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Dear parents and swimmers
I am pleased to be sending you the first of what is intended to be monthly email bulletins. The objective of the bulletin is simply to keep you informed of news events and the plans your club has plans over the coming months. I and my fellow committee members do not intend overwhelming you with information, so bulletins will be short sharp and to the point. This one will (I hope) be the exception as we have some catching up to do to bring you up to date with the club’s current plans. I do hope you will find this and future bulletins both interesting and informative.
I have now been in situ for 4 months. My biggest challenge has been getting to know everybody and to understand how the club works. So having been through a long induction my understanding of the club, its structure, the aspirations of the club committee and members is such I can now communicate the clubs plans to you.
Whist sounding very grand the club now has a mission statement which encapsulates the clubs aspirations.
Beacon Swimming Club Mission Statement
· To develop a strong team spirit encompassing swimmers, parents and the club committee.
· To create an environment in which swimmers want to achieve
· Produce a Swimming Club people will want to join
Our plans are formulated around achieving the above and in keeping with this our first major task is to gain Swim 21 accreditation from the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA)
What is Swim 21?
Swim 21 is the ASA’s club development model – a planning tool, enabling clubs to help swimmers, coaches and administrators to achieve their full potential. It is centred on the needs of the swimmers – striving to provide them with the best possible environment. It is regarded as the backbone of the ASA’s development programme and the more a club puts into the process the more it will get out of it.
The application process involves a detailed audit of all the clubs activities which is then assessed by the ASA and from it a development plan written and adopted. Kate Gosh and Fiona Wood have put in an exceptional effort to get our audit completed which should lead to full Swim 21 accreditation by September this year.
Club communication and visibility
The club committee is very much aware of the need to communicate to parents and swimmers. The club has committed itself to a series of initiates to improve the clubs visibility both to club members and externally.
Initiatives to date are:
· Introduction of the club web site www.beaconswimmingclub.co.uk Please look at the site on a regular basis as the club will be using the site to provide you with information regarding many of the clubs activities and achievements.
· A monthly email bulletin
· Monday evening balcony presence. A club committee member will be available on the balcony to hear your comments, suggestions or concerns regarding the club activities
· Club presentation evenings. These are to acknowledge our swimmers’ achievements over the year and will generally be held poolside. Times will be advertised via this bulletin, web site and club notice board.
· Increase the frequency of club Social events
Andrew Moss
Chairman
CLUB SECRETARY
Kate Ghosh
Swimmers may be interested in the following, a great chance to watch the top athletes in our sport and maybe improve your swimming technique:
SWIMMING ON TV
‘COACH’S CORNER’
Andrew Hamerton
If I am honest, when I was first asked to write a piece for a new swimming club ‘e-letter’ my first thought was ‘Oh no, more homework!’ But, since then, and with time to think about it, I think this could be a fantastic tool for Sharon and I to let both swimmers and parents know not just what we are doing but also why.
This month I would like to mention a couple of changes that will soon be made to the BSC timetable, and the reasons behind the changes:
Monday Evening.
On a Monday the squad times will change, the start date for the change is yet to be confirmed and you will be informed as soon as it is, the changes will be as follows:
The junior squad will start at 19:00 and will run for one hour; there will also be the introduction of a junior ‘stamina squad’. This will run from 17:00 for an hour and a half and will be by invitation.
The senior squad and the senior ‘stamina’ squad will both begin at 20:00, the senior squad running for an hour and a half until 21:30 and the senior ‘stamina’ squad running for two hours until 22:00.
The main reason behind the changes is to eliminate the current staggered start, which draws the coaches’ attention from the junior squad and can leave the junior squad quite crowded in just four lanes.
Sunday Evening.
Sundays are changing to make better use of the pool time we already have. As of Sunday 27th April (the first Sunday after the school holidays) there will be a one hour skills session from 17:00 to 18:00. This hour will comprise of a warm up and forty to forty-five minutes of work on improving starts, turns and relay takeovers. In the past few years there has been very little change in the actual speed of swimming, however, records are still being broken through better starts and more effective turns. Development of these skills is essential to a competitive swimmer.
From 18:00 there will be a two hour coached session, swimmers are welcome to swim for just the first hour or the full two hours but will all need to be poolside for warm up at 18:00. As such it is up to the swimmer how much they do on a Sunday ranging from one hour of skills to a total of three hours in the water.
I hope the size of this piece has not put you off reading it, and the nature of it does not have you pulling your hair out in confusion. If you have any questions please ask, I’ll do my best to help! If not then keep a look out for the next exciting BSC newsletter where I expect this article will no longer be called ‘Coaches Corner’ but ‘Coaches page and a half rant’ or simply ‘yawn’.
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