achievement – well done Marcus! If you are between 14 and 18 and would like to join the Young Coaches Team see Jim Stanbury - [email protected]
The squad in white continues to grow Congratulations to Jenny King, Denise Richards and Marcus Dew who all passed their J1 assessment at the Somerset County Championships in March. All 3 are now licensed officials having attained the core competencies of time-keeping, turn judging, chief time-keeping and chief turn judge. A huge well done to our website genius Mark Eveleigh who was signed off after passing his J2 assessment at the Clevedon & Chard Meet. Well done to all. WSMSC NEEDS YOU – yes YOU!
Moving forward the Club needs to find volunteers from the squads with younger swimmers especially to assist at Swim Meets specifically aimed at their age group. In particular we need to recruit new Team Managers to assist with the children at Galas and a new crop of Swim Officials. There is a quick outline of each role (below). Doing these things is far from a chore – it is a way of getting involved, doing it as a group also develops new and good friendships. One of the big things that may put people off is thinking that you have to be an Olympic swimmer to be of use to the club – nothing could be further from the truth if you have ever seen any of the committee doing their monthly doggie paddle. Seriously, enthusiasm and giving some time is the requirement. We have existing volunteers who will help in every role; no-one will be cast adrift to sink or swim – we support all our volunteers.
Team Manager - This course will be run by Fiona Bowen (Clevedon) and runs as a 2.5 hr workshop and points out that as a team manager you are a leader, administrator, substitute family, disciplinarian, friend and nutritionist among many other things. You will learn and practice risk assessments and role play the issues involved with managing teams. At Swim Meets the main duties involve sending down swimmers for their races at the correct time and ensuring their welfare. Personally I really enjoy this role. It’s a great opportunity to get to know the swimmers and coaches. This role does require a CRB/DBS check.
Swim Official – J1 - This course will be run by Pete Gonsalves, WSMSC’s President and will consist of 2 x 2.5hr courses. This is the first level of British qualification. It encompasses the role and duties of a Timekeeper, Chief Timekeeper and Inspector of Turns (don’t worry it’s not as bad as it sounds!!). After completing the Theory Course Candidates will gain practical experience working on the poolside with a mentor. A course workbook is provided for completion after which there will be a practical assessment. As a Club we have to provide Officials at the Meets we take part in without them our children won’t be able to compete. It’s a great way to become more involved and develop a greater understanding of the sport.
If you have any further questions please see Jim Stanbury (Training/Volunteer Co-ordinator)
HELP NEEDED IN PROGRAMMING MEETS In the same way that it is imperative that more parents get involved in team managing, officiating at galas, helping at our own galas, etc, etc, we also need to spread the load a lot more in programming meets (setting up a gala by learning how to import times of swimmers into events selected, scheduling heats, and then running a gala by entering times, producing results etc). This does not require a degree in IT nor does it require you to have been a swimmer. Like all roles in the club it is actually very enjoyable. Fraser Simpson, our Easter Open Meet Co-ordinator, has offered to have a chat with interested parents for half an hour in the cafe one evening early next season. Please step forward and get involved. The club really, really does need YOU.
Please catch Jim, Fraser or myself (Malcolm) to register your interest in this opportunity to serve the club and the efforts of our magnificent swimmers. WATER POLO UPDATE By Mike Coles
Recent results in water polo are:
Bristol and West Water Polo League - Seniors
10/04/2014 Division One, Weston-s-Mare 7 Exeter 9 Weston Seniors led for much of this thrilling game played at Hutton Moor, but unfortunately the visitors got the better in the final quarter to take two points off Weston.
01/05/2014 Division One, Welsh Wanderers 26 Weston-super-Mare 11 A weakened team due to injuries and unavailability travelled to the Principality for this away game at Cardiff International Pool, but they were outclassed by a strong Welsh side with a number of junior internationals playing for the home side. Weston suffered their worst defeat of the season.
08/05/2014 Division One, Weston-super-Mare 12 Welsh Wanderers 13 A goal scored in the dying seconds of the final quarter snatched the points from Weston who again had led for most of the game. They were bitterly disappointed with the result, but hopefully take away some positives.
29/05/2014 Knockout Competition, Weston-super-Mare 15 Newport 14 Weston Seniors kept their cup run going by snatching victory off the visitors, who started with a 10-goal lead. Weston netted the winner in the last seconds of the game.
12/06/2014 Division One, Frome 12 Weston-super-Mare 6 Weston faced their old rivals in a fiercely contested match. Hopefully they can do better in the return on July 3rd
Weston Seniors are presently holding up the bottom of the table, but have winnable games coming up.
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Bristol and West Water Polo League – Juniors
Since the start of the season, with an influx of players returning to the junior team, the squad is now full, with a number of new members recently recruited and pushing for a place in the team.
06/05/2014 Junior Division, Exeter 17 Weston-super-Mare 12 In their first game of the season, the juniors struggled to overcome the superior fire power of a strong Exeter team. However, they did not embarrass themselves, with Reece Trapani scoring the majority of the goals.
11/05/2014 Junior Division, Weston-super-Mare 12 Newton Abbot 14 Weston were unlucky not to win this game, being pipped in the final quarter.
18/05/2014 Junior Division, Weston-super-Mare 8 Exeter 14 Exeter were extremely gracious with not bringing a strong side to face the Seasiders, and it made it for a very even contest.
25/05/2014 Junior Division, Welsh Wanderers 23 Weston-super-Mare 7 It was not the same story over in Wales at the International Pool in Cardiff. Without Emily Watkins, who was out with a knee injury, Weston lacked the strength, although Taylor Kingston and Vaughan Clarke did well against much bigger opponents, as did Dylan Wallis.
08/06/2014 Junior Division, Devonport 5 Weston-super-Mare 15 Weston took a full squad down to Plymouth and came away with their first league win of the season. Well done all.
15/06/2014 Junior Division, Weston-super-Mare13 Bristol Central 7 Second win on the trot, beating new team to the league, Bristol Central.
Weston are always looking for new players in both junior and senior. You can start learning the game from just eight years old, and there are plenty of opportunities to further your career in water polo by making it to county, regional and or national squads. Weston has one player in the GB Talent Programme, and both James Bramwell and Reece Trapani have played in national finals. If you want more information then contact Mike Coles.
WSMSC DEVELOPMENT GALA - 1 5 FEBRUARY
The careers of most international swimmers have begun at club development or novice galas so the excitement of new swimmers, parents and grandparents, was tangible as the warm up began for an action-packed evening at Hutton Moor. It was fantastic to see so many swimmers from Cheddar, Burnham, Clevedon, Street, Backwell and WSMSC competing in this newly-structured event, incorporating skills development. Such skills are the bedrock for any swimmer and must be instilled from an early age in training so that they are rolled out under the pressure of competition. A small swimmer with great technique will beat someone much larger than them if the latter is lacking the fundamental skills of swimming in the medium term. The swimmer lacking technique is also liable to suffer injuries as a result of poor posture/positioning in the water allied to incorrect arm and leg movements (Rachel will share a lot more on this, derived from her sessions with the top coaches in the land at the English Talent Coaching Programme this season, and the Long Term Athlete Development Plan that is followed by WSMSC – a copy of the LTAD document is on the website and a hard copy is in the rack next to the noticeboard – in a nutshell, it is all about ensuring that swimmers train and compete at the right levels and in the correct quantities).
