Long Eaton Swimming Club Blog

Blog 1135: Counties

2012-01-27T09:42:00.003Z

The closing date has now passed for the Counties, Swimmers who have entred the Counties and are swimming on Sunday will have their times updated if they have improved their PB. Please do not email me I will update the times automatically.
Thank you

Blog 1134: Y & S Land Training

2012-01-25T09:25:00.001Z

Hi there will be no land training on Friday 3rd February

Blog 1133: Affiliation Fees

2012-01-25T08:12:00.002Z

The Affiliation fees are now due for Derbyshire ASA, East Midland ASA and the ASA .

CAT 2 - £30.20 for swimmers who will be 9 by the end of 2012

CAT 1 - £13.40 for swimmers under 9

Helpers - £12 (Who are not parent members)

Payment can be made by BACS or by cheque. Cheques may be given to your Squad Reps or posted to the Club Treasurer, 26 Fox Road, Castle Donington, Derbyshire. DE74 2UN.

This money must be received by 14^th February in order to be processed prior to being sent to the ASA by the end of March. If your name is not on the list then you will not be insured to swim with the Club.

Jane Pryce (Treasurer)

pryce.jane@yahoo.co.uk

Blog 1132: Open Meet Volunteers

2012-01-24T15:49:00.000Z

Thank you to everyone who has volunteered to help at the Open Meet on Sunday. There is still time if you have not already done so (see Blog 1124)!

We will be at West Park on Wednesday evening from 7.30pm, assembling the programmes so please come and see us so we can explain to you what you will be doing on Sunday. This will save time on the day if you know exactly what you are going to be doing. This is especially important if this is your first time helping at the Open Meet.

Any donations for the Raffle and goodie bags that have not been given to Debbie or your Squad Rep, let us know and we will arrange to collect.

Blog 1131: Diddy Time Trials!

2012-01-24T13:06:00.003Z

Last sunday saw what was the first Long Eaton Swimming Club time trial in a very long time, and it was great to see such a good turnout! A BIG thankyou to all the parents for bringing your children along, and a big thankyou to all the volunteers for helping the night run smoothly. These time trials are hopefully, the first of many we hope to hold over the coming year, with provisional dates in April, July, and October. The Learn to Swim and Development squads are incredibly important to the future of the club, and what we are doing with the time trials is gently introducing swimmers to the world of competitive swimming, and building their confidence to move onto better things. Competitive swimming, regardless of what level you are at, is a very exciting to do, it gives a purpose to all those lengths you cover when you train, and although we had a great turnout, there are still many more swimmers that were not swimming on the night, that I would really like to see at the next time trials! The results will be on the board at West Park. Write these times down, keep them safe, you can use them as a reference if you want to enter galas, or compare the times at the next trials!

Alex

Blog 1130: County Entry Forms

2012-01-24T12:13:00.002Z

Just to remind you all that the closing date for the Counties is tomorrow Wednesday 25th January, please make sure that I receive your forms and payment to avoid dissapointment.

Thank you

Blog 1128: Big 50

2012-01-18T12:09:00.003Z

The Big 50 is an event where each swimmer does 50 in each stroke, 50 streamlined kick and 100 IM. The winner is the swimmer with the lowest overall time from the six events. We are looking to hold this event in the middle of Febuary to get swimmers used to multi-eventing on the same evening and there will be awards for the top 3 in each age and a small entrance fee to cover the cost of the event. This event is done by the swimmers at the International Training Centres. It is a fast and fun event and should be looked at by all swimmers in the club. It is only open to club members. Once we have the pool booked, details will be announced, but I hope you all want to enter this fun event in preparation for County Championships.

Blog 1127: COD wrap up

2012-01-16T19:33:00.003Z

A great weekend for all from Long Eaton swimming club with many swimmers hitting their PB's or getting close to them. A few Midland and National qualifying times included in some great racing and skillful racing. It was a massive learning curve for alot of the swimmers having to race against current internationals and despite some nervy performances everyone handled themselves in a professional manner and raced really well in heavy training.

Blog 1126: What time is warm up?

2012-01-16T14:22:00.002Z

This a question asked by a lot of swimmers. The usual answer comes back at what time the actual pool warm up starts. This is the wrong answer, warm up starts from the moment you get up. Make sure you have your kit ready and spare hat and goggles in place along with warm suits and race suits (these need to be tight so as to reduce drag so they should be put on at the last moment). Make sure breakfast is the right foods and you have plenty to drink for the day, afternoon swims are normally slower because of poor hydration and no other factor. Dont arrive on poolside when "warm up starts" this is way too late, you need to be there ready to get in the pool at that time, so arrive at least 15 mins prior to the pool start so you can do a proper blood flow routine in the correct attire and have your hat on in good time so you are ready to start your pool warm up. Follow the warm up procedure given to you by your coach this should be discussed prior to the event so you know what to do when you get there and have one less thing to think about. Even if there is a warm up/down facility open during the gala it is still important to swim in the competitive pool prior to racing to get the feel of it. You can and should do a second warm up if you have been waiting for a while. If there is no pool available then blood flow must be done. When you do all these basic things right you will have a good meet.

Blog 1125 : Chairman and Committee Update

2012-01-13T19:19:00.005Z

LESC Committee are very pleased to announce Grant Walker has accepted the position of Chairman
So the committee is as follows
President Keith Kelly
Vice-Presidents Angela & John Hidle, Sue Kelly and Chris Bostock
Chairman Grant Walker
Vice Chairman Carole Cherry
Secretary Rachel Groves
Treasurer Jane Pryce
Assistant Treasurer Helen Akers
Swimming Secretary Debbie Blaydon
Membership Sec Dominique Muir
Welfare Officer / Child Protection Sue Parker
Volunteer Coordinator Dominique Muir
Swim 21 Coordinator Carole Cherry
Minutes Secretary Debbie Halford
Health and Safety Officer Mick Cendrowski
Social Secretary Angela Wilcox , Kim Coveney to support
Additional Committee members Kevin Dilks and Clare Scattergood

Blog 1124: Help needed at the Open Meet

2012-01-12T22:23:00.004Z

There are all sorts of ways in which YOU can help with the Club's major fund-raising event of the year, to be held on Sunday, 29th January. Please take the time to read this plea from Angela.
click here to read

Blog 1122: Plus Squads

2012-01-12T20:55:00.001Z

Plus squads are to give swimmers an extra session and must not be done as a replacement session. Therefore J1 plus swimmers are to stay in to make a 2 hour session Thursdays

Blog 1121: Wednesday and Friday land training

2012-01-12T20:29:00.003Z

After the meeting on Wednesday to discuss the land training at West park, the following decisions were made.

Callum will continue to coach these sessions
Wednesday and Friday will be split due to numbers and the need for it to be done right.
This Friday is cancelled
The swimmers for Wednesday are J3 plus and any Y & S swimmer under 14 as at the date of training and any masters who wish to attend.
The swimmers for Friday are Y & S swimmers 15 and over and Laura Hindle, Chloe Scattergood Megan Smith, Mason Tipping and Lucy Parsons.

Blog 1120: Contact Details Update

2012-01-12T19:08:00.002Z

A reminder to ALL our Swimmers, parents, volunteers etc
Do you have a new email address ?
Do you have a new telephone number?
Do you have a new mobile number/emergency contact number?

If the answer is yes to any of the above then please contact Dominique and let her know your new contact details
click here

Thanks in advance
.

Blog 1119: Squad rep Needed for Development

2012-01-12T18:58:00.003Z

The club is always looking for parent to be helpers in a variety of ways.

