We use Google analytics to better understand how our users interact with the site.

Facebook-f X-twitter Instagram Youtube Podcast
Sign up to our newsletters

Jo Stalley

Ian Mackenzie to Continue as Swim England President for a Further Year

by

Ian Mackenzie (Hoddesdon SC) is the current President for Swim England, but has had little chance to carry out his duties during the coronavirus pandemic. It has now been announced that the Swim England President is to stay in the role for a further 12 months until May 2022.

Ian said: “I am very appreciative of the regional chairs in allowing me to have this extension of my Swim England presidency to May 2022.

“My presidency so far has been unusual to say the least, but life has been unusual for everyone, in particular our athletes.

“I look forward to meeting the athletes again on the poolside and seeing them in competition.

“My thanks also go to Vice President Doug Whitlam for postponing his move to the office of President, not just for a year, but for two years, as the President for the Commonwealth Games year, 2022, Jim Wilks has already been appointed.

Tremendous job

“I am really looking forward to meeting our volunteers again around the country.”

“They do a tremendous job in ensuring that the competitions happen and that the athletes have the best possible experience in our sport.”

Jane Nickerson, Swim England chief executive, appreciated the suggestion made by the regions to extend Ian’s presidency.

“It’s always a great honour to be named Swim England President and everyone relishes the chance to go around the country to watch our fantastic sports and meet the people who make them happen,” she said.

“Unfortunately, the pandemic means Ian hasn’t been able to carry out his role as he would like and I wish to express my thanks to the regions for suggesting he continue in the post for an extra year.

“I’d especially like to thank Doug as well for agreeing to postpone his presidency for two years. It’s a thoughtful gesture which I know is very much appreciated by Ian.”

Dan Pilbrow Selected as Head Coach for the National Event Camp

by

Congratulations to Dan Pilbrow (Head Coach, West Suffolk SC), for being selected as one of three coaches to head up the National Event Camp. This year over 90 swimmers had been selcted for the online camp.

Some of the key aims of the National Event Camp include developing technical and tactical areas for races, enhancing athletes’ understanding of nutrition, physical and mental wellbeing, and utilising video analysis when pool access is permitted.

British Swimming Launch Innovative Tool For Coaches

by

British Swimming have recently launched a great tool to help coaches offer even more support to athletes. The innovative CharEQter survey is now live.

 

The charEQter survey has been developed as a tool for coaches to help quantify the status of their athlete’s characteristics and attributes in line with the Optimal Athlete Development Framework (OADF).

 

For more information please login to your ‘Off The Blocks’ account. If you are yet to register for this free platform as a swimmer, coach or parent, please head to www.offtheblocks.info

 

In order for a club to register for the survey, the head coach just needs to send an email  [email protected] and British Swimming will send them a form to complete.

Swim England issues its interpretation of how new tiers will affect aquatic activity

by

Swim England has issued its interpretation on how the new tiered restrictions will affect its disciplines, club activity, elite athletes, Learn to Swim lessons and aquatics classes.

The recognised national governing body has been waiting for more than a week for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to issue its latest guidance following the announcement that the second national lockdown will end on Wednesday 2 December.

Para Swimming Pathway Engagement Day

by

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.

Covid-19 Lead and Liaison Training- New Dates!

by

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

by

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

by

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!

by

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!

by

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.