Congratulations to Sandra who WON "Volunteer of the Year" at the activebroxbourne Sports Awards last week. Well done to those who were runners up and nominated for the awards: Hoddesdon Swimming Club for Sports Club of the Year and Grace Harvey for Disability Sports Performer of the Year who were shortlisted and finished in the top three. Lucy Charles and Emma Warrington who were nominated for Young Sports
Performer of the Year and Mark Charles who was nominated for Volunteer of the Year.
Also well done to The John Warner School who WON an award for their sports department.
Well done and congratulations to you all.

Click here for link to photograph of Sandra and Grace
 

Click here for link to Report on Lucyand Emma’s performance at ESSA Division 10 inter-Divisional Championships at Crystal Palace October 2009

Click here for link to ESSA website for Team Photograph

My first 800m Open Water Swim by Jes Waters

On Sunday 19^th July 2009, I made my way to the ASA East Region Open Water Championships. This took place at Whitlingham Outdoor Education Centre in Norwich. It was a really exhilarating experience for me, and here’s just a quick review of my day:When I finally arrived at the event, the place was amazing: the scenery was just breath-taking, the lake looked, well, sort of inviting and most people looked excited, including me! (:

When my event finally came I felt prepared: I’d mobilised, drank and eaten and felt strangely positive. This is unusual for me; I’m usually quite uncontrollably nervous before a race. I had entered the 800m race, and, as crazy as I am, a lake seemed a pretty good place to do the second 800m I’d ever done!All the information prior to the race was straight forward: after having your number written on you, you are given a hat (which also has your number on), and you wait with others also competing with you until they call out your event. Then comes the best bit: after queuing up, you’re called up to the edge of the jetty in order of your number. Despite the cameras on us, I remember feeling so professional and motivated when they called out my name.

When the Officials began announcing the event, I remember thinking I’d practically done it; there was nothing stopping me, or preventing me from completing this race. The Officials gestured us to get in, and let me tell you, the feeling of “getting in” contrasts hugely to that of getting a swimming pool! Planting my feet in a clump of algae and fish darting everywhere, I felt adventurous. However, it was absolutely freezing!! I’d barely figured out exactly where I was, when the horn went…As I pushed off the jetty, I can remember feeling the excruciatingly painful cold water. It was such a shock to me, which I remember antagonizing over whether I should stop. I practically did; I couldn’t breathe in the water! However, after a few head-up front crawl stokes, I threw my head back under, and got on with it.It wasn’t long before I’d hit the finishing banner, and won a very unexpected silver medal, making me second in Hertfordshire. As this was my first swim, I felt very rewarded, and maybe next time I’ll go that one step further…The day in general was an extremely rewarding experience, and I know I’ll be out there again, and again, as I believe that’s where I want to be in my swimming career. I had a fantastic time, and am very grateful to my parents and coaches that let me take part in this brilliant event.

Windermere next…(:

British Gas Grand Prix (25m) Leeds 6th - 9th August 2009.

Before we had time to settle back into sunny Hoddesdon, we were packed and heading North again, this time along the A1 towards The Aquatics Centre, John Charles Centre for Sport, Leeds.
The official programme was full of pictures of the Olympic and Worlds Swimming Stars telling you to watch out for : Jo Jackson, Liam Tancock, Rebecca Adlington, Lizzie Simmonds, Caitlin McClatchey, Adam Brown, Ross Davenport, Hannah Miley and Francesca Halsall.

Any thoughts that this was a long way to go for 2 lengths breaststroke faded quickly when Emma was warming up in the same lane as Rebecca Adlington. Liam Tancock jumped out of the pool in front of me and Andy Hunter saying "Hi Jan, how are you!". Terry Denison, then said the same and added "you know Doug Frost, don't you?" (Ian Thorpes first coach!), I shook his hand and said yes! Coming back down to earth, we went into the 50m Breaststroke ranked 30th out of 36 swimmers. Emma swam a pb of 34.17 in the heats and finished in 22nd place, which meant she was 2nd reserve for the “B” final so we had to come back in the evening to swim with all these stars again - happy days!. The chances that Emma would actually swim in the final were very slim, but she still had to go to the "call room" with the other swimmers and this was good experience in itself.