We desperately need a volunteer for Development Squad Rep, direct liaison between coaches and parents.
If you are willing to consider this post please get in touch with our Membership Secretary and Squad Rep Co- ordinator Dominique for further details click here

Thanks
Dominique

Blog 1118: Diddy Development Squad

2012-01-11T14:55:00.005Z

After studying other successful Junior programs and speaking to other coaches Alex and to a lesser extent myself, have come up with an plan to ensure the long term success of the club. The long term success starts at the very bottom of the pathway and that means Learn To Swim. The plan is to take the swimmers that will be involved in Diddy League competitions (swimmers aged between 9 and 12 as at the 16th of September 2012) and create a squad that will train together once a week on a Saturday Morning. This will replace the current J2 and J3 squad session. Those swimmers in J2 that don't qualify will be offered the opportunity to train with J3 once a week as a replacement, and whilst training with a higher level of swimmer this will bring on those swimmers at an accelerated rate, therefore no one will lose out. As this squad will be picked on the teams, it will be picked as a team would be therefore we will be running time trials for LTS (speak to Ian to see if you are selected for the time trials) and Development on Sunday 22nd January from 6pm. Any swimmer who is in the right age band and wishes to be considered for this squad but has not got times on the PB database should approach their coach to get permission to take part in these time trials. Further details will be available after the time trials have been done. These are exciting times for Long Eaton SC and with this development in the club, these will be successful times as well.

Blog:1117 Lost Poolside Shirt

2012-01-11T10:24:00.001Z

Krissy Tomlinson has lost her poolside shirt at Loughborough Pool from the Leicester League on Saturday, if the swimmers that attended could check their tops it does have her name on it,but the one that she was left with is unnamed.

Please let me know if you have it or pass it directly to Krissy.
Thank you

Blog :1116: Saturday Land Training

2012-01-10T09:30:00.003Z

Saturday morning land training has been cancelled indefinitely. This will take effect from Saturday 14th January 2012.

Blog:1115 Draft Programme

2012-01-10T08:54:00.003Z

The Draft Programme for our Open Meet is now available to view on the web-site. Please contact me with any problems.
Thank you

Blog 1114: Wednesday night

2012-01-09T23:04:00.003Z

Wednesday night's land training will now be a swimmers' meeting for Youth & Senior and J3 plus swimmers.

Blog 1113:Leicester League

2012-01-08T12:06:00.002Z

Well done to all the swimmers who swam at the Leicester League gala at Loughborough on Saturday. As Spencer said, this is a very important year for the club, as we strive to build on the success we enjoyed last year. The performance at this gala was very encouraging, I was very impressed with the competitive spirit shown which lead to us winning the gala by a convincing margin. Winning sixteen individual races and twelve of the seventeen relays illustrates the talent we have at the club. Equally important was the way that all swimmers battled to secure points for the team, both in the relays and individual races.

Thanks to all the officials who helped at the gala, and to the team managers who did a great job on a very crowded poolside. Their job was not made any easier by the fact that some swimmers wandered off to either be with parents or talk to other people. Please make certain that team managers are aware of where you are at all times. Swimmers should stay with the team until the last race has finished.

We now need to continue to work hard in training in readiness for the up and coming galas that fall over the next few weeks.

Gala Results:

Loughborough A: 157 Leics Neptune A: 108 Swadlincote: 122 Leics Sharks A: 238

Leics Penguins C: 169 Long Eaton: 267

Bob

Blog:1111 Timekeepers

2012-01-06T17:40:00.006Z

CALLING ALL TIMEKEEPERS

The Open Meet is coming ever closer and we are still in need of many timekeepers to ensure that meet is able to run. The minimum amount of timekeepers and chief timekeepers we need for each session is 9, so we are looking for volunteers from the club to assist with this.
You do not need to volunteer for all 3 sessions, but we would be grateful if you could help at at least one. Please contact Malcolm Stray on longeatonofficials@hotmail.co.uk as soon as possible, even if you can't help so that we don't try to contact you again.

Thank you

Blog 1110: Y & S Loughborough Training

2012-01-06T14:23:00.003Z

The following session at Loughborough have been cancelled/changed upto May 2012

January 29th - Cancelled Long Eaton Open
February 26th - West Park 7-9pm
March 4th/11th Cancelled County Championships
April 15th Cancelled City of Derby level 2

Blog 1109: Safeguarding Course

2012-01-05T16:47:00.002Z

Safeguarding & Protecting Children course.

There will be a course taking place on the 22nd January 2012 at West Park Leisure centrehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif from 0930 to 1230 in the Curzon Room, anyone helping with the children for example Team Managers teachers/coaches and pool side helpers should be attending as it is part of our swim 21 requirement ,this course has been specially arranged for us so a good turnout would be most appreciated.

To book your place please contact Malcolm Stray by email here

Blog 1107: Raffle Prizes

2012-01-04T15:58:00.003Z

We will be holding a raffle at our Open Meet 29th January, please could you let your squad reps have any raffle prizes you may have hidden away in your cupboards, or maybe some chocolates you have had for christmas!!!

Thank you

Blog 1106: Derbyshire Championships 2012

2012-01-04T15:47:00.004Z

Derbyshire Championships 3/4 March, 10/11 March and 17th March 2012

Entry forms can be found on the ASA website, the closing date is 25th January 2012, please make sure that the forms are fully completed along with your times. Cheques made payable to LESC. I will not accept any entries sent by email.

I have some entry forms, along with the entry times and pool venues on the notice board at West Park , please ask your coach if you have any problems either with times or which races you can enter.

Thank you

Blog 1105: Welcome Back

2012-01-04T01:17:00.007Z

Happy New year to you all and welcome back,

Its now time to work off those mince pies and get fit for a brand new year of swimming. Whilst 2011 was the most successful year in the clubs history we cannot sit back on our heels. Now is the time to push on and have an even greater year this year. With the first half of the year being dominated by the Championships - County/Regional and National and British masters, along with Diddy league and Leicester league, then there is the small matter of the Olympics World Masters and Club Championships in the middle of the year, finishing up with Arena league (hopefully another trip to the final and maybe more) National Masters and Midland short course.

Goal setting for these events is easy for a coach to do - more more more, but it is down to you the swimmers to achieve these goals. The main focus for any swimmer should be to obtain the qualifying standards for the big three, County, Regional and National in what ever age group you compete at.

Everyone in Development upwards should be looking at county qualification in multiple events so hopefully this year we will have close to 100 entries, please speak to your coach and club rep about entering. This year for the relays I will be entering a maximum of 3 teams per event, the swimmers who have entered will be picked first and teams will be picked initially on the PB database and then adjusted on performances at the Championships.

My goal for Midlands is to get 20 qualifiers who enter excluding our DX swimmers and relays, which means age group 11-14 (2010 2 qualifiers 2011, 3 qualifiers) 2012? Youth/Senior (2010 1 qualifier, 2011 3 qualifiers) 2012 already 5 qualifiers (the previous figures are based on those that entered).

Nationals, as most of our swimmers who are this standard train at DX we have had only 1 national qualifier for the last 2 years, 1 at age group in 2010 and 1 at youth in 2011. This year we have 2 swimmers who have made the standard for the senior nationals albeit in non qualifying meets so lets see if we can get a few more there.

Good luck to all in achieving your goals and remember you can do them so long as you work hard and attend regularly.

Blog 1102: Christmas Hamper Raffle

2011-12-18T21:36:00.004Z

Thank you to everybody who made donations and sold and bought tickets for the Christmas Hampers Raffle. It made £128 for Club funds.

Lucky winners

Ist Morgan Pryce
2nd Paul (Youth Squad)
3rd Mrs Witten
4th Erin Haddon
5th Mrs Tipping
6th Julie Phillips
Christmas Cake Henry Murdy

Angela Wilcox
(Social Secretary)

Blog 1098: Team Selection/Recruitment

2011-12-15T12:46:00.007Z

Team selection is based around the pb database and done solely on this for any A team gala.

Please click here for an important note from Spencer about Team Selection.

