Newsletter 5 September 2012
Latest News
Welcome back to the club after the summer break. Last season was another amazing one for WSMSC, with swimmers at Olympic trials, nationals, British champs, regionals and counties, massive medal hauls, GB-swimmer-led guest training sessions, the first medals achieved for some of our fantastic young swimmers, promotion to the National Arena Swimming League Premier Division, PBs galore, lots of new swimmers moving up to pre-development, a hugely successful year for LTS and likewise on the polo front, both with the juniors and for the seniors in the Bristol & West Water Polo League. In this newsletter, we reflect on the last events of the 2011/12 season and look forward to the things to come in 2012/13. Please support our sponsors and do support the club through our easyfundraising endeavours (update inside).
SIMPLY THE BEST
Charlotte Stanbury and Evan Brunsdon proudly pose with their Best 10 Year Old Girl/Boy trophies at the Clevedon & Chard Level 3 Open Meet, 24 June. Fantastic!!! Many congratulations to you both.
Thank you to everyone who entered the competition, which raised £20 for club funds. As shown below, the winner, with the nearest time to MJ’s best in the 200m breaststroke (in which he won a fantastic silver medal) was Alice – well done!! The tie-breaker question wasn’t needed, but for the record Rebecca Adlington’s fastest 800m freestyle time (8.20.32) gained her bronze, behind US swimmer Katie Ledecky’s gold winning swim of 8.14.63.
Name MJ time for 200m breast RA time for 800m free Charlie Norton 1.09.24 7.11.09 Rachel Eveleigh 2.02.39 8.14.83 Julia Wallis 2.06.00 8.13.20 Evan Brunsdon 2.06.32 8.08.76 Katie Davies 2.06.50 8.12.50 Lucy Davies 2.07.00 8.02.00 ACTUAL TIME 2.07.43 Alice Davies – CLOSEST TIME 2.07.48 8.04.42 Rachel Anderson 2.07.58 8.11.48 Julia Wallis 2.07.76 8.13.96 Louie Brunsdon 2.08.63 8.12.98 Ben Jones 2.08.90 8.13.10 Jackson Harper 2.08.94 8.13.81 Jackson Harper 2.09.03 8.13.81 Ros Brunsdon 2.09.35 8.13.90 Jessica Knight 2.09.49 8.15.39 Dale Buckingham 2.09.79 8.15.90 Chloe Knight 2.09.82 8.16.89 Sharon 2.09.82 8.14.00 Samuel Morris 2.10.21 8.13.92 Dave Brunsdon 2.10.31 8.12.85
PREMIER DIVISION SWIMMING - COMING SOON TO HUTTON MOOR
Plymouth Leander, Bridgend, Keynsham, Seagulls and Nofio Sir Gar join WSMSC in the first gala of the first round of the 2012 NASL Premier Division, to be staged at Hutton Moor on Saturday 13th October, in the afternoon. Get the date in your diary and get along to cheer on our swimmers against the very best in the region. Do keep an eye on the notice board to see if you can help in any small way – many hands make light work and all that. The second and third rounds will take place on 10 November and 8 December with venues to be decided at a later date when the draws have been made. Rumour has it that Plymouth Leander’s Ruta Meilutyte (who won Lithuania's first ever Olympic gold in the 2012 Olympics by beating American Rebecca Soni in the women's 100m breaststroke) may be swimming at Weston in this round of the National League. ------
WSMSC – INFORMATION EVENING FOR PARENTS
This event will take place on Tuesday 25th September at 7.00 p.m. It will comprise a number of speakers, addressing a wide range of topics. While targeted towards parents of Pre- Development and Development swimmers, all parents will be most welcome. Please look at the club notice board to get more detail after we’ve had a planning meeting on the 18th.
WSMSC ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
Do keep a look out on the club notice board and on the website for the date/venue of the club’s forthcoming AGM. It is for the wellbeing of the club that views are aired openly, questions asked and that the committee is open to all, so that it is truly representative of all sections of the club. Please support the AGM.
WSMSC 2012 CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS
The club championships provide the last opportunity for swimmers to achieve the necessary qualifying times for the county championships (‘the Somersets’). They are really important in the club’s calendar and we want all competitive squad swimmers to compete in them. The full schedule of dates of the club champs is to be finalized, so do keep an eye on the club notice board and year planner. 2013 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
A number of galas in the autumn period through to Christmas are on the club website. Looking further ahead, here are some key dates for 2013.
2013 Somerset ASA Swimming Championships
The Somerset ASA website (www.somersetasa.org/) shows the following as the dates for the 2013 ‘Somersets’ (the county championships). A detailed programme of what’s happening when, qualifying times, etc., should appear soon. All events take place at Millfield School.
10.02.2013 Day One (50m) Long Distance Events 16.02.2013 Day Two 17.02.2013 Day Three 02.03.2013 Day Four 03.03.2013 Day Five 09.03.2013 Day Six
Weston-Super-Mare Swimming Club Easter Open Meet (Level 3) will be held at Hutton Moor on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st March 2013.
ASA SW Region Swimming Events 2013
Information on 2013 competitions so far - Time Trials, Youth, Team, Sprints, Masters and Championships as at 4 Sep 2012. To check for updated information as the season progresses, please visit http://www.swimwest.org/
Date Event Venue 19 Jan 2013 Distance Time Trials Plymouth Life Centre 4 to 6 May 2013 Youth & 17/O Championships Venue TBC 19 May 2013 Team Relay Millfield (25m) Date TBC Age Groups Venue TBC 7 Jul 2013 Sprint Gala GL1 (25m) 29 Sep 2013 Masters Sprint Gala Millfield (25m) 10 Nov 2013 Masters SW Inter-County Gala Millfield (25m) 7/8 Dec 2013 Championships Millfield (25m)
British Gas National Age Group Championships – 24-28 July
British Gas National Senior & Youth Champs – 30 July– 4 August
Rachel, Zara, Ant and Esme sounded like absolute naturals on the airwaves of BBC Radio Bristol’s Summer Saturdays programme (14th July) as they talked about their own swimming careers, the club, nationals, the Olympics, etc. What a fantastic bit of PR for the club. Well done you four!!!! They are now available for future media work – all enquiries should be made through their publicist Mr. Max Clifford, though rumour has it that they don’t come cheap.
Well done to Kate Watkins, Tom Simpson (both Level 1), Luke Puchalski and Chrissie Lowe (both Level 2) for recently gaining their swim teacher awards. Also to Jon Knight, Diane and Malcolm Anderson for losing their judging ‘L’ plates and becoming fully qualified officials at Judge 1 level.
Learn To Swim Report – Sept
A new term dawns for LTS after a much needed break for swimmers, parents and teachers! I’m looking forward to the new term and watching the swimmers progress and introducing lots of new starters to the club.
XMAS Gala - I am keen to get the LTS involved in this. I will be discussing this with Rachel and will provide parents with information nearer the time and hope to see many of the LTS swimmers joining in the crazy fun!
A BIG thank you to everyone for their support through my first year as LTS coordinator. I am happy with the current teachers we have on board and have seen many people gain qualifications - Chrissie Lowe and Luke Puchalski have both passed their Level 2 qualifications in teaching aquatics this summer - Well done guys!
If any parents wish to volunteer their time or want more info about gaining possible qualifications through the club please email direct.
For those parents who are keen to get back in the water themselves - Masters are now swimming on a Monday 8 - 9.30pm. I went this week and although I ache like never before today, I really enjoyed it :) Email to Rachel for more info.
Let the hard work begin! Cheers. Zara
LEARN TO SWIM CLASSES AUTUMN 2012
WEEK TUES THURS FRI SUN 1 04-Sep 06-Sep 07-Sep 09-Sep 2 11-Sep 13-Sep 14-Sep 16-Sep 3 18-Sep 20-Sep 21-Sep 23-Sep 4 25-Sep 27-Sep 28-Sep 30-Sep 5 02-Oct 4-Oct 5-Oct 07-Oct 6 09-Oct 11-Oct 12-Oct 14-Oct 7 16-Oct 18-Oct 19-Oct 21-Oct 8 23-Oct 25-Oct 26-Oct 28-Oct HALF-TERM WEEK 9* 06-Nov 08-Nov 09-Nov 11-Nov 10 13-Nov 15-Nov 16-Nov 18-Nov
* Week 9 is re-enrolment week for the next term, and when payment is due to secure your child’s place in Learn to Swim.
If you no longer require your Learn to Swim place, then please contact the Learn to Swim Coordinator, Zara Gardner, as soon as possible on 07980294434 or email: [email protected].
Q: What do a dentist and a swim coach have in common? A: They both use drills!
Q: Why was the swimmer at the Winterfest Meet so cold? A: She couldn't find her heat!
Q: Why did the vegetarians stop swimming? A: They didn't like meets!
The Universal Laws of Competitive Swimming (much like Sir Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion)
Law of Competitive Gravity: When left unattended, a swimmer will gravitate to the worst technique possible.
Law of Inertia: A swimmer at rest will tend to remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. A swimmer in motion will tend to rest as soon as possible unless acted upon by an outside force.
Opposition Principle: When asked to kick rapidly, swimmers tend not to; when told not to kick, swimmers tend to kick rapidly.
Space, Time Continuum: When swimming Breaststroke or Butterfly in practice, swimmers hands are attracted to the turning wall, each hand at a different speed, at different times, at different points not in the same plane.
Laws of Acceleration & Momentum: The law of acceleration may only apply for 3 minutes after coach reminds swimmer it is important, then the law of Momentum becomes dominant soon to be replaced by the law of Inertia.