The next day Lucy had the 800m freestyle event ranked 19th out of 20 swimmers. Lucy swam in the first heat before the break, her pb was 9:04.68 and she wanted to break the 9 minute barrier. Swimming her first 400m in 4:24.43, which spookily is Lucy's Short Course pb for 400m Freestyle, she went on to swim a pb time of 8.55.68 and finished in 12th place overall. Comparing this to last weeks 1500m pb of 18secs this is consistent as it was a pb of exactly 9 secs.

There were World Records, British Records and Canadian Records being broken at this Grand Prix event and our girls were swimming alongside some of the best swimmers in the world and not looking out of place at all. Well done girls, the hard work in training is paying off and I personally can't wait to start the hard work all over again next year. Jan.

Lucy, Emma and Janet at Leeds 2009

WISE Schools International Championships 13^th-15^th March 2009

For those of you who don’t know, I was chosen to represent England schools at the WISE International swimming championships, competing against Wales, Ireland and Scotland at the Welsh National Pool in Swansea. I was able to miss Friday off school to travel up to Wales and meet the rest of the England team, and then I had a training session with my new team mates. I was able to meet two Paralympians who were also training at the time, Dave Roberts and Eleanor Simmonds.

After training we were all given our own England Schools kit which consisted of; a hoody, polo shirt, track suit bottoms and a swimming hat. We then travelled back to our hotel and the team had a meal together, if you are like me and love food it was fantastic as there was nearly every food you could think of and it was an all you can eat buffet.

The next morning (Competition day) the whole team were motivated after our team talk and everyone was ready for an excellent day of racing. When the morning session warm up was completed there was the opening ceremony. This meant each team got to parade around the pool cheering and waving their national flag. The atmosphere was amazing!

My first race was the freestyle relay, our team lead from the start and left the other nations trailing behind. By the end of the first session England were in first place and sailing ahead of Scotland who were in second place, this gave our team confidence for the next session. For lunch we were all given a huge amount of delicious food to give us energy for the second session. Our team then had a group photo taken with the England flag in front of us.

After the warm up for the second session our team was lively and cheering on everyone who swam, this created an amazing atmosphere and made me want to swim really fast to make the team proud. I competed in the 100m freestyle event and came a close second to my England team mate, meaning it was 1^st and 2^nd for England. I was happy as I swam a new PB time! The second and final session drew to a close after race after race of 1^st place positions for England. The whole team were ecstatic. To finish off the competition there was a closing ceremony and like before each team had to walk around the pool waving their nations flag. 

Before the results were finally announced the four nations were lined up along the side of the 50m pool and we did a huge Mexican wave, this was really fun! Then the final results were announced and of course England had won for the 38^th year in a row, England had also broken 17 out of the 18 records which were broken during the competition. The whole team were really pleased and to top off a fantastic weekend the four nations had a meal and party afterwards to celebrate.

Golden Girls are hot at the Burns Meet

Three of Hoddesdon Swimming club’s top swimmers , Lucy Charles Emma Warrington & Hayley Warrington travelled to the Ponds Forge 50m pool in Sheffield last weekend to compete in the Burns open meet.

The main objectives were to achieve National and possibly British Championship Qualifying times, with the added bonus of meeting and competing against Olympic Champion Rebecca Adlington.

On Saturday, Emma was competing in the 100m Breaststroke in the first session & Lucy was competing in the 400m freestyle in the afternoon session. Emma swam a magnificent race, giving it everything and managed to achieve her long awaited National Qualifying time. She finished in a time of 1.16.78 well within the required time and will now join Lucy at the National competition held in Sheffield at the end of July.

