Tel: Fax: Email: John.Stout@scll.co.uk When calling or telephoning please ask for John Stout My Ref: Your Ref: Date: Oct 2017 Salford Community Leisure Limited Swimming Development Team Fit City Broughton Pool Great Cheetham Street West Salford M7 2DN Annual Report 2016-17 Dear Swimmers and Parents The SCL competitive training scheme and City of Salford Swimming Club can again be delighted with another season of success particularly where team results have most notably highlighted the strength in depth of the programme. The most prominent achievement was undoubtedly the 5 th consecutive Top Club Title at the Lancashire County Championships whilst also doubling up, against significant odds, with the Top Senior Club Title. The North West and Lancashire is a bastion of strong swimming clubs with more clubs per square mile than in any other place in the country - the competition, and history, and tradition is fierce. When I arrived in Salford in 2001 it was painful seeing us fall short in this contest to clubs such as Bolton, Southport, Preston, Gallica, Liverpool, Wigan and Manchester. Every club will have those purple patch periods of dominance but sustainability is the defining challenge. The difficulty of the task is made clear when - from a single victory in 1996 it took 11 years to win back to back top club titles in 2007,08 and then another 5 years to get it back in 2013. No other club has retained this title 5 times a massive congratulations to all the swimmers and coaches who have worked alongside me to achieve this.
Other team triumphs have included: Top Club, Top Boys Club, Top Girls Club at the Robin Hood Open Meet in Sheffield where our swimmers gained 177 Medals. Not to be outdone our youngsters aged between 9 and 13 years attended the Wigan Starter Meet and came out as Top Club. Our Boys 14-16 years Relay teams qualified for all 3 relays at the National Championships and made every final. There have been some exciting team opportunities with our annual training camps for the younger members at Stonyhurst and in Torremolinos [Spain] for the swimmers in P1 and P2 both camps were very successful and popular providing a wealth of experience and challenges for those attending. We have a fairly young and developing team and in terms of individual performances there have been plenty of pleasing performances and results. In terms of qualifying for Nationals and making finals we have had an impressive 24 members qualify for Nationals of which 17 made finals. Qualifiers were Matthew George, Emily Keays, Dan Austin, Marcus Dey, Chelsea Crabtree, Scott Provan, Jake Haslam, Ewan Wilson, Elly Fraser, Will Camden, Ben McEvoy, Jay Dennett, James Duncan, Dylan Van-Hoof, Laura Boardman, Lewis Clough, Luke Hoey, Nathan Lowe, Isabelle Hartley, Alex Morley, Luke Adams, Jack Sheffield, Craig McNeil and Tom McCarthy. From these qualifiers there were 6 Medals Marcus Dey [Silver - 200 Backstroke], Laura Boardman [Gold 800 Freestyle], Lewis Clough [2 Silvers 100, 200 Freestyle], Craig McNeill [Silver - 400 Free] and Alexander Morley [Bronze 200 Backstroke]. Finalists were Matthew George, Ewan Wilson, Elly Fraser, Will Camden, Ben McEvoy, James Duncan, Luke Hoey, Nathan Lowe, Isabelle Hartley, Luke Adams and Jack Sheffield. Whilst some of the statistics look reasonable unfortunately many medals and finals were missed by the narrowest of margins whilst other swimmers missed the cut for nationals by hundredths. It leads to the inescapable conclusion that many swimmers have fallen short of greater glories predominantly due to application and attendances. As coaches we also have to look at ourselves, evaluate the reasons, demonstrate awareness and plan for improvement. The performance of the opposition is always out of our control and sometimes we have to accept that there are athletes who have more ability at this year s Nationals I really felt that our swimmers missed places and finals because the opposition were not more talented - they were just fitter and had worked harder. This is something that we will be working hard to rectify this season.
