14 Apr 2008 - April Newsletter
Frome Swimming Club April Newsletter
Results
Somerset County Championships (Weekend 3)
It’s been a very busy month for our swimmers. The county championships are very important in the career of a swimmer. It gives swimmers a chance to post personal best times, race against swimmers from around the county and also an opportunity to qualify for the regional championships.
The third weekend began for Frome SC on Saturday afternoon with the 11/12 years relay teams who both worked very hard for places in a tough heat. On Sunday outstanding individual performances came from Antony Lockyer in the 100m back where he qualified for the final in 7th and gained two places in the final to finish 5th. Ant also made regional qualifying times for the backstroke and immediately after the final swam a 400m fc where he met the regional consideration standard. Personal best times were also delivered by Amy Brown and Martha Harris.
|
B 11/12 Relay |
Medley |
2:47.50 |
PB |
9th |
|
G 11/12 Relay |
Medley |
2:37.16 |
PB |
7th |
|
B 11/12 Relay |
Free |
2:27.95 |
PB |
10th |
|
G 11/12 Relay |
Free |
2:18.98 |
PB |
8th |
|
Amy Brown |
100m Br |
1:51.31 |
PB |
32nd |
|
Antony Lockyer |
100m Bk |
1:05.70 |
PB/RT |
7th |
|
Martha Harris |
100m IM |
1:43.96 |
PB |
22nd |
|
Antony Lockyer |
Final Bk |
1:05.91 |
RT |
5th |
|
Antony Lockyer |
400m Fc |
4:31.34 |
PB/RC |
6th |
Somerset County Championships (Weekend 4)
In the final weekend of the county championships there were huge numbers of swims to get through as it was sprint day on the Saturday. Top eight finishes came from Ryan Hann who came 3rd (adding to his silver from week 2) and Dan Brown came 8th both in the 50m Br. Swimmers who achieved 4 PB’s from 4 swims came from Gina Mc Guinness, Katie Brown, Amy Brown, Luke Hibberd, and Ryan Hann.
|
Alice Dixon |
50m Br |
52.01 |
PB |
16th |
|
Alice Dixon |
50m Bk |
45.83 |
PB |
19th |
|
Alice Dixon |
50m Fc |
38.50 |
PB |
15th |
|
Amy Brown |
50m Br |
50.39 |
PB |
41st |
|
Amy Brown |
50m Bk |
47.08 |
PB |
42nd |
|
Amy Brown |
50m Fc |
39.14 |
PB |
43rd |
|
Antony Lockyer |
50m Fc |
26.66 |
RC |
14th |
|
Antony Lockyer |
50m Fly |
29.21 |
|
10th |
|
Antony Lockyer |
50m Bk |
31.16 |
PB |
10th |
|
Antony L |
50m Br |
36.21 |
PB |
15th |
|
Dan Brown |
50m Fc |
30.18 |
|
10th |
|
Dan Brown |
50m Fly |
36.68 |
|
12th |
|
Dan Brown |
50m Bk |
38.20 |
|
12th |
|
Dan Brown |
50m Br |
42.44 |
|
8th |
|
Emily Dixon |
50m Br |
41.20 |
PB |
9th |
|
Emily Dixon |
50m Fly |
37.10 |
|
15th |
|
Emily Dixon |
50m Bk |
36.96 |
|
15th |
|
Emily Dixon |
50m Fc |
31.34 |
|
10th |
|
Gina Mc Guinness |
50m Fc |
32.01 |
PB |
17th |
|
Gina Mc Guinness |
50m Fly |
36.72 |
PB |
17th |
|
Gina Mc Guinness |
50m Bk |
39.60 |
PB |
21st |
|
Gina McGuinness |
50m Br |
45.14 |
PB |
16th |
|
Katie Brown |
50m Br |
58.08 |
PB |
21st |
|
Katie Brown |
50m Fly |
57.45 |
PB |
17th |
|
Katie Brown |
50m Bk |
53.39 |
PB |
23rd |
|
Katie Brown |
50m Fc |
47.88 |
PB |
25th |
|
Luke Hibberd |
50m Fly |
42.31 |
PB |
13th |
|
Luke Hibberd |
50m Bk |
41.45 |
PB |
12th |
|
Luke Hibberd |
50m Fc |
36.89 |
PB |
21st |
|
Martha Harris |
50m Br |
57.24 |
PB |
34th |
|
Martha Harris |
50m Fly |
54.31 |
PB |
30th |
|
Martha Harris |
50m Bk |
50.65 |
|
38th |
|
Martha Harris |
50m Fc |
40.70 |
PB |
28th |
|
Rachel Palarm |
50m Br |
46.58 |
PB |
14th |
|
Rachel Palarm |
50m Fly |
40.19 |
|
11th |
|
Rachel Palarm |
50m Bk |
42.15 |
PB |
14th |
|
Rachel Palarm |
50m Fc |
35.98 |
PB |
15th |
|
Ryan Hann |
50m Br |
48.59 |
PB |
3rd |
|
Ryan Hann |
50m Fly |
46.90 |
PB |
11th |
|
Ryan Hann |
50m Bk |
44.22 |
PB |
11th |
|
Ryan Hann |
50m Fc |
39.37 |
PB |
12th |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Sunday session completed the championships with all 200m Fc and 200m IM events. After a long day of racing on Saturday all swimmers raised their game creating personal bests in every swim at 200m, but also at 50 and 100m of the 200m Fc. Top 8 finishes once again came from Ryan Hann (5th) and Dan Brown (8th). Excellent swimming. Well done!
