Ahoy, me Hearties!

Well shiver me timbers all ye swimmers and ye landlubber parents now that we have made the final of the 2010 Leics Diddy League!! Its time to heave ho and make our plans for the Diddy League Final. For all them that’s not bin to this final afore, it’s a special night, for there’s booty to be had…………

Anyway that’s enough pirate talk for just now……. For those of you who have never been to the Diddy League Final before, you wont know what a fab night it is for our swimmers and parents alike. There is usually a great atmosphere and all of the teams in attendance walk a circuit of the pool (lap of honour) before the gala begins. In years past our teams have worn -

• specially commissioned bright yellow swim caps, (that year we looked like bits of floating sweetcorn!!)
• “Team PINK” T shirts including parents who also wore pink wigs, glasses etc ( some will do anything to get noticed)

However last year we didn’t do anything special……… which was a shame………. and so this year we are back by popular demand, and we plan to be …….. wait for it ……., KSC PIRATES for the Diddy League Final. We have designed a T shirt, £5 each regardless of size which can be ordered at the desk and we invite as many swimmers, parents, siblings, aunts uncle’s & grandparents to join us as pirates as we sail in the Jolly Roger down the M1 to Barunstone Pool on June 26th

Please join in the fun by ordering a T shirt, or wearing your own pirate outfit ( we don’t need to know why you may already have one of those in your wardrobe!!) The last date for shirts to be ordered and paid for is Wednesday 2nd June so dig out ye pieces of eight and get your T shirt ordered. See below for a mock up of the design.

Falcon Ashfield Cup 29/05/2010

Last night we fielded a 12/under team at Hucknall for Falcon Swimming Clubs annual Ashfield Cup Gala and came in second place.

There were winning swims by the relay teams of Josh Shipman,Harry Jervis,Ryan Pigott and Greg Brown - Boys 10/u Medley,Charly Pink, Alfie Orme,Matthew Shipley and Elise Yorston - 9/u Free, Greg Brown, Alfie Orme, Ryan Pigott and Harry Jervis - 10/u free and Matthew Shipley, Elise Yorston,Alfie Orme and Courtney Butters - 9/u Medley and individual first places for Elise Yorston 25m Butterfly, Ryan Pigott 50m Back, Josh Shipman 25m Back, Courtney Butters 25m Back, Mollie Wright 50m Fly and 50m Free.

Swimmers gaining personal best times were ,Josh Shipman,Carrie Brougham,Jack Brown (2) Ellie Poxon, Mollie Wright, Emma Stephenson, Matthew Shipley, Elise Yorston, Harry Jervis,Jessica Hawksworth, Gemma Calder, Courtney Butters, Louis Pebody, Holly Orme, Aime Cheese and Jade Calder.

Click here for Results

Well done to all.

Alan

Open Meets...What are they?

We have recently been asked by a few parents about Open Meets. What are they and who are they aimed at?

Open meets are run by swimming clubs or groups of swimming clubs and cover a full range of age groups and events and occupy a full weekend or just one day at a weekend.

These are galas designed for the individual swimmer, although they will still swim under their clubs name.There is a fee payable (by the swimmer) for each event entered – usually around £3.00 to £4.00 per event.

The importance of open meets is that they give swimmers valuable experience of competition and above all provide them with times to measure their progress. They are also very important to obtain qualifying times for County, Regional and National competitions.(Licensed meets from levels 1,2 and 3 use computerised results service to enable data to go into the national ranking system. You can check your rankings if you have competed in one of these on the British Swimming website at British Swimming - under swimming-rankings, you will need your ASA Registration number for this).

The meets are in four levels and reflect the grade of swimmer for whom the competition is designed.

Level 1 is aimed at National qualifiers, or swimmers close the National qualification, looking for opportunities to achieve National qualifying times.

Level 2 is aimed at District qualifiers.

Level 3 is for Club swimmers who are looking for County qualifying times.

Level 4 is for Club swimmers who are just beginning competition. (our own club champs would be classed as a level 4)

Each level has ‘qualifying times’ - which may include an upper limit (a swimmer cannot have produced a time faster than this) and/or a lower limit (a swimmer cannot have achieved a time faster than this)

Swimmers are ‘seeded’ according to their entry times - which means they will swim against others of the same ability regardless of age.

Results are determined either by finals (in age groups) or by the fastest swims in the heats (called heat declared).

There are usually trophies and/or medals for the top three or six in each age group.

A swimmer is not chosen to compete in opens but the club does recommend certain galas and would like swimmers to support these.
Any swimmer aged 9 and over is welcome to attend open meets providing they meet the qualifying criteria, however that swimmer MUST be Category Two Registered.

The club has an open meet co-ordinator - Steve Beecham (Steve does the small pool on Saturday nights)Steve usually works out which Open Meets are suitable for our swimmers and hands out the entry information to those swimmers that are Cat 2 registered.

These are some of the Open Meets swimmers from our club attend.

Open Meets 2010

Some swimmers choose different open meets to the ones Steve picks. A full list of Open Meets throughout the country can be found by clicking on the link below. All we ask is that we are notified if the swimmer is taking part in an open meet so that all times achieved can be added to the clubs database and that club galas should take preference.

Licensed Meets Calender


Alan

Spring Competition Round Three 08/05/2010

As well as competing in the diddy league we also had a team at Hucknall for the final round of the Spring Competition. In what is always a difficult round for us due to the other gala commitment,we came fifth on the night.
Ripley 219
Retford 193
Cabs 191
Falcon 187
Kimberley 135

There was 18 personal best times swam and a first place for the 9year old boys freestyle relay team.

Click here for full Results

Well done to all the swimmers.

Alan

Leicester Diddy League Round Two 08/05/2010

In tonights gala at Hinkley the swimmers performed brilliantly to win by 62 points.
Kimberley 208
Burton 146
Leicester Neptune 138
Ilkeston 137
Oadby and Wigston 68

We had a total of 28 first places and 14 second places from a total of 48 races and one disqualification.

Click here for full Results

Well done to all.

A reminder to Hannah Cross..... two chocolate eclairs!!


Alan