Blyth Lifeguard & Swimming Club

Hi

Here is a breakdown of the times needed for various swimming awards from the ASA. SPRINT AWARD TIMES OCT 2013

These awards are available from the club (via Julie Whyman) and cost £1.75 each for which you get a badge and a certificate. The times shown apply to all swimmers and if you are not sure what your swimmer has qualified for you can check their current best times on the British Swimming website at http://www.swimmingresults.org/individualrankings/

The Coaching Team

 

 BLYTH LIFEGUARD AND SWIMMING CLUB COMPETITIVE SECTION NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 2013

Any questions

If you have any questions for any of the coaches please do not hesitate to ask or even send us an e mail. We fully appreciate that competitive swimming can be a complicated affair especially for new starters so please ask.

Plans for 2014

We are going to invite all those swimmers who currently only swim on a Wednesday to join in on Tuesdays and/or Thursdays. Those in that group that are aged 9 or over should start competing in galas in 2014. We are also going to open up Wednesday nights to the whole of the competitive section so that all competitive swimmers will have at least three opportunities a week to train.

Tuesday training is 730pm to 930pm

Lane 1 swimmers are only expected to stay until 830pm but can stay later

Lane 2 and 3 are expected to stay until 9 or 930pm

Lane 4 and 5 are expected to stay until 930pm

Wednesday training is 730pm to 810pm

All swimmers who attend this session are expected to stay for the full session.

We appreciate that this session overlaps with Lifesaving training and are quite happy for you to make your own choices over that.

Thursday training is 8pm to. 930pm

Lane 1 swimmers are only expected to stay until 9pm but can stay later

Lane 2 and 3 are expected to stay until 930pm

Lane 4 and 5 are expected to stay until 930pm

Saturday morning training is 730am to 9am

It is not on every week depending on other commitments and is for Lanes 2,3,4,5 and 6 only at the minute.

Saturday mornings also offer an opportunity to learn to dive which you need to be able to do to improve your ability in competitive swimming. If you have not passed your competitive diving badge you should come along on Saturdays. The diving lesson is 8am to 9am.

Training and gala attendance

Competitive swimmers at Blyth should be training at least twice a week if they expect to make some real progress and they should be entering at least six galas a year in order to measure that progress. Swimmers in lanes 2-5 should attend at least one Saturday morning session a month.

All current competitive swimmers who rejoin the section in 2014 will be expected to sign up to swimming galas (provided they are old enough). In order to enter theses competitions you will need to pay your competitive ASA fees as well as your club membership when you join the club in 2014. ASA fees in 2014 will be £25.50 per annum.

Please be on time for training, being late and missing part of the warm up is not good for the swimmers concerned and is disruptive to other swimmers. Persistent lateness may result in swimmers being excluded from sessions.

In 2013 we experimented with forming a new club called Team Northumberland. This enabled us to enter teams of swimmers formed out of Morpeth, Alnwick and Blyth clubs to compete in higher levels of competition at NERS and in the Arena League. We are going to try and do it again in 2014 and in order to do so we are going to dual register all Blyth competitive swimmers with Blyth and Team Northumberland in 2014. It will cost swimmers nothing to dual register but if you are unsure about it speak to Brian. If you do not want to be dual registered you MUST tell us.

Communication

As a section we try to communicate with our members through as many different mediums as we can: the notice board at the bottom of the stairs on poolside, the club website (www.blsc.uk.com) Facebook (Blyth Competitive Swimming) poolside announcements, newsletters and e mails. E mail is the fastest and most effective way, if you do not currently receive e mails from us please let us know.

Volunteers

The section and the club are always on the lookout for help with running the club. In particular this section needs people who could help with coaching and judging. You do not need to have any experience to start so if you think you would like to give it a go please ask and we will give you further details. The section cannot run without help from you.

Xmas break

The last date for training before Xmas is Saturday the 21st of December and we return to training on Tuesday the 7th of January 2014.

Galas for 2014

Here is a provisional list of galas that we are aiming to attend in the first half of 2014. More details about these galas will be circulated once we have them please watch your e mails and keep an eye on the noticeboard.

January

11^th and 12^th Sunderland level 1 for our faster swimmers

12^th January South Tyneside Sprint at the new pool at Haven Point South Shields suitable for all swimmers

18^th and 19^th Newburn Last Chance Gala at Stanley especially important for those aiming for N and D times

February

1^st and 2^nd N and D sprints and teams at Sunderland for our faster swimmers

8^th and 9^th Durham Very Last Chance Gala at Durham especially important for those aiming for N and D times

22^nd and 23^rd N and D Championships at Sunderland for our faster swimmers

March

8^th and 9^th N and D Championships at Sunderland for our faster swimmers

16^th Derwentside Development Gala at Derwentside not sure of the exact format of this one yet but it is usually for 14 and unders and offers a wide range of swims.

29^th and 30^th March North Tynesides Mad March Hare meet open to all and some excellent opportunities to swim all sorts of events.

April

There is usually an excellent Invitational Meet at Tynedale (Hexham) the first weekend in April but its not advertised yet. Open to everyone and loads of swims to do.

12^th and 13^th South Tyneside at Haven Point – yet to be confirmed

26^th and 27^th Chester le Street open at Middlesboro full details not out yet.

May

3^rd and 4^th ASANER’s at Sunderland for the fastest of our swimmers

10^th Tynemouth Sprints and Teams an annual favourite open to all swimmers

17^th and 18^th Sunderland Level 1 open to our faster swimmers and the same days Wear Valley are looking at having a competition at Bishop Auckland.

