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The London Region Open and Junior Championships took place on 1^st & 2^nd November at Crook Log Leisure Centre, Bexleyheath.

The Championships were very successful with 18 Event Best Performance times and one London Region Short Course Record (subject to ratification).

Full details are available at   http://www.surreyswimming.org/asalondon/winter2008/

 

Jo Jackson, Olympic bronze medalists from Beijing will be holding a masterclass session on 29/30 Nov. For more details and to book on to a class go to www.londonswimming.org

 

Do you want to improve your technique? Or improve the quality of your sessions?
London Swimming are offering a range of master classes which are between 3-5 hours in length these will cover a mix of technical elements. Dates are 20, 21, & 22 February 2009 St. Pauls School, London, SW13 9JT, further details and booking at http://www.londonswimming.org/news/article/display/405

 

Xavier Mohammed (18) took the silver in the Men’s 400m Individual Medley with a new best time of 4:15.88. 

 

Kings Cormorants has been chosen as this month's Club of The Month on Sportsister.com, an online magazine for women in sport, and the copy will be posted this weekend at http://www.sportsister.com/

 

Not everyone in the UK has the opportunity to swim on a regular basis. Mobility, lack of resources, location and motivation are just some of the barriers people face. Why not give a gift that counts this Christmas and at the same time, help raise essential funds for the Swimming Trust. You can buy gifts and send Christmas cards all in one easy shop - simply visit our website www.swimmingtrust.com

The Swimming Trust would like to thank you for your support.

  

In recognition of the outstanding contribution made by volunteers to aquatics in London.

Congratulations to all the award winners.

Outstanding contribution at Club level – Pam Crofts

Outstanding contribution at County/Regional level – Jan Van Der Velde

Outstanding contribution by an 18-25 year old – Stacia Long

Tutor of the Year – Vicki Gill

Athlete of the Year (Swimming) – Xavier Mohammed

Athlete of the Year (Diving) – Jessica Williams

Athlete of the Year (Waterpolo) – Jonathon Cannon

Coach of the Year Swimming – Dave Hobbs

Coach of the Year Diving – Cheng Yang

Coach of the Year Waterpolo – Paul Bryan

Teaching Team of the Year – Jane Biedul & Sandra Riley

Long Service Award – Stephen Baker

Young Volunteer (under 18) – Danielle Skelton

Partner of the year – Skills Active

This week Colin Brown (RD) had very productive meetings in Harrow and Greenwich. Colin also attended the launch of a parliamentary campaign to allow clubs to claim gift aid on junior membership fees. This has the potential to be a really tangible benefit for aquatics so we will try and support this campaign as much as we can.

At the end of the week Colin will be meeting with University of East London, Newham Council and other asa staff to take forward our strategic partnership

 

This week Mark Griggs (EO) attended a national IOS education meeting, in which the IV policies and new tutor training programme were discussed.

For more information on courses, dates and venues, to download booking forms, or details of funding opportunities please visit www.londonswimming.org

 

This week Jo Calvino (Aquatic Programme Development Co-ordinator) has had meetings for disability master classes with Michelle Weltman and Ben Campion to confirm the final details for this weekend’s master class with Cassie Patten. Jo has also been working on the Sport Science packages and putting plans together with Mark Griggs to run a multi aquatic CPD master class.  Towards the end of the week Jo met with Yvetter Heywood to discuss the Young Aquatic Organisers Award.  

 

This week Janna Callan (RDO) has continued to be plagued with IT issues.  Janna is now delighted to be able to access her email and the internet, but will not be contactable by telephone until late next week.   However, Janna has made good use of her time by attending the national RDO meeting where she enhanced her knowledge of licensing and PESSYP.  Janna also met with Jemma Konuralp to discuss Swim21 and plan the way forward for 2009. 

Next week Janna will be taking some annual leave and working on the London Swimming Disability Squad plan for next year and establishing a date and venue for the 2009 Disability Regional Championship.

 

This week Annabel Kehoe (EDS – Islington) has been busily organising various programmes to kick off in the New Year and various marketing initiatives around those activities. After receiving the green light on providing another promotion aimed at adult swimming lessons, Annabel has been begging and stealing pool time in Islington to better provide spaces for swimming lessons. The recent promotion of eight free swimming lessons for beginner adults experienced a significant oversubscription and Aquaterra Leisure is determined to be able to accommodate all those wishing to learn to swim.

Annabel will be starting next week off in Manchester where she is presenting at the NW Swim Conference. Annabel will also be talking with pool operators about the Liquid Swim Programme and various other initiatives that have been launched in Islington.

 

This week Jo Melchior (EDS – Lewisham) has been busy working with Swim Co-ordinators from Parkwood Leisure on their Xmas programme for young people. There will be some fun activities available aimed predominently at the 11-14 age group. Tied into these activities will be surveys that will explore the attitudes this age group have towards swimming and most importantly looking at effective methods of communication. Jo has also put the final touches to a Aqua Babes / Tots programme with Area 3 Children's Centres which will start in January, and everything is now in place for the Rainbow Refugee swim schemes, delivering to families and to mum's and babies starting next week. Next week Jo will be working on some improvements to access in the pools and looking at equipment needs for ongoing programmes that are being delivered in the pools. This weekend 20 Parkwood Swim Teachers will benefit from a Fundamentals CPD delivered to enable them to be more effective in delivering the new National Plan for Teaching.

 

This week Jemma Konuralp (Swim21 Quality coordinator) attended the Regional Development Officer's meeting in Loughborough with Janna Callan. Next week she is meeting with Clisshold SC to discuss the progress of their swim21 application.

 

This week Bastien Wallace - Project Manager (Barking & Dagenham) enjoyed engaging meetings with Children’s Centre Managers who were really positive about  the promises of Adult & Child classes being delivered in taster form in December and then in an ongoing capacity from January.