Law of Static Levels: Swimmers will automatically seek their own comfort level and tend to attract others to so the same.
Mind over Matter: The mind can overcome many obstacles during competition but the same does not usually apply during practices.
Law of Finite Attraction: Even after carefully explaining the efficiency and effectiveness of an ideal stroke rate, within 3 minutes swimmer will invariably lose the ability to count strokes and think about any related concept. See similar anomaly under Law of Acceleration.
Relativity: The position of the swimmer’s body in relation to the position it is supposed to be in, may vary up to +or- 100%.
Vertical and Horizontal Telemetry: When rotated 90 degrees from the vertical to supine or sublime position, the brain loses most of its ability to function.
Historical Principle of Babylon: Within 3 minutes of the start of coach speaking, the swimmers begin hearing unrecognizable tongues. See similar anomaly under Law of Finite Attraction.
Fluid Mechanics: The amount of fluids the bladder can retain is directly proportional to the difficulty of the middle of the current practice set. The same principle seems to apply to ripping caps and broken goggle straps, but no scientific evidence connecting the 3 has been documented.
WSMSC SUGGESTION BOX
Point Raised Response Issues with structure of LTS Discussed with Zara and already dealt with. Parents have been lessons encouraged to speak to their child’s coach about any concerns they may have, or engage in dialogue as to why in some sessions their child may not swim as many lengths as in others, when the coach is really looking at stroke development and not distance, etc. Reduce fees if Millfield and Discussed in the fee review as one avenue that we could have gone spinning are ‘pay as you go’ down, but chose not to, arguing instead that these were part of the overall package offered to swimmers in the top two squads. Taking this argument to the extreme would lead to refunds when children are in concerts or ill, etc., and miss training. Administratively unworkable too (we are volunteers) and may also have negative consequences that people swim less, which is against the competitive squad ethos. Really enjoyed the newsletter Nice comment, thank you! Clearly we need to do more to plant the (LTS parent) – ‘love to see idea that Learn To Swim IS ALREADY part of the club. LTS parents what she could be doing in please do keep fully abreast of everything that’s going on given that the future when she joins the we will have pre-development and lots of development swimmers in club’ the Somersets and in relay teams, so that could be your child(ren) pretty soon. Please also get involved with the easyfundraising activities we’re doing as this keeps LTS fees as low as we can. For development to have land Parents should be directed to the document titled Long-Term Athlete training Development (LTAD) on the website More £2.50 Speedo bottles A full stocktake in March revealed overstocking in many areas, which led to some prices being slashed to free up cash to invest (e.g. fins, hand paddles, goggles). Swimrite are selling 1 litre Speedo bottles for £4.99. With Sports Direct selling 750ml bottles at £1.99, it’s probably impossible for us to get stocks at a cheaper price, but we’ll look at it. Updated PBs on display These are on the website. The HM noticeboard needs decluttering so board new info doesn’t get lost. We could perhaps use the rack under it. Practice starts, turns, dives This has been passed to the coach; what goes on poolside is nothing and practice races for galas to do with the committee. If events are cancelled could Yes this should have been done in regard to the parent’s evening. something be put up on the Sincere apologies. When the pool was closed just after Easter, we did website? try to get as many text messages out as possible. Boys swimming jammers in Shop sales since March have been really good and hopefully shop; WSMSC drag shorts, everyone has appreciated it being open weekly. Look out for new racing costumes items as the season goes on, as takings are reinvested in more stock. Fixtures – publish info for the Fixtures until Christmas are posted on the website and I’ve added key whole season ahead, which dates (counties, regionals, nationals and the WSMSC Easter Open galas are to be supported by Meet in here). Fixtures to be supported by the coach are on the the club (will coach be there) website. Adults swimming against kids Child protection/safeguarding of minors prevent this Flyers about the club There is a flyer that anyone can print off at the bottom of the club’s homepage to give out to friends (+ I’ve put some in the racks). More team manager’s Keep watching the notice board and website! courses More competitions (like MJ’s In principle, of course. It then comes down to ideas and someone hat) offering to organise such competitions – email me with offers of help. More GB coaching sessions Great idea and it’s something we’d love to do again (last time it was paid by bagpacking at Sainsburys). Let’s all support easyfundraising and then this becomes a runner again.
Lots of events to catch up from where we left off in the last newsletter, so fasten your seatbelts, sit comfortably, and be prepared to be amazed by some awesome swims from WSMSC members, at all levels, and in many places, through June and July. No better place to start than Pond’s Forge Sheffield for a report on the British Championships. Write-ups are arranged in chronological order.
All a bit confusing for the uninitiated with Olympic trials in March in London, then this meet, doubling as a second trials /British champs, then age group and youths nationals in July – all as something of a prelude to the Olympics themselves. Never mind, the basics are the same, make sure you qualify to compete in the meet, then once there, stick your head down and crack on as fast as you can. I’m sure the coaching offered in Sheffield was a wee bit more technical than that, such that our two representatives – Lucy Davies and Esme Gullick - certainly distinguished themselves on the national stage.
So, enter Lucy in the 200 breaststroke – competing in an event against none other than Derventio swimmer Molly Renshaw. A great first British champs for Lucy, coming home in 2.43.93, off a PB, but a couple of seconds faster than the weekend before at Millfield. Overall finish was 29th, but 3rd fastest among those born in 1998/99. Well done Lucy!
Then Esme, photographed (left) in the zone before her 100 fly. With a seed time of 1.04.49, Esme swam a PB of 1.04.11 to finish 16th in the field. Like Lucy, the field was a lot older and contained none other than Jessica Sylvester, who swam for Team GB in the 2008 Olympics! The field in the 200 fly could hardly be described as easy either, with the event ultimately won by Jemma Lowe – Welsh international, British record holder and Olympian. Esme swam 2.21.26 to finish a super 14th overall. Well done Esme!
Southern Junior League ‘A’ Final – 23 June The Littledown Centre, Bournemouth was selected as the somewhat handy venue for the top final in this year’s Southern Junior League. Had the finalists included Cherbourg or Le Havre Swimming Clubs, then Bournemouth would have been an ideal central location. Given the absence of French clubs in the competition, with finalists drawn from Swindon (SX3), Keynsham, Stroud/Thornbury (Severnside Tritons), WSM, Bournemouth and Seagulls (based in Christchurch), then Bournemouth was something of a trudge for most. To coach it or not, that was the big question, particularly for those entered in the Clevedon & Chard gala the next day (with a warm up time of 9am – ouch!!!). To M5 and Yeovil it, to Frome and Salisbury it, or to Blandford Forum it, were the major headaches for the drivers.
Alas, by car or by coach, everyone duly arrived (well, not quite everyone, as Severnside Tritons pulled out, due to their inability to raise a full team) at the impressive Littledown Centre (perhaps better renamed the Little Air Centre given the tropical conditions inside). With a fantastic atmosphere (complete with balloons and horns), it became very clear early on (as we had suspected) that a tough night was in store for the Purple Army. When the first points total was announced (after 13 events) with WSMSC placed 5th with 26 points (12 behind the nearest team and way behind Bournemouth, 51 points), it appeared that a new abacus was needed by those in charge, given 3 super first places for our 10 years medley relay team (Charlotte, Bethan, Rachel and Freya), our 12 year old medley quartet of Flo, Chloe, Lauren and Jessie, and the first individual win of the night with Immy leaving the opposition trailing in her wake in the 50m backstroke. The girls 11 year old freestyle relay team (Alice, Rachel, Immy, Jessie) achieved a fantastic 2nd and a super 3rd from Caitlyn in the 9 years 25m free.
By the half-way mark, despite a fantastic 1st place for Lauren in the 12 years 50m fly, we were still 9 points adrift at the bottom. The toughness of competition was really exposed in the 12 years 50m freestyle, where a phenomenal 31.0 second swim by Flo was only good enough for 3rd place. Other 3rd place finishes in this segment of races (in great times) were achieved by Oscar (50m back), Ben (25m breast), Charlotte (50m back) and Bradley (50m fly). So what could we do in the second half? Remember, as the saying goes, “it’s a game of two halves”. Bring on the fightback, ably led in event 26 with a super second for Jackson (25m back) and event 27, a fab first for Rachel (50m fly). We were on a roll: 3rd for Jessie (super time of 32.0 for 50 free), 2nd for Chloe (50 breast), 2nd for Caitlyn (25m fly), a first for Rachel (50m free), it’s looking much better. Momentum was kept up with third places in successive 50m breaststroke events by Jessie and Bradley, such that after 40 of the 49 events, we had overtaken Keynsham (139 points). We were now lying 4th on 142 points. Bournemouth were still well clear (189 points) followed by Seagulls (the fishing rods didn’t seem to be helping a lot, with 165), and SX3 (156).
So it all came down to the last 8 relays and the ultimate climax, the canon. All our swimmers swam their hearts out, but finishes in 4th and 5th were becoming too common and points were going elsewhere (despite some DQs by turn judge Mrs Anderson on the Bournemouth lane for iffy changeovers). A 2nd for the girls 11 years medley team of Immy, Jessie, Rachel and Alice was scant reward for the efforts of all our team in these last events. I’ve never seen anyone swim a fly length without breath, but Mason was the man to do it – awesome. Jump out, then back for another relay – these were the demands of many of the boys in ‘swimming up’ an age group so many times. So to the grand finale – the canon. For the uninitiated, this is an eight-pronged (I’m sure there’s a more technical description) relay starting with 9 year old girl, 9 year old boy, 10 year old girl, … finishing with 12 year old boy. Caitlyn sprints off, handing over to Jackson, and on to Rachel, who gets Harry off and in to Jessie, 14.9 seconds later Bradley is flying through the water to hand over to Flo, who in 14.6 seconds sets Will off to bring the team home in a fantastic third place.