Well done to all of our WSMSC swimmers who took part in the gala – you are the future of the club and everyone was a winner – holding it together when so many people are watching is a big achievement. Several of our swimmers also can be seen sporting their special black hats for winning skills elements within the gala. The full WSMSC roll call was as follows:
Olivia Maidment Max Reynolds Joe Reeves Phoebe Jones Maisie Smith Freddie Priddle George Cook Stephanie Coombes Bethany Riden Marcus Turner-Wood Noah Statter Chloe Soverall Taylor Kingston Harvey Dew Savio Quan Dominique Davey Isabella Clark Ben Bradley-Wilson Edward Burns Lily Montgomery Megan Rees Mason Boobyer Will Ford Suzanne Reep Lillian Arnold Tamzin Rawle Isobel Gray Arianna Turvey Jessica Knight Abi Smerdon Kaysen Chapman Chloe Cox Connie Ballentine Ellie Redman Amber Spillane Sofia Barnes Angharad Laraman Morgan Taylor Lottie Dadds Tilly Ballentine Naomi Pollard Kabria Chapman Bobbi Kingston Sam Lance Jess Walrond Amy Lance Chloe Dew Dylan Wallis Rachel Eveleigh Ceri-Anne Verrinder Haydn Greaves Leah Williams Aaron Cocking Jamie O’Connor Toby Statter Katy Norris Stella Arnold Millie Redman Luke Ashurst Brooke Stirrup Tristan Soper Charlie Webb-Sperrings Nico Cottle Alice Parker Chris Scrivens James Taylor Christian Albon Neave Southcombe
Special mention must go to Tracey Gullick, who programmed the meet; all of our officials and team managers; volunteers on the door/raffle/microphone (same time, same place next year Chris??); and huge credit goes to our young county/regional club swimmers who helped on the night in marshalling, providing refreshments, etc. - you were all amazing and a great credit to the club. Many thanks to those adults who helped, despite their children not being involved in the gala. THE SOMERSETS
The smiling faces, medal-adorned, WSMSC swimmers below (clockwise: Evan, Jas, Lucy and Rachel – 9-16 medley relay; Evan, Megan, Jas and Lucy – 9-16 free relay; Evan – 100 senior fly; and, Jas and Immy – 800m freestyle) sum up a hugely successful championships for every WSMSC swimmer.
Below (left) Marcus (3rd breast); below (right) Freya, Rachel, Hollie & Caitlyn (2nd med relay)
All County Championships photographs are courtesy of the gallery on the Somerset ASA website WSMSC COUNTY ROLL OF HONOUR
Amber Spillane Many congratulations to each and every one of the
Amy Lance swimmers (opposite) who attained the qualifying Ben Bradley-Wilson times and swam in this year’s county championships. Ben Jones We are, year after year, a BIGGER, STRONGER Bethan Anderson and FASTER team at counties. New swimmers Bethan Rees deserve special mention for holding it together on the Caitlin Ashurst big stage. A massive WELL DONE to you all. Caitlyn Wallis Charlie Webb-Sperrings The challenge now is to get more swimmers to Charlotte Stanbury counties in 2015, so that the list goes onto the next Chloe Knight page. No pressure there then! Connie Ballentine Ellie Redman Elliott Dew Evan Brunsdon Evan King Freya King George Cook Hannah Anderson Harry Reynolds Hollie Wilcox Holly Hudghton Holly Richards Immy Moroney Isobel Gray Jackson Harper James King Jas Moroney Freya, Rachel, Hollie and Nelly, 3rd – free relay Jess Dadds Jess Knight Joe Ham Joe Reeves Lilian Arnold Lottie Dadds Lucy Davies Madeleine Soper Maggie Hammond Marcus Gardiner Megan Richards Millie Dadds Nelly Bridger Morales Noah Statter Ollie Elliott Rachel Anderson Richard Hill Ruby Soper Sarah Carr Sofia Barnes Tamzin Rawle Toby Daniel Will Daniel Evan, champion - fly COUNTY BAGCAT AWARD WINNERS
10 YEARS GIRLS (above left): Madeleine (4th) and Caitlin (5th); 11 YEARS GIRLS (above right): Freya (5th) and Caitlyn (8th);12 YEARS GIRLS (below left): Rachel (1st) and 13 YEARS GIRLS (below right): Immy (2nd), Megan (6th) & Holly (7th) and th 14 YEARS GIRLS (right): Jas (7 )
11 YEARS BOYS (above left) Toby (5th)
12 YEARS BOYS (above) Evan (7th)
13 YEARS BOYS (left) James (8th)
The King’s of London Town By Jenny King
Over the Easter holidays James and Freya King represented their school at the Pentathlon GB British Schools Biathlon Championships, held at the Queen Elizabeth II Olympic Park in London. Freya competed first on the Saturday morning with a 50m swim inside the newly re-opened Aquatic Centre, followed shortly by an 800m run on the concourse outside. Freya improved on her rankings with a swim of 32.37 seconds and a run of 3.00.54 minutes giving her a total of 2303 points finishing 64th out of 117 age 12 and under girls. James competed on Sunday afternoon with a 1600m run followed shortly afterwards by a 100m swim. James too improved on his previous personal best and ranking, completing the run in 6.06.87minutes and the swim in 1.07.64 minutes giving him a points total of 2219 finishing 39th out of 80 age 14 and under boys. Both enjoyed the experience enormously, with an added bonus being the opportunity to watch Tom Daley training in the adjacent diving pool.
Well done James and Freya from everyone at WSMSC. I heard the tour of London and amazing cars went down well also – one day …….
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WSMSC EASTER OPEN MEET
They came from near, they came from afar, they certainly came in their numbers! What an event! Our 12th Easter Open Meet was the biggest ever, serving as a great regional qualifier. The racing was fast and furious, with thrills aplenty. PBs gained. Medals and trophies won. Friendships and rivalries renewed. Crème eggs consumed. Monsoon-like Sunday rainfall. “Bloodgate” - the sight of the army of officials, ably led by Pete, attending to a swimmers’ cut toe. The leisure centre packed to the rafters with swimmers and the dog show! “Parking-gate” – “what no spaces” (or words to that effect), proclaimed a visitor from the Midlands! All rounded off with a magnificent buffet (chillout time), thanks to the Malt House (and no thanks to a national pizza chain for bombing out our booking). Thank you to everyone who helped – a truly magnificent team effort. Well done Ollie for fronting our Bone Cancer Research Trust fundraising in loving memory of Mary.
