News for this month

Club Christmas Show - 18th December 2011 at the Surrey Sports Park

For one night only the club is proud to bring you the Christmas Show from the all new Surrey Sports Park. It is felt that this venue befits all the success that the club has had so far during 2011, and that this will continue at the National Age Groups at the beginning of December.

Shows will be begin at 5.15pm and 7.15pm.

I believe that tickets will continue to be on sale on Tuesdays between 7.30pm and 9pm (during the club session) from the Farnborough Recreation Centre. Please see Alison and Peter Cross.

Prices are £6 for Adults and £4 for concessions.

National Age Groups - 3rd/4th December 2011 at Gloucester GL1

On the 2nd December I made a comment at the evening team meeting that we wanted to once again be regarded as possibly the best synchronised swimming club in Great Britain and that I wanted all the athletes to go out their and show everyone that we are. It might sound a bit arrogant but I don't think I need to say anymore. Once again the athletes, coaches and supporters raised the bar and proved how difficult it is to knock us off the podium. Yes there are some areas that need to be improved upon, but there always should be. However they will be worked on and come next year they will have diminshed.

But lets not dwell on those, lets celebrate the 7 golds, 2 silvers and 2 bronze medals that were obtained plus all the other fantastic results achieved, such as joint 5th by the 19 & under team, getting 4 of our 13/14 soloists in the final 8 to swim, getting 1st, plus 4th, 6th, 7th, and 9th in the top 10 of 13/14 figures (with others just outside of this) and then 1st, 3rd, and 5th in the top 10 of 15/16/17 figures (again with others just outside of this).

Celebration should also be afforded to those athletes that made the various England Talent squads at Level 1, 2 and 3. The club wish you the best of luck in your various talent squad training sessions.

Please click here for the complete results of the National Age Groups December 2011.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Vicky Leavold who passed her National Judges course recently. Vicky attended the course over the last two weekends at the Loughborough Sports Park, and on Monday night was asked if should judge at the upcoming National Age Groups. The course now includes the new judging system where judges have to give a number of scores for different parts of a routine. For a technical routine the judges now have to give a score for each technical element as well as an overall score.
Vicky now joins Chris Campbell and Margaret Woolley as National Judges eligible to judge using the new FINA system.

GB Junior Selection Policy for 2012

The club has received information that there will be no GB Junior Team entered for Junior Worlds in 2012. This means that there will be no Junior trials at National Age Groups this year. There is though a possibility that a solo and duet will be sent to Junior Worlds.

England Talent Squad Selection Policy for 2012

The club has received information that there will be Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3 development squads in 2012. The link below details the selection policy for each Level.

England Talent Squad Level 1 Policy

England Talent Squad Level 2 Policy

England Talent Squad Level 3 Policy

Skill Assessment Passes (4th September, 16th Oct & 22nd Oct 2011)

The club would like to say well done to those athletes listed below that passed their skills recently;

4th September - Portsmouth
Level 1
Catlin Thomson

Level 2
Emilie Langdon

Level 3
Celina Dembinska

16th October - Leeds
Level 5
Krista Clarke

22nd October - Burnham-On-Sea
Level 2
Lucy Abel
Rhiannon Pooley

Level 4
Hannah James
Monique Koekemoer

Skill Assesments 2012

At present the club have not officially been given any dates for skill levels in 2012. However it is understood that there will be one in the London Region on the 22nd January, and one in the SouthWest on the 25th February. When dates have been confirmed they will be communicated to all.

It should be noted that most regions are now only accepting 50% outside of their region. Therefore to ensure that the clubs entries are accepted in time it is hoped that the club can cut out the time taken to check if athletes can make the skill assessment where possible. Once the dates are known if athletes could indicate to the club, if possible, any of the dates that they are unable to make it would be very much appreciated. Dates as stated above will be forwarded to all when known.

Swimmer of the Month for October 2011

Swimmer of the Month for October went to Monique Koekemoer for dedication, hard work and the improvement shown in training.

Schedule News

Please note that the new December schedule will shortly be available under the Schedules section.

Judging of Figures explained

There have been a number of questions by athletes as to how the figures are judged. Therefore Vicky has very kindly put together the attached sheet to help show the elements of all the figures and the weighting given to each part.

Figure judging explained

Skill Level Assessments for 2011

The levels that an assessors can assess is due to change. Basic Assessors will in future only be able to assess skill levels 1 and 2; an Advanced Assessor will still be able to assess all skills if they have passed the relevant exam.

It should be noted that for skill levels 4 and 5 athletes will be required to show that they are continually working on their flexibility as follows;

1. Athletes taking skill level 4 will be asked to perform flat splits on dry land before proceeding with the rest of the assessment. If they do not pass this they will not be allowed to continue with the assessment.

2. Athletes taking skill level 5 will be asked to perform flats splits on dry land and the Ariana element from skill level 4 before proceeding with the rest of the assessment. Again if they do not pass both they will not be allowed to continue with the rest of the assessment.

Therefore it is imperative that athletes keep up their flexibility sessions and that they attend the gym/flex sessions when scheduled. The club will not put forward anyone for their skill level 4 or 5 if items 1 or 2 can't be met.

From January 2010 the head coach or head of figures of a club has had to confirm in writing to the organisers that those being put forward for their skill level are capable of passing the skill level.

Please take note that coaches have been asked to continually assess their athletes to see if they are ready to be put forward for forthcoming skill levels. It is therefore imperative that swimmers turn up for the figure sessions so that a continous assessment can be undertaken. If swimmers do not turn up then the coaches are unable to assess and therefore it could end in the athlete not being put forward for their relevant skill. This is also true for gym sessions on Sunday when scheduled to attend.

Garrison News

Dates for the Garrison 2012 sessions will be comminucated once known.

Coaching News

There are a number of courses coming up for prospective coaches. Please see the British Swimming Website under the Teachers and Coaches section for more details.