|
Luke Hibberd |
200m IM |
3:12.37 |
PB |
11th |
|
Ryan Hann |
200m IM |
3:27.15 |
PB |
5th |
|
Alice Dixon |
200m Fc |
3:01.32 |
PB |
13th |
|
Amy Brown |
200m Fc |
3:12.42 |
PB |
26th |
|
Emily Dixon |
200m Fc |
2:39.04 |
PB |
26th |
|
Gina McGuinness |
200m Fc |
2:40.47 |
PB |
21st |
|
Katie Brown |
200m Fc |
3:37.31 |
PB |
23rd |
|
Rachel Palarm |
200m Fc |
2:47.70 |
PB |
14th |
|
Emily Dixon |
200m IM |
3:06.99 |
PB |
34th |
|
Gina McGuinness |
200m IM |
3:09.32 |
PB |
23rd |
|
Rachel Palarm |
200m IM |
3:02.00 |
PB |
9th |
|
Antony Lockyer |
200m Fc |
2:06.32 |
PB/ RC |
9th |
|
Dan Brown |
200m Fc |
2:21.31 |
PB |
8th |
|
Luke Hibberd |
200m Fc |
2:51.33 |
PB |
13th |
|
Ryan Hann |
200m Fc |
3:08.04 |
PB |
11th |
At the end of the County Championships, BAGCAT (British age group categories) points were awarded to swimmers who had participated in the appropriate events. This meant swimmers who had entered a 50m sprint event, a distance fc event, an IM event and a 200m form event. Swimmers were then ranked according to their points score. To finish in the top 8 in Somerset is a huge achievement, where we are competing against some of the top swimmers in the country. Ryan Hann achieved this feat, finishing 7th overall in his age group. Well done Ryan.
Team managers throughout the event were Nicky Brown, Carolyn Greene, Debbie McGuinness and Susie Hann, thank you for your support.
Friendly Series
On Easter Saturday, SASP organised a Friendly Series Gala for swimmers in Somerset ages 8-13 who are interested in competing but haven’t yet made the step. A full team from Frome was sent, headed up by Helen Ward and Esther Levin. Once at the event swimmers were divided into teams, where they met new swimmers from other swimming clubs. Events in this gala were very different from the standard gala format including races such as a stroke count relay, flip relay and kick races, to name a few. The atmosphere was wonderful, swimmers had a great time and learnt skills that will help them to develop their strokes and skills back at their own clubs. Well Done Swimmers! Thank you also to Helen and Esther for organising and team managing for this event. Frome will soon be hosting their own Friendly Series event. If you wish to be involved, please contact Helen Ward.
Junior Time Trials
The first annual Junior Time Trials were held on Sunday 30th March and was a huge success. The event was attended by 78 junior swimmers. For many it was their first formally timed event, giving athletes the opportunity to post personal best times. There were many smiling faces and senior swimmers were on hand to cheer on the young athletes. Over 20 new volunteers helped to run the event, which were key to its success. Team managers encouraged all swimmers, doing a great job of making the swimmers feel relaxed and happy. Selection for this event was made for swimmers in Grade 5 and above and up to 12 year olds, who had not previously entered competitions. Swimmers are being sent their times, so that they might record them as their personal best times. It is sensible to do this either in a logbook (which can be downloaded from the website) or in a small notebook. Results can also be found on the website or on the notice board. Thank you to Elaine and Susie and all the new volunteers for planning and organising the event.
