All posts by gerdon

Regional Awards 2022

Swindon ASC are Swimming Club of the Year, and it doesn’t end there! Courteney Roberts and Grace Woolley have won the Spirit of Aquatics Award.

Club of the Year – Swindon ASC
This club has welcomed the para group in to their group and made sure they have felt welcome at all events encouraged them to join in club championships making sure that they were part of the team at all times, showing encouragement to them all making sure that they all talk to them and knowing their names, the young swimmers are kind and caring showing that they believe the club values everyone counts know matter how big or small they are and how well they do is an achievement at all times.
They have been extremely supportive of their Team GB para swimmer at Tokyo Paralympics and have held their first licensed meet.
The club now runs 3 sessions a week for para swimmers which are tailored to meet the swimmers individual needs.
Swim England have recently recognised the club as a Start Para Club and we are holding Inspire to Try para swimming taster sessions to hopefully encourage more swimmers with disabilities to try club swimming. Because of the links with Level water and progressing swimmers with disabilities into club swimming, Swim England have written a case study about the pathway to share with other Clubs.
Despite the Club being over 140 years old, they only recently held their first licensed Club Champs. The meet was extremely well organised and a great experience for all. Swimmers were heard to be asking when the next meet would be. Since Covid, Swindon ASC has grown and will hopefully continue to do so and welcome more swimmers into their friendly, welcoming, inclusive Club. I believe that Swindon ASC deserve to be recognised for their inclusivity of our newly formed para squad; their support for all swimmers at all levels from first Club Champs to Paralympics and for their first venture into licensed meets – hopefully the first of many to come!

Spirit of Aquatics Award – Courteney Roberts, Swindon ASC and Grace Woolley, Swindon ASC, Abigail Daly, Devonport,

Courteney Roberts – Over the years Courteney has become a fantastic swimmer. She trains and competes alongside her peers and gives it her all.
Over the years, Courteney has overcome her worries and anxieties.
She cried at her first team competition because she wasn’t as fast as her able bodied peers, but with encouragement she continued.
She has been a shining example of determination to her swimming peers.
She always give her best and doesn’t give up.
At just 15, Courteney is showing a maturity beyond her years and is now passing on her experiences to other para swimmers.
Courteney trains alongside a 10 year old girl who is a wheelchair user and Courteney is always keen to demonstrate moves to her and give her tips.
At this swimmers first competition, Courteney looked after this swimmer poolside and talked her through how competitions run despite her own anxieties at competing for the first time since before Covid.
Courteney showed great sportsmanship when this swimmer pipped her to second place and she came third. She was very gracious in congratulating the swimmer.
Courteney also trains alongside a young swimmer who has learning difficulties and ADHD. This swimmer does have some difficulties listening and following instructions but Courteney is a fantastic role model for him.
Grace Woolley – Grace is 10 years old and is a para swimmer. Grace is a wheelchair user Grace first trialled with my para squad about six months ago wanting to progress from Level Water swimming to club swimming.
When Grace first swam trialled, she could barely swim 8 strokes without needing to grad the side. She was also used to having in water support but she was determined to swim independently. Over the months, Grace tried and worked hard to begin to swim 25 metres without stopping. This was a great achievement for her and a huge confidence boost!
Grace is a fantastic young lady who is always smiling and always positive. She shows great determination in training whilst always smiling.
When challenged to try something new, she takes it on with a cheery ‘yes, let’s do it!’. Without Grace knowing, her Dad entered her into 50m free style at our Club Champs. Grace arrived at the pool expecting a normal training session but wasn’t phased when faced with the prospect of having to swim 50m without stopping in her first competition when previously she had only managed 25m!!!
Grace showed the same determination that she has shown on training and she accepted the challenge. With the encouragement from the whole swimming club and officials, Grace swam the 50m without stopping and won silver.
She was so proud of herself as are we.
Abigail Daly – This season has been tough for Abi outside of the pool as she has transitioned from her special school to mainstream college.
This has affected her however, she has worked hard processing all the changes and is starting to mature.
She has gone to an international meet got seasons best times then qualified for finals to beat her times from the morning.
She has also been picked to do the diploma in sporting excellence programme and has supported her para swimming peers at these training camps. She has represented her region at the Prep the Pool event, where she coped with a coaching support team she had never met and a lot of swimmers she never met at the commonwealth games test event.
She swam in 2 individual events and 2 mixed para relays. As well as that she is representing her sport by being a baton bearer for the Queens Baton Relay on the 1st day of the England tour, she is a mentor to another para swimmer from her club showing her how to prepare for competitions away from home. She is an inspiration to swimmers and a great ambassador for the sport. Despite all the set backs she has had she has shown great resilience.