We say a fond farewell to Kris Wyzlic, coach to SS1 and TI2 for many years, Kris has been a most loyal and reliable team member who has provided a platform for many Salford children to achieve success and pursue high level competitive swimming. In his place we have appointed ex-salford swimmer Lauren Smith who joins the team with great enthusiasm and passion for coaching after several years guiding our Academy and SS2 Groups. Adam and Danielle have been outstanding in building very strong performance groups. The results from P2 have been getting stronger over the past few years and we have seen many more of the members establish themselves at Regional and County level whilst a contingent are not only pushing through to National level, but making finals here. The P3 group has surpassed the success achieved by any previous best period experienced in the scheme, with solid results at all levels and more County and Regional qualifiers than ever before. The Academy groups continue to flourish and feed into three very vibrant SS2 Groups which all looks immensely positive moving forwards. The future is looking very promising with the groups housing a lot of talented potential much credit should go to the coaches for their hard work and exceptional efforts. Many thanks to SCL who continue to provide robust support with pool space, logistics and operations that allow us to be successful and uphold our position as one of the strongest schemes in the Region. I would like to thank the people who have worked hard behind the scenes in helping the club remain strong whilst the coaches and swimmers have focused upon improvements and performances: The Club Executive Committee led by Chairman Garry Maclaren [Joanne Wartnaby, James Bradley, Pauline Curley, Claire Wolstencroft, Joanne Bleasdale, Claire Hoey, Sara Hartley and Gary Newell] have been a pleasure to work with and their demeanour has been instrumental in creating a positive environment. Gary and Julie Newell, our gala logistics helpers, officials and volunteers You have done a tremendous job ensuring that our home meets were successful providing all our swimmers with the opportunities to compete. Many swimmers new to the club from SS2s and Academies have also been provided with competitive opportunities due to the support you have all provided. Big thanks to the Team Managers who have worked alongside the staff at away competitions Kath Boardman, Jason Dey, Chiara Chadwick, Claire Hoey, Alison Wilson, Pauline Curley, Joanne Wartnaby, Sara Hartley, Lee Bleasdale and Jayne McCarthy - Also to Sally Adams for organising all our entries. Thanks to John Bailey for last year s presentation evening unexpected and what a standard he has set There are many people to thank for volunteering their time in order to facilitate opportunities for all our swimmers - So on behalf of the all the coaches we would like to say a big thanks to you - your contributions are appreciated and are essential to operate club functions. For those who wish to get involved please ask and come forward, all your support helps your children no matter how much time you offer.
A synopsis of the season s achievements: Top Age Group Club in Lancashire for the 5 th consecutive time Top Senior Club in Lancashire Top Club at open meets in Sheffield and Wigan An incredible 56 qualifiers for Regional Championships and 75 for Lancashire County Championships our highest ever numbers for Regionals and equal highest for Counties 24 Qualifiers for National Championships and 4 Relay Teams - Matthew George, Emily Keays, Dan Austin, Marcus Dey, Chelsea Crabtree, Scott Provan, Jake Haslam, Ewan Wilson, Elly Fraser, Will Camden, Ben McEvoy, Jay Dennett, James Duncan, Dylan Van-Hoof, Laura Boardman, Lewis Clough, Luke Hoey, Nathan Lowe, Isabelle Hartley, Alex Morley, Luke Adams, Jack Sheffield, Craig McNeil and Tom McCarthy. 6 Medals and 11 Finalists at National Competitions 5 qualifiers for ASA Short Course Nationals Matthew George, Lewis Clough, Will Camden, Chelsea Crabtree and Emily Keays 5 Qualifiers for British Championships Emily Keays, Matthew George, Marcus Dey, Dan Austin and Chelsea Crabtree NW England Schools Representatives Marcus Dey, Matthew George, Elly Fraser and Laura Boardman 86 Medals in total won by our swimmers at Regional Championship Events 131 Medals at Lancashire County Championships with 15 Individual County Champions Emily Keays, Matthew George and Adam Naylor [Coach] selected for Lancashire at the Inter Counties Championships Georgina Chadwick and Nathan Lowe selected for the GB Catholic Schools Team Greater Manchester Sports Awards Lewis Clough [Top Performer - Salford], Jack Sheffield [Top Disability Performer] and Matthew George [Top Performer Rochdale] National Talent Programmes Laura Boardman, Marcus Dey, Matthew George, Ewan Wilson, Ben McEvoy and Elly Fraser Regional Talent Programmes Hannah Camden, Miles Paul, Amy Grovestock, Emma Flannery and Joseph Stout To the swimmers here is a challenge and a consideration: If you miss one session per week - that is a possible 50 to 100 hours of practice that cannot be performed the moment and opportunity is lost. In this time you could potentially achieve: 250 500 Dive starts 100,000 300,000 Metres of Aerobic training 25,000 50,000 Metres of VO2 training or deliberate race intensity work repeating race specific stroke rates and lengths 40,000 100,000 Metres of Kick Will any of the above make a difference? You know the answer of course it will. As I said before and it is worth repeating many of our swimmers fell short of the greater result because sessions were missed or application could have been better. Do not fall short this season because the opposition did that little bit more than you in the pool you are in control of your effort, your application and your decision making.
The Future is bright Make sure you play your part in it....i could go on but, to be short, I don't pay for swimming - I pay for the opportunities that it provides my kids with to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their lives and give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen so far I think it is a great investment! John Stout Aquatic Development Manager Head Coach City of Salford Swimming Club