After all 49 events, the final standings were:
Position Club Points 1 Swim Bournemouth 225 2 Seagulls 202 3 SX3 A 198 4 Weston-Super-Mare 172 5 Keynsham 168 6 Severnside Tritons DNS
So we relinquished the SJL title we won in 2011 (did we really want to go back to Stechford Cascades for a national semi-final???? – we’ve all seen cleaner duck ponds than at the Stechford pool in Birmingham where we went last year), but, we did so fighting; not one swimmer let us down – you were all fantastic and represented the club with distinction; and we remain the best junior club in Somerset. Our fantastic team on the night was:
Jessica Rhianna Jackson Charlie Beth Ruby Joe Ben Caitlyn Natasha Evan Harry Charlotte Bethan Toby Vaughan Rachel Freya Joe H Mason Alice Immy Oscar Bradley Jessie Flo Will Chloe Lauren
Well done to each and every one of you who competed in any of the 3 SJL rounds at Hutton Moor, Swindon or Bournemouth - some amazing efforts all round and full credit to lots of the boys ‘swimming up’ so many times.
A great team of supporters made the long trip to Bournemouth - well done and thank-you (for info on the dopiest staff ever in a McDonalds, speak to Rich – and I’m told it had nothing to do with his Welsh accent). As for the coach journey home, I understand the term ‘eventful’ is a gross understatement, with perhaps the words sickness, motorway hold-up, half-past midnight, waders needed at Hutton Moor, giving you an idea, but not the graphic detail (just in case you’re eating). Not wishing to rub salt into the wounds, many of our car drivers were back home before 10.45 – but not gloating (much!).
The bar has been raised in the Southern Junior League, but fear not, we’ll be raring to go again in 2013 and go head-to-head with the top 3 from this year. Good luck to worthy winners Swim Bournemouth in the national semi-final. It will take an awesome effort to beat them.
Clevedon & Chard Open Meet (Level 3) – 24 June A small squad of Weston swimmers were up at the crack of dawn to warm up ready for the battle ahead. Against some much bigger teams, the purple hats all swam fantastically with everyone gaining medals, or PBs, or both – and as we’ve seen on the front cover, Evan and Charlotte were the top 10 year olds in the meet. Evan’s day generated 5 gold (200 breast, 50 breast, 200 free, 50 free and 200 back) and 2 silver medals (50 back and 200 IM) with improvements on seed times in 6 of the events (including a massive 8.5 seconds on 200m back and 9.9 seconds on 200m freestyle). Charlotte went home with 6 medals: gold in 50m back, 3 silvers (200 IM, 200 back and 50 fly), bronze (200 free) and a 4th place medal (50 free). Five events generated improved times on the seed times, knocking off 4.5 seconds in both 50 back and 50 fly.
Now on to the story of a first medal and the missing swimmer! Bring on Reece Coombes. After a first event (200 breast) leading to a massive 12 second PB, Reece’s next race was the 50 breast. After a long wait, the swimmers were readying themselves down in marshalling – but where was Reece? Just in the nick of time, Reece emerges, too late to collect his own goggles but sporting Alysha’s pair (lucky they weren’t pink Reece???). Onto the blocks, and he’s off. Fifty metres later, the scoreboard shows a massive 10 second PB and this leads to a 7th place and first medal in swimming. Fantastic Reece; well done. After lunch (and a reunion with his own goggles) another medal followed in the 50 back and a 40 second (yep – forty) PB duly came in the 200 back.
A forty second PB is massive – but what about Luke’s 67 second PB in 200 backstroke? Four medals for Luke with a whopping 7.5 second PB (50 fly) and 3.7 seconds knocked off his 50 freestyle time. Not to be outdone, our other boys were on top form too. Having been at Bournemouth the previous night, Jackson arrived in session 2 and from the off showed he meant business, landing a super gold medal in the 50 back in a 2.81 second PB. Another (4th place) medal followed in the 50 freestyle in yet another (4.3 second) PB. Great stuff. Jenson collected two medals for 2 big PB swims in 50 back (6th with a 2.6 second PB) and 8th in 50 free with a huge 6.2 second PB.
And now for the girls ….. More medals, more PBs. Aimee – 2 massive PBs in 200 free (11.5 seconds) and 200 back (9.5 seconds) and another in 100 free (5.7 seconds). Jessica: 2 medals for 6th in 50 back and 50 free, and 3 PBs altogether (4.6 seconds taken off in 50 back). Big sis Chloe returned home with a gold in 100 breast (and a 3.8 sec PB), silver in 200 breast (3.4 second PB) and a top 8 medal in 100 back. Rachel Eveleigh: PBs in 200 free (10 seconds), 50 back/breast/free and a 6.5 seconds wiped off her 200 back best time. Alysha – wow! Three events with double digits taken off previous PBs: 200 free (19 seconds), 200 IM (14.5 seconds) and a monster 22 seconds (200 back). Talking of monster PBs, enter Ruby. A seventeen second PB in the first event (200 free) set the tone for a great day’s work, with medals heading back to chez-Soper in 200 fly (silver), 50 free (bronze), 200 back, 50 back and 50 fly. Medals returned home aplenty with Team Anderson, with Hannah collecting 4 silver, a bronze and 2 top 8 medals (3 PBs) and Rachel (4 golds and one silver from her 5 events).
When the final points were added up, the small Weston team had punched way above their weight (something Audley Harrison would do well to remember), finishing as 3rd top visiting club. A great day’s work. Well done everyone! Junior Trophy Gala - Llanelli - 30th June Back in November 2011, WSMSC’s junior novices competed in a gala where going too fast led to many disqualifications. Last time out, Llanelli A were the winners (254 points), followed by Swansea Sharks (199) and Weston (192). On 30th June, the club made the same journey back over the bridge with new rules of engagement - the object this time being to be as quick as possible.
Another key test for the day, one week on from the Bournemouth trip, was to retest the equation: 2 hour coach trip + swimming + Bakers Coach + McDonalds = 2 x sickies (more on this later).
After the usual questions on the coach, like just south of the Clevedon turn – are we nearly there yet? Can’t he swim fly and me do front crawl? Can we have the radio on? in driving rain (it always rains in Port Talbot) we duly arrived at Llanelli. Having passed the impressive Terry Griffiths Matchroom Snooker Centre on the way (perhaps the only thing that did catch the eye in the town), we parked up at Llanelli Leisure Centre. Inside the building, the tension was mounting. With team sheets handed in, bring on the competition. In lane 1, Swim Swansea. In two, Blaenavon. In three, Tenby. In four, give it up for Weston-Super-Mare, and in five, the hosts Llanelli. The Llanelli website states that ‘some of the best Junior swimmers in Wales were competing’ – a tough afternoon lay ahead.
Event 1 – girls 9 years and under backstroke and we’re off to a flyer with Caitlin ciming home in a fab 21.90, just 0.39 seconds behind first and 0.15 seconds behind second. It was all going to be about finger tip touches and hundredths of seconds. A couple of DQs, several 4ths and 5ths put us on the back foot, before another 3rd in event 7 with Tori L in 50 fly. After the first 8 events, having mentioned Terry Griffiths, it almost felt like we needed snookers as we languished in joint last place on 13 points (with Blaenavon), with Swansea (34) and Llanelli (31) the early pace-setters. Okay, we’d given the others a bit of hope, now to turn on the style. The next 8 events saw three 3rd places (Lauren, David and Alysha) and our first wins of the afternoon for James B (13 & U breast) and Ben (9 & U breast). After event 16, Blaenavon were 11 points adfrit and we were now chasing Tenby (46) who were 10 points clear. Event 20, bring on Reece for the 100 freestyle. Demolishing the opposition by over 4 seconds, Reece bagged a 59.13 to claim maximum points. Some momentum was building: Esme (3rd in 100 free), 10&U girls free relay (3rd), boys 11 & U free relay (3rd), a super second for the girls12 & U free relay, third for the boys 12 & U free relay and a third for the girls in the next age group in the same event.
After 32 events, the scores were: Swansea 140 points, Llanelli 120, Tenby 77, WSMSC 76 and Blaenavon 61.
So we were still 4th, but we were on Tenby’s case – and they knew it. Back to the individual events and we really started to turn the heat up on Tenby. Would they melt (like all the rest of us had been in the Llanelli cauldron)?
The remaining individual events led to lots of top 3 finishes: Ruby (3rd 25 fly), David (3rd 25 fly), Oscar (2nd 50 back), Alison (2nd 100 breast), Reece (a fab first in 100 back, just the 6 seconds ahead of second), Maddy (2nd 25 fly), Ben (3rd 25 fly), Ruby (3rd 50 back), Ceri-Anne (3rd 50 breast), Matilda (3rd 50 free) and Lauren (3rd 100 fly).
With just 10 medley relays and the canon to go, we had edged past Tenby by 2 points. Seven of the 10 relays were won by Swansea (who like their football team, were top drawer), but could we hold off Tenby?
Enter the 9 year olds. Rachel, Sophie, Maddy and Lauren bring Weston home in 1.44.03, achieving a great 3rd place, with Tenby DQd. The boys (Charlie, Noah, Ben and Liam) brought home another 3rd in a time of 1.44.88, crucially beating Tenby.
