Para Swimming are delighted to be able to offer this pathway engagement day on 13th December 2020. The morning session is designed to engage with all those athletes across the country who are not on a national or British Talent Programme, who attend regional training, or those category 2 members who have an eligible impairment including hearing impaired athletes, who would like to develop their swimming further and perhaps want to find out more about the pathways and opportunities open to them. The format will include workshops and a land-based workout with Paralympian, Dave Hill. This opportunity is FREE and should be an informative, fun day for athletes. Coaches are also welcome to attend and observe the workshops if they wish.
Jo Stalley
Covid-19 Lead and Liaison Training- New Dates!
For any volunteers undertaking the Covid-19 Lead or Liaison role, and would like some guidance or further information on how to carry out the role effectively, Swim England is hosting some free workshops. The aim is to build on the learning so far and help educate club volunteers who are new to the role. Dates are as follows;
Thursday 26th November 17.30-18.30
Friday 27th November 12.30-13.30
Wednesday 2nd December 12.30-13.30
Wednesday 2nd December 18.00-19.00
To book a place on a workshop, please email [email protected].
Diving Webinars
Swim England Diving would like to offer a series of live online workouts with some of England’s top instructors and coaches.
During the initial lockdown period Divers on the England Talent programme took part in live sessions and now we want to open them up to the whole Diving Community.
Come join us on Zoom these sessions are open to Coaches and Athletes.
Sport England Return to Play: Small Grants
Sport England has updated their ‘Return to Play’ fund of £10 million in response to the second lockdown. It focuses on awards of up to £10,000 that support clubs and community groups respond to the challenges of returning to play during the coronavirus pandemic. For more information please visit the Sport England website.
Fundraising Tips!
Clubs can receive top tips on the best ways to boost their coffers through fundraising campaigns at online Swim England seminars. The recognised national governing body’s Head of Fundraising Michael Mogan will be leading two sessions in November which will detail the best ways to create a plan to help raise money. The free seminars will focus on the Return to Play: Active Together element of the fund, which has £1.5m available to clubs as part of a crowdfunding initiative.
Digital Development Camps A Huge Success!
We are pleased to share with you that our 2020 Regional Development Programme has been a huge success. Even with the challenges of the present situation, we wanted to offer a flexible programme that offered swimmers and parents support and guidance but in a format that allowed maximum access. Usually the programme caters for 36 athletes due to facility restrictions.
This year the programme was targeting 2008-born swimmers and was delivered in two pieces. Firstly, a collection of educational videos were sent out for swimmers and parents to watch at their convenience. The videos themes were nutrition, psychology, strength and conditioning, lessons from the parent journey and a brief introduction from the Regional Talent Officer and Regional Head Coach. At the time of publishing they had accumulated over 1,200 views, which is an outstanding reach and highlights the huge benefits of sharing content digitally.
The second part to the programme was a series of live Q&A sessions that were hosted by the respective practitioners as well as the Regional Talent Officer and Regional Head Coach. The combined questions across these calls ran into the 100s, which again is so good to see! The audio from these Q&A sessions was recorded and subsequently published on the Regional Podcast and Regional Youtube channel. Included in the notes for each recording is the links to the original practitioner educational video as well any resources that the practitioner felt were useful to share, so all the information for each topic is in one place – just click in the episode notes!
It is a completely new way of operating but it showed the potential for the region reaching a much wider audience in a flexible and time effective way. It will pave the way for future engagement as we continue to try and grow the numbers of swimmers and parents we support.
Head over and subscribe for free to our Youtube channel or our Podcast to catch up on the Q&A sessions and find out more information. Make sure also to follow our Twitter, Instagram and Facebook pages as we share future content.
Diving Manager Needed
Following the resignation of the regional Diving Manager, we are looking for someone to take on this role. If you are passionate about diving and think you could help, please have a look at the Role Description and contact the Regional Chairman, Joan Wheeler at [email protected] before 10th November.
Level X Racing is launched!
Level X Racing is a club time trial held in training with results being submitted to Swim England’s Rankings database.