73 swims, 27 Finals, 8 Gold, 13 Silver, 8 Bronze…

Congratulations and Thank You to all our swimmers who represented the club in the Wiltshire County Championships.

Some new-comers and some old hands in a strange environment with no spectators to cheer them on. Some very determined efforts with lots of personal best swims – remember you are racing against the clock!

Great to see all those who took part getting on so well and supporting each other.

New SW Youth Advisory Panel

The Swim England South West Region is looking for a keen group of six to eight young volunteers between the ages of 15-20 who are prepared to speak out about key issues or ideas they might have about their sport, volunteering or their club. The key purpose of this panel is to bring together young people from different aquatic disciplines and backgrounds to provide a youth voice for the South West Region.

Members of the panel will meet at least once a quarter, be able to share their ideas in both group and private environments and actively take part in projects which support the region including the development of the regional young volunteer programme.

The regional panel will be supported by members of the Swim England National Youth Advisory Panel and Regional Staff.

Why join the panel?

  • Develop communication and presentation skills
  • Learn to work in a small team environment and get your ideas across clearly
  • Meet like-minded people from different aquatic disciplines
  • Play a key role in shaping the actions of the region
  • Lead the youth voice for the Swim England South West Region.

Who are we looking for?

  • Young people who are between 15-20 years old
  • Young people who are involved in Swimming, Diving, Water polo, Artistic swimming, Open water, Para swimming or a non-swimming volunteer.
  • Young people who are actively involved in the sport as a participant, teacher, coach, official or volunteer.

Click here to read more.

Swimming without water

It can be done!

Are you missing the water? Well this guy is too and has created workout videos based on the four main swimming strokes.

Stay Home, Stay Safe, Stay Fit!

And here’s the fun section…

Last post we had getting out – this time we have getting in…
Some of these look a bit cold!

Fitness, Questions and Fun

Hi everyone

Hope you are all keeping fit and staying healthy

On the keeping fit front I have some suggestions:


If you have any questions about swimming – most of them will be answered here: https://www.swimming.org/swimengland/coronavirus-faqs-answered/


The fun section

The Warm-up Sprinter, Mr Excuses, The Complainer, The Never waits 5 seconds, The hard Set Bathroom Breaker, Excessive Celebrator, Save it up Sally, Confused Guy, Lane Line Puller

Which one are you?
Which of these can you do?

Swim England Survey

Ahead of Tokyo 2020, Swim England want to understand how being part of a club, across any discipline, helps contribute to an individual’s well-being.

To help with this research, two surveys have been created, one for those aged 16 and over and a separate survey for those under 16.

We would encourage all Swim England members to complete the relevant survey to help us gain more understanding around the social value of being in a club.

The surveys will close at midnight on Sunday 22 March.

The findings will help the promotion of clubs during the Olympic and Paralympic Games and also help with the development of our club strategy for 2021-2025.

By completing this survey, Swim England members will help their club enter a prize draw to win £100 of Institute of Swimming vouchers.

Members will also be offered the opportunity to enter into another prize draw to win two tickets for the British Swimming Championships (14 –19 April 2020) and two £20 love2shop vouchers.

Swindon shine in Winter League Round 2

27 Swindon ASC swimmers were in action on Saturday 29th February in the Wiltshire Moonraker Winter League’s Round 2 at the Link Centre.

The Winter League programme is quite unique in that it’s all about Relays, with 34 relay events swam by 4 swimmers over 25m/50m distances and a mixed “Canon” relay at the end with 8 swimmers racing 25m each. The competition was going to be close with Marlborough and Bradford on Avon swimming A & B Teams plus also Melksham chasing for every point. After 10 events, Marlborough A opened an early lead with 57 points with BOA A and Swindon chasing 2nd and 3rd places with 42 and 40 points respectively. This set the theme for the evening with Marlborough A extending their lead after 20 events to 102 points with Swindon hot on the tails of BOA A with just 3 points separating the 2nd and 3rd placed teams – 83 and 80 points for each team.