On to the 10 year olds and enter Caitlin, Sophie, Ruby and Mariya. Just over 90 seconds later and a super second place meant the gap over Tenby was now 7 points. The boys (Ben, Jacob, David and Liam) brought home another 3rd place in 1.43.73.
Two more third places for the 11 year old teams of Rachel, George, Alysha and Ceri-Anne (in 1.27.91) and Oscar, Jacob, Mason and Joe (1.26.89). Tenby were second in both – the fingernails were getting shorter. Two more 3rd places from the two 12 year old teams (Tori, Alison, Ella and Olivia – in 1.14.92) and Oscar, James A, Mason and Joe (in 1.15.33).
Fifty-eight events gone and three crucial ones to go! Event 59, the 13 year old girls. Esme to Lauren to Hannah and home with Matilda in 1.10.10 for another 3rd. The boys, Oscar (starting his 4th successive relay), James B, Reece and James A (3 on the trot) produced a super 2nd in a time of 1.05.65.
Catch your breath. Pump up the volume. Bring on the canon! Caitlin, to Ben, on to Ruby, David, taking over is Alysha, handing on to Oscar. We’re in contention – Matilda leaps in, on to James A, now Esme with 50 to go, and in goes Reece and it’s close, but it’s 4th place. With a 5 point (self-declared) deduction for only having three 9 year old boys, had we done enough to overcome Tenby? You bet we had – it was never in doubt! The final scores were:
1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th Swim Swansea Llanelli WSMSC Tenby Blaenavon 266 219 154 151 106
Sixty-one events in rapid succession (the team managers have just come out of therapy at the Priory Clinic) – a great afternoon and super performances from everyone in purple. Now to test the equation on the way home. The look of relief on a McDonald’s girl’s face as she left work, having just finished her shift, as the occupants of a 60-seater Baker’s coach descended on the Swansea West restaurant was a sight to behold. (Well???) fed and watered (or fizzy- coked), it was back on board for the return trip. No calamities this time (apart from nearly leaving Charlie at Gordano) and at 7.30pm (just the 9 hours after departure) we arrived back to Hutton Moor. A big well done to all our swimmers (below) plus all our supporters.
Caitlin Sophie H Alysha Olivia Jacob Joe Charlie Tori Lauren H Mariya Maddy James B Ben Mason Ella Esme Lauren Rachel E James A Reece David Sophie Ruby George Hannah Liam Oscar Noah Rachel Ceri-Anne Matilda Alison Reece
ASA South West Region Sprints 2012 – 30th June With all of WSMSC’s representatives in this event in 2011 finishing in the top 8 (Flo Davis, 1st in 11 years; Emily Watkins 4th, 12 years; Jessie Dadds and James Gahame, 5th in the 10 and 13 years respectively; and Rebecca Lucas, 8th, 12 years), the 8-strong WSM class of 2012 had a tough act to follow.
Held in Gloucester, the meet is open to those who qualified for any event at the recent SWR youth or age-group champs (except those who have attained national qualifying times, hence no Es, Lucy and Ev here). This is the sprint competition for the fastest swimmers in Cornwall, Devon, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire, with the trophies decided on performances (times translated into FINA points) across all four 50m events and the 100IM. Making it here is a great achievement – anything on top of that is a real feat.
Event 1 – girls 50 backstroke: In the 10 years, in action were Freya and Rachel. Both were fractionally outside PBs, but Rachel’s time of 37.13 was sufficient to take 1st overall; Freya’s 43.48 placed her 14th. In the 11 years group, Immy came home in 37.55 (13th) and Jessie in 39.71 – a 1.7 second PB (23rd). In the 13’s, a fab first place for Becca in a PB of 32.54. Millie was a DNS. Into the 14’s and Indea – hundredths off a PB in 35.31 and placed 10th.
Event 2 – boys 50 breaststroke: Our sole representative, Evan, came home in a time 1.82 seconds faster than his seed time, to record 15th place.
Event 3 – girls 50 free: Some speedy swims here by the girls: Becca 29.49 (4th), Indea 30.60 (9th), Millie 30.73 (13th), Immy 32.04 (8th), Jessie (32.13, 9th), Rachel (33.13, 3rd) and a 1.55 second PB for Freya in 36.62, 14th. Immy and Jessie’s positions, despite huge PBs, showed the level of competition, with the fastest 11 year old stopping the clock on an incredible 29.97 (approximating to the time most of us take to see if the water is warm enough to get in).
Event 4 – boys 50 fly: Not Ev’s favourite, but a legal, quick swim, completed in 45.17 for a 15th place. Well done.
Event 5 – girls 100 IM: First in was Freya, recording a 3.24 second PB in 1.32.39. Next in Rachel and another first place in a PB of 1.21.87, defeating arch-rival Laura McNab again, some 0.53 seconds behind. Exit Immy unfortunately with an injured shoulder, having already collected an impressive 702 FINA points. Jessie carried expectations solely now in the 11’s, coming home in 1.24.34 (16th). In the 13’s, a super swim from Millie to claim 6th (but just 0.8 off second place) in 1.15.90 – a PB of just the 10.34 seconds! Awesome. Becca shaved another 0.32 off her PB to take 10th. Indea also PBd, taking off 0.25 seconds to come home in 8th in 1.16.90.
Ready for some lunch by now I reckon?
Event 6 – boys 50 back: Fortified with energy (don’t worry Ros, we won’t ask you to share Ev’s pasta!), Evan PBd by almost 4 seconds, recording a time of 41.08, gaining useful points in the process and a hugely creditable 11th place.
Event 7 – girls 50 breast: Rachel was first off and recorded a 0.41 second PB of 46.55, to claim 6th. Lunch was clearly good as Freya then took a whopping 3.25 seconds off her PB to come home in 10th in 47.59. Into the 11’s and bring on Jessie. A finger nail off a PB, but a lightening fast 41.50 led to a richly-deserved second place. By now, the attraction of shopping, getting home ready for T4, etc., had set in and Millie was now left to fly the Weston flag as sole survivor in the over-12’s. And fly she did, recording a new PB time of 40.49 to claim a great 9th (the event was won in 36.50!!!).
Event 8 – boys 50 free: Back to Evan and another improvement on seed time, this time by 1.05, coming home in 36.94 for a 16th place finish.
Event 9 – girls 50 fly: We were now down to just three! Rachel, Jessie and Millie. On to Rachel. Two points ahead of Laura McNab in the overall 10’s championship, it was all going to hinge on this event – Laura’s favourite. Onto the blocks, Rachel in a heat one before Laura. With a PB 0.34 slower than Laura’s, it was going to be tough. Off to a flyer, scarcely taking breath, Rachel clocked a massive 0.87 second PB, touching at 35.17 seconds. In the next heat, Laura PBd also (taking her best from 35.70 to 35.51), but not fast enough. Another 1st place event finish for Rachel, and 1st overall. Bring on the Dadds! Both Jessie and Millie went out in style, despite the tiredness at the end of a long day in the Gloucester sauna. Jessie clocked a new PB of 39.04 shaving off half a second to finish 15th. Millie bagged a third PB on the trot, recording a time of 34.57, an improvement of 0.71 seconds and a super 8th place.
Event 10 – boys 100 IM: Slightly bizarre to programme the toughest event right at the end of the day, but that was the way the Gloucester cookie crumbled. Evan signed off for the day with a time of 1.38.07.
The final reckoning
With just 3 of our swimmers competing in all 5 events, placings for the others are somewhat meaningless. Anyway, in the 10’s, a super first regionals for Evan, achieving 15th place from the swimmers across 6 large counties. In the girls, with three first places in the back, fly and IM, the overall BAGCAT winner was Rachel, beating Laura McNab (as she did in the age-groups), this time by 16 points. In the 11’s, well done to Jessie in 12th place, with that super second in breaststroke the highlight. Freya finished 14th (but adding her average points from events swum in the event missed, would have been up to 11th), Immy, after a super season, an absolute gutter to pick up an injury during the competition, 26th (but this would have been a lot, lot higher and easily top 5, probably much higher still), Millie 23rd (but with one more event, it could have been 8th), Becca 24th (but with 2 more events, on this fairly crude averaging method, it would have been an overall first, to add to the super first in the 50 back) and Indea 12th ANOTHER GOLD FOR RACHEL (with 2 more events, it could have been 8th). Well done to you all.
Taunton Deane Level 3 Open Meet – 7/8 July
Another weekend, another gala! This time a level 3, but with near-Olympic standard qualifying times! A mix of 50s, 100s, 200s and team relays, spread over 2 days (one of which, of course, just happened to coincide with the first day in 70-odd years that Britain had a finalist in the men’s singles at Wimbledon – still we got home in time to see Andy Murray’s tears!).
The first event, the 200 free, why not start as you mean to go on? In the 10s, gold in a new PB of 2.31.54 to Rachel Anderson. Also in this age-group, a 4.32 second improvement on seed time for Ruby Soper in 3.20.16. In the 12s, gold, in a 3.49 second PB for Hannah Anderson.
Next up for Weston were the girls in the 50 fly. A PB for Ruby, taking off 2 seconds, and Hannah qualifying for the final in second fastest were the stand-out performances. Hannah went on to finish 6th in the final in a new PB of 37.01.
Bring on the boys for the 50 back and PBs all round for Joe (qualifying as second reserve for the final), Evan and Vaughan.
The girls 100 back and time for another Weston medal. Well done to Charlotte Stanbury for gaining a super silver with a new PB of 1.32.33, just edged out by old team-mate Natasha Edmonston-Low in the final few metres. A near 2 second PB by Aimee Hunter-Weldon proved the pick of the Weston swimmers in this event.