June

1^st Blyth Summer Sprints – Ideal for all swimmers except the really fast ones

7^th and 8^th ASANER at Leeds and 14^th and 15^th at Sheffield for the fastest of our swimmers

July

6^th Peterlee End of Season Gala no details yet but is likely to be open to all swimmers

12^th and 13^th Sunderland Summer Splash a brilliant opportunity to compete in a 50m pool open to all swimmers.

So as you can see lots of opportunities coming up for competitive swims and there will be other galas which have not been sorted out yet to add to the calendar as well as our own time trials which we will let you know about soon.

Masters Swimming

The Masters squad is now at full capacity with most swimmers training regularly twice a week.  We have received enquiries from people who wish to train with Masters but unfortunately at this point in time we are unable to accommodate any more swimmers in the lane.  Interested people will be kept informed if the situation changes and we are able to offer them a place in the future.

New Training Times

As from January extra training will be available to Masters Swimmers on Wednesday 7.30-8.10pm and Saturday 7.30-9.00am.  Swimmers should endeavour to attend this training in addition to, not instead of the sessions they already attend.  It is unlikely that these sessions will be coached.  However, training sessions will be supplied for anyone who wishes to attend.

Competitions

Masters competitions take place from time to time in the North East region as well as further afield. You will be advised of any suitable competitions in due course and swimmers are reminded that as members of the competitive section of Blyth LGSC they are expected to take part in a minimum of three competitions per year.

Information relevant to Masters Swimmers including a list of available competitions and results is available on the British Swimming website. (www.swimming.org/britishswimming/masters).

And finally……

Can we wish you all a merry Xmas and a Happy New Year

Extra extra extra

Paying for gala entries

Lesley Murray has kindly agreed to make herself available at the pool on the first Tuesday and Thursday of each month during training time to accept payments for gala entries.

Solingen Gala

We have been invited to take place in a gala in our twin town of Solingen on the 9^th 10^th and 11^th of May 2014. This is not part of our usual twinning with Solingen but it is an international gala with German teams and teams from other countries competing..

It is unlikely that the club will support this venture financially so transport and insurance will be at your own expense but Solingen has very kindly invited us and they will provide accommodation for anyone wishing to attend. They will also provide transport to and from the pool on the day of competition. If there is enough interest then we may be able to provide a Coach. Please let me know if you are interested in attending this gala and I will arrange a meeting with the interested parties in the New Year.

 

The Coaching Team

And it was a cracker as well with some excellent performances by swimmers across the board from the newest members of the section to the old stagers who have got the tee shirt. Some excellent times and some truly heroic performances. Well done to you all you should be proud of your efforts and achievements because I know that all of the parents and the coaching team are.

Here are the full results with thanks to everybody who helped to make the day a great success even with all of the changes that were thrown at us at the last minute.

Blyth Xmas Cracker 2013 – RESULTS

WELL DONE TO EVRYONE WHO TOOK PART IN THE TIME TRIALS AND THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HELPED TO MAKE IT A SUCCESFUL EVENING.

HERE ARE THE RESULTS WHICH SHOULD BE POSTED ONTO THE BRITISH SWIMMING WEBSITE WITHIN A COUPLE OF DAYS.

BLSC Time Trials nov 12 2013 – RESULTS

Two days of excellent competition at Tynemouth with some excellent personal best times and a good selection of medals. We’ll done to everyone who took part. Full results are here

 

tyme oct 13 results with dqs

Well done to all those swimmers who took part at Sunderland at the weekend.

Some excellent swims and loads of medals and personal best times.

Full results are here !!!

 

http://asaner.org.uk/results/ndsa/2013/autumn/index.htm

Sorry everyone Talent Night cancelled – sorry.

Well done to all those swimmers who travelled to Hebburn for the competition at the weekend.

Despite this event being early into the new season there were some excellent performances. well done to all swimmers who took part, Ellen Georgeson, Trinity Stanners, Bethany Milne, Daniel Murray, Mitchell McCallum, Lauren Gordon, Sasha Wyard, Emma Wilkinson, Erin Power and Andrew Riley

20 new personal best times and a dozen medals was a very good haul.

Full results are here ;-South Tyneside Sept 2013 Results

The Coaching Team

 

A group of young North East lifeguards are heading to Australia to compete on behalf of English and Scottish teams in a prestigious life-saving competition.

 

 

Seven members of the Blyth Lifeguard and Swimming Club are representing British countries in the 2013 Commonwealth Championships in Canberra.

Previous Commonwealth Championship medal winners 26-year-old Andrew Kane from Blyth, 17-year-old Lauren Caroll from Cramlington and 26-year-old Nikki Gray from Blyth are hoping to repeat their successes at the 2011 event in South Africa.

Joining them will be 16-year-old Rachel Caroll from Cramlington, 16-year-old Charlotte Duff from Tynemouth, 17-year-old Jake Power from Blyth and 17-year-old Charley Gourley from Blyth.

Further success for team members Charley Gourley and Andrew Kane, who won silver medals at the European Senior Championships in Holland just weeks before the Commonwealth Championships, is filling England team leader Linda Taylor with hope.

Linda, a 47-year-old from Newcastle, said: “They’ve done so well to win the medals they have and to be picked for the national and development teams in the commonwealths.

“To achieve what they do with the training they have is phenomenal. Two years ago in South Africa everyone came back with a medal and both teams finished third in the Commonwealth and it was the first time England had achieved that.

“I’m confident they’ll do well, their times are dropping nicely and we’ve done as much training as we can so hopefully they’re ready and raring to go.”

The pool-based contest will see the lifeguards carry out a number of rescue scenarios using ropes and water-filled manequins, and they will also be presented with an unknown incident to deal with.

The competition begins on September 6, 2013 in Canberra, Sydney.

The Competitive Section are having a break during the summer holidays.

The last session before the break will be Saturday 27th July 2013 and we do not return until Tuesday the 20th of August 2013

 

The Coaching Team