Team Talk by Swindon Lead Coach Ryan

After 34 events, the final points and positions on the evening were as follows:

Marlborough A176
Bradford on Avon A155
Swindon136
Marlborough B91
Melksham86
Bradford on Avon B59
Swindon ASC swimmers in action

Finishing in a credible 3rd place on the night, Swindon can take a lot of positives away from the competition which includes Jess / Freya / Alyssa and Emily winning the Girls Squadron 4x25m Breaststroke and Seb / Ashton / Rhys and Matt winning the Boys U13 4x25m Breaststroke. With a further twelve 2nd place finishes and nine 3rd place finishes, Swindon can look forward to the next round with confidence.

Keeping everything running smoothly from poolside #dreamteam

Well done to all Swindon ASC swimmers with a special shout out for Buster, who swam his first team competition.

A big THANK YOU to all the officials and helpers, without whom we would not be able to have such fun!

Regional award for Suzanna Hext

Our latest recruit Suzanna Hext was at the Link Centre today to be presented with a Swim England South West Personal Achievement Award 2019 during the Wiltshire County Championships.

Suzanna Hext – pictured with Swim England South West Personal Achievement Award 2019 presented by Wiltshire County President Catherine Watkinson accompanied by coach Dean Fouracre

The Swim England South West Personal Achievement Award 2019 is a recognition of a Swim England members 12 months achievements up until the end of August.
Although only swimming a couple of races in 2018, Suzanna started 2019 with her sights set on qualifying for the Regional Championships, and between January – August 2019 Suzanna’s achievements have been nothing short of incredible, surpassing even her wildest dreams, highlights include:

    • Completing her GB Para Classification in January 2019 with S5, SB5 and SM5 classifications.
    • Attended the BUCS Championships at Sheffield in February 2019 setting a new Long Course 50m S5 British Record. This was Suzanna’s first ever LC competition.
    • In April, swam in the Gloucester L2 Open meet setting new S5 British Short Course records in 50m & 200m Freestyle.
    • In the above Open Meets, qualified for both the South West Regional Championships and British Championships.
    • Also in April, attended the British Para-Swimming International Meet inc. WPS World Series in Glasgow where she underwent her International Classification. Following her races in Glasgow, Suzanna was invited to join the GB Para Team at the
      Para World Championships in London in September.
    • Attended the British Championships in Glasgow in July, winning GOLD in the 50m Freestyle Multi – Classification event.

    Although not part of the original selection criteria for the South West Personal Achievement Award, Suzanna competed in the Para World Championships in September, picking up Silver and Bronze medals in the 50m and 100m Freestyle S5 category, which would give Suz S5 world rankings of No.2 and No.3 respectively. Suzanna also received a Silver in the Swim England National Personal Achievement Awards in November.

    Suzanna has just spent 3 ½ weeks in Japan with the GB Team training and is now firmly focused on the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. The GB Team will be selected following the British Para Swimming International Meet in April 2020.

    Congratulations and welcome Suzanna
    Swindon ASC

Age Group swimmers in the medals at Wiltshire County Championships

Our younger swimmers have been picking up medals at the Wiltshire County Championships.

A weekend in Salisbury on 11th,12th January was followed by a day at the Link Centre on Saturday 18th January.

Eleven swimmers were entered into 78 events – yes that’s right 78 events!

Some really great swims, and the kids were an absolute pleasure to be with on poolside. The best moment for me as a coach was escorting six different swimmers out to swim in finals during one of the sessions. I’ve never had to do that before! And I’m sure that as a club we’ve never had swimmers qualified to swim in 17 finals before!

Congratulations to everyone who qualified. Thank you to everyone who took part and represented the club to such a high standard. A massive well done to our medalists Freya Howie and Oscar Symons.