On to the first of the relays. Weston sported/fielded (whatever the appropriate swimming term is??) 2 girls teams in the 12 & Under 200m freestyle relay. The A team (Victoria, Rachel, Hannah and Alicia) produced a fantastic swim leaving allcomers in their wake, demolishing the opposition in a time of 2.12.27, some 3.22 seconds ahead of the first of 3 Taunton Deane teams. The B team – Ella, Ruby, Charlotte and Aimee – touched in 7th place in a time of 2.30.12, just behind Clevedon. Time for some lunch and some fresh air before ‘warm up’ (we were already absolutely roasting) for the afternoon session.
Clearly lunch was good as we were soon back in the medals. First event back and a 1.28 second PB for Charlotte in the 100 IM. Hannah followed in the 12s, missing a bronze by 0.03 seconds.
Wait for the announcement – ‘Results from event 202, boys 10 years, 200m backstroke, winning the gold medal in a time of 3.04.07, from Weston-Super-Mare, Evan Brunsdon’. C’mon. Great result, as was Vaughan smashing his PB by 13 seconds in the same event to finish 6th. The medal rush was well on truly on as our only 3 representatives in the 100 fly all gained medals: Rachel (gold), Charlotte (bronze) and Hannah (silver).
Back to the boys in the 50 free. Here, the unfairness of the meet rules for younger swimmers were truly exposed (all 50m events run with heats, with the top 8 qualifying for a final – not a final in your own age group, but in the juniors, a final for the top 8 from the age range 9-12). PBs for Vaughan and Evan, with Joe just outside, but no places in the final (amazingly filled with 11 and 12 year olds). Bring on the big man – Scott. A 27.32 heat swim was sufficient to qualify in the seniors final in 4th place. In the final, Scott shaved off 0.01 seconds to claim a great bronze medal.
By now we’re reaching the losing the will stage of the late afternoon, but up pops Alison Reep in the 50 breaststroke with a super 1.69 PB to claim a place in the final (finishing 6th just 0.03 outside her heat time). PBs in this event for Bethan Rees and Rachel. Not long after and Scott is back in 100 free action and a fingernail away from gold – finishing with silver in 1.00.98.
The day ended on a sour note with a DQ for the fab 4 of Evan, Mason, Joe and Vaughan in the 12 & under 200m medley relay for an offence that was only spotted by one person in the whole of Weston-Super-Mare – regrettably it was the one person that mattered, one of the officials. Talk about coming back fighting – first event on day 2 and Evan destroys the other 21 in his age group to take gold in the 200 free. In their next event, Evan and Vaughan post huge PBs in the 50 fly – it’s already looking like day 2 is going to be smokin’ hot!
On to the girls and clearly a good breakfast was had by all. In their first event, gold for Rachel in the 100 breaststroke, silver for Chloe (in a PB) and PBs for Alicia and Alison in 4th and 5th respectively.
Next in the pool in the girl’s events – the 50 backstroke (so ages 9-12 competing for 8 finals slots). In the heats, Alicia qualifies for the final in 5th with a near 2 second PB, Chloe qualifies in 7th and Hannah in 8th. Further down, a huge 2.31 PB for Aimee in 40.79, a 2.12 PB for Ruby and not to be outdone by her big sis, Naomi touches in a new PB of 50.39. In the final, Alicia, Chloe and Hannah all improved their heat times, finishing in 5th, 6th and 7th respectively.
Soon afterwards, the girls are back in for the 200 fly. In the 10s, a super 12 second PB for Rachel in 2.59.34, racing against Lauren (bronze in 12s, with a 7 second PB) like their lives depended on it – an awesome spectacle. Agonisingly missing out on a medal was Charlotte (4th) but with a huge, huge PB (well, just the 28 seconds!). Fantastic.
Fourth and sixth respectively for Evan (5.4 second PB) and Vaughan in the 100 IM was the penultimate action of the morning session. Relay time. Girls 200 medley. The A team were just that – thrashing the others by over 6 seconds. Well done to Alicia, Lauren, Chloe and Hannah; and to our B team (5th) who took major scalps in 2 Taunton teams and Street. Well done Ella, Victoria, Alison and Aimee. Just in case you’re reading this Newsletter at home and are having withdrawal symptoms, here is a photograph of Hutton Moor, the venue for the Taunton Deane gala, but more importantly from my perspective, a perfect fit to complete my page!
Poor Popeye looks all lonesome perched on top of the trophy cabinets, doesn’t he?
Session 4, first event – 200 breaststroke and a huge PB to win gold for Rachel and a super 4 second PB for Bethan. Into the 12s – silver for Chloe, 4th for Lauren, 5th for Alicia (1 second PB) and 6th for Alison.
On to the girls 50 free. Nine swimmers in the event and wow – what an outcome! On the heats, fastest was Alicia (31.52) just outside a PB. Fifth was Hannah in a 0.3 second PB, 6th Rachel (shaving off 0.09) and 7th Chloe. Further down, a massive PB for Naomi – from 47.09 to 41.56. Jessica Knight also PB’d (apologies English teachers) in 45.00 – one of those times that forever and a day is going to look like a made-up one but was legit. In the final – 8 lanes and 4 Weston swimmers. A fantastic sight for all those who were watching. Not that we’re biased, but Alicia was robbed of gold by some very dubious timing pads which showed the Exeter swimmer had pipped her by 0.05. Either she did or all of us watching need eye tests. In 4th in a 0.7 second PB was Hannah, closely followed by Rachel (7th) and Chloe (8th). Super swims girls.
Back to the boys and into the lion’s den of racing against 12 year olds in the qualifiers for the 50 breast. Nice swims from Evan and Vaughan (2 second PB) but no finals. In the seniors, a powerful first swim of the day from Jonathan Reep yielded a 0.57 second PB, but just outside a finals place.
Next up, the girls 100 freestyle, with the announcement over the PA that Andy Murray has taken the first set off Federer. Would Fred Perry’s record be broken? In the pool, in the 10s, PBs for Ruby (another actual time that looks like a made up one, 1.30.00) and Naomi (taking off a whopping 5.3 seconds). In the 12s, 4 WSMSC swimmers and 4 PBs. Hannah (a super silver with a 0.73 second PB), Chloe (7th, shaving off 0.4 seconds), Lauren (improved best time by 0.61) and Alicia (a 6.04 PB).
With the only girls event left being the 13 and over medley relay and Weston not having a team entered (can anything be done about this kind of thing next season??????), it was all down to the boys, with a 200 breast individual and the grand finale being the boys 12 and under 200m freestyle relay.
In the 10s in the 200 breastsroke, an outside PB swim from Evan (is it reasonable to expect PBs having been stuck in a sauna from 0800 through to 6pm for 2 successive days?) but a well deserved silver medal to show for a 3.45.65 swim. In the open age group, Jonathan swam really well to finish 5th taking 3.11 seconds off his PB.
The last event – 200 free relay. Bring back Evan, Mason, Vaughan and Joe. Our fab 4 who had been so cruelly denied a worthy medal the previous day – what could they do? Would they, to use words from Alan Hansen (oh he of the give advice from the Match of the Day sofa and never ever put your head above the parapet and actually have your livelihood depend on actually being a manager) show that passion, hunger, desire, commitment, dedication, motivation and application to channel the previous day’s frustration to deliver a top quality performance? You bet they would! Never in doubt. With five teams in the event – Weston and 4 teams from Taunton Deane – the boys produced an awesome swim, beating their seed time by over a second and a half to come home in silver position, behind a much older Taunton ‘A’ team. The other 3 Taunton teams were the preverbial country mile behind.
A great effort from all the Weston swimmers - well done to you all. Thanks also to the team managers, who again, doubled as full-time coaches. Gloucester City Level 3 Open Meet – 14/15 July
One week after the Taunton Deane meet and WSMSC was represented up at GL1 by just 4 swimmers from 2 households. Admittedly small in numbers, but certainly not small in effort (lots of PBs), desire and medal hauls – even the speeding certificates were good! This end of season level 3 meet is in a great venue in the heart of Gloucester, has sensible cut off times and offers medals for the top 8 finishers – well worth many more swimmers considering next season.
Team Weston’s results were as follows:
Madeleine Soper 4th (50 fly), 1st (50 back), 2nd (200 back).
Ruby Soper 5th (200 free), 6th (100 back), 4th (50 fly), 7th (200 breast), 6th (100 free), 4th (50 back), 4th (200 back).
Rachel Anderson speeding ticket (200 breast), speeding ticket (50 breast).
Hannah Anderson 1st (200 free), 2nd (100 back), 1st (400 IM), 3rd (50 fly), 2nd (100 fly), speeding ticket (400 free), 1st (200 fly), 2nd (100 free), 2nd (200 back), 1st (200 IM)
In the final analysis, Hannah won the meet’s best 12 year old girl award, Madeleine came 2nd in the best 9 year old (competing in her first gala having just celebrated her 9th birthday in the days before the gala) and team Weston came in a super 14th (out of 20 clubs).
THE MAGNIFICENT FOUR WITH THEIR DAY 2 MEDALS & SPEEDING CERTIFICATES Nationals 2012
This year, there was a schedule clash between the National Youth Championships and the Olympics; the Olympics won! The National Youth Championships were moved forward a week and England’s top 15-18 year olds missed their last week of school/college to travel to Sheffield.