Blog 1095: Moves

2011-12-14T10:55:00.003Z

The squad moves will shortly be announced for them to start from 1st January 2012. The moves are based around the consideration times from the 12 week test results, age, ability, attendance and attitude in training. The first thing looked at are the consideration times, if a swimmer has these then the other factors come into play, just having the times does not guarantee a move. Next we look at the age of a swimmer, not just their chronological age but their physiological age as well, and decide whether or not the training provided is suitable to the swimmers physiological and psychological development. This is the only time full squad moves are made without consideration times. If there are swimmers that are just off these main factors they will be moved into the "plus" squads. These are to provide a "bridge" between squads and give those who were close additional training to help them get the move next time. These sessions must not replace existing training hours. The new sessions for plus squads are :-

Development plus Wednesday at Trent College 7-8pm
J1 Plus Thursday at Trent College 6-7pm
J2 Plus Tuesday at Trent College 8-9pm
J3 Plus Wednesday at West Park 6:30-7:30pm land work 7:30-9:30pm pool work

Blog 1093: Arena League

2011-12-11T13:40:00.003Z

GREAT JOB!

A superb final round from both teams last night, The A team finishing 6th in the league the clubs highest ever finish, and going toe to toe with all the big guns and not looking out of place, causing 3 of the other teams coaches to come over to me to pay this club massive compliments, I cannot express how proud I was of all the swimmers last night and their attitude. The B team finished 4th in the gala but only 10 points off second and we are waiting on other results to find the final league position. This season has given the B team a platform to build on and push for promotion next year. The major learning curve from last night for both teams is we as a club need to realize how good we are and stop comparing ourselves to others. Last night our skills were of the highest level. We just have to keep working hard hold the skill level and ensure we attend as many sessions as possible. If we do all of this then we can push for a top 3 finish in league 1 and promotion from league 3. The hard work starts now for next year. Its Poznan time!!!!!

Note: individual results are now posted on left-hand side, under "Results".

Blog 1090: Open Meet 2012

2011-12-08T18:05:00.002Z

Just to remind everyone entry forms and payment need to be with me no later than 7th January 2012. Why not sponser a race it is £30.00 with a race of your choice, let me know if you would be interested so your name can be added as a sponser to the programme.

Blog 1083: Midland Short Course

2011-12-05T15:29:00.004Z

This weekend saw the Midland Short Course competition at Corby. For the first time in years we had individual qualifiers and relay teams. Ggiven the standard of qualification for this meet, it is rare for non - DX swimmers to qualify, let alone for a club of our size to be able to put in relay teams with the swimmers who aren't swimming for DX. In the individuals events, the four qualifiers that entered, Hannah Cox ( 3 events) Josephine Parker, Kate Williamson and Ryan Cendrowski (1 Event each), all swam within 0.3 seconds of their personal best times or better, with Hannah just missing the final in the 50m Breast. Given the pool closure and strike action the week before this competition, and that it was the first time at a level with many international swimmers, these were great performances. The relay teams did really well as well; with swimmers with slower times stepping in for quicker swimmers who could not be there, all the teams were within 3 seconds of their respective entry times. There were again lessons to be learned from this competition, the main one being the level of expectation swimmers put on themselves. To swim a PB, or to be close to one, is an amazing achievement and one that should be celebrated,. Yes it is frustrating if you just missed out on a National Time or a final, but be pleased with yourself, as you have never gone faster. Do not compare your times to others around saying I should have got this or that; look at how you swam and areas for improvement. Do not be disappointed because you are not as quick as an international swimmer. Remember, they were once doing the times you are doing now and they work hard and do things right to improve to the standard they are at. Keep hydrated - the top swimmers were going through 3 or 4 litre bottles a day whilst I rarely saw one of our swimmers with a bottle in their hand. Learn these lessons and you will continue to qualify and improve.

Blog 1081: Hoodies

2011-11-30T17:42:00.002Z

HUG A LESC HOODIE!!

A newcomer to the club's available merchandise is a black hoodie bearing the LESC shark logo on the chest and the back (see accompanying photos).This quality heavyweight hooded sweatshirt is available in both Childs and Adult sizes (small/medium/large and extra large) and is made from 50% cotton and 50% polyester.It is very reasonably priced at £13 for child sizes and £15 for adult sizes.and will be available to purchase at West Park pool this coming Sunday, 4th. December between 5pm and 7pm.

If you have not already ordered your hoodie(s) please email me at : graham@meadows86.freeserve.co.uk or phone me on 0115 973 4620.

Graham Meadows

LESC club shop

Blog 1079 : URGENT - Outstanding FEES

2011-11-28T16:09:00.003Z

On reconciliation of September's finances, 40% of members either underpaid or did not pay any fees, therefore as a matter of urgency please can you amend your standing orders as per the bank mandates that were issued in August and submit any underpayments to Jane Pryce or your squad representatives asap.

If you have any queries please contact Jane Pryce, Treasurer - click here

Jane Pryce
Treasurer

Blog 1076: Long Eaton's New President

2011-11-27T20:14:00.002Z

Those of you who were at the AGM on Thursday will already know that Keith Kelly was elected as our new President.
Keith follows in the footsteps of Bill Camm, who was our first President, and who had been a staunch supporter of competitive swimming in Long Eaton for over thirty years.

Blog 1074: Arena League

2011-11-25T13:09:00.003Z

The A team are at Coventry, the bus leaves at 4pm., and the B team are at Ilkeston, the warm up starts at 5pm.
We are going to have T shirts printed for the A team to commemorate our first ever final at this event. If anyone wants one of these T- shirts other than the A team swimmers, please contact me with sizes.They will cost £5 each and I need your order within the next 3 days so we can get them printed. They will be Orange with black lettering on the back. It would be great to have all supporters in the crowd together, and see a great big block of orange, just like the Dutch football team. It looks really impressive. Even if you have not been selected to swim for either team you are always welcome to come and support your club, and it would be a great experience for those not swimming to go to Coventry, witness the final and see some real top class swimming.

Blog 1070: County Sprints

2011-11-22T09:25:00.003Z

The club had another amazing day in the pool this Sunday at County Sprints. With around 60 swimmers competing we had someone in nearly every race and everyone equalled or bettered their short course PB at least once, proving that the hard work you and the coaching staff are putting in is working. Improve your attendance and improve the details of the races and 3rds will turn into seconds and seconds into firsts.

Blog 1069: Arena League

2011-11-22T09:18:00.002Z

Sorry for the delay of this post but there is good reason. I have been waiting for the results to come through from all the gala's prior to reporting and I have just received confirmation that the A team are in the top 6 of the league and therefore for the first time in the any Long Eaton club's history we have made the Regional final. This is an amazing achievement and one that is 2 years ahead of my planning. Every swimmer has done the club proud in both the A and B team performances so far with the B team lying 13th in their table and also heading for their highest ever finish. This goes to show the massive improvement the club has made in the pool in such a short space of time and the increase in strength of depth. This is only the beginning and provided that we can keep the club going behind the scenes (please step forward and be part of the committee the more help we get the less work everyone has to do) this club will move forward and continue to progress.

Blog 1067: are you Anybody?

2011-11-21T15:55:00.005Z

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.

There was an important job to do and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it but Nobody did it.

Somebody thought that Anybody could do it, but Nobody realised that Everybody wouldn't do it.

It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done!

Blog 1065: Ponds Forge

2011-11-20T22:08:00.001Z

Three "Wise what ?" . . .

Well done to all the swimmers today.

Blog 1063: Derbyshire Sprints

2011-11-18T15:15:00.002Z

Swimmers wanting to withdraw from any event must do so by contacting Mrs Joyce Mellor 01332 677709 no later that 8.30pm on Saturday, withdrawals after Saturday must phone 0792977809 no later than 8.30am on Sunday otherwise you will be charged £5.00 per event.