Results table…

Age Swimmer 50FC 100FC 200FC 400FC 800FC 50BK 100BK 200BK 50BR 100BR 200BR 50BF 100BF 200BF 100IM 200IM 400IM
10/11 Jess 18 28 8 (H)
7 (F)
10 5 19
Lily 17 18 14 9 16 16 DQ 11 6 (H)
5 (F)
5 15 11
12 Ava 17 11 9 8 22 9 7 DNC
Beth 12 7 28 10 6
Hollie 11
13 Alex 5 (H)
4 (F)
5 (H)
4 (F)
10
Freya 15 8 (H)
DNC (F)
DNC DNC 10 DNC DNC 3 (H)
2 (F)
2 (H)
2 (F)
2 (H)
3 (F)
9 4 (H)
4 (F)
4 (H)
DNC (F)
7 (H)
6 (F)
6 3
Molly 16
10/11 Oscar 1 (H)
1 (F)
5 (H)
5 (F)
3 (H)
2 (F)
DQ 5 DQ 9 5 (H)
5 (F)
8 5 (H)
5 (F)
4
12 Seb 12 14 11 14 9 8 13 10
13 Matt 14 16 12 12 5 (H)
5 (F)

Ryan
Swindon ASC

Southern Junior League Finals 2019

Swindon ASC hosted the final of the Southern Junior League at the Link Centre on Saturday 14th September. Swimming in the C final against Bournemouth, Chard, Marlborough Penguins and Yeovil.

Swindon ASC Southern Junior League Finals Squad 2019

The final round is swam against teams with a similar ranking, so the racing is always close. The offer from Coach Ryan that he would let them push him in if the team won, spurred on many of the swimmers, all promising to go ‘super fast’.
Representing Swindon ASC were:

Madi Ambrose Zac Abrey
Molly Checchia Rhys Brooke
Hollie Hemmings Ashton Brooks
Freya Howie Guy Grainger
Jessica Howie Wassim Hidouci
Kira Jones Aiden Keevans
Ava Kayani Evan Mathias
Felicity Lovelock Blair AJ Noriega
Niamh McNamara Filip Pisarek
Lily Miles Calum Reynolds
Amelie Pocock Joseph Richards
Sara Rowlands Oliver Rowlands
Alex Scutt Seb Scutt
Ella Spencer Zak Sly
Eve Sullivan Ozzy Symons
Matt Widdop

Some great swims, pick of the bunch were:
Jessica Howie in the 10U 50m breaststroke
Matt Widdop in the 12U 50m freestyle & butterfly
Ava Kayani in the 11U 50m freestyle
Eve Sullivan in the 11U 50m breaststroke
Oscar Symons in the 10U & 11U 50m freestyle
The boys 10U relay team of Zak Sly, Seb Scutt, Evan Mathias and Oscar Symons

Well done to all the swimmers, and a BIG THANK YOU to all the volunteers who helped with the smooth running of the event.

Results are in:
1. Poole
2. Plymouth Leander
3. Swim Bournemouth A
4. Bristol Penguins
4. Swindon Dolphins
6. Keynsham
7. Sevenside Tritons
8. place is ‘Exeter
9. Cirencester
10. West Dorset
11. Seagulls
12. Weymouth
13. Marlborough
14. Yeovil
15. Bournmouth
16. Swindon
17. Chard
18. Devonport Royal
19. Bristol North
20. Southwold
20. South Dorset
22. Trowbridge
23. Bassett JSF

Well done Team

2019 Wiltshire Sprints

What a way to spend a Sunday! 32 swimmers 100 swims!

Date: Sunday 9th June
Venue: Health Hydro, Swindon

Kicking it all off was the junior relay team of:
BK: Alex Scutt, Max Sullivan, BR: Alyssa Halliday, Aaron Bailey, BF: Thea Rhodes, James Nicholson, FC: Luize Rutka, Harry Carpenter

The team were left to their own devices regarding takeovers and performed admirably to take silver with a time of 3:02.13.

2019 Junior Relay presentation

Nice to see some new faces poolside with debut swims for Amelie Pocock and Zak Sly. Some great racing between swimmers from 10 of the Wiltshire clubs.
Lots of medals and yet again lots of 4th and 5th places! (see table below)