Weston-Super-Mare Swimming Club’s Captain this year had qualified for 5 events; her most yet! And off the back of a great performance at the British Champs in June – where Britain’s best swimmers had their last chance to achieve Olympic Qualification – she was looking forward to some fast swimming. Esme’s previous best was to qualify as a reserve semi- finalist, so this year, the goal was to get into a semi-final and therefore achieve a top 20 finish to go with the 16th and 14th placings from British Champs.
The first day was a baptism by fire; 200 Individual Medley, 100 butterfly and 100 backstroke all within 4 hours. Event 1: 2.5 second personal best. Great start. Swim down, rest a bit, then onto event 2. 0.8 outside of a best time, but goal achieved – semi final. No time to relax, swim down, rest a bit, then event 3. 1.1 seconds outside of a best time, but clearly that semi-final swim was weighing on her mind. After a few hours rest, Esme was back to within 0.1 seconds of her best time in the semi final of the 100m butterfly and moved up from her seeded 20th place to finish 15th (8th out of the 17 year olds).
Day 3. Esme’s favourite event – 200 butterfly. After the heats, a solid swim, just 0.7 off of her best saw her through to her 2nd semi-final of the meet in 13th place. Again, a few hours rest, then and a stunning swim (with a PB of 1.7 seconds) and Esme was through to her first National Final with a time of 2:18.71.
The 200 backstroke on day 4 was 1.9 seconds outside of Esme’s best but that first ever National Final was looming later that day. Another great swim in the 200m butterfly final, saw a 9th place finish (4th in the 17 year age group).
Esme also came together with other talented swimmers from across Somerset in 3 relay swims. All 3 of these, in strokes that she hadn’t qualified for as individuals, resulted in great split times for Esme, well below her personal bests.
Five days down and along come the Age Groupers for their turn. Evan King was joined this year by Lucy Davies. Evan had increased her programme by qualifying for 2 additional events and in Lucy’s first year at this level, she had achieved 4 individual qualifying times.
Day 1 was the 200 Individual Medley for Lucy and the 100 freestyle for Evan. Evan’s 1 second PB saw her finish 15th, just 0.05 from making the final. Lucy was just outside of a best time but qualified in 18th for the semi-final. A great achievement for her first swim at National Level. Stepping up for the Final, Lucy dipped under her PB to finish in a fantastic 16th place.
Day 2 was a big day for the girls; Lucy had the 200 breaststroke, which she had swam earlier in the year at the Olympic Trials and Evan had the 100 butterfly in which she finished 4th as a 12 year old in 2011. Good swims by both girls saw Lucy safely through to another semi-final and Evan into the final seeded 4th. Rising to the occasion in a great finals session, Lucy qualified for her first National Final and Evan just dipped under her PB to win her first National Medal – Silver with a time of 1:05.17. Feeling renewed confidence, but also relaxed; the next morning involved the heats of the 200 bufferfly for Evan. A swim 2 seconds slower than her best was still good enough to qualify Evan for the final that night. A brave fight and great attack on the opening 150m saw Evan in a great position. Unfortunately there was not quite enough left in the tank on the last 50m but a time just 0.2 outside her best, gave Evan 4th place (2 places better than in 2011)
Day 4 and event 3 for Lucy; straight into ANOTHER semi-final.
Day 5 and after a week full of swimming the girls JUST had the 400 individual medley to go. Personal Bests by Evan and Lucy resulted in a great to finish the competition.
As with Esme, Lucy and Evan joined together with other talented swimmers form Somerset to compete in 4x100 freestyle and medley relays and the 4x200 freestyle relay. Lucy and Evan performed brilliantly in the 4x200 freestyle and both improved on their personal best times. Evan’s 200 freestyle split time was faster than the bronze medal swimmer in the individual event and showed a fantastic improvement as she hadn’t managed to achieve the qualifying time during the build up to the Nationals.
A great end to the 2011-2012 swimming season, with more WSM swimmers qualifying than in previous years, but also each swimmer qualifying in more events. This improvement is due to the energy and commitment of the poolside coaching team and the dedication and attitude of the swimmers.
R.A.
SWIMMING TIMES PROMOTION
Subscribe now for your free gift
Swimming Times are offering a free gift for new subscribers to the magazine and the choice is yours.
If you’re passionate about all things aquatics and want to be in-the-know then Swimming Times is the magazine for you – the only magazine with all the latest news, views and features for British aquatics and only £26.00 for the year (UK price).
As a new subscriber you can choose one of the following:
Tom Daley: My Story. Hardback version (RRP: £16.99) Amphibia Dry Mat. Available from Amphibia Sport (RRP: £15.00) Kiefer Microfibre Sports Towel. Available from SWIMSHOP (RRP: £10.75)
This is a strictly limited offer open to new subscribers. Terms and conditions apply.
For more information on the gift items and the offer, see contact details (below)
Interested? Download the form from the website (address below)
Want to pay by Direct Debit – the easy and convenient payment method?
Contact us
Tel: 01509 640230
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.swimming.org/asa/clubs-and-members/swimming-times-magazine1479/ Inside the race As you enter the pool, you immediately recognise the familiar smell of chlorine. You scan the scene, taking in the overall layout of the pool deck and it's inhabitants. You notice the sounds of the pool, the coaches and swimmers talking, the sound of the water splashing, the gun go off at the start off the race, as other heats go off before you. You imagine yourself getting ready for the race, getting into your suit, spending some time stretching and going over the last minute details in your head. This is your best race. You're well prepared for this event and you are feeling mentally strong. The official calls your event. Imagine yourself on the blocks. The starter commands 'Take Your Marks.' You bend down into the starting position. At the sound of the beep you take off. A strong powerful dive into the water - neat, clean and streamlined, with a powerful kick to propel you to the surface. As you surface you begin strong beautiful strokes. You feel the water slipping off your skin with the sound of the water splashing as you move quickly through the water. Each stroke you begin to feel stronger and stronger, moving through the water with speed. You notice another swimmer near you. You put them out of your mind and strive to race your own race. You concentrate on each stroke as you approach the first turn. You approach it. Quickly start the turn, throw your legs over your head and push off hard into a tight streamline position. You do several quick kicks and again surface, attacking the second half of the race. As you begin to swim home, you are still feeling very strong. You've trained all year for this race and it feels great. Stroke after stroke you force yourself forward. Thirty-five metres to go, you kick harder going into overdrive. More on the legs, faster, faster, as you pull towards the finish. You feel your speed increasing. You are completely focused on your stroke: your breathing, you are doing everything as it should be done, with poise and purpose. With each stroke you dig into your reserves, pushing yourself above and beyond your expectations. Pulling, propelling, surging forwards, you move yourself forward, put your head down and lunge towards the wall. You immediately look up at the score board. A personal best time and a win. You slowly begin to regain awareness, colours come into focus, you hear the roar of the crowd. You realise you've achieved your goal. You get out of the pool and dry yourself off. You become aware of the feelings of excitement and accomplishment. Pride builds inside you. You have succeeded...... YOU ARE A GREAT SWIMMER!!!
------FIN-EX SCHEME
Fins in excellent condition can be taken to Leanne/Jon at the club shop on Tuesday evenings (7.00 – 8.15 p.m.). Please tie them together and attach a label with your name and contact details. All second-hand fins will be sold with a fixed selling price of £8, with £7 going to the donor (paid on sale) and £1 to the club to reinvest in new shop stock.
This scheme is running following a suggestion made via the Suggestion Box. ------Tips when racing
1. Focus on your race only...... it’s just you and that stopwatch!! Forget everyone else. It's true, the more you swim your own race, the faster you will be than trying to beat someone.
2. Relax!! It sounds easier said than done... but avoid looking round at the other swimmers. Block out any sounds that you might hear as this could put you off your race. If you have a routine before your race, then do it... this will feel normal to you and will help you relax.
3. Believe in yourself....you can do it....you have worked really hard for this. Try not to say 'I wish I could win... or.. 'I’m going to try and win'... because that’s not believing in yourself. Have faith in your talent and set goals that you know that you can achieve....talk to your coach and they will help set a realistic goal.
4. Rest is vital before and after your race. You need to save your energy. So walk, don’t run, Drive don’t walk, sleep if you can, don’t sit and finally when its time to go fast..... GO FAST!!
5. Race tip - when racing it is 80-90% physical and tactical and only 10-20% mental. Any more on concentrating on your race and you will find it hard. Let the body do the work and your mind go along with it. Think back to a disappointing race where you didn’t do so well, you could probably recall it and you would describe it using lots of 'feeling' words such as: stroke was strong, felt loose, feeling tired etc. However if you think back to a good race...were you thinking about anything??? Probably not... this is because your mind was relaxed. This is the way to swim your race because you are thinking quietly but the thoughts are going into technical and tactical situations without you realising. So the saying goes..... DON'T TRY TO DO IT... JUST DO IT!!!!
6. Nerves ... how do you overcome them??? Well there are many ways but research shows the reason why you have nerves is because you’re scared and don't want to fail..... the best tip for this is to FACE YOUR FEARS ... do not fight this fear just enjoy yourselves and do what it takes to compete well.
The reason why the swimmers race is because of the excitement and adrenaline rush and why many Olympic Swimmers keeping coming back for more! They love the feeling!!!
SO, SWIMMERS .... HAVE NO FEAR .... RELAX .... BELIEVE .... STAY FOCUSED .... AND FINALLY HAVE FUN!! BECAUSE YOU ARE ALL GREAT SWIMMERS!!!
------
Open every TUESDAY 7.00 - 8.15 p.m. beside the small pool
------WATER POLO - UPDATE
Well, as summer draws to a close, what dire weather we had, but a wonderful festival of sport. How many of you caught the performances of water polo during the Olympics of both GB teams, ladies and men? I don’t think we have ever seen so much water polo on the TV.