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Top three medal winners were as follows:
GOLD SILVER BRONZE
Will Daniel – 100 fly Kabria Chapman – 100 brst Madeleine Soper – 100 brst Freya King – 100 brst Rachel Anderson – 100 brst Evan Brunsdon – 100 bck Joe Ham – 100 bck Jess Dadds – 100 brst James King – 100 bck Megan Richards – 200 bck Marcus Gardiner – 100 bck Caitlin Ashurst – 200 bck Ollie Elliott – 50 fly Madeleine Soper – 200 bck Evan Brunsdon – 200 IM Sara Dykes – 50 fly Holly Richards – 200 bck Millie Dadds – 50 fly Joe Ham – 50 free Will Daniel – 200 IM George Langman – 50 free Rachel Anderson – 100 fly Freya King – 50 fly Megan Richards – 100 fly Ollie Elliott – 100 fly Madeleine Soper – 100 fly Madeleine Soper – 100 bck Megan Richards – 100 bck Freya King – 100 fly Holly Richards – 100 bck Marcus Gardiner – 400 IM Holly Richards – 100 fly Hannah Anderson – 200 IM Freya King – 200 IM Millie Dadds – 100 fly Millie Dadds – 200 IM Evan King – 200 IM Sara Dykes – 100 fly George Langman – 50 fly Rachel Anderson – 50 free Evan Brunsdon – 200 bck Chloe Knight – 50 free Evan King – 50 free James King – 200 bck Madeleine Soper – 50 bck Freya King – 100 IM Will Daniel – 50 fly Megan Richards – 200 fly Kabria Chapman – 200 brst Freya King – 50 free James King – 200 brst Rachel Anderson – 200 brst Evan Brunsdon – 100 brst Will Daniel – 200 brst Rachel Anderson – 200 free Madeleine Soper – 200 brst Megan Richards – 400 IM Megan Richards – 200 free George Langman – 100 free George Langman – 200 free Evan King – 200 free Madeleine Soper – 200 free Will Daniel – 200 free Evan Brunsdon – 50 brst Holly Richards – 200 free Lilian Arnold – 50 brst Millie Dadds – 50 bck Madeleine Soper – 200 fly Madeleine Soper – 50 brst George Langman – 100 IM Millie Dadds – 200 fly Jess Dadds – 50 brst Rachel Anderson – 200 fly Rachel Anderson – 50 brst James King – 50 bck Holly Richards – 200 fly Chloe Knight – 50 brst Will Daniel – 50 bck Ollie Elliott – 200 fly George Langman – 50 bck Holly Richards – 100 free Evan Brunsdon – 200 brst Joe Ham – 50 bck Hannah Anderson – 100 free Hannah Anderson – 400 IM Madeleine Soper – 100 free Kabria Chapman – 50 brst Megan Richards – 100 free Evan Brunsdon – 50 bck Marcus Gardiner – 50 bck Rachel Anderson – 100 free Evan King – 100 free
Congratulations to our top boy/girl winners (it was a bit of a takeover bid really!): Freya (11), Hollie W (12), George (11), Evan (12), James (13) and Will (14). Well done all – fantastic stuff.
Commonwealth Games is Fast Approaching Swimming events from the Tollcross International Swimming Centre, from Thursday 24th July to Tuesday 29th July. Diving is from Edinburgh, 30th July to 2nd August. See later in the newsletter for a day-by-day programme of swimming events. Check out your tv guides for live coverage.
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Arise President Coles
Saturday 31st May witnessed WSMSC’s Life Member and club secretary Mike Coles succeed Fiona Bowen (seated) as President of Somerset Amateur Swimming Association. Held in Tutto Italian restaurant overlooking the pier and sea, members went through the usual AGM material before the changing of the guard, eloquently introduced by polo fixture secretary Nick Purslow. Mike has a tough act to follow but as the first polo coach in a considerably long time to take up the mantle, with the full backing of everyone at WSMSC, we’re confident he can leave a long-lasting impression on aquatics in Somerset.
Mike joined the club in 1960 at the age of just four years, and has swum competitively for the club, as well as the county, but his first love is water polo which he started playing at just 10 years old. He progressed through the junior team under the guidance of Chris Ducker, Jimmy Tancock and Rick Fowler, and progressed to representing the senior team under coaches Bernie Chappell and Colin Price. He represented Somerset County between 1968-1980 at both junior and senior level, as well as playing for Western Counties in the early 1970s. In the 1980s he moved into coaching, his first team was the Weston-super-Mare Junior Team; and progressed to being given the newly- formed women’s team to coach by the then chief coach, Bernard Chappell. He also became involved in officiating as a referee, and is now a nationally recognised referee as well as an international table official, and is still involved with refereeing at all levels. In 2007 he was part of the officiating team for the European Water Polo Tournament held in Manchester Aquatics Centre.
He was selected to coach the Somerset County Women’s Team in 1990, and in 1992 took over as Somerset ASA’s water polo secretary and chief coach, taking on both junior, women’s and senior men’s sides for the county, as well as becoming chief coach of Weston-super-Mare, which at that time were competing in the Bristol and West Water Polo League and the National Water Polo League. He moved further up the water polo ladder by representing Somerset on the Western Counties District Water Polo Committee. As well as this he had taken control of the Bristol and West Water Polo League as their secretary, and was responsible for the running of the league in 1983. He still holds that post. In 1999 he was chosen to represent the district at a newly-formed national coaches format and attended the first National Water Polo Academy held at Millfield School, where he obtained the new ASA Water Polo Teaching and Coaches Award.
In 2001 he was selected to become an Elite Coach of Great Britain as part of a scheme to raise the participation levels of water polo across Great Britain. As well as that he was chosen by Western Counties to represent them on the national ASA Technical Water Polo Committee with a special brief for investigating new facilities for their potential for water polo. Furthermore he was awarded the post of South West Development Officer, charged with progressing water polo development across the South West. In 2003 he was selected by the ASA to be the national competition’s secretary, given control for organising all national water polo competitions across Great Britain, at all levels, and working closely with the newly appointed National Development Officer, Nick Hume. He continued in the post until 2008. During this period he also found time to become chairman of the South West Speedo Swimming League, after going along to one of their meetings, representing WSMSC. The National Water Polo League called on his services,and he served on their committee for a number of years, prior to it becoming the British Water Polo League in 2010.
He is still involved with the ASA South West Region which superseded the old Western Counties ASA District in 2006, a change that Mike was heavily involved with on the water polo committee, and was made chairman of the group the year after. Married, to Joy, and the father of two boys, Sean and Liam, both of whom play water polo, Sean for Bristol Central who were British Champions in 2013, and have played in Europe; whilst Liam has represented Swindon in the National League, but is a stalwart of the Weston team. Mike works for Archant as their Property Manager for the South West, with responsibilities for nine newspapers and four magazines across the region, one of which is the Weston & Somerset Mercury. He has cut back on his involvement at a national level on the administering and coaching water polo front, but is still involved with administration, officiating and coaching at local and regional level, as well as refereeing in ASA competitions and the British Water Polo League.
Well done and good luck Mike from everyone at WSMSC.
County Young Volunteer of the Year Nominee 2014 Marcus Gardiner – “for outstanding contribution to his county and club”
Congratulations to Marcus for being nominated for the above award. His nomination stated:
“Marcus has made an outstanding contribution to our club this year. He volunteers poolside assisting the coaching staff with our younger squads. He was the catalyst for the creation of our own Young Volunteers Programme. He has qualified as a Level 1 Teacher, acted as a Team Manager and is currently organising an end of season Captains Day which is designed to bring all parts of our club together. We are hugely proud of him!”
