Gala Report

During the last 12 months the club took part in 17 Galas these ranged from the Herts Major League, NFT meets to C grade novice galas and the National Speedo League over 100 swimmers represented the club during the year and many for the first time. This is an amazing number given the size of the club

It would be fair to say that this has been an excellent year for the club. What has been most pleasing for me and the other coaches is the commitment and desire of all those who took part. A quick overview of the events is as follows:

The Herts Major League really set the bench mark for the whole year both teams can be truly proud of what they achieved with the A team only missing out by 8 pts from obtaining promotion to the 1^st Division.

Again our younger swimmers were not going to be outdone in the Peanuts League and put some sterling performances in, only just missing out on automatic promotion to the top division. This has allowed us to introduce many new swimmers to the competitive side of swimming for the first time but adding a fun edge to it as well.

For the first time this year we entered the National Speedo League. Though somewhat apprehensive before the event our swimmers pulled out all the stops, achieving a very credible top 10 finish. For those of us who were there on the night of the first gala none will not forget the inspirational swim of Eva Waddup in the first event of the evening the 200m IM. Despite not having been well prior to the event she put in the performance of the season taking a brilliant first place. I have no doubt this set the tone for the whole night and all our swimmers justly rose to the challenge.

All swimmers can be justly proud of the effort and commitment shown at all the events during the year. Well done to you all.

Again the support given by the parents both in the stands and on poolside has been excellent but we are always on the lookout for more willing volunteers. On behalf of the team we would like to take this opportunity to send a big thank you the outgoing Club Captains Sophie Lockett and Philip Lockett for all their support and hard work over the last 12 months.

Looking forward 2008 will be a measure of just how far we have come during the last 12 months and we believe it has the potential to be our most successful year for a long time.

Finally on behalf of Phil, Kerry, Adrian and I we would like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your hard work and support during the year.

 

Baz Long

 

Gala Manager