Weston Water Polo took it annual break from Hutton Moor during the summer, starting up at the beginning of June at Portishead Open Air Pool and pretty sure that we had just two sunny evenings on all those Fridays.
During the time since the last newsletter Weston Juniors have been in action in the Bristol and West Junior Water Polo League, with games against Welsh Wanderers, Devonport Royal and Harlequins, with one victory in the five matches so far.
Weston Seniors, who were riding at the top of Division 2 of the Bristol and West Water Polo League and cruising towards victory. However, in July they travelled to Frome II and lost. They now have one home game left in September, and then have to wait to see the results from the other teams to see if they still gain promotion.
The seniors took part in the ASA South West Inter Club competition at Millfield, facing teams from Cheltenham, Newton Abbot, Exeter, Jersey, Bournemouth, Barnstaple and Newquay, all strong opposition, and Weston finished in last place after defeats by Newton Abbot, Bournemouth, Cheltenham and Barnstaple.
On a bright note, the seniors had victories over Newport and Frome in friendlies at Portishead, and on Sunday evening take on the Royal Navy as part of the Senior Service warm up for the forthcoming inter- services competition with the RAF and Army sides, being held in Portsmouth, at which Mike Coles is refereeing.
Other good news is the marriage of former Weston captain, Sean Coles, son of Mike, who has married Hayley Coles, a synchronised swimming teacher at Bristol Central, where Sean plays his water polo.
Further good news is the birth of Austin Bird to Dean and Fran Bird.
I’m sure all the club will join in best wishes for the happy couple and the new edition.
Eating during competitions
When preparing to compete at a swimming competition you need to pay careful attention to what you eat. Read on to find out what to eat the day before the event and during the day.
The Day Before When competition time comes round, you’ll have plenty on your mind already. So the day before the event, keep exercise to a minimum – if anything at all – and eat meals and snacks high in complex carbohydrates. You need to keep those glycogen stores topped up.
o Drink fluids little and often to stay properly hydrated. o Eat little and often – every two to four hours to keep your blood sugar levels steady and fuel your muscles in preparation for your event. o Avoid big meals or over-eating in the evening – this will almost certainly make you feel uncomfortable and lethargic the next day. o Try to stick to familiar foods. Curries, spicy foods, baked beans and pulses (unless you are used to eating them) can cause gas and bloating, so avoid eating anything that may cause stomach discomfort the next day. It’s best to stick to foods that you are familiar and compatible with!
The Morning of the Event o Don’t swim on empty. Even if you feel nervous, make breakfast happen. Stick to easily digested foods – cereal with milk, porridge, banana with yoghurt, some fruit or toast with jam. o If you’re really struggling, try liquid meals such as milkshakes, yoghurt drinks or a smoothie. o It’s a good idea to rehearse your competition meal routine in training so you know exactly what agrees with you.
Snacks Between Heats o Try to eat as soon as possible after your swim to give yourself as long as possible to recover if you have to swim again. o High fat and simple sugar foods will do you no favours in competition – instead search out the complex carbohydrates again. o If you can’t stomach anything solid try sports drinks, flavoured milk or diluted juice that will help replenish your energy supplies and assist the recovery of aching muscles. o The list below offers great food options to be snacking on in and around training for a competition. Remember to keep eating healthy foods from your regular diet though, such as fresh vegetables, nuts and fruits.
Foods to try Water, diluted fruit juice with a pinch of salt or a sports drink; Pasta salad; Plain sandwiches e.g. chicken, tuna, cheese with salad, banana, peanut butter; Bananas, grapes, apples, plums, pears; Dried fruit e.g. raisins, apricots, mango; Smoothies; Crackers and rice cakes with bananas and/or honey; Mini-pancakes, fruit buns; Cereal bars, fruit bars, sesame snaps; Yoghurt and yoghurt drinks; Small bags of unsalted nuts e.g. peanuts, cashews, almonds; Prepared vegetable crudités e.g. carrots, peppers, cucumber and celery
Fundraising Activities – An Update
Over the summer, the first cheque was received from easyfundraising. For the sceptics, who’ve wondered about the legitimacy of it all, it is real, a Nat West cheque was banked and it didn’t bounce! This scheme does what it says on the tin – it really is so easy.
With the number of adults in households where we have representation in the club, either directly (water polo, masters, all of our coaches) or indirectly (Learn to Swim, Pre- Development, Development, Potential, Performance, and Social), the potential to raise significant sums of money from easyfundraising is huge. The first cheque (for the quarter to 30 June; I only set up the scheme on 1 June and started marketing it a fortnight later) was for £17.78. We currently have 20 individuals signed up to this scheme and in the past 9 weeks, a further £62 has been raised from web searching (half a penny for a completed search) and online shopping (at places such as Argos, Amazon, airport parking, Comet, etc.). As Christmas nudges ever closer, if we can get a LOT more supporters of the scheme, the online shopping side of the fundraising should take off. The more we raise in this way, the less likely it is that we need to increase fees in 2013. Moreover, it was from fundraising money that we brought guest coaches to the club in late- 2011 – wouldn’t it be great to get Michael Jamieson back and show us his Olympic medal – it needs money to do so, and that isn’t covered in the monthly fees. We need YOU! PLEASE SIGN UP ON EASYFUNDRAISING AS A SUPPORTER OF WSMSC (the 1, 2, 3 guide to doing this follows on the next page)
No news yet on the applications to Waitrose and Asda to be one of the good causes selected to share a monthly pot. Hopefully, we’ll be chosen.
Luke Puchalski has recently completed his Level 2 swim teaching course, funded directly by AMEY PLC (the £680 saved by the club will not show in the club’s accounts) to whom WSMSC is extremely grateful.
The funding application submitted to the Go! Kids Go! Grant scheme, co-ordinated by The Lions Club of Weston-Super-Mare and Weston Mercury, was unfortunately unsuccessful.
The Michael Jamieson GB swimming hat competition raised £20 for club funds.
WSMSC gets a 10% kick-back on purchases made through Swimshop.co.uk – provided you go via the click-on link on the WSMSC website.
To repeat what I have said previously, our basic mantra has to be the more painless fundraising we can do the better. Easyfundraising is the epitomy of this - please sign up. Fundraising – the EASY way
A full version of how to sign up for easyfundraising and some Q&As were included in Newsletter 4 (available on the club website), so here is the bite-size version. I have spoken to parents and grandparents who are not into computers and they have done it without any problems. Please do sign up by following these simple stages:
1) Visit easyfundraising.org.uk 2) Search the ‘Find a Cause’ (top of page on menu bar under easyfundraising logo) 3) Input ‘Weston-Super-Mare Swimming Club’ as your cause 4) Click Search. You’ll then see a page that says “Weston-Super-Mare Swimming Club supporters raised £xxxx with easyfundraising & easysearch!” and then asks you - Would you like to raise money for Weston-Super-Mare Swimming Club every time you shop online? 5) Click, YES! Sign me up. 6) You will then need to provide your name, email address and set up a password. 7) Then click on the green Free 50p Donation (see below) to install Find & Remind (this pastes the easyfundraising logo into your toolbar as shown), to remind you to log in to this. For every installation, WSMSC gets 50p. Multiply that by all the over-18s connected with the club, and the £ signs are lighting up.
This is for starters – it will remind you to log in to easyfundraising when you go onto your PC each time. Now for the real money-spinners – searching online and shopping online.
(1) Searching online Every time any one of us searches via the charity search engine easysearch (provided we’ve logged in to our easy account) and then clicks on one of the websites that the search engine throws up, WSMSC will get 0.5 pence. It doesn’t sound a lot, but consider this. If we can increase from 20 supporters to 100 and on average those 100 supporters conduct about 3 searches a day, each will generate £5 a year = £500 total for the year (some of us do massive of searches and can generate £1 a week), but this is easy money – doing what you normally do, but using easysearch to help OUR club instead of google. Individually, 0.5 pence doesn’t seem significant, but collectively, they can add up to be huge for WSMSC. I hope you can see how we can achieve amazing things together. The beauty of this is that it is effortless, doesn’t cost anything, yet can be a huge source of ongoing income to WSMSC.
How do I carry out a search? Click on ‘login’ on the toolbar of your browser. You will then be able to enter your email address and password and click ‘login’. You’ll then be greeted by a page that states along the top “Hi XXX, you're supporting Weston-Super- Mare Swimming Club. You've raised £XXX.” If you now click on this, you’ll be taken to the page that shows our cause. It will be headed Weston-Super-Mare Swimming Club supporters raised £XXX with easyfundraising & easysearch! Here you can view how much we have raised and from which sources (shopping, searching) and also see how many followers we have. You can also click on the second green pound shape and click on http://wsmsc.easysearch.org.uk/
Now enter your search term in the box, click search, then once you have your results, get visiting websites to complete the search and bring the money into the club.
(2) Shopping online You can shop with over 2,000 well known stores and each will donate up to 15% of what you spend. For example, John Lewis will donate 2.5%, Amazon 2.5%, The Body Shop 10%, Sainsburys 3%, Asda Direct 3.5%, National Trust 10%, some insurance retailers will even donate up to £30 simply for taking out a policy with them!
The great thing is it won't cost you any more, plus there are lots of voucher codes and special discounts that can actually save money while you help your good cause. There is no cost for the good cause either – the service is totally free.