Swimmer BK BF BR FC Swimmer BR FC BK BF
Oscar 1 2 4 1 Amalie DQ 4
Evan 3 6 19 5 Jess 4 9 9 8
Zak 17 10 19 Lily 10 3 4 5
Seb 3 6 5 8 Ava 6 5 9
Rhys 5 DQ 7 7 Hollie 9 10 14 12
Matt 12 4 8 4 Beth 17 13
Calum 15 13 16 Freya 1 6 6 7
Ashton 16 9 10 14 Alex 10 8 3 10
Max 6 4 13 10 Molly 18 9 10 8
Jack 11 5 9 Eve 11
Harry 12 5 4 5 Ella 16
Oliver 21 Alyssa 4 13 10 10
Aaron 3 6 2 3 Luize 7 7
James 5 3 5 Thea 3 2 2 3
Tyler 1 1 2 1 Amy 10
Brooke 6
George 2 2

Thank you to Wiltshire ASA for the organisation of the event. A thank you to all the officials and volunteers who made the day possible.
And thank you to the swimmers who represented the club to such high standards.

Coaching Team
Swindon ASC

2019 Summer League Round 1

Saturday 27 April 2019 – Round 1 of the summer league was hosted by Marlborough penguins. The
summer league format is 50 sprint races which are a mix of individual races and relay races where
the teams swim for points against a number of local clubs making it a real team event.

The night opened with Tyler and Emily in the open individual medley where we came 2nd and 3rd
respectively followed by Ashton and Ava were both 2nd in very close 2 length butterfly races.
There was drama in the u16 4 length freestyle where a false start meant the race had to be rerun
and James came in 3rd overall.
The boys u12 medley relay team of Zac, Seb, Ashton and Filip were 2nd and the girls team of Eve,
Jessica, Kira and Freya P were 3rd with both teams taking valuable points for the team.
In the boys u14 2 length freestyle Harry had to settle for 2nd after pushing for 1st place all the way.
Ashton also took 2nd in a very close 2 length breaststroke race with the swimmer from Marlborough.
In the u16 4 length backstroke Aaron was superb, leading the race from start to finish whilst in the
girls race Thea got off to a poor start (due to not being able to hear the starter) but came through the field to take 2nd.
Ozzy won the 2 length freestyle by country mile in the u12; Max S was 2nd in the u14 fly and Eve was
2nd in the u12 backstroke.
Swindon were 3rd overall on the night, which was the expected result.

Well done everyone and see you all for round 2.

World Record for Holly in 100m Freestyle

Holly Sullivan smashed the existing Down Syndrome Junior world record by nearly 3 seconds with a time of 1:32.80.

This will help Holly in selection for the GB Team for the upcoming European championships being held in Sardinia during September 2019.

Holly displays her DSISO certificate for 100m Freestyle

Holly started to swim when she was 4 years old at learn to swim lessons at the Swindon Oasis. With the help of her instructors and her own determination she was able to make progress over several years until she reached stage 10. At this point Holly transferred to Swindon ASC a mainstream competitive swimming club where she now trains 3 times a week. Holly is also a member of Reading Cygnets a swimming club specifically for swimmers with learning difficulties who provide additional training, support and access to competitions across the UK.

Holly is an S14 swimmer, the Para class for athletes with intellectual impairments, and has qualified to swim at County and Regional level. However because S14 is a very broad category swimmers with Down Syndrome are unable to access the elite end of this category because of a number of physical impairments which run alongside the Intellectual Impairment. To support these athletes DSISO (Down Syndrome International Swimming Organisation) was established and provide competitive swimming for Down Syndrome Athletes at National and International level. As part of DSISO Holly has been selected to swim internationally in Paris, France; Pristina, Kosovo; Truro, Canada.

Go Holly!

Winter League Finals 2018/19

After only 1 round of Winter League, we found ourselves swimming in the finals on 2nd March 2019. A cancellation of the Wiltshire Championships due to inclement weather meant that there was no second round.

So off to Trowbridge in the coach we went, to be joined by Swindon Dolphin, Tigersharks B, Durrington Otters, Corsham and Malmesbury Marlins. As this was the B final the result on the night would decide who came 7th, 8th, …12th.
Swindon went into the water with a marginal lead over Dolphin. It did not last long. Dolphins were on top form with some National swimmers in attendance. That’s not to say we did not put up a huge fight with swimmers from all age groups picking up points.
Swimmer of the evening was undoubtedly Alyssa Halliday who was absolutely flying!

At the end of the evening Dolphins were standout winners (7th), with Swindon in 2nd (8th) place.

Club Captain Will Mangan was joined by Olivia Moore to collect the certificate.

Will and Olivia with Winter League Certificate