Swimmer of the Month
The Swimmer of the Month for March has worked very hard for the last three months. However, this month she has stepped up her game even more. She has worked hard through very tough sets and her strokes are starting to come together really well. The swimmer of the month for March is:
Martha Harris
Well done!
Karen’s Top Tip- Counting your progress
Some of the most important pieces of information for a swimmer are their PBs. Also known as personal best times, these are the fastest times that a swimmer has taken to swim an event previously. In knowing these times a swimmer is able to evaluate their performance in comparison with their previous swims. For swimmers, you should always ask the time keeper what time you swam after a race and a good time keeper will oblige in giving this information to the swimmer. Without this information a swimmer will have no goals, no direction and hence no enjoyment of their swimming.
You can record your PBs in a number of ways: in a small note book, or in a log book, on paper or on the computer, it’s really up to you. As a swimmer you should take responsibility for your own times and parents you can help with this.
What times count? Every swim counts to your progress, but it’s really important that you compare like with like. For example, long course times are not the same as short course times (as explained last month) and so they should be stored in a separate table. In relays, the first person can count their time as a PB (if it is), but all other swims in a relay are anticipated and so are faster. This means that they are not the same as a ‘flat’ (unanticipated) start and should not be compared with flat starts.
For a copy of the log book to record your times in please click here
Claiming Dates & Southern Junior League
Last month I wrote about claiming dates and how they will affect our swimmers. We have now put the first team sheet on the board for the first round of the Southern Junior League. Please confirm your attendance to this event by marking by your name on the notice board.
Southern Junior League (9-12 years)
19th April
17th May
21st June
Dates for your Diary
Avalon L3 Open meet 12 & 13th April
The entry date now passed, please check the events and sessions that you are in and the warm up times for theses sessions, some changes have been made.
Avalon L2 Open meet May 23rd-25th
If you have qualified for this event please put your entries up on the notice board asap as the meet is filling up quickly.
Taunton Deane Open meet 12th & 13th July
Entry forms will be released next week
Easter Training Dates
Tuesday 8th April 6.00-7.30pm (juniors)
6.00-8.00pm (seniors)
Wed 9th April 7.00-8.00 am (all squad members)
Thursday 10th April Back at Big Millfield land and pool as normal
Friday 11th April 5.00-6.00pm LAND TRAINING ONLY
Tuesday 15th April 6.00-7.30pm (juniors)
6.00-8.00pm (seniors)
Wed 16th April 7.00-8.00 am (all squad members)
Thursday 10th April 6.15pm Big Millfield land and pool as normal
Friday 18th April 5.00-6.00pm LAND TRAINING ONLY
Get with the Lingo
Galas
Galas are generally small local competitions often held on a Saturday afternoon/evening where teams compete with one swimmer in each individual event and 4 in relays from each team/club. These can be part of a league or just one off competitions. Each swim results in a points score and these are added up to find the winning team. An examples of gala are the Cotswold League, Friendly Series or Southern Junior League.
Open Meets
Open Meets are competitions that are mostly held over one or more days. Competitors can enter as many events as they wish; in fact the more events athletes participate in the better. Its is a fantastic way for swimmers to measure their improvement in the sport. Trophies and or medals are often up for grabs along with team prizes for total performance over the course of the competition. Open meets are divided into levels which I described in the January newsletter.
Championships
These events are similar to open meets in that they are held over more than one day and swimmers can enter many events. They are run by the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA), our national governing body and the format is the same throughout the country. Swimmers begin by participating at the County Championships (as our swimmers did this month). Following this swimmers qualify for the regional championships (ours is the South West Region), these are held between May and June each year. After this the top level of ASA held Championships is the National championships, held in July and August. Qualifying standards for the nationals is set at the 16th fastest time in the country in the previous year…..making it a very tough challenge and hence qualification is an awesome achievement.
Coaches’ Development Seminar
Our first coaches’ development seminar was held on Saturday 29 March, covering the elements of the Track Start. Ten coaches attended and I felt that the coaches learnt a huge amount and as a result the swimmers benefited too. For those who missed this event, details of the information that was covered are available from Karen. The next seminars will be on 17th May and 19th July, 7.30-8.30am.
Volunteer Audit
I am in the process of completing a volunteer audit for Mendip District Council, so if you help Frome Swimming Club at all could you please email me with a brief job title and any qualifications. This will also help me get you all on my communications list so no one gets forgotten about. Many thanks.
Karen Pinniger
kpinniger@somerset.gov.uk
07500 028404