It is a fun opportunity for swimmers to practice some racing skills in the absence of competitions due to COVID-19.
Swim England will publish leaderboards at designated times throughout the racing period to celebrate success.
If you need further help and assistance with the software for the results please email [email protected]
Could you help by joining our Audit, Risk and Probity Committee?
Swim England East Region is currently looking for four members to join our Audit, Risk and Probity Committee, or ARP as we have already shortened it too!
The ARP is part of the new governance structure that will come into place when the region becomes an incorporated company on 1st January 2021 and the Terms of Reference for the ARP can be found in the ACM papers on our website.
If you feel that you have the qualities to ensure that the region maintains high standards of governance, please complete the application form and send it to the Chairman at [email protected] by 31st October 2020 or, if you think you may be interested but would like to know more, please contact the Chairman by email.
Alternative Window for 2021 County Age Group Championships
Swim England has confirmed it is committed to doing everything it can to enable the ‘excellent’ County Age Group Swimming Championships take place in 2021.
However, due to the ongoing coronavirus restrictions, it is highly unlikely that these events will be able to take place in their usual January/February time slot.
To that end, Swim England has announced that the normal window will be suspended until later in the year.
An alternative window will now run from late May until 18 July 2021, with a further racing opportunity opening up for counties later in the year so older swimmers sitting exams will be given the chance to participate at an appropriate time.
Swim England has also confirmed the current plan is to run Regional Championships within their usual window and it will be making every effort to enable this to happen.
Swim England will soon be publishing details of its full Return to Competition strategy, including plans for the phased return of Open Meets.
The first part of this features Level X Racing which will be fully launched next week following completion of the pilot scheme.
More information can be found on the Swim England website.
Sharyn Bord is awarded a British Empire Medal
Sharyn Bord has been awarded a British Empire Medal in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list 2020.
The Cambridge Dive Team President and Swim England East Region Diving Committee member has been recognised for voluntary service to diving in Cambridgeshire. “I’m very proud,” said Sharyn. “I feel a bit embarrassed by it to be honest because there are so many people that do such a lot of hard work. “I know I’ve been around a long time, but on the way there have been lots and lots of people that have helped me immensely so in a way it’s not me, it’s a collection of people.
“But I am extremely proud and getting used to the feeling of it at the moment.”
Having initially been a swimmer, Sharyn switched to become a diver when the original Parkside Pool opened in Cambridge in 1963. She started coaching and in 1967 became volunteer head coach of the diving section of Granta Swimming Club, which amalgamated to become City of Cambridge Swimming Club in 1985. The new Parkside Pools opened in May 1999, and with 10 club divers the priority became to rebuild the diving section. Membership swelled, with record numbers competing in national championships. Sharyn founded the Cambridge Diving Development Centre in 2001, providing community Learn to Dive lessons, and in 2003, after a fundraising campaign, a professional diving programme was facilitated and the club’s first professional full-time coach appointed. In 2004, the Cambridge Dive Team was founded. The centre continued to grow with the appointment of more professional coaches plus a development programme for divers to become junior coaches.
Sharyn was administrator and treasurer for 10 years before becoming president, and is a judge, referee, county diving secretary. As club president she uses her experience to provide leadership and offer advice on club, county and regional issues, to represent the club and to provide support to coaches and other club officers.
Sharyn added: “Over the years I’ve had a few awards, long service in particular, but I hadn’t ever thought it would be a Queen’s Birthday Honours’ list, it had never crossed my mind.”
Stronger Affiliation – 2 months to go
Over a third of the Swim England affiliated clubs that need to submit evidence to meet new Stronger Affiliation guidelines have either completed or begun the process.
Swim England has created Stronger Affiliation so its affiliated clubs which are not yet SwimMark accredited can prove they are well run and their personnel have the necessary safeguarding checks and qualifications in place to ensure members’ safety.
Evidence must be submitted and approved by 1 December 2020 or clubs face the risk of being suspended temporarily or permanently at the beginning of 2021.
There is a Stronger Affiliation workshop on Wednesday 14th October at 7pm via zoom for any club who wishes to find out more and/or seek help with submitting their evidence.