Blog 1055 – Long Eaton Open Sponsors – thank you and......

2011-11-08T22:41:00.002Z

Back in September I blogged an appeal for help with regard to Sponsors for our Open Meet. I would like to thank the parents that came forward at that time and provided us with the potential company contact names for us to approach – we were given 6 new potential company sponsors!

As you might have figured out by now, I’m asking for more help – 6 contact names does not reflect the total number of potential connections that our club membership should be able to provide. Again, I’d like to stress, we don’t expect any parents to approach the companies themselves – WE WILL DO THAT.

So, if you know (or work for) a company that might be willing to offer some sponsorship, then please pass that information on – if you have a contact name/phone number for the company, that would be even better. If you can help, please pass the information on to either your squad reps, any member of the committee or email using this link click here
Thanks in advance!

Blog 1054: Duel in the Pool

2011-11-08T14:45:00.003Z

On the weekend before Christmas there will be a Duel in the Pool held between the USA and Europe in the Olympic pool at Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Our very own Helen Akers is one of two British Officials to be selected for this meet.

Helen said she is very excited about the meet, but is gutted that Micheal Phelps isn't swimming ( I think you might have some competition there Dave! lol).

I would like to pass on my congratulations, and the club's, to Helen on this amazing achievement.

No UK coverage so far announced but check

GBsport.tv and

Dec. 16, 7:00-9:00 p.m. ET on Universal Sports
Dec. 17, 2:00-4:00 p.m. ET on NBC

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/World/28576.asp?q=USA-Swimming-Announces-2012-Duel-in-the-Pool-Roster

Blog 1053: Midland Shortcourse

2011-11-04T12:35:00.006Z

Midland Shortcourse entries need to be in by November 10th you can find the entry form here

As this is a junior and senior competition the times are quiet tough but can be achieved since January 1st. The following swimmers have achieved the qualifying standard.
Becky Fox - 50 Fly, Free, 100 Fly, Free I.M, 200 Free
Hannah Jones 50 Fly, 100 Fly, 100 Back, I.M., 200 Fly, Back, Free, I.M., 400 I.M.
Kay Goulden, 50 Fly, 100 Fly
Tyler Ann Black 50 Fly, Free, 100 fly, Free, IM, 200 Free, IM
Hannah Cox, 50 Breast, 100 Breast, IM
Josephine Parker 100 Back
Kate Williamson 100 Back
Ryan Cendrowski 50 Fly
Callum Henley 50 Fly, 100 Fly
Kevin Wallbank 50 fly, Back, Free, 100 Fly, Back, breast, free IM, 200 Fly, Back, free, IM, 400 Free, IM, 1500 free
Greg Cherry, 50 Fly, Free, 100 Fly, free, 200 Free
Oliver Davidson 100 Back, IM, 200 Back
Ben Goulden 50 Breast
Mischa Menzies 50 Free, 100 Free, 200 free, IM, 400 free

Congratulations and well done to all the above swimmers.

Blog 1049: Belper Marlins

2011-11-02T13:29:00.002Z

Belper Marlins open meet saw 34 swimmers from Long Eaton compete in a fun relaxed meet. Lots of personnel best times were broken over the course of the meet with Chloe Blaydon wining Top Girl and Katie Sloan coming 3rd. Whilst we are achieving personnel best times it is important that we realize what we do in training effects the outcome of every race and the little details will make the biggest improvements, things like knowing your stroke count on backstroke so you don't have to slow down into the walls or even turn to early, every time you get to dive do it properly instead of flopping into the pool. One more area the club can improve on is nutrition in particular the intake of fluids during the day, I was asking swimmers how much they had drank coming into the afternoon and most said a bottle (500ml) on a normal day you need 2 liters of water (water not pop or energy drinks) and when you are sitting around for hours on a hot oppressive pool side you will dehydrate alot quicker than a normal day so the need to get water into the system is more, this is one of the biggest factors in afternoon session swims not matching morning sessions swims.

Blog 1048: National Masters Report

2011-11-02T13:26:00.005Z

A team of Masters Swimmers from Long Eaton Swimming Club made the short journey up the M1 to Sheffield this weekend to compete at the British Gas ASA National Masters and Senior Age Group Championships. They returned with a haul of 3 Gold, 7 Silver and 3 Bronze medals along with a Record Breaking performance.

The Ladies 120 plus age group team of Rebecca Fox, Elizabeth Simpson, Laura Marinelli and Helen Akers went one better at these short course Championships, by swimming to a British and European short course Record in the four by 200metres freestyle relay, adding it to the British long course Record they achieved in the event earlier in the year. They also won Gold in the same age group in the four by 50m relay and silver in the four by 100m relay in a time inside the old British Record. As lead off swimmer in this event, and therefore able to set an individual time, Rebecca was also able to claim the British Record in the 30-34 years age group for the 100 metres freestyle.

Rebecca and Helen joined Greg Cherry and Colin Prescott to take Silver in two very close finishes, in both the mixed freestyle relay at 400 and 800 metres in the 120 years plus age group. It was also Silver for the 200 years plus team of Maggi Tuck, Mary Holland with Julie Phillips and Fiona Starbuck, neither of whom had swum competitively for many years, in the 200m freestyle relay.

The team entered a total of 15 relay teams across the weekend and in addition to the European record many performances bettered the existing British Records, only to be pipped into second place.

Mary Holland was the only individual Gold medal winner and this came in the 100metres freestyle in the 65/69 years age group. Elizabeth and Colin, swimming in the 35-39 years age groups each took Bronze in the 200metres individual medley and it was another medal for Elizabeth, this time Silver in the 400metres freestyle and in the same event, a Silver for Mary too.

Pete Irving took Silver in the 45/49 years age group in the 200metres backstroke.

Chief Coach Spencer George said he was delighted with the performance of the Masters Squad at this three day event proving that, across the board from the Development Squad to the Masters Squad, the club is improving at a rapid pace and is set to become one of the most successful clubs in the Region. He had a special mention for ladies who achieved the European record and congratulated all the swimmers on their performances and for helping to raise the profile of swimming in Long Eaton.

Masters Coach, Dave Akers, had high expectations of the swimmers after a very successful training cycle and he was not disappointed. As well as record breaking and medal winning performances all of the swimmers rose to the occasion and produced some outstanding swimming with many masters personal best times along with a handful of lifetime best times. ‘I was particularly happy with the way that the group came together as a team and encouraged and promoted great performances. To be able to take fifteen relay teams onto the national stage and come away with a number of medals is an indication that Long Eaton Masters swimming is on the up and will continue to grow and become a major force in UK masters swimming. Indeed, I am looking to take a team to the World Masters Swimming Championships in Riccione in Italy in the summer of 2012.

He added, ‘It is nice to see that the younger swimmers (18-24) have a place to shine as they transition into Masters Age Groups (25 and over) and they had a great competition’ It is good for the Club to be able to offer them the opportunity and to be able to take great club swimmers and turn them into outstanding Masters swimmers when traditionally they may have left the sport for good.’

The team is now focused on the Long Course championships in March 2012, and the following World Championships in June 2012 for which Coach Dave is looking to find sponsorship to enable more swimmers to experience World Class competition.

Blog 1047: Attendance

2011-11-02T13:16:00.002Z

Whilst we as a club have no attendance criteria (yet) I am disappointing to see the low figures that have been passed to me by the coaches for the last 2 months. 30 % is simply not good enough. Whilst we encourage swimmers to take part in other sporting activities attending 2 out of 7 sessions a week will lead to no additional improvement other than that caused by growth. Please try everything you can to get to as many sessions as you can or I will be forced into bringing in attendance criteria which may mean swimmers moving down squads, which is something I really want to avoid.

