Swimming Annual Report 2004
2004 has been another excellent year in the clubs development. The club continues to develop its competitive swimming programme in line with the guidelines set by British Swimming and next year the club will aim to fulfil the requirements of the ASA and be accredited to the Swim 21 programme. One of these requirements was for the club to have a qualified coach this was achieved in August of this year when Gwyn Davies successfully passed the ASA Club Coaches written and practical exams. Congratulations Gwyn!
The success of our swimming programme can be measured in terms of results achieved this year. In the 2004 Staffordshire County Championships the swimmers have bettered their performance for the third consecutive year with 25 gold, 27 silver and 20 Bronze medals being won, a total of 72 an 11% improvement on 2003. This improvement was reflected in the SADCAT and BAGCAT awards in which there were 5 and 8 swimmers respectively who were placed in the top eight. A special mention should be given to Matthew Cope and Adam Taylor who finished first and second in the 13 year old age group category and to Thomas Steen who finished first in the 11 year old age group category.
Based on their BAGCAT positions 6 swimmers were selected for this years County Development Day:
Hannah Nicholls
Thomas Steen
Steven Wozniak
Luke Griffiths
Rory Seager
Liam Hanley
At the County Relays the Club won a total of 6 medals, 2 Bronze, 3 Silver and 1Gold which was won by the 11 years Boys Freestyle Relay Team of Thomas Steen, Jack Guest, Stephen Wozniak, and Luke Griffiths. In the skins events Thomas Steen took Gold and Bronze in the 11 years & Under Boys Freestyle and Medley events and Adam Taylor took Silver and Bronze in the 12 – 14 years Medley and Freestyle events.
During the year a total of 10 swimmers have been chosen to represent Staffordshire at various levels they are:
Kate Fisher
Emily Gill
Lauren Newey
Luke Griffiths
Thomas Steen
Wesley Riggon
Grant Cooper
Matthew Cope
Adam Taylor
Ashley Riggon
At Midland District Level the number of swimmers qualifying increased from 6 in 2003 to 11 in 2004. This was an excellent achievement considering times are getting harder year by year. The eleven qualifiers were:-
Emily Gill
Claire Hill
Daniel Fisher
Luke Griffiths
Thomas Steen
Wesley Riggon
Stephen Wozniak
Grant Cooper
Matthew Cope
Adam Taylor
Ashley Riggon
These eleven swimmers competed in 61 events most achieving personal best times. Notable performances coming from:-
Grant Cooper – 1st in the 100m and 200m backstroke events and 5th in the 200m IM final.
Matthew Cope gaining 2nd and 3rd in the 200m and 100m Breaststroke events.
and Luke Griffiths in his first appearance at the Midland Districts reaching the 200m IM final for 10 year olds.
The club also competed in the Mens 11/14 years 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay for a place in the National Finals and finished a creditable 6th and in the process beat a number of larger city squads. The team consisted of Ashley Riggon, Matthew Cope, Jason Allmark and Grant Cooper.
At the National Age Group Championships at Ponds Forge in Sheffield the club was represented by Grant Cooper, Adam Taylor and Matthew Cope with Matthew reaching the finals of the 200m Breaststroke and 400m IM.
Matthew’s performance in last years National Age Group Championships had gained him selection onto the World Class Start Individual Medley Programme run by British Swimming. As part of this programme Matthew attended three 1 day camps in 2003 / 2004.
Grant Cooper and Adam Taylor were selected to represent their respective Divisions of ESSA (English Schools Swimming Association) at the recent Inter–Divisional Championships held at Coventry. Grant represented Division 6 and Adam Division 7.
On the league front the club once again competed in 3 leagues during the year:
Junior League in which we finished 11th three places lower than last year.
Staffs League in which we reached the final finishing 4th position as last year.
West Midlands League in which we are competing in division 2 after being relegated from Division 1 last year. In the first two rounds we have gained two third places and are going into the last round in 10th place.
In summary 2004 has seen the Club yet again improve its level of performance over the previous year. This year on year improvement is keeping us firmly on track to achieve our goal of being once again the top club in the County and one of the best Clubs in the West Midlands. These achievements are as always due to the hard work and commitment of everyone involved in the Club the swimmers, coaches, helpers, parents and committee members.
Congratulations, and well done to everyone!
Thank You
Terry Brindley
Swimming Secretary