Workshops focussing on Breaststroke and Butterfly are scheduled to take place in June at Dorchester Sports Centre. The IoS courses are designed to give Level 2 Teachers a more in-depth knowledge of each stroke as well as the latest techniques and ideas for teaching. The three-hour courses will both take place on Sunday 4 June, price £35 per workshop. For further information and booking go to http://www.swimming.org/ios/continual-professional-development/ or call the IoS on 01509 640640.
Some of British Swimmings brightest prospects have been selected to compete at the European Junior and World Junior Swimming Championships as a combined group of 58 athletes. A team of 37 athletes will compete at the LEN European Junior event in Netanya, Israel from 28 June to 2 July while a team of 21 has been selected to compete at the FINA World Junior Championships from 23 to 28 August in the US city of Indianapolis.
The selections come off the back of the British Swimming Championships in Sheffield last week and British Swimming Head of Elite Development Tim Jones, who will lead the teams to Israel and the US and with his eye firmly on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, commented, Our ethos was to be inclusive rather than exclusive as we think its right to cast the net a little bit wider with the juniors who could be a significant force for us in three years time in Tokyo.
The British team selected for the World Junior Championships will be spearheaded by three reigning European Junior Champions in Freya Anderson, Taz Pugh and Emily Large and will include Jacob Peters of Poole SC, one of only two swimmers to be selected from the ASA SouthWest region. The British Swimming team selected for the European Junior Championships in Israel will include Jasmine McCrea, also of Poole SC, and who is one of seven selected from the region. Congratulations to both!
Salisbury Stingrays Swimming Club is recruiting for a part-time head coach with a performance coaching background. The club is a thriving Swim 21 accredited club with one Masters and five Junior competitive squads, with some swimmers competing at national level. Applicants should be able to demonstrate a proven track record of coaching at all levels up to and including national level and be either qualified to UKCC/ASA Level 3, or an experienced UKCC/ASA Level 2 coach making significant progress towards the Level 3 qualification. For further information and a full job description, please email mrchannell@gmail.com
England Womens U17s Water Polo team has won the EU Nations Cup after beating South Africa 12-7 in a thrilling final in Prague on St Georges Day.
Helping the team to victory was Abbi Smith (pictured in action right) who started her journey to international success in the south-west with the Dorset Club of Blandford and now trains with Otter WPC in London and also Salisbury Stingrays Katy Cutler who, dual registered with Bournemouth SC, has previously competed on behalf of Dorset County in the ASA SouthWest Water Polo Championships.
England raced into an early 4-0 lead and it was an advantage the team never looked like giving up. Defensively sound and superb on the counter, England was too strong for South Africa as they controlled the rest of the match to finish up worthy winners. The champions England played five games, won five (having beaten Switzerland 32-4, Czech Republic 20-1, Germany 23-1 and Denmark 18-1) while dominating the tournament from day one, firing in an incredible 105 goals and conceding only 14.
Photo: Courtesy Richard Clapperton
This years British Swimming Championships in Sheffield has resulted in three long-standing Dorset County long-course records being broken, together with a host of new records set and two Junior medals won.
Poole’s Jasmine McCrea was on record-breaking form. Having erased the record for 100m Butterfly held since 2002 by Alex Savage (Ferndown) with a time of 1:02.46 in the heats, Jasmine went on to smash it again in the Junior Final with a time of 1:01.74, finishing in fifth place. In the 50m Butterfly, Jasmine’s heat time of 27.93 set a new Dorset Junior Record only to be surpassed in the Junior Final with a time of 27.55, and which also broke the Senior Record held by Alex Savage (Ferndown) since 2005. Jasmine’s 50m Butterfly time was also enough to earn her a silver medal in that event.
The Dorset Junior 50m Freestyle record held by Amelia Maughan (BDSC) since 2009 was also taken with Jasmine finishing fourth in the Junior Final with a time of 26.52 and, finally, a heat time of 2:22.31 in the heats of the 200m Individual Medley gave her a new Junior Record in that event.
Jacob Peters also set new Dorset Senior Records in every Butterfly event with times of 24.76 (50m heats), 55.05 (100m heats) and 2:00.65 in the 200m Junior Final which also earned him a gold medal to bring home.
Entry information for the 2017 Dorset County Masters and Senior Age Groups Championships has been published. The competition is scheduled for Sunday 9 July at Rossmore Leisure Centre and will, for the first time, include a 16/17 years age group. Details can be found on our Masters web page and County calendar.
