London Swimming have organised the first of a series of Disability Swimming Master Classes, with Sascha Kindred & Dervis Konuralp delivering the first class focusing on Starts & Turns. The Master Class takes place on Saturday 28th March at Dagenham Pool, RM10 7AY. Further details and booking click here. 

Ever wanted to have top coaches analyse your stroke and replay it time and time again. London Swimming present a 3 day multi stroke camera camp taking place on 6-8 April at Colfes School, SE12 8AW. The 3 day camp will allow swimmers to have their stroke technique filmed and analysed by top coaches from Southern England, who will then provide support and feedback on how to improve stroke technique and performance. There are a number of sessions to suit the varied ages and abilities of swimmer, but all 3 days must be attended. Click here for more details.

If you would like to book any master class with London swimming or want further details please click here. 

 

Islington (London) and Suffolk have been named as Everyday Swim Good Practice Centres and will pioneer ways to increase participation in swimming and get more people active. Both areas were part of the national Everyday Swim project, which set out to discover what works in increasing participation in swimming and which will conclude in its current guise on the 31st March 2009. The Good Practice Centres will continue the work of Everyday Swim by sharing the common lessons learnt at all eight of the Everyday Swim pilot project sites, as well building on their own particular successes. Colin Brown, Director of London Swimming said, “This is excellent news for Islington. Both of our Everyday Swim projects in Islington and Lewisham have done a fantastic job over the last two years. I would like to pay tribute to both co-ordinators – Annabel Kehoe and Jo Melchior who have worked so hard with their local partnerships to make sure that we can learn valuable lessons on how to increase participation in pool based activities. Although Islington will be carrying on as a good practice centre it is certainly not over for Lewisham who have built up a real head of steam for Aquatics and are poised to deliver a really challenging Aquatics Strategy that should set their direction for the future”.

 

The London Swimming Spring Conference is confirmed set to take place on Saturday 23rd May at Colfes School, SE12 8AW, with a focus on club development. The conference will provide an update for clubs on London Swimming’s strategy, Individual Medlay Master Class with double Olympic swimmer, Commonwealth medalist and eight-times British Champion Adrian Turner, Team Manager Training, Supporting your athlete while injured a physio,s guide for parents, and a session on how to get funding and running your club. More details will be available shortly online - click here. 

 

Regional Galas - We are no longer posting information packs to clubs.  All information and entry forms are on the website click here for more details.

 

Now the County Swimming Championships are over, ensure your club has the information for electronic entry of your swimmers into the Regional Galas - the closing date for the Youth Championships is 4th April - see the competitive swimming page of the website or click here for details.

 

Synchronized Swimming Coach Wanted in Central LondonOut to Swim masters swimming and water polo club, London (www.outtoswim.org) is looking for a qualified synchronized swimming coach to coach a mixed masters group of total novices to competition standard. First session will begin on Thursday April 2, 8-9, at London Bridge. Rate of pay dependent on qualifications and experience. Trainee and volunteer coaches seeking unpaid coaching experience also welcome. For further information and to apply, please telephone Eric Chaline on 07976 718 370.

Official Sports London funding is only available for the next 4 months. This funding is for people wanting to become a qualified official or gain a higher level qualification. All clubs need more officials so encourage all your members to get involved.  For more details click here.

 

For more information on courses, dates and venues, to download booking forms, or details of funding opportunities please click here.

 

 

This week Colin Brown (RD) had a really useful meeting with all the London pool operators around implementing the government’s free swimming offer. This allowed the operators a neutral forum where they could share their practice to ensure a consistent offer for London residents. A follow up meeting will be arranged for early May. The rest of the week has had a workforce theme with very positive meetings with individual operators on how we help them restructure their Aquatics workforce to provide a diverse range of jobs attractive to those wishing to work with the leisure industry. This was followed up with very productive discussions with Job Centre Plus on how we can ensure vacancies reach a wider audience. Club wise Colin had productive meetings with Out to Swim on supporting their synchronised swimming developments. Colin was also delighted to accept the invitation of Essex County ASA to attend their management meeting and present on 'A strategy to get London Swimming 2008-2012+'. The meeting was really productive and clarified our direction and shared objectives. Colin also met with stakeholders in Richmond on the development of their Aquatic Strategy.

Next week: Colin will be spending two days in Loughborough with various meetings amongst his fellow regional directors, workforce department and British Swimming. Colin will also be meeting with the 5 Host Boroughs on their shared action plan for Aquatic Development. Colin will also be meeting with Lewisham, Waltham Forest and Barnet Councils.

 

This week Jo Calvino (Aquatic Programme Development Co-ordinator) continues to be busy with her master class programme, which saw Jane Asher deliver a very successful Freestyle session last week alongside a Super CPD Master Class at Ladywell in Lewisham, which saw another 22 teachers up skilled in 4 CPD’s over the 2 days!

This weekend’s master class is a real treat for swimmers as the newly crowned British Champion & World Record Holder, Jo Jackson will be delivering a Butterfly Master Class in Hammersmith, with few spaces remaining don’t miss your chance to swim and learn from one of Britain’s top female swimmers!  To book your place click here. 

Time has also been spent on booking future venues and athlete’s for event in the master class programme, creating media links and confirming the finer details for the Spring Conference set to take place on May 23^rd.

 

Bastien Wallace (Project Manager Barking & Dagenham) Since returning from annual leave Bastien has enjoyed meeting a group of young people at the second of the borough’s ‘Seen & Heard’ Young People’s Conferences.  This was an excellent opportunity to listen to the thoughts of Barking & Dagenham’s young people, about swimming and loads of other health issues.  Bastien has also swung into action to get marketing materials proofed, communication out and everything in order for the expansion of free swimming to over 60’s on the 1^st of April.

Bastien has also been in & out of Dagenham pool running swim tests as part of the recruitment process for the Aquatics Apprenticeship.  She met some keen people and looks forward to seeing how their applications turn out.