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Southern Junior League With great pedigree in this competition, having represented the south in the national semi-final in 2011, anticipation was high as the mighty WSMSC team headed off to Horfield to do battle in round 1. With face paint applied, wigs adorned – and that was just the team managers – it was ready to warm-up
(something of a contradiction in terms in the Horfield sweatbox methinks).
With 15 wins on the night, one second and thirteen third places, the WSMSC team (273 points) battled incredibly hard to fend off the challenge of Severnside Tritons (269 points) but fell 21 points short of a very large Keynsham team (294 points – a few checks took place afterwards just to confirm that their 12 year old boys were indeed 12 and not 22, but all was well, just big lads). Clevedon, Penguins and Bath contested fourth place with Bristol North and Central occupying the bottom two spots. So, once all these results were fed into the spreadsheet with all the other galas, the results table showed that Weston were positioned fifth going into round 2 (see opposite).
Round 2. Venue, that would be Horfield, again! Competing teams, Bristol North (again!), Clevedon (again!), Bristol Central (again!), Bristol Penguins (again!), with Southwold and Wells completing the line-up. The virtual gala set-up is proving rather frustrating in generating quick results, so despite it being very tight at the top, hopefully we will have secured a spot in the top “A” final to compete with the best junior teams in the south come September. Results on the night were WSMSC 264, Penguins 258, Clevedon 221, Southwold 201, Bristol C 150, Bristol N 102 and Wells 88.
Well done to all our SJL swimmers – a great team effort.
REGIONALS
Having survived March and the marathon that is Somersets (or county championships), May and June witness the Regionals, split into youths (held at Plymouth) and age-groups (usually Millfield, but this year Millfield and Hengrove). As context, the South West Region is incredibly strong, comprising 6 counties (Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, Cornwall and Somerset) and a number of performance hub clubs (e.g. Plymouth Leander, Taunton Deane, Gloucester City, Swim Bournemouth) as well as independent schools such as Millfield, Bournemouth Collegiate School and Kelly College where swimming is as integral a part of the curriculum as geography.
The great news for WSMSC was that 2014 saw us send more swimmers to regionals than anyone can remember. Bring on the May Day Bank Holiday weekend and our intrepid swimmers Evan, Millie, Ollie, Jas, Marcus and Elliott. First up the team relays with Evan’s 58.95 helping the Taunton network A team to a bronze in the 4 x 100m freestyle relay, with Jas second in for the B team that finished 10th. The first individual event for our swimmers – the boys 200 breaststroke and in a time of 2.28.78, Marcus secured a central lane for the final. Next in, the girls. Evan qualified second fastest for the 200 IM final, achieving a time one second inside the national qualifying time. Millie home in 2.41.11. It was proving to be a busy session for Marcus – next up was the 100 freestyle, not that it took him long – 56.61 seconds to be precise. No final in this one with a certain Olympian Ben Proud clocking a fairly impressive 52.24 (going 50.44 in the final to win gold). The penultimate girls event of the morning – 50 fly, which meant Evan and Ollie (no time for Dave’s sightseeing and family history walks this time). Two great swims and two WSMSC swimmers into the final. No time for rest as Evan and Jas were then soon in 400 freestyle action. An incredibly tight race saw the first 3 swimmers separated by only 0.92 seconds, with Evan collecting silver; Jas just behind in 4th.
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Finals time. First in, Marcus for the 200 breaststroke, and 2 minutes 28.45 seconds later, it’s another silver for WSMSC. Well done Marcus. Evan then collected another silver in the 200 IM final, home in 2.27.11. With just a short break, Evan was back in more finals action, joined by Ollie for the 50 fly. Great swims from our pair clocking 29.80 (Evan, 4th) and 31.22 (Ollie, 10th). Don’t take too long for lunch, warm-up is in 10 minutes!
The afternoon session saw a 2.15.31 for Marcus to qualify for the 200 IM final, where he would duly finish 9th. To the girls and the 100 freestyle, with Evan (3rd in heats) and Jas (20th) both swimming well. In the final, Evan was edged out of the top podium placing by an agonizing 0.15 seconds, touching in a super 59.57, with the three medalists all going sub-60. As a late afternoon piece of fun, Sue had arranged for Marcus to swim the 50 fly, which only took 27.97 seconds, but with Ben Proud and Anthony James touching in 23.67 and 24.11, the field was incredibly strong and no final to hang around for.
Day 2 and three swimmers in the 200 fly heats: Evan (2nd fastest in qualification), Jas (7th fastest) and Millie (15th) – a great start to Sunday. Next in, Marcus and the 100 breaststroke. A great swim in 1.06.43, over a second clear of the field, and it’s pole position for the final. To the final and it’s silver for Marcus, home in 1.07.71 just behind Plymouth Leander’s Jack Burton. All good stuff. In the girls 200 fly final, Evan achieved another podium finish – second behind Laura Stephens (Plymouth) in 2.19.84, with Jas improving on her seeding to finish in a super sixth place in 2.39.44.
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To the afternoon session and what better way to start than the blue riband event – the 50 freestyle – well, place judging is not what you want on this one, with 35 girls going sub-30 in the 15 & Under category, with 9 swimmers separated by just 17/100 seconds! That’s why they have electronic timing, though this was to go somewhat pear-shaped later in the afternoon, due to a calibration error. Anyway, Evan 6th fastest qualifier in 28.27; Jas 30th in 29.76. To the same event for Marcus and Elliott. Elliott’s regional debut lasted 27.87 seconds after a ridiculously long wait behind the blocks, to finish 25th – a great swim. Marcus’ 25.57 earned him a placing of 19th, with 10 Plymouth Leander swimmers finishing in the top 12, including all of the top 6 (Ben Proud clocking an amazing 22.09). A spot of fly to finish the day, with not one, not two, but three WSMSC swimmers making it to the final: Evan (3rd fastest in heats), Millie (9th) and Ollie (10th) – or as per the programme, Emily and Olivia – all frightfully formal. Still, at least Dave entered Ollie (that in itself is a long story) as an Olivia and not a male as per Newport! Jas home in 13th, just outside the reserve positions. Marcus concluded his day with a 100 fly heat, finishing 21st in 1.02.44. To the final action of the day and the three girls in the 100 fly final. An incredibly tight finish saw Kelly College’s Chloe Barrow pip local girl Laura Stephens by 0.01 to take gold in 1.03.12. Evan was home in third in 1.05.78, with Ollie eighth (1.10.98) and Millie next (1.11.71). More WSMSC swimmers in this final than from any other club – fantastic stuff.
