London Mayor Boris Johnson today announced plans for a £7.5 million programme of investment in community sports facilities, which will help deliver his aim to make Londoners more active and healthy.

 Gladiators stars Enigma and Storm joined the Mayor and his Commissioner for Sport Kate Hoey on a visit to Greenwood primary school in Ealing, where pupils tried out a mobile pool that has been temporarily installed for use by the school and the local community.  The pool is part of PlaySport London: Make a Splash, a new scheme that offers swimming in parts of London without facilities, which is being delivered in partnership with The Variety Club Children's Charity, serviced office providers MWBex, the Amateur Swimming Association, Total Swimming and London Swimming.

Click here for full details of the launch.

Click here for details of the Make a Splash programme

Members of the London Disability swimming squad dominated their regional championships which were held in mid-September at East Ham Leisure Centre. The 30-strong squad, most of who were swimming on day, ended the gala with 29 medals including 13 golds. Full report available here

 

Daniel Voss of Waltham Forest Swimming Club was one of eight swimmers chose to represent Great Britain at the 21^st Deaflympics in Taipei in mid-September. Britain was one of 101 countries participating and nearly 4000 athletes attended the Games.

Full report available here

 

Middlesex County Swim Team confirm top 3 National position 

At the British Gas ASA National County team Championships held in the fast 25m Ponds Forge pool in Sheffield on Sunday, the Middlesex team once again confirmed their powerful position within Great Britain with a 3^rd place finish for the second year running.  Full report available here

Nominations are invited for the position of ASA President 2011 – 2012.

In accordance with ASA Law No. 58.2.1 the appointment of the President in an Olympic Year will be made by the ASA Board from nominations received from within the sport.

The Role - The post-holder will be in office for the 12 months commencing October 2011 and will carry out the normal duties of the ASA President throughout the year.  

Furthermore, it should be noted that English athletes compete in the Olympic and Paralympic Games under the GB banner so there is normally no official role at the Games for the ASA President. However, since the Games will be taking place in England during that year the ASA will be taking the opportunity to promote English Aquatics and, therefore, it is anticipated that the ASA President will be required to attend or host events and functions prior to and during the games.

Nominations can be made by any Region, County, Club, Body, or Organisation affiliated to the Amateur Swimming Association. The nominations will be considered by the elected representatives and the closing date for nominations is 31 October 2009.

Click here for full details and nomination form.

 

Hillingdon SC Teaching Section team is to receive a ‘Young Achiever Award’ from Hillingdon Council at a special ceremony next month. The award recipients, all current or former competitive swimmers and headed by Amy Claridge (22), are aged 16-22 and the award is in recognition of their work in providing an effective and popular weekly teaching program, developing potential competitive swimmers, young teachers and coaches. The team recently developed a new Scheme of Work for the entire learn to swim program which was re-awarded Swim21 accreditation with the rest of the club in Summer 2009.

Hillingdon Youth Committee held its first independent meeting on Sunday 11 October.  Following a launch meeting in July the committee is now run entirely by the swimmers, providing swimmers’ input to club policy and making recommendations for other developments based on feedback and discussion within the squads.  It promises to be a lively and valuable resource to the club.

Hillingdon SC launched its first Young Aquatics Organiser Award course on Sunday 18^th October.  Fifteen senior swimmers aged 14-17 signed up for the course which is being lead by 5 volunteers from the club who all received training via London Swimming. During the course the YAOs will plan and run an aquatics event, in this case a novice gala for junior swimmers. We see it as a great opportunity to tap into the experience and creativity of our senior swimmers whilst helping them to gain useful skills and qualifications. 

 

Bexley Swimming Club - Licensed Long Course Distance Open Meet (License no.1LR9271) (Under ASA Laws and ASA Technical Rules)

At: Crystal Palace National Sports Centre on 21st & 22nd November 2009,  reminder the closing date for entries is 30 October 2009.

 

Stephanie Millward is confirmed to deliver a Freestyle Swim Clinic on November 14^th. The recently crowned European Champion & Beijing Paralympian, was undoubtedly one of Britain’s most promising junior swimmers in the 90’s breaking the British record in Backstroke at just 15! Sadly Stephanie was diagnosed with MS in 1999 missing the Sydney Olympics in 2000, facing many challenges Stephanie returned to the pool competing in disability swimming and achieving great success.

Stephanie will be delivering to both able bodied & disability swimming during the day, with sessions to suit all ages, levels & abilities.  Discounts will be given to club group bookings. The swim clinic sessions are 90 minutes  & £30 per person. To book or for more info click here. 

 

Masterclasses 

Master Classes will be running over the November & December period concentrating on starts & turns, Freestyle stroke technique to start.  If you have any suggestions on what London Swimmers would like then please contact Jo Calvino jo.calvino@swimming

with your ideas. If you would like to book any master class with London swimming please see www.londonswimming.org.uk for further information.

 

Event organisers are looking for people who would consider volunteering to help out at the Nationals (4-6 December) in the following capacity; Announcing, Sports Presentation Directing, Music – controlling all music for the routines etc.

All of the above roles are volunteer positions and will therefore not be paid, but free accommodation (depending on where you live), meal allowance and travelling expenses will be provided.

Full details and who to contact are available here.

The ASA have reopened the Advanced Coaching Offer for further applicants in the London region. The Advanced Coaching Offer is a programme in conjunction with the ASA Talent Development Team to support proactive, talented and developing coaching in their quest to develop their coaching knowledge and skills.

For further details please click here.

 

The BBC West item on Grace Isaac and the world record breaking Spencer Ladies 280+ Medley Team, including the filming from Cadiz is due to be shown on Monday, 2nd November on BBC West "Inside Out" at 7.30pm. If you have Sky, you can get it by scrolling down to BBC West in the BBC regions area. It will also be available on BBC i-player immediately afterwards.

We are very pleased to announce that London Region will be hosting an ASA/UKCC Level 1 Certificate for Coaching Diving, Units 1 & 2 at Morden Park Pool starting on Saturday 7th November. For further details click here.

 

London Region in conjunction with Herts ASA and the East region is organising a Diving Recorders Course at Hemel Hempstead Sports Centre, Herts HP1 1JS, Sunday, 29 November at 9.30 am. The fee is £15, and numbers limited.

Click here for more details.

 

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

 

There are a number of courses available starting from September to December 2009. If you are interested in attending any of these please click here for more details.  

 

This week Jemma Konuralp (Swim 21 Quality co-ordinator) has been desperately trying to get through all of the outstanding information being sent by clubs for next weeks panel.  She also visited Orpington Ojays teaching section at Coombe Bank School which she was very impressed with and on Wednesday she had a very productive meeting with Eltham Stingrays where they were so impressed with the new process in London they immediately booked in their assessment dates!  Next week not only does she have the Regional Panel but also a day of National training in respect of a new computer system.

 

If you have any news stories/ information/ideas that you would like to share please

email us at London@swimming.org