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Hoddesdon

Swimming Club

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Coaches Corner

Janet Warrington Head Coach

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Technical Coach Steve Gershon

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Janet has been coaching at Hoddesdon SC since April 2002 and took on the role of Head Coach in April 2003. A County level swimmer when younger she has swam for Edmonton Phoenix, Ware, Hatfield and as a Master for Hartham Masters SC. Swimming has always been a big part of Janet’s life. When her children started swimming lessons, it wasn’t long before she found herself taking as many ASA Certificates as she could. In 2004 she passed her Club Coach Certificate in Swimming and her Teacher Certificate in Diving in 2005. For 2 years, alongside her swimming teaching and coaching at Hoddesdon, she was privileged to be able to coach alongside Derek Beaumont at The Beaumont Diving Academy Hatfield.  Janet is currently taking the UKCC Level 3 Swimming Coaching certificate and in September 2008 she started a full-time University Course at the Hertfordshire University in BSc Sports Studies.

As Head Coach she coaches all squads and coaches every day. She is very proud to be a part of the recent successes the club has enjoyed, and believes the support she receives from the team of coaches at Hoddesdon, who are all highly qualified and extremely professional, are the main reason behind these successes.

Her philosophy is of hard work and self-belief, “To succeed, you need to put the work in, if you work hard and believe that you can achieve – then it can happen. If you know you have done your very best, you can remain happy and continue to work hard.”January, 2009

 

Mary Wright Coach

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My name is Mary Wright. I joined my first swimming club in Zambia at the age of 9. We trained in a 50m swimming pool – outdoor, of course! I was coached by some very good South African coaches. I can still remember that it was very cold getting into the pool to do early morning swim training even though it was the middle of Africa !

 When my parents returned to the UK I was unable to carry on Training, except for a spell with Port of Plymouth Swimming Club as my family moved around, but I have loved swimming as a Sport ever since. When my own children joined the local swimming club it inspired me to take my teaching, and then coaching qualifications. I am a Club coach and I am currently updating my qualification to the new UKCC Level 3. I have about 7 years coaching experience and have coached all age groups from 6 to 26! My last club was Bishop’s Stortford, where I coached for a long while at the development level and helped to produce many county medallists as well as several District medallists and top 6 Bagcats swimmers. I am passionate about swimming as a sport and believe strongly that good technique is the basis for long term success in the sport.

 It is my wish to assist all those swimmers within the club who wish to improve their swimming performance. I am enjoying getting to know the swimmers and look forward to working with them in the future.

John Sullivan Volunteer Swimming Coach

I started swimming at the tender age of 5 and continued through the competitive stages of swimming until I was 21. During this time I swam for a number of swimming clubs (Islington Borough, Moreland, Otters and Anaconda) the most notable being Barnet Copthall where I joined the club on its opening night and first training session way back in1978(a long time ago). During my time at Barnet Copthall I was coached by the then England coach (Rick Bailey) and trained with swimmers from County standard through to GB swimmers.

I was privileged to swim at various high level competitions which also included competing in Spain. At the grand old age of 21 swimming took a side line in my life but I got back into this great sport when I had children.

My children went to a local swim club and when they found out I had a back ground in swimming they asked me to help out. One night’s coaching became two, then three and so on. I mainly coached the junior swimmers through to county standard and then passed them onto the senior squad. My main emphasis was on stroke work, technique and hard work and I firmly believe if you concentrate on these you will have great success.

My memories of swimming are of hard training and great fun with my friends, most of whom are still my friends today, some 25 years after leaving the sport! So don’t look on your swimming as a chore, its all there for your fitness, health, enjoyment and much more!!!!!!!!!!!!

 “Swimming gave me a great education in life, the discipline and work ethic I gained from swimming all those years ago I still use today both in my work and personal life!”.

John Sullivan May 2010

 

Attention all swimming parents – these pages have been taken from Mama Parry’s Essential Guide for Swimming Parents, and the coaches agree, it is an essential read. Competitive swimming is a very long journey and to reach your full-potential you require extremely supportive parents.