Bank Holiday Monday and the joys of a trip northbound on the M5 loom large on the minds of our parents, but for Jas, Evan, Millie and Marcus, there was business to attend to first. For the girls, the 200 freestyle; for Marcus, 50 breaststoke. Over to you ladies – Evan (3rd) and Jas (7th) safely into another final, with Millie ending her regionals in a time of 2.28.56 – a great effort with shoulder problems for most of the season. To Marcus. A comfortable 30.30 for a third place secured a lane 3 start for finals. The girls first – a bronze for Evan in 2.10.61, going over a second faster than in qualification. Jas home in 9th in 2.15.22. Final action of the morning and Marcus clocks 30.23 to secure a super silver in the 50 breast, 0.98 behind Plymouth’s Jack Burton (that name is starting to get somewhat irritating!). Final event – girls 800 freestyle – what better way to round off a bank holiday? And round off in style is precisely what Jas did, bagging the gold medal in the 15&U age group in a time of 9.27.11. A huge well done to our super six at youths: Evan, Millie, Jas, Ollie, Elliott and Marcus.
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'Carpenters Optometrists’ CARPENTERS ALSO OFFER PRESCRIPTION SWIMMING GOGGLES Having had a great youths champs at Plymouth, our age-group swimmers made the short journey to Millfield for their first weekend of regionals. The championships got off to a great start with Freya and Rachel progressing from heats to finals of the 100 fly. Great swims from Holly and Megan to finish heats in 13th and 17th place. To the next event – boys 200 breast. Enter Evan and James. Evan finishing comfortably in fourth to qualify for the final, but feeling a tweak in his shoulder in doing so. Oh heck. A fine swim from James – no nerves here – and reserve for the 13s final. Before finals, the officials need refreshments given not even a boiled sweet was forthcoming poolside! First in – Freya. A tricky outside lane draw with no outer lane ropes (why?) led to an eighth place finish in 1.21.75. Next age group up and Rachel is home in 1.08.96 to claim gold, ahead of fly specialist Laura McNab – a super swim and improved NQT. To the 200 breast, and Evan, feeling sore and with copious quantities of Pot Noodles (beef and tomato flavour) not doing their usual magic, home in eighth. Key context here – we’re talking regionals – everyone is a winner competing in such company. Finals are fantastic.
Time for a 200 IM I think. Enter Freya (5th in heats – another final, 2.47.55), Caitlyn 2.53.57), Rachel (first in 12s, 2.33.43, lane 4 for the final), Hollie W (2.50.42), Immy (11th in 2.36.58) and Hannah (2.39.64). As Immy rested before her 800, the boys were in for a “there and back” freestyle, with Evan (1.09.41) and James (1.04.05). Four in James’ age bracket swam sub-60 in heats and another 4 made it to the final sub 60.6 – incredible swims.
Another medal for our team in the next event and hard earned. The risk of lap cards and/or some newly acquired bells falling on your head is always an occupational hazard in the 800, let alone the mental and physical toughness of the event. Undeterred, Immy recorded incredibly consistent splits to touch in 9.37.49 – a couple of seconds off Zoe Gannaway, but ahead of big names like Lara Bate and Aliyah-Mai Webb.
Final action of the day – 200 IM final. Having qualified fastest from heats, Rachel had all her rivals in her sights from lane 4. Two minutes 31.79 seconds later, she was touching for a second gold of the day – 2.25 seconds ahead of the field in another improved NQT.
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Action! Enthusiasm! Results!
Day 2 and great to see WSMSC competing hard in regional relays – this time in the 4x200m free relay, with Megan (2.21.24), Holly (2.21.58), Immy (2.16.05) and Rachel (2.14.90) home in sixth place, beating Millfield, Kelly, Exeter, Aquae Sulis, Plymouth B, among many others. Whilst qualification to the nationals (a top 40 place required in the country) proved elusive, this quartet have another year in this age bracket – assuming the powers that be want to continue with the excitement of relay racing in their competition reviews. Next event – 100 fly for boys with just one qualifier from the club, but great to see Will touching in 1.11.44 against a field where some resembled 24 year olds and not 14 year olds! Following hot on Will’s heels were Freya, Kabria, Caitlyn and Immy in the 200 breaststroke. In the 10/11 age group, great swims from our three, all finishing in the top 15, with Freya an agonising 0.31 seconds off a finals place. In the 13s, Immy touched in 3.04.93, with the heat won in an incredible 2.36.22 by Millfield’s Lara Bate – fear not Immy, you destroyed her in the 800!
To event 231, the girls 200 fly and a super six from Weston qualified for the “killer” event, friend of the psychopathic swimmer! In the 10/11s, Freya touched in 3.11.80 in 9th place, then could be seen sitting on what appeared to be a prayer mat, praying that no one withdrew from the final, otherwise it would be to do all over again. In the 12s, Rachel qualified for the final in second, one-hundredth of a second behind Laura McNab – I sense drama to come in this one. Regional debutant Charlotte powered home in 3.06.32 for a great 12th place finish. Up an age group and enter the twins. Two great swims, with Megan touching to become second reserve for the final, with Holly’s 2.36.31 securing a fifth place to get a good lane for the final. In the 14s, Hannah matched Megan’s position in an event dominated by Taunton Deane’s network. As all of this was played out, waiting in the wings like coiled springs were Evan and James, readying themselves for the 200 IM. Great racing and Evan dead heats for 7th place to qualify for another final. In the 13s, an immense swim from JK lands a monster PB in 2.32.41 for a 14th place, beating 4 Plymouth swimmers in the process.
Back to the girls and the 100 free. Always an exciting event with eyes on the clock to see whether the magic minute can be broken. First in Freya, and out again in just 1.11.16 for a 13th place. Next, Rachel in the 12s heats and a first place in heats in 1.02.24, ahead of local Devonian Andrea Todorovic of Plymouth Leander. In the 13s, Megan’s 1.03.32 good enough to squeeze into the final, with Immy (1.04.50) and Holly (1.05.22) not far behind. Finals time and first Rachel in the 200 fly. Having given arch-rival Laura McNab something of a head start on the first couple of lengths, Rachel gained strength in the last 100 and pulled right up to Laura on the last turn, who inexplicably failed to clear the water on her first stroke and was promptly DQd. Rachel, clear by this point anyway, stormed home in 2.34.00 – a big PB (NQT) and faster than Laura’s PB for another gold. Holly battled hard in the 13’s final, finishing 8th in 2.37.76. More finals quickly followed: Evan seventh in the 200 IM, home in 2.44.21, Rachel second in the 100 free (1.02.33) and Megan seventh in the same event (1.03.67).
Weekend 2 and it’s off to Hengrove, with expectations of melting in the heat uppermost in minds. First up, bring on our dream team male quartet in the 400 medley relay and a very solid 14th place secured in 4.52.37. Following on were the girls in their 400 free relay, finishing 9th in 4.15.32. Great to see the purple hats in the water competing so well in relays at this level. Well done all. As Will headed home for his industrial sized barbecue lunch, the rest of us were ready for the boys 100 back, with Evan (15th), Joe (16th) and James (18th) all swimming well. Five girls (Kabria, Freya, Caitlyn, Immy and Chloe) in the 100 breast, with Kabria qualifying in fifth for the 10/11s final, ultimately finishing seventh in the final. Another WSMSC swimmer in a regional final – well done Kabria. No rest for James and Evan – 200 free action, both home nicely.