Blog 1046: Up coming meets

2011-11-02T13:00:00.003Z

Excluding the Arena League we have City of Derby level 1 (entries to Debbie by 20th of Nov), Midland Short Course (entries to Debbie by 8th Nov, our open meet (entries in ASAP, so we don't have a situation like last year where we had to turn away some of our swimmers because the meet was full). All swimmers that qualify for these meets should enter them and enter as many events as possible, especially in the under 14 age group.

Blog 1043: Blue Seventy

2011-11-01T16:11:00.002Z

Richard Tomlinson has kindly negiotated a 25% discount with Blue Seventy for swimwear and swim equipment. The code you need to quote is LE25.

Blog 1039 : Team Manager's Course

2011-10-30T13:26:00.002Z

Would anyone be interested in attending an ASA Team Manager Module 1 training course ?
It will take place on Tuesday 13th December, 7-9.15pm, at Queens Leisure Centre, Derby.

The club urgently needs new Team Managers ,to support the swimmers poolside at league fixtures, galas and open meets.

If you are interested or require further information please contact me ASAP click here
Rachel

Blog 1029: Swim Hats

2011-10-13T16:38:00.004+01:00

We will be ordering the Long Eaton Swim Hats with names of swimmers printed on them.

The price will be between £5.50 - £6.00.

Please email Jane Pryce by clicking here by the end of the week if you would like to order one.

Blog 1028: Arena League

2011-10-13T14:58:00.003+01:00

Unfortunately I was away for the first round of the Arena League, however the reports I have had back fill me with pride. After looking at the results and speaking to coaches, swimmers and parents, I get the feeling that everyone gave everything they had and I cannot ask more than that. The A team had a very tough draw with 5 teams that finished above us in the league last year including 2 that finished in the top 4. Whilst finishing 4th in the gala, which was probably a fair result, we have to remember that you get the same points if you finish 10 meters behind or .1 of a second behind, so the points totals did not reflect the performance the A team put in, with many swimmers doing personal bests and finishing close to the swimmer finishing first. This was a really tight gala and most races could have gone either way based on a few points of a second, so keep working on the details in training to reverse these results. The B team swam well above themselves going up against 5 A teams and finishing 3rd in the gala. The fighting spirit, grit and determination shone through and another amazing number of personal bests achieved. All the swimmers that competed did their club proud and therefore I have tried to keep the teams the same for the next round, with a couple of swimmers making it into the A team from the B and a couple being brought in to strengthen the B team. The next round is on November 12th and the tick sheets will be posted over the weekend. Please tick off ASAP. Keep up the good work.

Blog 1026 : Junior Captains

2011-10-13T13:36:00.001+01:00

Joshua Bestwick and Esther Halford are the Junior Captains.

Congratulations to you both.

Blog 1024: Club Captains

2011-10-08T11:20:00.004+01:00

Nominations have now closed for Club Captains for 2011-12.

The Male Club Captain is Alistair Groves and the Female Club Captain is Josephine Parker.
Congratulations to you both.

There are multiple nominations for the Junior Captains positions,
so elections will take place, starting at Trent on 10th October.

Candidates are:
Girls Junior Captain: Esther Halford, Katie Sloan, Lana Dilks and Natasha Pearson
Boys Junior Captain: Joshua Bestwick, Matthew Cartwright and Samuel Frearson

Blog 1021: Belated Congratulations

2011-10-05T00:09:00.002+01:00

Congratulations and thanks to the following people who recently achieved an ASA national qualification as time-keepers:
Sharon Bestwick
Sophie Muir-Harris
Luisa Pancisi
Muriel Sharples
Amanda Foster
Well done all of you!

Blog 1020: Gala Entry Forms/Swim Camp

2011-10-03T17:12:00.003+01:00

The closing date for Belper Marlin is tomorrow, please could you hand all your entry forms and payment (cheques Long Eaton Swim Club).

The closing date for Ponds Forge is 14th October.

If you are interested in going to the Swim Camp next year there is a tick sheet both at West Park and Trent. There is a meeting on the 13th October at West Park to answer any questions you may have. The meeting is at 8.00pm in the curzon room.

Blog 1019: Great weekend

2011-10-03T15:54:00.004+01:00

Swimmers competed in 3 different gala's over the weekend and performed extremely well in all 3. Coming away with lots of Medals, Speeding Tickets and most importantly Personal Best performances. This is even more impressive given that we have only just started the season and are in heavy training. The fact that you can swim fast whilst doing this lies a lot within the 2 week break, this is a process that all swimmers go through and having spoken to several coaches over the weekend they were surprised we only have 2 weeks as many of them have 3 weeks or a month. The break gives the body a chance to recover after a full season of hard training, so when you do come back to training you are fresh and ready to go. As always there are many lessons to learn from these gala's despite the high level of personal bests. Once again starts and turns come top of the list, the land training will help with this and those that are eligible to do the extra strength and conditioning should really find a way to do this as the starts and turns from those doing it were already noticeably much improved. This is the area where land work helps most. You can also remember to do all your turns correctly in training and when ever you dive in do it properly not just flopping into the pool. Other details we need to work are making sure we warm up correctly and follow the coaches instructions for warm ups (and cool downs where available) in particular when doing Backstroke - count your strokes at RACE PACE during the warm up for both a turn and a finish, and finally nutrition, whilst the club are looking at putting on another talk on this subject you can read the great article from this months swimming times which will help (a copy is on the board at West Park) you need to make sure you are hydrated or performances will get worse during the day, remember you need a minimum of 2 liters a day but more when you are sat on a hot poolside and competing for hours on end. Add these details to your training and whilst in competitions and performances will be even better than they are now.

Blog 1016: A Team Selected

2011-10-03T13:35:00.005+01:00

The team members are as follows

Krissy Tomlinson Elle Pryce Hannah Jones Rebecca Fox
Katie Sloan Kay Goulden Chloe Scattergood Hannah Sullivan
Natasha Pearson Francesca Muir-Harris Alex Brown Hannah Cox
Mollie Daniels Megan Smith Joesphine Parker
Bethany Sharples Tyler Ann Black

Josh Langfield Oliver Davidson Kevin wallbank Mischa menzies
Matt Cartwright Gabriel Calland Ryan Cendrowski Ben Goulden
Joshua Bestwick William Foster Alex Chapman Steven Barrett
Sam Frearson Daniel Sloan Nathern james Sam Parker
Morgan Pryce (reserve)

The Bus leaves West park for Nuneaton on Saturday at 4:30pm

Blog 1015: Help Wanted – but this time it’s easy!

2011-09-30T00:11:00.001+01:00

Our own Open Meet is the club’s most important fund-raising event of the year, and the profit actually comes from the money we raise from sponsorship. It is getting increasingly difficult to get sponsorship, so the help we need is to be given the names of potential sponsors that we can approach. We don’t expect any parents to approach the companies themselves – WE WILL DO THAT.
If you know (or work for) a company that might be willing to offer some sponsorship, then please pass that information on – if you have a contact name/phone number for the company, that would be even better. If you can help, please pass the information on to either your squad reps, any member of the committee or email using this link click here
Thanks in advance!

Blog 1012: More success for Long Eaton athlete

2011-09-24T14:44:00.002+01:00

Sam Parker won his age group at the British Cross Triathlon Championships today. Well done Sam from all at Long Eaton

Blog 1004: Alex on Diddy success

2011-09-19T12:47:00.002+01:00

Well done to every single swimmer that has represented Long Eaton Swimming Club over the past few months in the Diddy league competition, all the coaches and parents are very proud of you. You have shown incredible ability, and commitment, and have competed extremely well against much larger clubs. The A team competed in the Final and finished in 3rd, narrowly being beaten by Nottingham Leander who came 2nd. This is a great achievement and shows how much we have improved as we only finished 7th last year, not even making the final! There were some winners on the night, Josh Langfield in the boys 11 years 50 fly, Matt Cartwright in the boys 11 years 50 back and 50 free, and Francesca Harris in the girls 11 years 50 free. Overall it was a very enjoyable afternoon and we were arguably the most colourful club on the poolside! A massive thank you to all the parents for giving up their time to bring the swimmers to training and compete for the club, without your dedication, we would not be able to compete at the level we are at!Thank you to all the volunteers involved in running the club behind the scenes. And finally to finish, a big thank you to George Barker and Rosy Smith for collecting the league pendants and medals, this is sadly their last year in the diddys, and they definitely gave the crowd a very warm thank you and goodbye and showed what a great spirit we have flowing through the team!If these results are anything to go by, the future of Long Eaton Swimming Club is definitely looking bright!