Am I a pressure Parent?                                            

This survey was taken by the Amateur Swimming Association of Great Britain. If you answer yes to one or more of these questions, you may be in danger of pressuring your child. The parents’ role is critical and should be supportive at all times to ensure a positive experience for your child.

    • Is winning more important to you than it is to your child?
    • When your child has a poor swim, is your disappointment obvious, such as through body language or vocal tones?
    • Do you feel that you are the one to have the “psyche” your child up before competition?
    • Do you conduct “post-mortems” immediately after competition or practice?
    • Do you feel that winning is the only way your child can enjoy the sport?
    • Do you feel that you have to force your child to go to practice?
    • Do you find yourself wanting to interfere with coaching and instructions during practice or competition, thinking that you could do better?
    • Do you find yourself disliking your child’s opponents?
    • Are your child’s goals more important to you than they are to your child?
    • Do you provide material rewards for performance?
  • Taken from Mama Parry’s : Essential Guide for Swimming Parents, published by Vernon-Smith : www.totalswimming.co.uk

“The 10 Commandments for swimming parents”

 

1. Thou shalt not impose thy ambitions on thy child.
Remember that swimming is your youngster’s activity. Improvement occurs at different rates for each individual. Do not judge your child’s progress on the performance of other athletes and don’t push them based on what you think they should be doing. The nice thing about swimming is youngsters can strive to do their personal best and therefore benefit from the process of competitive swimming.

2. Thou shalt be supportive no matter what.
There is only one question to ask your youngster after a practice or a competition – “Did you enjoy it?” If competitions and practices are not fun, your youngster should not be forced to participate. Plus, your youngster should be applauded and praised for any good effort… 2nd,3rd, 4th, even 34th – they are all a case of “WELL DONE”.

3. Thou shalt not coach thy child.
You are involved in one of the few youth sports that offer professional coaching. Do not undermine the professional coach by trying to coach your youngster on the side. Your job is to provide support and love and a safe place to return at the end of the day. Love and hug your youngster no matter what. The coach is responsible for the technical part of the job.. You should avoid offering advice on technique or race strategy or any other area that is not yours. Above all, never pay your youngster for a performance. This will only serve to confuse your child concerning the reasons to strive for excellence and will weaken the swimmer – coach bond.

4. Thou shalt say only positive things at a swim - meet.
If you are going to show up at a swimming meet, you should be encouraging, but never criticise your youngster or the coach. Both of them know if mistakes have been made. And remember “yelling at” is not the same as “cheering for”.

5. Thou shalt acknowledge thy child’s fears.
A first swimming competition, 1500m free or 200m I.M. can be a stressful situation. It is totally acceptable for your child to be scared. Do not shout or belittle, just assure your child that the coach would not have suggested the event if they were not ready to compete in it. Remember your job is to love and support your child through all of the swimming experience.

6. Thou shalt not criticise the officials.
If you do not care to devote the time or do not have the desire to volunteer as an official, do not criticise those who are doing the best they can.

7. Honour thy child’s coach.
The bond between coach and swimmer is a special one, and one that contributes to your child’s success as well as enjoyment. Do not criticise the coach in the presence of your child as this will only serve to hurt your child’s swimming.

8. Thou shalt be loyal and supportive of thy team.
It is not wise for parents to move their children from club to club. The water is not necessarily bluer in another pool! Every team has it’s own internal problems, even teams that build champions. Children who switch from team to team are often ostracised for a long time by the team mates they leave behind and are slowly received by new team mates. Indeed, swimmers who switch teams often do no better than at their previous club.

9. Thy child shalt have goals besides winning.
Most successful swimmers are those who have learned to focus on the process not the outcome. Giving 100% effort is far more important than winning. One Olympian said “My goal was to set a world record. Well I did that, but someone else did it too – a little faster than I did. I achieved my goal and I lost. Does this make me a failure? No, in fact I am very proud of that swim”. That is THE outlook to carry through life.

10. Thou shalt not expect thy child to become an Olympian.
There are 250,000 registered competitive swimmers in G.B. and another 150,000 in learn to swim lessons. There are only a maximum of 52 places available for the Olympic Squad….. every four years. Your child’s odds of becoming an Olympian are less than 0.04%

Good Luck!

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