The girls 200 back saw no less than NINE WSMSC qualifiers: Freya, Rachel and Immy qualified for finals (mindful that a 400 free lay in waiting), with great swims from Caitlyn, Madeleine, Hollie, Holly, Megan and Hannah. A busy day for Evan and James, but whatever was fuelling them, it was good stuff with Evan finishing 9th and James 10th in this heat declared winner event. In the girls 400 free, 13th for Freya, bronze for Rachel, 20th and 21st for Holly and Megan respectively and a DNC for Immy (more on this later). With a short break, time for 200 back finals. In the 10/11s, Freya home in 2.50.00 (looks like a Mrs Dadds or Mr Elliott made up time, but it was legit!) in eighth. In the 12s, a great swim by Andrea Todorovic meant silver for Rachel. Immy’s fourth place in 2.27.80 didn’t yield a medal but brought a third national qualifying time for the season – well done Immy. Also in that final, although she was almost still in the changing rooms at the start of the race (having got changed), was Holly – a late reserve entry as Renae Caddy had withdrawn but noone knew until Giles spoke to the Penzance coach. Drama or what?
Day 4 of age-groups and more relays. First in the girls in the 4x100 medley and 11th of 22, followed by a 14th slot for the boys in their 4x100 free relay. Great representation in the 100 back with 13 girls: Freya, Caitlyn, Maggie, Madeleine, Caitlin, Rachel, Hollie, Charlotte, Ruby, Immy, Megan, Holly and Hannah, with Freya and Rachel making it through to finals. Freya touching in 8th in the 10/11s; Rachel PBd to land silver in 1.08.32. Joining them in finals was Evan in the 100 breast, finishing 7th in 1.26.77. Just Freya, Rachel, Immy, Megan and Holly in the 200 free, with Rachel and Immy securing finals’ slots, finishing 3rd and 4th respectively, both in PB times. Another final for Evan in the 200 back (finishing in line with his seeding), with James home in 12th in 2.32.21 in the 13s. Two 400s to go: IM for the girls and free for the boys (all heat declared winners – mercifully!). In the 10/11s, Freya (13th) and Caitlyn (15th). Up an age-group and it’s Rachel in second, Holly H storming to a massive PB in 7th and Hollie W, also PBing in 14th. Into the 13s, with the amazing Plymouth swimmer Jessica Manning (podium at nationals in 2013) winning in a sub-5 minute time, Immy fourth, Holly 12th and Megan 20th. In the 14s, Hannah home in 13th.
Time for the abacus to work out the BAGCATs. In the 10/11s, well done to George (swimming under COB) 8th and top female, Freya (12th). In the 12s, Evan achieved the same position as Freya, with Rachel finishing 2nd, 34 points behind Andrea. Fifth for Immy in the 13s, with Megan and Holly 13th and 14th respectively. Nice for George, Rachel and Immy to receive their trophies from El-Presidente Coles.
A fantastic regionals for WSMSC. Many congratulations to all of our swimmers and thanks to Rachel, team managers, officials and supporters.
40/44 Yrs Age Group - Full Results 100 FLY Place Name AaD Club Time 50 1. Sara Dykes 43 Weston S M 1:09.33 32.54 2. Nicola Latty 43 Oundle 1:10.03 33.58 3. Philippa Rickard 43 East Leeds 1:12.14 32.27 4. Jeanne Petit 44 Chesham 1:14.35 34.10 5. Karen Howells 43 NottmLeander 1:23.58 - 6. Karen Brown 40 Spencer 1:28.54 41.79 Helena McGrath 42 NAC DNC
Many congratulations to Sara from everyone at WSMSC for an outstanding swim and the accolade of Masters Champion in her age-group. More than that, she also defeated many, many swimmers much younger than herself. A great weekend for the household with Holly swimming an absolute blinder at Hengrove the following day in the 400IM at regionals (details above).
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JOINING WSMSC
SWIMMING GUESS Trials are always available for those who wish to join WHO? WSMSC – email Rachel Aldington – headcoach@)weston-super-mare-swimming-club.co.uk
LEARN TO SWIM To enquire about our hugely successful LTS programme (small group lessons for ages 4+ years, taught by hugely enthusiastic qualified teachers in small groups, supported by national/regional swimmers from our Young Volunteers Programme), email Charlotte Bradley - [email protected] LTS feeds directly into the squads within WSMSC.
WATER POLO Please email Mike Coles - secretary@weston-super- mare-swimming-club.co.uk for more information.
MASTERS For more information, please email Mike Coles - [email protected]
New domestic competition structure
As part of the ongoing development of the Performance Pathway, British Swimming has sought feedback on proposals for a new domestic competition structure. The two-page proposal is accessible via the ASA website.
The visionary goal of British Swimming’s Performance Pathway is “to ensure all participating swimmers have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience within the sport, and that those who aspire to achieve Olympic success are fully supported in doing so.” The preamble to the process states that a key element of realising this goal is “ensuring a domestic competition structure is in place that fully supports and is in synergy with our high performance aspirations.” Proposals are being discussed by an implementation group comprising representation from each home nation, UK Sport and the British Swimming Coaches Association with the “intention of creating a truly integrated structure and calendar.”
WSMSC have engaged fully with this consultation, representing a number of concerns, particular those of the younger swimmers and the wellbeing of clubs. The proposals are, it is suggested, to be implemented for the 2014/15 swimming season, which is another source of complaint – crazily short notice to bring in such profound changes. At club level, the key issues for us are the timing of regional age-groups (brought forward to May, though originally this was to be April), the issues this causes for our Easter Open Meet as a regional-qualifying event (Easter weekend will often be too late), counties moving forward (provisionally dates are now in January 2015), county qualifying times having to come forward (knock-on effect to when we hold club championships), certain minimum age restrictions and event restrictions on swimmers, not to mention a short-course (25m) season to Christmas and long-course thereafter. Oh, and age at 31 December in the year of competition for all county, regional and national level events. And, just for good measure, tight windows on when you can qualify for regional (from 1 January) and national events, with the latter turning to a “by invitation” of the top swimmers in the country by ranking. Tight qualifying windows will necessarily restrict the number of events at which swimmers can gain qualifying times, are liable to have seriously over-subscribed meets and would appear to promote the very “time- chasing” scenarios that LTAD (Long-Term Athlete Development) was designed to stop. The end of BAGCATs is another proposal.
Whilst it is stated that this is a “consultation”, SWR age-group times have changed and counties have provisionally changed – both in accordance with the proposals set out in the “consultation” document. Draw your own conclusions from that. We’ll provide more information so far as it is available at our LAUNCH NIGHT in September.
Let’s Get (Even More) Motivated
Reaching my goal doesn't prove what I'm made of. NOT QUITTING does!
Negative people will always try to drag you down to their level. Love them but rise above them!
Strength doesn't come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn't.
Whoever said, 'It's not whether you win or lose that counts,' probably lost.
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Southwold Level 3 Open Meet 01934 644664 Fax 01934 425049 Congratulations to all WSMSC swimmers for helping us once more to lift the Top Visiting Club trophy. A great meet and lots of great swims. Well done George Langman (11 years boys), Evan Brunsdon (12, boys) and Hollie [email protected] Wilcox (12, girls) for winning the top swimmer www.hobbsandwebb.co.uk awards in their respective age groups. Looks like the next round is on you Mr. Chairman! – Mr. Giles Moroney. Whilst an awful lot of work is needed to gain Swim21 club status, we’re not suggesting that super-human efforts will be needed! (Steve may disagree!)