Keep on working hard!

Alex, Bob, Kaye, and Ian!

Blog 1003: Success and Improvement

2011-09-18T20:17:00.003+01:00

Today saw the final round of the Notts and Derby Diddy league. With both A and B teams in action. The A team had made the final and lay in second place going into the gala. After a tremendous team performance the A team finished 3rd overall, this is a massive improvement on last year as we didn't even make the final and finished 7th in the league. The B team despite being weakend once again held its own against other clubs A teams and put on a really great performance, our team spirit (we were the only team left together at the end cheering on our cannon relay) and professional start with team blood flow was noted by other coaches present. This is a really successful start to the season but we have only just started our Journey and Starts, Turns and details still all need alot of work on. So lets keep working hard and listening to the coaching staff so we can continue on our journey and next year lets push for top of the league! A massive thank you to all the volunteers who have helped out at these gala's and a real big well done to all the swimmers and the coaching team lead by Alex and Bob, Kaye and Ian all your hard work is paying off keep it up guys and lets keep the success of Long Eaton growing.

Blog 1002: Swim Hats

2011-09-17T17:04:00.003+01:00

At the diddys tomorrow make sure you all wear your Long Eaton Swim hats.

Could those of you that have not paid for your hats, please give to your squad reps. The price of the hats was £5.50 each.

Thank you

Blog 1001: Angela's Aquaforce Award

2011-09-17T14:04:00.003+01:00

This year the club nominated Angela Hidle for the Derbyshire Aquaforce Award for Outstanding Services to Club Swimming, because of her immense voluntary commitment within swimming, spanning over thirty years and her continual dedication to the success of this club.

The excellent news is Angela won , resulting in her automatically being entered into East Midland Region Award , which she then went on to win, from five other County submissions.

( A national winner is now being considered, fingers crossed for Angela)

So congratulations Angela on behalf of the committee, swimmers/members and all parents.

Blog 1000 – Very Important Notice (well it is the 1000th blog)

2011-09-15T00:15:00.001+01:00

The success and indeed, the survival, of Long Eaton swimming club is very largely dependent on the goodwill of a limited number of volunteers. The overall planning and management of the club is like running a small business, except there are no shareholders and directors there to take a financial reward.
At the last AGM, there were not even enough volunteers to form a full committee, meaning the management workload of the club has been increasingly falling on the shoulders of those few people who put themselves forward to serve on the committee. Simple jobs like ‘Minute Secretary’ remain un-filled, meaning people already performing important roles within the club have to pick up that task. I appreciate that not everyone wants to commit to being part of a committee, but there is a lot of work that can be done away from that area. For instance, there is a need for people to help fund-raise – we are constantly trying to find ways to bolster club funds so that we can keep swimming fees down, but there is a limit to the work the same people can keep doing. I’d be happy if a group of parents got together and formed a ‘fund-raising’ sub-committee! Another area that will impact our swimmers is the club’s presentation evening. We have a date provisionally agreed, we have a room provisionally booked and the entertainment is being sorted. What we DON’T have is someone to organise the trophies – if someone doesn’t volunteer to perform that task, then the simple matter is that the children will be deprived of ‘their night’ – we cannot present trophies unless someone collects and organises the trophies to be presented.
There are lots of other areas I could talk about where help is needed, and more importantly, lots of areas where people DO give up their precious time to help, whether it is on poolside, at galas or being a point of contact for the various squads. Please consider a way in which you might be able to help your club!

Blog:999 Swim Camp 2012

2011-09-14T16:30:00.002+01:00

Please find on the notice boards at both West Park and Trent college a tick sheet for you to put your name on if you are interested in going to our swim camp.

We will be going to Torremolinos on Sunday 14th till 21st October 2012. This will be on a full board basis and there will be 10x2 hour swim sessions. The estimated cost is £750.00 and a non returnable deposit of £200.00 is required by the 15th October.

This is not in Derbyshire School holidays but your school will authorise this camp, and you will not be marked as absent.

We will be holding a meeting at west park on the 13th October for parents and swimmers to answer any questions you may have.

This camp is open to swimmers who are aged 12 and over as of the 14th October 2012, and must have shown they have the ability of swimming both morning and evening sessions.

Blog 996: Diddy Swimmers

2011-09-13T15:43:00.002+01:00

Hi to all you swimmers that are swimming in this weekends Diddy Gala, Alex Phillips has invited you to swim this Wednesday (tomorrow night) at Trent College pool between 7-8pm.

Blog 995 : SQUAD Reps

2011-09-12T19:24:00.004+01:00

A big thank you to the following parent volunteers for being the squads representative

Development: Claire Walker
J1:Kate Tipping
J2: Sarah Tew and Angela Wilcox
J3: Debbie Halford
Youth & Senior:Tracey Dennis (Youth)
& Helen Akers (Senior)
Masters : Maggie Tucker

Please hand in your entries to open meets to them as well as Debbie Blaydon

Blog 991: Arena league 2011

2011-09-07T16:19:00.002+01:00

Hi all I have just finished selecting the teams for the Arena League, they will be posted on the notice board shortly. Please tick your name off ASAP.

With competition for places being really close and some swimmers missing out by less than point 2 of a second, I have put a reserves list up for the first time ever. Their are 4 reserve swimmers from each age group male and female, showing how much we as a club have improved over the last year.

The dates for Arena League are 8th October, 12th November and 10th December. If we get full teams out in all 3 rounds this will be best the year the club has ever had in the competition.

Blog 989: Great Start

2011-09-05T14:43:00.003+01:00

A great start to the season already, with some major Personal Bests in the distance events, held last night.

Thank you to all who helped out last night.

Let's keep this start going and swim well at the Diddy League final (please tick the board) and the October galas. The Derventio eXcel gala has just extended its closing date by 2 weeks, so if you originally missed this gala, please enter it.

We have the first round of the Arena League the week after, so race practice is vital. The teams for this event will be up shortly.

Blog 988: Long Distance events

2011-09-05T10:59:00.005+01:00

Thank you to all the volunteers, last night, without whom the event could not have taken place.

Malcolm Stray

The results can now be found here
The FINA points totals will be updated shortly.

Blog 984: Time for Champions

2011-09-01T10:41:00.002+01:00

As the new season starts on Sunday remember the things we have worked on in this pre season and take them into your training with you when you go back to your normal sessions.

Act like a champion and you will become a champion, have the self discipline to carry out instructions and maintain those instructions throughout every session.

Do the details required - Heart rate checks, underwater skills, turns, finishes and swimming at the right pace.

Remember the sooner you do all the details right the sooner you will adapt and improve.

Take pride in your performance as a Long Eaton swimmer from the moment you step out of the car to the moment you get back in it, do your bloodflow exercises prior to the pool and do your full stretching routine after the pool.

When all this is done and done consistently then you are acting like a champion acts and with time you will become a champion yourself.

Lets have a season of CHAMPIONS.