An Open Water Development Course organised by the ASA SouthWest for swimmers age 12 to 17 years is to be held over two weekends in May and June. Land Training and Pool Exercises Workshops will be held on Saturday 27 May at Wells Pool, while Open Water Swimming Skills and Practice will take place at Preston Beach in Weymouth on Saturday 3 June. Course fee is £65 per swimmer for further details contact ASA SWR Open Water Coach Kat Percival kat.percival@outlook.com
ASA SouthWest is also holding development courses for new officials during the 2017 season with classroom workshops on 27 May at Wells Leisure Centre and practical sessions on beach and boat at Weymouth on 3 June. Anyone interested in training as an OW official should contact the ASA SWR Open Water Officials Coordinator Alan Withers arwithers@aol.com
The 2017 ASA South West Region Open Water Championships is now open for entry. The event will take place on Saturday 24 June at Preston Beach, Weymouth DT4 7SX with registration from 9 am. The event also incorporates County Championships for Dorset County ASA, Gloucester ASA, Somerset ASA and, new for 2017, the Police Open Water Championships.
Events in both male and female categories are 5km and 3km (13/over), 1.5km (12 years only) and a 750m Taster Event for 11 to 13 year olds, with age as at 31 December. All swimmers must attend the safety briefing prior to each event they have entered.
Entry fee is £22 for each distance event entered and £8.50 for the Taster Event. Swimmers must be Category 2 to compete and entry can be made using the online Entry Form. Deadline for entries is Friday 2 June 2017.
This event is usually a lovely day by the beach and if you dont want to swim but want to get involved, officials for both onshore and in boats are always needed – training is free! – and there are plenty of other ways volunteers can get involved. Contact the ASA SW Open Water Competition Secretary, Kelly Podbury, at sasameetmanager@outlook.com.
Thirty-five swimmers from 11 Dorset clubs arrived at Dorchester Sports Centre on Sunday 2 April for the inaugural England Programmes Dorset County Pathway Programme with Lead Coach Barry Alldrick (Poole). The day started with a brief to both parents and swimmers after which the swimmers met with their group Skills Coaches Becky Brown (Poole), Richard Brocklehurst (North Dorset), James Cameron (Poole), Colin Cracknell (West Dorset), Trevor Keep (Blandford) and Jeff Sandley (Wareham). Also invited to attend and observe were any Level 1 and Level 2 coaches from Dorset clubs, an opportunity taken up by Tracey Walburn of Tornadoes of South Dorset.
The morning was spent working on Streamlining, Freestyle and Backstroke followed by an outdoor land training session involving a nine station circuit at which the swimmer would gain scores and with all exercises related to movements in the morning pool session. The afternoon began with a workshop for both parent and swimmers on basic stroke techniques using a presentation set by Fred Furness and using video footage from Rio to emphasise and reinforce home key points. This was followed by a final pool session of Underwater transitions, Breaststroke and Butterfly.
Organisation of the day was undertaken by Lead Team Manager Jacquie Broyd (BCS) assisted by Sean Duffy (Poole) who ensured the day went as smoothly as possible. The next camp will be on Sunday 25 June.
Dorset England Programmes swimmers are as follows: BCS – George Mahon, Sophia Malmyha, Tiasha Michelo; Blandford – Amelia Chaffey, Grace Chaffey; Bridport Barracudas – Isabelle King, Kirron Wheeler; Clayesmore – Joeleen Charlery; Poole – Grace Camm, Holly Chandler, Hannah Dean, Liam Duffy, Tilly McHugh, Charlie Meek, Sam Russell, Alyssa Sanders-Jones, Marley Smalling, Zoe Steele, Zack Studley, Xavier West; Seagulls – Naomi Ellis, George Gillet, Lara Hancock, Thomas Massie; Swim Bournemouth – Angus Corbin, Jenson Harris, Georgina Hawkins, Eryn Holderness, Anthony Leung, Millie Sleeman, Arohi Singh; Tornadoes – Ellissa Walburn; Wareham – Antonia Bourne; West Dorset – Jessamy Fursman; Lauren Osgood; Weymouth – Ruby Cartwright.
From Monday 3 April 2017 the ASA will use a brand new logo and the new name of Swim England for the national governing body for swimming, diving, water polo and synchronised swimming in England. Digital channels will change and Swim England’s new website will go live at the same time. For more information visit swimming.org/swimengland and for the Swim England strategic plan for swimming in England 2017-21, Towards a Nation Swimming.