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Dorset County ASA

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Lake Geneva challenge for Weyport Masters

By In FEATURED, Open Water0 Comments16 Views
Weyport Masters 2016(1) Weyport Masters’ Julia Aston and Kate Mason have become the first female duo to swim the length of Lake Geneva, and only the second people in history to have swum the whole length of the lake. Swimming for two hours at a time with support boat alongside, the two-person relay began at the Chateau de Chillon Castle situated off the eastern coastline of the lake, and ended at the Parch des Bains in Geneva. The 44 mile challenge was completed in 28 hours 12 minutes. Monies raised through sponsorship helped purchase a VHF radio for Osprey Leisure Centre with the remainder being donated to a charity for research into Huntington Disease. Photo: (l-r) Julia Aston, Nigel Williams (General Manager, Osprey LC) and Kate Mason
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Swim Safe 2016

By In FEATURED, Open Water, Uncategorized0 Comments18 Views
swim safe® logo Swim Safe, a joint project between the ASA and the RNLI that aims to provide practical open water safety sessions for 7-14 year olds is to take place in Poole this summer. Hosted by Poole Borough Council, the event will be held at Sandbanks as well as the Council’s facility at Shore Road. The annual programme offers improver swimming tuition and water safety sessions at beaches and lakes across England with a focus on skills to keep safe in open water. Beach safety advice will be provided by RNLI lifeguards with up to 30 minutes of in-water tuition provided by ASA accredited swimming teachers. Two weeks of Swim Safe for Schools will run from 4 July, followed by three weeks of public access to the project from 30 July. Children must be able to swim a minimum of 25 metres to take part but attendance is free. Further information and booking form can be found at https://swimsafe.rnli.org/. There are also volunteer and teaching opportunities for members of Dorset affiliated clubs, so if you would be interested in helping out contact the ASASW Area Swim Manager Ashley Jones at ashley.jones@swimming.org. The Swim Safe pilot scheme was so successful that in 2015 the programme was extended to six locations in Bournemouth, Brockhole, Bude, South Shields, Jersey and the Isle of Man, which were attended by 3,600 children with an average of ten at each session across the five weeks. Having Swim Safe held locally is a good opportunity for clubs to get involved and encourage participants to carry on from their first open water swimming experience.
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ASASW/DCASA Open Water Championships 2016

By In FEATURED, Open Water0 Comments18 Views
The ASASW Open Water Championships incorporating the Dorset County ASA Open Water Championships will be held on Saturday 25 June 2016 at Preston Beach, Weymouth. The programme of events includes a 1.5km, 3km and 5km swim with a minimum entry age of 12 years for the 1.5km event and 13 years for the longer distances – ages are as at 31 December 2016. Wetsuits are now permitted, but wetsuit wearers will not be eligible for trophies. For younger competitors 11-13 years of age who are new to open water swimming, there will also be a 750m taster event. Application forms are on the ASASW website and entrants need to register online at http://http://www.swimwest.org.uk/swim/index.php/open-water-events/icalrepeat.detail/2016/06/25/93/-/asa-sw-region-open-water-championships. Applications are now also open for the ASASW Open Water Development Days which are to be to be held on 28 May and 4 June 2016. The Development Days are aimed at club swimmers age 12-17 years inclusive, and closing date for applications is 7 May 2016. Applications forms can be found at  http://www.swimwest.org.uk/swim/index.php/regional-news/250-asa-south-west-open-water-development-course.  
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Dorset County Championships 2016

By In FEATURED, Swimming0 Comments15 Views
2016 Counties (1024x683) The 2016 County Championships winners of the age group Performance Awards are now available on the swimming pages of the County website, together with full results and details of this year’s Senior and Junior Champions. The five days of competition commenced with four presidents from the ASA South West region in attendance and ended with three County Records and 30 Competition Best Times have being broken. Awards for Exceptional Achievement were also presented to Channel swimmers Robert Lloyd-Evans, Barry Alldrick, Glenn Bailey and Dani Callahan, together with two times GB Junior Record breaker Jacob Peters of Poole SC. Photo courtesy of DEphoto (l-r): Somerset ASA President Les Debenham, ASA SouthWest President Ian Stuart, Poole SC’s Jacob Peters, Dorset County ASA President Nadine Honeybun, Cornwall ASA President Nick Jenkin.
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Swim South Africa

By In FEATURED, Swimming, Uncategorized, Volunteers0 Comments15 Views
JACQUI HULL SA2 (1280x725) With so much energy and emotion currently being expended at the County Championships to knock off a 100th of a second here or win a medal there, it may be worth reminding ourselves that the opportunities we take for granted are not necessarily available for everyone. Swim teacher Jacqui Hull from Poole SC has recently returned from South Africa where she was involved with the voluntary project ‘United through Sport’, which aims to help disadvantaged children from the townships to access sports such as football, rugby, hockey, netball and swimming. During the time she spent in South Africa, Jacqui taught swimming at a local orphanage, a school for children with severe learning and physical difficulties, as well as a number of schools from the townships. Jacqui also helped coach a Masters group of a local swimming club “None of the children had ever had swimming lessons and most come along with a huge fear of the water but, over the five weeks I spent there, it was lovely to see all of them in the water splashing around having fun. A few of the children were swimming a width by the end of my attachment”, said Jacqui. “This was a hugely rewarding experience and I would urge any of our older swimmers or Young Volunteers to consider this very worthwhile project. The downtime is also great fun with adventures such as surfing, shark cage diving and safaris, to name a few.” For any teachers, older swimmers or YVs who are interested in this rewarding experience, further details and information on the placement from Jacqui by emailing her through the Poole Swimming Club website www.pooleswimmingclub.org.uk.  
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Dorset Masters Championships 2016