Blog 983: New season starts

2011-08-27T15:05:00.004+01:00

Next Sunday sees the start of the new season with the Distance Championships, J1, J2 and J3 training at Queen's is cancelled due to the Club Distance Championships. If this affects you, then enter the Distance races, either the 800 or 1500. Distance races are actually really good to compete in and should be at least tried. The closing date is 31st August so please get your entries to your squad reps ASAP. The closing dates for the October galas are near as well, so enter these galas. Those that have been selected for Diddy League please tick off as soon as possible. Remember the A team are in the league final and so make sure you are available. Finally the Arena League starts again in October so the teams for that will be out soon. The Gala programme is up on the board so make sure you are available for the galas on the programme. Based on last year we could be in for the club's best ever result in the league if we have full teams available. As with any year, the league dates are the second weekend of October, November and December.

Blog 982 - Youth/Senior squad criteria

2011-08-25T12:20:00.000+01:00

With the slight alteration made from Age Group to Youth and Senior Squad the selection criteria has changed. Please see the new criteria on the side of this page. More factors are involved than just times as I want to ensure that swimmers are in the appropriate squad for not only their age but also their physical development.

Blog 981 : Congratulations Spencer -Committed Coach

2011-08-23T12:35:00.005+01:00

Spencer became in August 2011 - Derbyshire's most committed coach.

To read Spencer's Achievements click here

Blog 980: New season New start

2011-08-23T11:22:00.001+01:00

Hi all. The new season is upon us in less than 2 weeks and it’s time to make sure we have everything ready to build upon last years great work. That being said, please ensure that you have all the correct kit - Fins, Kick Board, Pull Bouys, Paddles, Snorkles, Club Shirt, Hat etc. These can be ordered from Graham Meadows. It is vital that you have all the equipment you need to train correctly so that improvements can be made. After last season’s success, other clubs are starting to look at us, not only from our own County but up and down the Country as well, and therefore we need to be setting an example of how a successful club behaves. This means taking pride in everything we do, looking and acting like a team, not only at galas but at training as well. We are all trying to get to the same goal and so we have to pull together as a team and support each other. As soon as you turn up for training or for a competition, you are representing not only yourself but your parents, your coach and Long Eaton Swimming Club, so let’s make sure we show the world a shining example of team ethics and discipline. This is addressed to the swimmers, but, parents, why not turn up to a gala in Long Eaton Shirt and where possible sit with other parents to show your support for the club? As a swimmer I remember the feeling of getting on the block and seeing my team’s colours, not only on poolside, but also in the crowd as well. Knowing that all those people were supporting me, inspired me to try harder in every race where I could see the support. Last season was a fantastic one for the club; let us make this one even more memorable.

Blog 979 : Squad Reps

2011-08-22T16:19:00.002+01:00

The squad reps for the new season
Development: Volunteer/parent required, anyone interested contact Dominique Muir on 07854385225 or Click Here
J1: Kate Tipping
J2: Angela Wilcox & Sarah Tew
J3: Debbie Halford
Youth & Senior: Tracey Dennis (Youth) & Helen Akers (Senior)

Blog 974: Olympics for Helen

2011-08-15T12:18:00.002+01:00

Great news for Helen Akers a member of Long Eaton swimming club, one of the best swimmers in her age group in the country and a very respected official up and down the country. Helen has been selected to officiate at the 2012 Olympic games. Well done Helen from all at Long Eaton.

Blog 972: Erewash Triathlon

2011-08-15T09:26:00.002+01:00

A huge 'Thank You' to those of you helped at the swimming disipline of the Erewash Triathlon on Saturday and Sunday. A donation will go into the Club account in recognition of this help.

Sue Kelly

It was good to recognize some Club members taking part. On Saturday Joshua Bestwick, Bethanie Dennis, Christopher Stray and Bethany Rae-Mclean all competed and on Sunday we saw Greg Cherry, Alex Chapman and Glyn Allsop in action.

Blog 971: Swim Camp 2012

2011-08-12T11:58:00.001+01:00

We have finally agreed on a venue for our training camp in October 2012. It will be Torremolinos in Spain. The cost of the Camp will be approximately £750 depending on flights. This will include Flights, full board hotel, 10 x 2 hours training sessions in an outdoor 50m pool, all transfers taxes and insurance. Swimmers wishing to go must provide a copy of their European Health Insurance Card, passport and a £200 deposit (so we can get the flights booked) no later than October 1st. The camp is open to any swimmer over the age of 12 who can prove they can make 2 training sessions a day. Should the camp be over-subscribed, swimmers in the higher squads will be given priority. No parents are allowed to attend the camp other than the team managers as this will disrupt the camp and remove one of the major reasons for the camp which is taking swimmers out of their comfort zone and teaching them new life skills. Any Masters swimmers wishing to go will be allowed to have their families there, however they must attend all camp activities. Over the course of the year between getting the deposits and going on the camp, we will be organising fund-raising events to further reduce the cost of the camp - all swimmers who sign up for the camp will be expected to take part in these.

Blog 970: Teenage Cancer Trust

2011-08-07T18:20:00.002+01:00

Bethany Dennis is competing in the junior Triathlon on the 13th of August. She is raising money for the Teenage Cancer Trust, anyone wishing to sponsor her please contact Tracey Dennis

Blog 969: Kit

2011-08-07T18:02:00.002+01:00

Hi all please check your kit for the new season, Kick Board, Pull Bouy, Finns, Snorkels, hand Paddles, Club T Shirts, club Hats etc. If you require anything please contact Graham Meadows on 0115 973 4620 or by email on graham@meadows86.freeserve.co.uk

Blog 968: Thank you

2011-08-04T10:52:00.002+01:00

It has been brought to my attention that not everyone heard my speech at club championship so I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers from committee members to anyone who helps out on poolside whether it be during training or at gala's, without you the club could not function. I would also like to thank the parents for bringing the swimmers to the sessions and supporting the coaching staff and all the swimmers not just their own child. The swimmers for all their hard work this season and making the improvements that you have and my coaching staff, Alex, Bob, Kaye, Ian, Paul and Dave for all your hard work and support this season. I hope we continue to work together to keep up the progress Long Eaton have made this year.

Blog 967: What A Year

2011-08-03T14:41:00.002+01:00

As my first year as Head Coach of Long Eaton swimming club I don’t think I could of asked for more. It has been success after success for the club in all aspects. Here are just a few comparisons we can make between this time last year and now.

Arena League

2010 finished 14 2011 finished 15, this was despite decisions in the first round going against us and being placed in a draw in the second round with 3 of the top ten clubs in the area.

Time Trial results

On the 12 week tests we as a club have an average improvement of nearly 15 seconds on the 200 Free and 12 on the 200 IM and this was done with steady progress across the season. When we first brought in the consideration times only 2 swimmers had their own squads consideration time let alone the squad above it’s, now nearly all the swimmers have their own squads times, this goes further to prove that basing moves on this system works and shows the improvements made in all the squads.

DX Swimmers

Last year we had 4 and we now have 7

Midland Age Group

Last year 1 competitor this year 6

Midland Youths

Last year we had 1 competitor this year we had 6 with Hannah Cox finishing in 4^th on the 50 breast

Level 1 Open meets

We had 1 swimmer enter a level 1 meet the highest open meet you can enter in September at the DX open in April we had 12 entries.

Leicester League

We once again made the final of Leicester League and we did this without many of our top swimmers for 2 out of the 3 rounds

Diddy League

Last year we finished 7 missing out on the final this year we are ranked second going into the final round

Club Champs

We had nearly 40 competition best times and this was without some of our top swimmers who were at national championships

Masters

Rebecca Fox from seniors broke several British records and 1 European record with a mix of senior and masters swimmers collecting medals at Midland and British masters along with a relay British Record.

All in all the standard of swimming at Long Eaton is on the up and hopefully we can continue in the same vain next year and better this years results.

Oh I nearly forgot – we beat City Of Derby in a team gala for the first time ever!!!