What does the WSMSC Management Committee actually do? Well, aside from the obvious (!!!!!!) dressing up as superman, there’s a question and a half! While each member has his/her own area(s) of responsibility (e.g. chair, treasurer, secretary, welfare, Swim21, membership, volunteers, Easter Meet, polo, etc), a collective aim over the past 18 months has been to achieve Swim21 status. Under the guidance of our Swim21 Co-ordinator Steve Soper, who has invested huge quantities of time into this, we are working towards regaining this “gold standard” that lapsed a few seasons ago for reasons that I’m not aware of. Hopefully news will be forthcoming in the coming months, but for now, here is some background as to what the benchmark is all about (taken from the ASA website). The swim21 programme enhances club management, strengthens the structures and unites the club with a philosophy and programmes that ensures the best environment is available for our swimmers. Swim21 accreditation is the ASA’s ‘quality mark’. It is about creating the best possible swimming experience for all and raising the quality of swimming provision across all areas. However Swim21 is not just a badge of honour, it is a development tool that allows swimmers, teachers, coaches and those responsible for developing programmes to continually improve. Here are some of the key benefits of becoming Swim21 accredited: Discount on ASA awards - As a Swim21 club you will receive 5% of ASA awards. IoS credits - Swim21 recognises the importance of developing club volunteers and teachers/coaches. Therefore, once you are a swim21 club you will receive an IoS voucher towards the cost of any course on www.theiosonline.com from teaching/coaching qualifications to CPD’s. Discount for ASA events - As a Swim21 club you will receive discounted rates for selected ASA events. Funding - Swim21 club offers enhanced access to various sources of funding. Clubs who are working towards or have achieved Swim21 club may be looked upon more favourably when applying for sources of funding. Many ASA regions and county associations have bursaries which only Swim21 clubs can apply for. There is also opportunity to apply for ASA sponsor grant schemes when you are accredited with swim21. Sainsbury's Active Kids - As a Swim21 club you are automatically registered with Clubmark. A benefit of this is your club can register for the Sainsbury’s Active Kids Scheme. Recognition - swim21 club offers national recognition that you are providing a quality service for all your members. All Swim21 accredited clubs are listed under our' Accredited Clubs' list and the ASA promotes the scheme in all its relevant publicity work. We would very much like to think that you would already agree that we, as a small group of volunteers, are doing our level best to provide this “quality service” to all members mentioned above – Swim21 status would formally recognise that but provide the structure for governance of the club, so that our efforts out of the water fully support the amazing achievements of our swimmers in the water. More information will follow next season. Clevedon and Chard Level 3 Open Meet by Sarah Rees
A squad of 29 swimmers assembled at Hutton Moor on 22nd June in blistering heat to swim in a one day meet hosted by Clevedon and Chard swimming clubs. Most swimmers stayed all day to swim multiple events. The swimmers were probably the only cool people in the building, getting regular opportunities to not only show off their skills but obviously to get into the water too. Everyone either achieved personal best times, won medals for 50m, 100m or 200m events, or in many cases both! There was the added incentive of top girl and top boy trophies being presented in each age group at the end of the day. Swimmers scored 8 points for a race win down to 1 point for finishing eighth in an event; each individual’s scores were then compiled for the following overall meet results:
9 year old girls: 3rd Tamzin Rawle 10 year old girls: 1st Madeleine Soper 10 year old girls: 2nd Caitlin Ashurst 10 year old girls: 3rd Bethan Anderson 10 year old boys: 2nd Noah Statter 11 year old girls: 2nd Sarah Carr 11 year old girls: 3rd Kabria Chapman 11 year old boys: 2nd George Cook 11 year old boys: 3rd George Langman 12 year old girls: 1st Hollie Wilcox 12 year old girls: 2nd Charlotte Stanbury 12 year old girls: 3rd Ruby Soper 12 year old boys: 1st Evan Brunsdon rd 13 year old girls: 3 Amy Lance rd 13 year old boys: 3 Joe Ham Great work by all of the above! A team trophy st 14 year old girls: 1 Hannah Anderson was then awarded to the squad of swimmers accumulating the most points overall. Weston
was the top club and several of our proud swimmers can be seen above collecting the trophy, another one to try to squeeze into our very full trophy cabinet! Well done to all the swimmers whose collective efforts led to this award: Bethan Anderson, Hannah Anderson, Lillian Arnold, Caitlin Ashurst, Nelly Bridger Morales, Evan Brunsdon, Sarah Carr, Kabria Chapman, Kaysen Chapman, George Cook, Rachel Eveleigh, Olivia May Finch, Joe Ham, Bobbi-lee Kingston, Taylor-Jay Kingston, Amy Lance, George Langman, Jamie Parker– Spears, Tamzin Rawle, Eleanor Redman, Bethan Rees, Megan Rees, Madeleine Soper, Ruby Soper, Amber Spillane, Charlotte Stanbury, Noah Statter, Morgan Taylor and Hollie Wilcox.
WEYMOUTH WIN FOR NATIONALS-BOUND JAS
Jasmine Moroney won the ASA South West Open Water title (literally by a country mile) on Sunday 29th June at Preston Beach, Weymouth, and also picked up the Somerset County Gold Medal for the 2k open water swim. Somerset County President for 2014 (in case you didn't know) Mike Coles, and Ben Batley, ASA South West Region's President are photographed above presenting the awards to Jas. Better still (I know it’s a tough call between meeting the President and what follows), as champion, Jas qualifies for the National Open Water Swimming Championships up at Rother Valley Country Park over the weekend between age-groups and youth nationals at Ponds Forge. Many congratulations Jas from everyone at WSMSC. Richly deserved.
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ASA CLUBS CONFERENCE
Saturday 21 June
University of Worcester
On a roasting June Saturday, Jim and I headed up the M5 to the rather pleasant University of Worcester campus (did anyone know Worcester had a uni??) for the first of four Clubs Conferences to be staged around the country by the ASA. With so much going on with the ASA/British Swimming at the moment, it appeared a reasonable sacrifice to make to ensure our club was represented at such a forum presided over by full-time ASA staff.
Following coffee on arrival, it was off to a choice of morning 3 hour workshops, punctuated by yet more coffee: Time to Listen Training, Team Manager Module 1, Club Leaders or Safeguarding and Protecting Children. We opted for the Safeguarding one to complete our full team manager training. A very useful inter-active session, sharing with club members from Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and the West Midlands. Safeguarding and child protection is rightly central to Swim 21 status so you’ll all be reading and hearing a lot more about this.
With Davina (organizer of the City of Hereford Open Meet, where the best lunch ever has been served to officials, stimulating the inauguration of the marks out of 10 awards for galas for their gastronomic tendencies) present at the conference, lunch would be interesting. Lacking the Hereford cheesecakes, it was nevertheless a real winner, with a fine array of sandwiches, rolls, wraps, prawns, skewers, with Jim and I doing our best to ensure that little went to waste. A very solid 8.5/10 score. Hereford still out in front with the industrial size strawberry pavlova and curly fries at Gloucester just behind.
