The A team were in action in a very tough draw. All of the teams in the round finished above us in the league last year. A very gutsy performance saw the team finish 3rd overall, only 1 point off second place. Team spirit was some of the best I have seen in an A team gala and mostly the technical aspects of our racing were up there with Boldmere last years winners. What is really pleasing is that a club of our size can stand toe to toe with bigger clubs such as Boldmere (around 900 members as opposed to our 221) and not look out of place proving that the pathway we have here as a club is up there with the best in the country and the quality we produce is there as well. We do lack a little bit of strength in depth and I would ask all those swimmers either in the B team or on the verge of making the team to step up and give me a selection headache. The A team are currently 10th in the Premier Division with the B team in 7th in Division 3 North.
As with any team event changes will be made with other swimmers becoming available and improvements in personal best times made, so expect changes to both teams. Do not be disappointed to drop from A to B use it as a motivation to get your place back and push yourself harder in training. Those that will either step up to the A team or come into the B team for the first time use this as motivation to keep your place.
It takes around an hour to select each group of boys or each group of girls per age group and with 4 age groups 2 sexes and 2 teams it mounts up to a lot of work and the best points scoring total is how the teams are picked, so you may not get your first stroke or your favourite stroke, you may only get one relay but this is all for the benefit of the team and that 1 point extra you secure as seen from how close we were to second above makes the difference in the long run.
So keep yourself available for the final 2 rounds which are Saturday 9th of November and Saturday 14th of December and swim for your team with pride. Teams will be announced on Monday next week and we are still waiting to see the draw for the next round.