By In FEATURED, Masters0 Comments18 Views
Dorset County ASA Masters Championships were held at Rossmore on Sunday 14 February 2016. The Championships, which incorporates Dorset Masters Open Meet, had sixty swimmers present representing ten clubs and competing in 236 swims. Participating clubs also included two swimmers from SouthEast Region clubs Fareham Nomads and Basingstoke Bluefins. The Championships began with a minute’s silence followed by a round of applause in memory of Littledown Masters’ coach Laurie Dormer. During the competition, a total of 37 Championship Best Times were set with the most prolific new record holders being Lisa Durward (Seagulls) with six CBTs, Peter Kirk (Littledown Masters) with five CBTs, and Hannah Wiltshire (Poole) also with five CBTs. The top team trophy was awarded to Poole Swimming Club who amassed 350 points. Runners-up were Littledown Masters with Seagulls finishing in third place. A huge thank you must go to all the officials who gave up their time to officiate, and to the Poole SC Swim Meet Committee for organisation and running the competition on the day.
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Laurie Dormer

By In FEATURED, Uncategorized0 Comments15 Views
 

Laurie 80th with Nat Champs (2)

Laurie Dormer, former Head Coach of Bournemouth Dolphins SC and coach of Littledown Masters has died aged 85 years on 11 February 2016.

During his coaching career Laurie, who started with the Borough of Ealing SC circa 1960 and moved to Bournemouth Dolphins in 1985, has produced a string of National Age Group Championships together with a Commonwealth Games medalist and, since 2006 with Littledown Masters, National Masters medalists and World Triathlon and Iron Man champions.

Laurie’s passion for the sport and determination to raise the profile of swimming, not only in Dorset but also nationwide, was instrumental in the formation of the British Swimming Coaches Association and the Southern Junior League, while his tenacious involvement in the late 1980’s at the planning stage of what we know today as the Littledown Centre has ensured that Dorset got the 8-lane competition pool it so badly needed.

He will be sadly missed. Our thoughts are with Luke, Laura, Joe and his grandchildren.

Photo, courtesy of Roger Guttridge: Laurie on his 80th birthday in 2010 with (L-R) his first National Champion Jimmy Faben (1966), Commonwealth Games silver medalist Malcolm Tucker (1966) and more recent National Champions, BDSC swimmers Ben Gibbs and Danielle Moore.

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ASA National Winter Meet 2015

By In FEATURED, Swimming0 Comments14 Views
This year saw the first ASA National Winter Championships since 1999, the flagship event of the year to end the new designated short course season and, in a striking demonstration of the quality of the meet, an array of British Records were felled one after another. Long standing as well as newer records were broken. Plymouth Leander’s Ben Proud took the 50m Freestyle record held by Mark Foster since 2001 in a time of 20.74 and became the first British swimmer to go sub 22 seconds while 16 year old Imogen Clark (Derventio) swam 50m Breaststroke in 30.02 to claim the record held by BCS coach Zoe Baker since 2001. In a fast pool and with an electric atmosphere, how would Dorset’s qualifiers shape up to the competition? At the end of the four days of competition, Dorset’s swimmers did not disappoint – the results were spectacular. The Dorset tally included two impressive new Junior British Records for 100m Butterfly and 50m Butterfly (producing new English, ASA SouthWest and DCASA records too) as well as five Junior Gold medals from Poole’s Jacob Peters, together with two new DCASA Senior Records and a further nine DCASA Junior Records broken by Poole swimmers Jacob Peters, Harriet Perfect and Jasmine McCrea. The full story can be found on the PSC website.
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National Inter-County Masters Championships 2015

By In FEATURED, Masters0 Comments16 Views
At this year’s regional Inter-County Masters gala the Dorset team finished equal second with Devon, representing Dorset’s best ever result for Dorset in this competition, and just five points behind Gloucestershire who won the ASASW Masters Inter-County for the first time since 1997. Dorset Masters had 15 race wins and 23 second places, finishing in the top two for more than half of the 68 events. Final points totals were: Gloucestershire 308, Dorset 303, Devon 303, Wiltshire 200, Somerset 160, and Cornwall 124. Hoping that the regional results would translate into a good result in the national competition, the team was not disappointed. The Dorset Masters team finished in seventh place overall out of 28 counties, which is not only Dorset’s best-ever national result by three places but, once all points had been calculated, pushed Dorset into first place of the South West counties for the first time, ahead of Devon and regional winners Gloucestershire who finished nationally in tenth place. In the national showdown, Dorset also clocked up three national wins from Nigel Foster in the 65+ 50m Backstroke, Julia Kemp in the 65+ 50m Butterfly and Hannah Wiltshire in the 25+ 50m Breaststroke. Julia was also second in the 65+ 50m Backstroke and Hannah third in the 18+ 50m Breaststroke which she swam just two minutes after having won the 25+ age group event. However the overall results was very much a team performance and credit goes to all of the swimmers.  
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ASA Aquatics Awards 2015

By In FEATURED, Volunteers0 Comments10 Views
ASA Awards 2015The achievements of all those from across the aquatics community were celebrated at the ASA Aquatics Awards 2015 held on 14 November 2015 at the historic Royal Pump Rooms in Leamington Spa. Split into 19 categories the Awards honoured the commitment and achievements of individuals, facilities and schools involved in aquatics and, as the ceremony drew to a close, the spotlight fell on Dorset’s own 81 year old Gordon Smart from Poole SC (centre) who received the prestigious gold ASA Services to Aquatics Award for his unwavering support and contribution to the sport for over 40 years. The Awards were presented by British Diver and Commonwealth bronze medallist in the 3m Synchro, Freddie Woodward. Catch up with the post-presentation interview with Gordon on You Tube