Poolside Report

2017 saw the club adopt the second stage of the five year plan where we created more focused squads based on a points system.  The group names were changed – Dolphins, Sharks, Development, Improvement, Challenge, Competitive, Performance and Swim4Fitness and swimmers were placed in the correct squads based on more focused criteria. The aim was to group swimmers by ability rather than age and base it on points gained by achieving ASA speed awards. I believe this change has led to the massive increase in performance with more ASA speed awards being achieved at internal galas, more swimmers competing in open meets as well as an increase in the amount of county and regional times gained. Come and see me after if you want to know how many points you have.

We had three teachers gain qualifications this year, so congratulations to: Attracta Leonard, Jenny Dokelman and Sarah Strugnell all became Level 2 teachers.  We would like to welcome Taryn Fraser onto the coaching team, also a Level 2 teacher.  I would like to thank the rest of the coaches - Lou Gooden, Karen Jones, Richard Jones, Jack Jackson, Terry Davies, Colin Smyth, Jane Willis and Rafal Kasperski for giving up their free time and for their continued hard work. We are always looking for additional teachers so if you would like any more information, please speak to one of our team – all courses will be fully funded and it really is a qualification for life.

We were sad to lose Sarah Hambury and Clare Marett who both hung up her coaching tops towards the end of 2017.  Clare has been coaching for Bushey since 2013 and Sarah for over 2 years.  They were both extremely well liked by their swimmers and we wish them all the best in the future.

Looking forward into 2018 we will also be looking at introducing additional pool time for certain groups as well as looking at ways at utilising our pool space.