Blog 966: Neils long swim

2011-08-03T10:21:00.002+01:00

I received this report from Graham Meadows on his sons race at Coniston water. I know alot of you do other events and are very good at them so if it is swimming related (open water, Tri etc) please send me a report and I will post it on here, we as a club are proud of all our members achievements.

On Sunday 17 July Neil entered his first long (ie. over 3 k) swim-the Coniston Senior Championship over the 5.5 mile course from top to bottom of Coniston.Aiming for a time of sub two and three quarter hours, Neil finished in 2 hrs and 28mins to take 3rd place out of 19 starters in the Mens category and to also receive the coveted Arthur Ayres trophy "for endeavour".Also his time automatically qualified him for entry in the 10.5 mile Winderemere BLDSA event next year.

It was gratifying to have 5 LESC entrants in the Midlands Open Water championships at Bosworth Water on 10 July.

Blog 964: Club Championships Results

2011-07-30T12:37:00.004+01:00

Are now in the Results section of the sidebar, having been updated to show the large number of new Competition Best Times and the BAGCAT points to date

Blog 962: Club Champs

2011-07-27T11:19:00.003+01:00

Saturday is 3.15pm warm up for 3.45pm start.

Sunday is now warm up at 5.30pm for 6.00pm start.

There will be no training sessions on Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets are still available for the party priced at £4.00

Please could you me know if you are willing to help out on any of the days.

If you are unable to swim please could you contact me as soon as possible

Blog 957: Web site change

2011-07-21T11:41:00.002+01:00

Our web-site has moved.
The address is now www.longeatonswimmingclub.org.uk
Please change your favourites, bookmarks, etc., to point to this new address.

Blog 956: Club Timekeeper Course

2011-07-20T19:49:00.000+01:00

As previously blogged, there will be an ASA Club Timekeeper Course being run over the club champs weekend. Steve Tremaine will be going over the theory side of the course on 29th July (19:30) in the bar area at West Park (the theory side will be no longer than 2 hours). The practical work will be based on the competitive races of our club championships. Anyone from the age of 14 years of age and upwards may volunteer for this course which leads to an ASA qualification. As I’ve said before, timekeeping is a vital role in all competitive swimming - without officials, we cannot run club champs, galas or open meets, so if you want to help, please come down and do this course.

Blog 954: Swim Shop

2011-07-20T00:06:00.000+01:00

The club swim shop will be open on both evenings of the club championships, that is, on Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st July.

Blog 952: Hats

2011-07-08T17:03:00.002+01:00

We now have the price for the named hats. The price is £5.50.

Please give your squad rep your money.

Blog 948 : More success for Long Eaton

2011-07-04T16:27:00.006+01:00

This weekend saw Long Eaton swimmers compete in 2 separate galas. The City of Derby B grade on Saturday and Braustone sprint meet on Sunday. The swimmers came away with a host of Trophies and Medals but more importantly a load of Personal Best times. This is even more impressive given what part of the cycle the swimmers are in, having done nothing but endurance and strength work over the past 9 weeks with no speed. This did show towards the end of each day as swimmers who were already tired going into the gala after numerous events showed signs of fatigue - this believe it or not is a good thing as when we come to Club Champs (the last gala of the season) and we have rested the swims should be alot sharper and faster. I would like to thank both Alex and Kaye for covering theses gala's and both have given great feedback on behavior and how well you all swam - but both also picked up on the fact that turns and starts and finishes really need improving - remember if you are doing more than 1 length you have to turn so practice it as you would in a raceand everytime you come into finish a rep finish it properly. I would also like to thank the team managers who give up their time to help at these gala's. Keep up the good work and focus on the details as it is in these areas that the most improvements can be made.

Blog 943: First Gala 2011/2012 season

2011-06-30T17:06:00.006+01:00

I know we are coming to the end of what has been a very exciting and successful season and we are all looking forward to letting our hair down at the club champs and party before we go into the break, but we do have to keep an eye on the future and with this being said the first round of open meets for the new season are starting to accept entries. As a club we have gotten lucky with the galas as there is a gala for each level of the club on the same weekend of October 1st.
The galas are
Sherwood Colliery Level 1 Long Course Meet - details here
Deventio Excel Level 2 Short Course Meet - details here
Rykneld C Grade open meet - details here
Please continue the excellent end to the season and enter these galas. Remember all the galas are selected to help you achieve your best performances over the year. With it being an Olympic year, galas are going to be busy, especially the higher level ones, so get your entries in early please.

Blog 940: Sunshine

2011-06-27T10:51:00.002+01:00

Now we are having some good weather I would like to remind everyone about the dangers of the sun. Please ensure you put plenty of high factor sun cream on, keep to a minimum about of time in the sun, Increase the amount of water intake to counter the dehydration effects of not only heat but your skin drying out when tanned and apply plenty of after sun.

Blog 938: Congratulations

2011-06-26T23:55:00.001+01:00

Well done Sam Parker, our Club Captain, who this weekend won his age group section in the 2011 Pontevedra ETU Triathlon European Championships in Spain. See this link for further details: http://www.triathlon.org/results/results/2011_pontevedra_etu_triathlon_european_championships/6604/
This is a tremendous achievement. Sam won the Erewash Triathlon last year – this year’s event will be held on Sunday August 14th, and will again be based at West Park Leisure Centre. The event is open to people aged 15 years and older on 31st December 2011, and consists of a 400m swim, 10mile bike ride and a 5km run. If you’re interested, give it a go – who knows where it might lead to!

Blog 937: Thank You

2011-06-26T23:54:00.000+01:00

A big thank you to everyone who turned out yesterday at the Long Eaton Carnival, in weather that made in tempting to stay indoors! The concerted effort by everyone concerned helped us raise awareness of our club amongst the Long Eaton public, as well as raising nearly £300 for club funds. We are very grateful to everyone who donated tombola prizes, made cakes, handed out flyers, manned the stall and helped in any way at all. Special thanks go to Debbie Blaydon and Clare Scattergood for the enormous amount of time and effort put into organising and running the stall.

Blog 936: Diddy League

2011-06-26T16:51:00.004+01:00

Congratulations to Alex, Bob, Kaye and Ian for coaching a wonderful set of young swimmers, and to the swimmers themselves. The A team have made the final (which they didn't qualify for last year), in impressive style with 2 wins out of 2. Once again the swimmers in the B team outdid themselves, competing against other clubs' A teams, by gaining victories throughout the gala and never being too far behind in any race, and whilst showing great team spirit and determination. This shows we are doing the right things as a club and really beginning to get the strength in depth we need to produce National quality swimmers. Some people have congratulated me personally, and I thank them for it, however it is the above coaches that deserve the congratulations - I wouldn't want to take credit for another coach's work; lets not forget its Alex, Bob, Kaye and Ian who work with these swimmers day in day out. I only turn up now and then and see them at galas; so please pass on your congratulations to them and to the swimmers.

Keep up the great work Long Eaton - the future is bright, the future is Black and Orange!!!

Blog 934: Diddys

2011-06-22T15:54:00.003+01:00

This weekends diddy league galas are A team swimming at Queens Street, Derby and B team is at Eckington.
Warm up for both Galas is at 6.00pm for 6.30pm start.

Blog 933: Attendance

2011-06-20T11:59:00.004+01:00

After having our coaches' meeting this Saturday it was brought to my attention that attendance has dropped. If you read the earlier blogs from British Masters both Helen and Becky have 100% attendance records and Liz is at 70 % (she has family commitments (kids) to take care of) they have had the success in the pool not just because they are talented swimmers but because their attendance is high. I am not a coach who will force swimmers to attend a certain percentage of sessions, but I will remind swimmers that - as proven above, the more you attend the more success you are likely to have and the less you attend the more likely your performance is going to drop in galas. Please bear this in mind and do everything you can to attend as regular as you can.