5 May 2008 - May Newsletter
May Newsletter
Results...Results...Results...Results...Results...Results...Results...
Avalon Open Meet
This year’s Easter Avalon level 3 open meet was run over two days for the very first time and it was a huge success. Thank you to all those from all three clubs: Frome, Street, & WASM who were involved in making it so. Frome swimmers entered 161 events in total, with 156 of those swims being personal best times. Frome achieved 45 top 8 finishes and 17 medals. Medalists were Antony Lockyer (4 gold, 5 silver), Emily Dixon (1 gold 1 silver 1 bronze), Howie Phillips (1 bronze), Ryan Hann (3 silver, 1 bronze). As this was Howie’s first competition I think he did exceptionally well. Well done everybody. A full set of results has been posted on the notice board and can be seen on the website (www.fromeswimming.btik.com).
Southern Junior League
The junior swimmers travelled to Bridport for the first round of the Southern Junior League. This prestigious competition is restricted to swimmers who are 12 and under. Frome found themselves at a disadvantage due to the way the school holidays fell, with several key swimmers away, whilst other competing clubs had been back at school for a week. There were some great performances. Perfomances resulting in wins came from Emily Dixon and Keira-Leigh Underhill. Overall there were 21 personal bests recorded and the swimmers really enjoyed the event.
Cotswold League Round 4
On Saturday, at Cheddar Leisure Centre, Cheddar Marlins hosted the penultimate round of the Cotswold league series. With a strange twist this round saw Frome and WASM taking on Cheddar Marlins and Cinderford, the current league leaders. It was clear that this clash between Frome and Wells and Shepton brought out some serious competitiveness!! I was really pleased to see some great sportsmanship.
Coach's Report - Squad Training
The training groups are progressing in line with the seasonal plan. The seasonal plan outlines the programming and planning of the swimming calendar. Senior training group swimmers will be doing more pull sets to develop upper body strength. To assist with this strengthening work, swimmers should now have a pair of hand paddles as part of their kit. 11-13yrs swimmers should have the hand-sized paddles either (e.g. speedo bifuse power paddle or speedo tech paddle) and 14+ yrs can have the larger sized paddles (e.g. speedo power paddles). I have personally found Allens of Kingsbury (www.allensswimwear.co.uk) and swim shop to be reputable suppliers of swimming kit.
Olympic Trials
In February’s newsletter my tip of the month was to keep your eyes open on the TV and the internet for major swimming events. It was a great pleasure to see our swimmers taking an interest in their sport and then seeing how much they have learnt. On the weekend of the 5th & 6th April, I went to watch the Olympic Trials in Sheffield. This event saw the Best of British fighting it out tooth and nail to secure their place on the plane to Beijing in August. In arriving at Ponds Forge even I had butterflies in my tummy. As a child I competed here many times and standing at the end of the pool still takes my breath away. Throughout the sessions swimmers lined up behind the blocks, psyching themselves up in their swanky new LZR racers (the controversial new racing suit from speedo). Several events/swimmers stood out for me. The first was the women’s 200m bk, where Lizzie Symmonds won in a 2:08. Rebecca Adlington won the 200, 400 & 800 fc, with a beautiful stroke, strong, long and high in the water. The men’s 1500m was a very interesting event. With David Davies (Bronze medal winner in Athens 2004), already pre-selected for the Olympics only one spot remained. The 15 mins it took to decide who would be going was heart-wrenching. Daniel Fogg and Richard Charlesworth battled to the death. The dream goal for these swimmers was to make the Olympic team. Image the pain for missing out or the elation for making it. It was a very emotional event. At the end of the competition there was a parade of all the swimmers who had been selected for the Olympics this year. It was a wonderful moment for all involved.
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Swimmer of the Month
The swimmer of the month for April has worked very hard since my arrival. In the last few months this swimmer has been a good role model in both her attitude and approach to her swimming.
The swimmer of the month this month is
Sophie Evans
Well done!
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Karen’s Top Tip – Butterfly Breathing
One part of butterfly seems to cause a huge issue for most swimmers, this is the breathing. We have done a lot of work in the junior and senior training groups this month so that we only lift our arms high enough to just clear the water. The best butterfliers in the world also come out of the water with their head just enough to take a breath and then drive forward with their arms and body, being careful not to dive down at all. Most swimmers lift their body up too high when they breathe because they take a breath by arching their backs and lifting their heads. Try not to do that. Instead, work on a good strong finish with your pull and make sure you have two kicks to every stroke. That will support you when you take a breath by keeping your body moving forward, and you won’t have to come up so high in order to make sure you have enough time to take the breath.
Not breathing as much doesn’t fix the problem because you will have to come up to breathe at some point. Swimmers should breathe every two strokes to keep good rhythm and reduce resistance. Breathing to the side works well for some people, but I would be careful because it’s not the best for everyone, and if it’s not done correctly, it can lead to a lopsided stroke.
Dates for your Diary
Avalon L2 Open meet May 23rd-25th
If you have qualified for this event please put your entries up to Karen asap as the meet is filling up quickly.
Taunton Deane Open meet 12th & 13th July
Entry forms are now available. This event is open to swimmers aged 9 and above from the 13th July. If you have not received an entry form please let me know. This event will fill up fast so please ensure that you have returned your forms by the 19th May.
Avalon Autumn Open meet 18th & 19th October
Entry forms will be available in June.
Training
There will be NO training on Monday 26th May and Friday 30th May. Please watch the notice board for half term training times.
Get with the Lingo – Training Talk
Warm up: Time spent slowly warming the muscles up ready for exercise. Participating in a warm up helps to reduce the risk of injury.
A Drill is an exercise/practice that is designed to strengthen or enhance some part of a stroke. For example finger trail is a front crawl drill where the fingers trickle the surface of the water on the hand that is recovering out of the water. This drill causes a "high elbow" recovery which is a desirable characteristic of good front crawl technique. Some other drills are finger trail, catch up, single arm, two kicks to one pull etc.
Swim Down: time spent at the end of the session to cool down the muscles, remove toxins and help to prepare the swimmers for whatever they are doing after the session.
HDW: although this term does not come up in training, I have had many queries this month about what HDW means. Heat declared winner (HDW) means that in a competition an event will be swum in heats and times taken from the heats will determine the swimmer’s final position i.e. there will be no finals for this event.
Coaches Development Seminars
The next coaches development seminar will be on the 17th May at 7.30am. The topic is ‘Breaststroke Leg Kick: from the beginning’.
A number of level one and level two training courses for teaching swimming are held over the summer holidays. Frome swimming club continually invests in its volunteers’ education. If you would like to take part in an education course please contact Karen/Susie/Elaine/Mandy.
Karen Pinniger,
07500028404