How to generate donations - It's very simple - once you've registered with easyfundraising, when you shop with one of their retailers (look at the menu on the easyfundraising.org.uk site and click on retailers), the easyfundraising system makes a note of your purchase, collects the donation from the retailer and passes it to your chosen good cause. That's it! You just shop as your normally would (How does the retailer know who to pay? Every member who registers is automatically allocated a 'UID' - Unique ID Number which is passed to retailers when you visit them. If you make a purchase, this UID Number is returned back to easyfundraising to tie the donation to you and your cause).
General nutrition for competitive swimmers
If you’re a Competitive swimmer, you will already be aware of the importance your diet plays on your performance in the pool. But assuming you’re a healthy eater, read on for information on how you can tune your eating habits to boost your swimming performance. Nutritional needs change depending on whether you are in training or about to enter a competition. If you want to know what you should be eating the day before and during competition then read the next article. But if it is general tips you want on fine tuning your eating habits to perform better then here is some advice from the experts at the ASA.
Exercise Meals If you’re planning to go swimming or training later in the day try to eat an exercise-friendly meal two and three hours before you go. This means keeping your carbohydrate and protein levels high on roughly a 60:40 ratio and don’t pig out on sluggish unsaturated fats. Here are some good examples: Baked potatoes – fill them with beans, sweet corn or chilli, not too much cheese, and remember to eat the skin, it’s the healthiest bit!. Pasta meals or bakes – again go light on the cheese, throw in plenty of vegetables. Tuna is also a great energy source. Beans on toast – they may be the signature of a student’s staple diet but low-sugar baked beans are actually really good for you. Bags of protein in the beans and wholemeal toast has your complex carbohydrates. And if beans aren’t your thing, eggs will do a similar job. Chilli con carne – beans, lean mince, and brown rice all should set you up perfectly for exercise in a few hours. Fatty, greasy mince, white rice and salty tortilla chips will not.
Pre-training Snacks Unless you’re trying to lose body fat don’t train on an empty stomach, you’ll be running on empty and your performance will be impaired. Eat a small meal or snack between one and two hours before you start your training. Great snacking foods are fruits (fresh is best but dried are still okay), energy foods (cereal bars, energy drinks, protein shakes), yogurt (low fat if possible) or whole grain foods (whole wheat cereal or wholemeal toast).
Snacking During the Day Elite athletes keep their blood sugar level as constant as possible by snacking regularly (and healthily) during the day. Only do this if you’re training enough not to add body weight from the increased food/calorie intake. Target the same snacks you would as a pre-training boost – complex carbohydrates, fruits or protein shakes.
Refuelling If you’re putting in the metres in the pool, your body will need a boost when you finish your training. Always try to refuel within 30 minutes of finishing and preferably within 15 minutes – your body immediately needs nutrients to repair muscles and replace energy. Make sure you’re refuelling with the ‘right’ foods though – something low in fat but high in carbohydrates and protein. Disqualification - and how to avoid it
Most swimmers get disqualified at some point in their swimming career. Often young swimmers and their parents are unsure of the disqualification rules. Here is a list of the most common reasons for disqualifications:
DQs at the start Moving at the start. After the starter has said “take your marks” swimmers must remain absolutely still on the block or in the water, until the starting signal has sounded. This includes fiddling with goggles. Get into the habit of looking at the water (or wall on backstroke) NOT the starter.
Swimmers should not leave the water at the end of a race until authorised by the Referee. If time pads are being used, swimmers must not climb out over them, but progress under the lane rope(s) and exit at the side of the pool. Swimmers must ensure they do not impede any swimmer in a race (as may occur in a relay) as this will be a disqualification.
Freestyle the finish of the race. – The swimmer must surface at or before 15m. – The swimmer must touch the wall with some part of the body. s will be disqualified if they take or step/walk on the bottom of the pool, although they can stop and stand still if necessary.
Any stroke can be swum, generally it is front crawl
Backstroke – Feet or toes must not curl over any gutter t & Turn – The swimmer must surface at or before 15m, and some part of the body must break the surface throughout the race (until the next turn or finish). – Must remain on the back throughout the swim (shoulders must not go beyond vertical), except when executing a turn. A continuous single or continuous simultaneous double arm pull may be used to initiate the turn. – here the swimmer rolls onto the front, takes one stroke then the arms pull them into the turn. There must be no kicking once the arm pull has been completed, and no gliding. This turn must be continuous, and is frequently the reason for disqualification in backstroke. pushing off on the side. and at the finish and NOT look for the wall. Finish – Must be on the back, not having the shoulders past vertical (onto the front).
Breaststroke Incorrect start or incorrect turn. After the start and after each turn, the swimmer may take one arm stroke completely back to their legs. Their head must break the surface of the water before their hands turn inwards at the widest part of their second stroke. A single downward dolphin kick is permitted followed by one breaststroke leg kick while totally underwater. Turn and finish – both hands must touch together.
– the swimmer must remain on the breast.
, swimmers must touch the wall at the turn and the finish with both hands simultaneously. - The feet must be turned outwards during the propulsive phase of the kick. - No alternating, scissor or butterfly kicking is permitted.
Butterfly the race. neously.
(no alternating kick). simultaneously.
Individual Medley Order of swimming - butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle. – 2 handed touch, backstroke – on the back, breaststroke – 2 handed touch. backstroke to breaststroke turn, must touch on back and then rotate over onto front.
Relays – In general – These are as per the rules of each stroke. – The incoming swimmer must touch the wall before the outgoing swimmer’s feet have left the block. There may be movement on the block, but the feet must not leave before the touch. – Must be in the correct stroke order – Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, Freestyle. Freestyle means any stroke, except Backstroke, Breaststroke or Butterfly.
And thank your lucky stars that I didn’t quote word for word the 50 page Judge 1 Workbook on the rules of swimming!!!!
Weston-Super-Mare Swimming Club gratefully acknowledges each of the businesses that are powering us in 2012. Thank you!
Please support our sponsors.
If you would be interested in discussing sponsorship of the club, be it web advertising, Easter Open Meet/Novice Gala sponsorship, or shirt sponsorship, please email me: OUR SPONSORS NEED [email protected]
Be sure to read all the latest news and results from Weston- Super-Mare Swimming Club on the web pages of the Weston & Somerset Mercury www.thewestonmercury.co.uk
Unit 15, Chancel Way, Halesowen Industrial Park, Halesowen, West Midlands. B62 8SE. Phone: 0121 550 2700. Fax: 0121 550 2070
Established in 1960, we provide services to commercial, industrial, retail and residential clients, and pride ourselves on the quality and reliability of those services offered both during and following completion of contracts, regardless of their size.
John West (Contractors) Ltd, Unit 1, Vernon Court, The Great Weston Centre, Weston-super-Mare, North Somerset. BS22 8NA T: (01934) 622891 F: (01934) 622897 E: [email protected]
Local Traditional Ales Shepherd’s Way Fresh Local Produce St Georges Restaurant Weston-super-Mare Carvery BS22 7XE Bars Tel: 01934 521670 Log Fires
Innovative Composite Window Systems
Coker Road, Worle Industrial Estate, Weston-Super-Mare. BS22 6BX. Tel: (01934) 522020 Fax: (01934) 522081 Email: [email protected] www.ecol2000.com
From Inception to Installation Fineline Aluminium offers the complete design envelope for your project.
Fineline Aluminum Unit T, Aisecombe Way, Weston-Super-Mare, North Somerset, B S 22 8NA . T el: +44 (0)1934 429922 Fax: +(0)1934 416796
E mail us: [email protected] www.finelinealuminium.co.uk
______For all your home improvement needs eg kitchens, bathrooms, fencing, DIY and decorating. Friendly local contractor. No job too small just call Paul.
For a free quote ring please ring 07912 119532 or email : [email protected]
AAC Weston Ltd WE ARE BIG ENOUGH TO Unit 1/Pottery Close COPE BUT SMALL Weston-S-Mare ENOUGH TO CARE, so why BS23 3YH not put us to the test. 01934 622 960 aacweston.com Est. 1967
"People buy from People" and we are interested in building a long term relationship with all of our customers no matter how big or small.
Indian Takeaway
193C Milton Road, Weston-Super-Mare. BS22 8EF
01934 613773: 01934 612923 www.pappadoms.co.uk
J KING GLASS & GLAZING LTD. Recently relocated to: Unit 9 Warne Park, Warne Road, Weston-Super-Mare, North Somerset. BS23 3TP Telephone 01934 644055. Fax 01934 319299 Email [email protected]
Residential Sales and Lettings Agents Whether buying, selling or renting, there’s only one estate agent that’s really in the race. For a free market appraisal or just an informal chat, contact us on 01934 843016 or email us on [email protected] Action! Enthusiasm! Results!
Bristol Trade Frames and Conservatories Ltd As Bristol’s leading supplier of glazing products to the trade, we pride ourselves on our ability to offer a total service to all our customers - the kind of service that will put you in the driving seat when selling our products. http://www.bristoltradeframes.co.uk/
MASTERS SWIMMING
Monday night (8.00 - 9.30 pm) masters swimming has started at HM (on a trial basis initially). Two weeks and very promising signs so far. Look for updates on the HM notice board and in the next newsletter.
Deadline for the next issue – 31st Dec
The next issue will carry reports on the latest meets, National League, polo matches, LTS, committee news. Other ideas? Articles, stories, jokes, clips on swimming/polo, photos??????
Please either leave material in the Club Suggestion Box or preferably email me ([email protected]) using WSMSC Newsletter in the Subject Line. Many thanks.
Thanks to Rachel (for the report on Nationals), Zara (report on LTS) and Mike (polo report) for their contributions to this issue.
http://www.weston-super-mare-swimming-club.co.uk