After Emma’s great performance Lucy was keen to swim her event. From the off Lucy meant business and lead her heat from start to finish. She easily qualified for the Nationals with a time of 4.28.54 but was disappointed to miss the British Championship qualifying time by the smallest margin needing to have swum a time of 4.28.37 seconds!

On Sunday morning Emma & Hayley were competing in 50m Breaststroke & Lucy in 200m freestyle. Hayley was in the first heat of the 50m Breaststroke & had a fantastic race. She dived in and left the competition behind. She beat her personal best by 2 seconds and claimed gold in the 11yr old age group. Not to be outdone by her sister, Emma swam an equally fantastic race, beating her personal best by a second and claimed gold in the 14/15yr age group.

Lucy swam a determined heat in her 200m freestyle, she won her heat and smashed her personal best by 2 seconds, she easily qualified for the National competition in a time of 2.08.40 but as with her previous race it just wasn’t fast enough to qualify for the British championships.

All 3 girls returned from Sheffield happy with their achievements and are now looking forward to competing in the Herts county championships held in March. Lucy also has the honour of being selected to represent ESSA England swimming team in the WISE Home Nations School Swimming International competition over the weekend of 13th – 15th March at the Swansea International pool.

Link to Golden Girls Photograph

Janet wins “Coach of the Year” Award

At Active Broxbourne’s first Sports Awards Ceremony

Sporting talent and achievement within the borough of Broxbourne was celebrated on Wednesday 28^th January, 2009 with the first Active Broxbourne Sport Awards.

The awards recognised both sporting achievement and the invaluable role that volunteers put into running sports clubs. A total of 12 categories and awards were up for grabs for nominees at the well attended event, approximately 300 people attended the ceremony at Broxbourne Civic Hall. The scheme is aimed at recognising the talent and dedication of active participation and coaching in the borough.

Lucy Charles was short listed for The Young Sports Performer of the Year, and Janet Warrington was short listed for Coach of the Year. Up against some stiff competition Lucy missed out on the award, however, was proud to be on the stage with some of the best athletes in the borough and the world. The winner of the Young Sports Performer of the Year was Oliver Rowlands who is ranked third in the world at double mini trampolining.

Janet, who won the Coach of the Year Award, said “I am very proud to receive this award. I want to say a big thank you, to the dedicated team of coaches and volunteers at Hoddesdon Swimming club, all of whom are invaluable to the process and you should feel that this award is for you too. I also want to thank the swimmers, my motivation is driven by you - you are the main reason I want to improve and broaden my knowledge in coaching. Keep working hard, and so will I.”

National Schools Competition Division Ten

Two of Hoddesdon swimming club’s top swimmers have been in action swimming for Division Ten (Herts, Beds, Bucks) in the national schools competition. This was swam at Enfield’s Southbury Road pool and consisted of the 12 divisions from England.

The girls both gave good accounts for themselves, Lucy Charles winning a silver medal with a superb 100m freestyle race and a new personal best of 58.96. Emma Warrington had a good swim in her 100m breaststroke finishing 10^th and the girls both swam in the relays achieving a 7^th in the medley and 6^th in the freestyle.

The team had their best finish for some years and won the most improved division. As this was a national event, the girls will be very pleased with their efforts and it will help towards their national standings.

Congratulations to Josh and Holly

Josh Arnold and Holly Gannon recently captained their respective school relay teams in the ESSA Secondary Schools National Finals 2008 at Ponds Forge, Sheffield. A fantastic achievement to be in two of England’s top school relay teams, well done!

October 2007 – Head Coach Janet Warrington
     Selected  For Education Programme.

Link to article on East Region Web Page: http://www.eastswimming.org/vsite/vcontent/content/news/0,10869,5113-164533-181750-35973-278750-news-item,00.html

 2007 Bursary Awardee - Janet Warrington

Link to article on Skills Active Web Page:http://www.skillsactive.com/resources/nancy-ovens-bursary/2007/janet-warrington

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