After yet more coffee, it was time for the shorter afternoon sessions – a choice of 45 minute briefings on Workforce Solutions, Marketing your club/social media, Swim 21 Accreditation Tips and the rather snappily titled Everything you need to know about swimming officials but were afraid to ask – Training, Development and Licensing, or a series of network tables (15/20 minutes) covering funding sources/alternative income streams, working with other clubs to deliver athlete pathway, diversifying the club offer to deal with rising charges and retaining and recruiting clubs workforce. Jim attended the workforce session; I did Swim 21 then we participated in separate network tables, though these proved that politics in Somerset swimming has little to compare with that in the West Midlands!
A final coffee and then it was the final action of the day – an address by Stacey Tadd. For the uninitiated, Stacey started swimming with Norton Radstock, specializing in breaststroke from the age of 12, later moving to the University of Bath. She recently retired from the sport at the tender age of 24, having finished 18th in the 200m breaststroke at the London 2012 Olympic Games. In between times, she won 2 golds at the 2003 European Youth Olympics in Paris, won events at British Championships and represented her country at the 2009/2011 World Championships and made finals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi – and didn’t suffer a Delhi belly.
A very enjoyable day. Lots of good conversations, useful information gleaned and perhaps the bottom line, when people are critical of aspects of our club, the reality is that not only are we all volunteers at WSMSC but there are clearly a lot of clubs out there with deep financial problems and encountering a number of other big issues, far greater than anything we face.
SW REGIONAL SPRINTS – on Sunday 6th July a small purple army headed up the M5 to GL1, Gloucester, to compete in the South West Region Fast 5 sprints competition for non-national regional qualifiers. All of our swimmers performed exceptionally well, with PBs by the bucketload. Special mention to BAGCAT top three winners James King and Megan Richards.
Womens 16 Yrs/Under 200m Butterfly - Final Full Results Place Name AaD Club Time R.T. FINA Pt 50 100 150 1. Laura Stephens 15 Plymouth Lea 2:16.38 + 0.76 712 30.69 1:05.55 1:41.26 2. Evan King 15 Weston S M 2:18.39 + 0.74 681 31.22 1:07.04 1:42.65 3. Rosie Rudin 16 Nova Cent'n 2:18.80 + 0.78 675 31.23 1:05.73 1:41.82 4. Anna Newlands 16 Cockermouth 2:20.79 + 0.76 647 30.98 1:06.82 1:43.73 5. Gemma Kane 16 IRL 2:21.29 + 0.70 640 32.23 1:08.28 1:44.36 6. Amy Treslove 16 Co Sheffield 2:22.15 + 0.74 629 33.10 1:07.99 1:45.33 7. Emma Reid 15 IRL 2:23.35 + 0.69 613 32.45 1:09.00 1:45.81
Huge congratulations to Evan for winning a super silver (only the organisers were so tight they didn’t award medals to the under 16s – cheapskates). Great achievement. Well done. ------
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DRAW FOR ROUND 1 – OCTOBER 2014 At the AGM for the Western NASL on Saturday 28th June, the draw was made for the first round of Arena League. Before we get to that, I just know that you’re eagerly awaiting an update about the meeting itself – well tough, I’m going to tell you anyway! Three hours. Three hours? When I agreed to stand in to attend, I wasn’t contemplating this! And what, no lunch? We had rule changes, resignations, articulations of the threat of the league going bankrupt, new clubs trying to join with issues, big debates about transport levies, dual club registrations, fines of £500 for clubs failing to turn up or host a gala, fines for not submitting monies immediately after hosting a gala, points deductions for unregistered swimmers or unqualified officials – and that’s the bit I was awake for! So 180 minutes, but literally action-packed all the way through, including the main event – the draw – almost taking place in the car park on account of the caretaker coming to lock up the building where the meeting was staged on account of it running over!
GALA 1 GALA 2 GALA 3 Plymouth Leander (seeded) Millfield (seeded) Taunton Deane (seeded) Bridgend Swim Swansea A Exeter City Nofio Sir Gar A City of Cardiff A Bodmin Soundwell West Wilts Force 5 Newport Yeovil Swim Bournemouth A City of Cardiff B Weston-Super-Mare Poole Keynsham
So, what conclusions do we draw from this? Plymouth Leander won the Western League again last year and have been overall national league champions in the last 3 years and in 3 of the 4 years before that. We have competed in round 1 against them in the previous 2 seasons; last year they clocked up a staggering 261 points at Hutton Moor in round 1, with Swim Bournemouth (179), Bridgend (177), Soundwell (152), Nofio (143) and ourselves (134) watching in admiration. So we know a thing or two about all the clubs, with Yeovil slotting into the spot that Bournemouth were in 12 months ago – it was all legit, I can vouch for that. Bridgend finished 7th in the overall Western League last season, with Yeovil one place below (we know Yeovil well from SJL, Somersets and swam against them in a dummy-run Arena gala at Horfield last autumn). Soundwell finished 10th in the league, with Nofio 12th. We have finished 15th in each of the last two seasons (of 18 clubs), which for a club of our size, competing against performance hubs, is outstanding. It will be tough, but we are pitting ourselves against the best swimmers in the land in this league (the Western League sent the most representatives to the overall finals of all 7 divisions making up the national league), and if the likes of Ruta or Ben Proud swim for Plymouth, the best in the world. Team selection, venue/time, etc, will be forthcoming early next season. If this gala is at Hutton Moor (my money is on HM, Horfield or Millfield), it will be a great education for all swimmers and parents to come along to watch.
Gloucester City Swimming Club Level 3 Open Meet – 12/13 July
Well done to our big team (some very new to competitive swimming) who competed fantastically at a rather hot GL1!!! Lots of super swims – great times and great technique on show. Congratulations to Caitlin Ashurst, Madeleine Soper, Evan Brunsdon and Hannah Anderson for picking up the top swimmer awards in their respective age groups. No curly fries or pavlova for the officials, but a nice lunch nonetheless. Well done to our new team managers. GOOD LUCK TO OUR SIX NATIONAL QUALIFIERS
IMMY & RACHEL
JAS & IMMY
ESME, MARCUS & EVAN
Follow our swimmers’ progress throughout the championships via the ASA website - http://www.swimming.org/asanationals/
Some people are on the pitch, they think it’s all over. It is now!
After writing 9 newsletters over the past 2.5 years, the time has come to call time on this. With so many swimmers competing at so many events on such a regular basis, and with so much going on at the club, added to work commitments, it is impossible for me to continue with it, as well as do the day-to-day jobs that co-managing a club of our size necessitates. Thanks to those that have contributed on an ad hoc basis to previous newsletters. In this issue, I’m indebted to Tim, Jim, Sarah, Jenny, Charlotte, Mike and Sue for their submissions.
The club are looking at ways to interact electronically more, so the expectation is that a more e- bulletin-type approach will be adopted going forward, possibly even squad-based. As with everything, what is possible is reliant upon volunteers. Is this something you could help with? Your contribution would be most valued. Full support will be provided. Many thanks. Malcolm
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