Category: The Black Line

1. What did you learn that surprised you most when you joined Piranhas?
   How supportive and friendly the club is!
2. What has been your greatest extravagance?
   I’m an Apple fanboy.
3. What’s the best coaching advice you’ve ever received?
   If you want to achieve something new then you have do something that you have not done before!
4. What’s the most important lesson life has taught you?
   Use your heart and head when making decisions! Be happy!
5. What’s your claim to fame (if you have one)?
   Olympic Torchbearer for London 2012 Olympics
6. What’s your favourite time of the day and why?
   Morning if there’s a coffee, evening if there’s a “soft” beverage
7. What would people be surprised to know about you?
   The amount of various things I am involved with
8. What’s your favourite book or film and why?
   Harry Potter because this was a story I grew up with.
9. If you could meet anyone, living or dead, who would you meet and why?
   Michael Jackson – anyone who created Thriller has to be worth it
   
10. What are your main objectives for the club in the next 12 months?
    Provide opportunities for all swimmers to achieve their aims and own potential, developing the club as a whole for both competitive and non-competitive members

I really would like to thank all of you that have taken part in the Monthly Bonus Ball competition. We are using the money raised to go towards the purchase of new starting blocks for Piranhas Swimming Club.

It will take a while to raise all of the funds but coupled with other efforts (such as applying for grants) this project is one that I am passionate about and would like to see to completion and make happen.

The first draw took place in June and so far we have managed to sell all 59 chances each month and with Paul & Karens’ continued help we now only have a few remaining tickets for December. This means that so far we have actually raised over £220 toward the project and all this in only 6 months!!

To make life a little easier for me as well as you, we are offering you the opportunity to reserve the same lucky number for all 12 draws in 2017. All you need to do is email me at becayoung@live.co.uk with the number you’d like and I shall reserve that number for you. This will be on a first come first served basis.

This will enable me to write names down on my record sheets and collate tickets in advance saving us all time! I will email you back to confirm you have the number(s) you have chosen or to tell you someone has beaten you to it! Money for the purchase of you lucky ticket will need to be paid within a week of the confirmation email.

This offer only applies if you want the same number (rather than a different number each month) for all 12 draws but if you’d like to reserve 2 or more numbers for all 12 draws that’d be fine as well!

Special Offer !!!!!

IF THE THOUGHT OF MISSING OUT ON YOUR LUCKY NUMBER ISN’T INCENTIVE ENOUGH TO ACT QUICKLY THERE IS A SPECIAL OFFER FOR THE FIRST DOZEN INDIVIDUALS THAT SIGN UP FOR THE SAME NUMBER FOR ALL TWELVE  DRAWS IN 2017 – YOU WILL RECEIVE ONE RANDOM TICKET IN THE DECEMBER 2016 DRAW. *

*This can only be one ticket per purchaser even if you buy 2 or more numbers for the year as the purpose is to try and raise funds for the club.

Thanks so much for taking the time to read this and I hope to hear from you soon with all your reservations! Good luck.

Beca Young

Piranhas and Piranha Parents

We are once again preparing our club entry for the forthcoming COPS Grand Prix Series, and we are hoping that all our young swimmers will sign up for this fantastic gala series at the Regional pool Peterborough.

The entry is open to all 8 to 12yr olds and comprises 4 licensed galas with swimmers accumulating points across all four strokes. With age group medals being awarded at the final gala.

The aim of the series is for new swimmers to compete to gain valuable racing experience in a friendly environment, whilst our more experienced swimmers aim for those PB’s and County or Regional qualifications.

All 8yr olds must be 9yrs old by 6th May 2017, and the older swimmers must still be 12 yrs at this cut off date.N.B If swimmers have reached a 200 IM time of 2:30, it is thought that the

N.B If swimmers have reached a 200 IM time of 2:30, it is thought that the Mini Meet is no longer an appropriate meet for the swimmer.

Swimmers will enter all four meets regardless of attendance.
We expect swimmers to also race every race unless otherwise directed by the Coach.

Dates for the rounds are:

R1 29th October
R2 26th Nov
R3 18th March
R4 6th May

All galas are at the Regional Pool Peterborough, with a warm up of 5:30

Swimmers entry fee is £35 for the series, cheques made payable to Huntingdon SC please, by closing date September 6th.

Cheques can be given to me, or Lou Steel, or John Richards

Please email me with any questions, details can also be found on the COPs website www.copsclub.co.uk

Kind Regards

Liv Pearce

Club Captain

Dear Parents and Supporters of Huntingdon Piranhas

At the May 2016 Huntingdon Piranhas Committee Meeting, long term Piranha swimmer Beca Young (frequently seen in lane 3) proposed running a ‘Bonus Ball’ competition once a month with all proceeds raised going towards the club goal of purchasing NEW STARTING BLOCKS.

Coach John Richards has been busy sourcing starting blocks for several months and the ‘ballpark’ figure is in the range of £5,000 so Beca has taken on a long term challenge to raise £29.50 a month.

The £29.50 comes from the fact that half of the ticket sales go to the winner of the winning ball and the other half goes towards the fund. There are 59 numbers in the draw. If not all 59 tickets are sold in a month and the winning ticket had not been bought then all the ticket sales in that month would go to the club.

The Bonus Ball used is the National Lottery on the first Saturday in the month and Beca was able to sell all the 59 tickets in both the June & July draws.

Beca would really like to continue the trend of selling all the available tickets and with the summer break coming up in not too many weeks she would appreciate your assistance, particularly by buying tickets for August and September, if you can spare some loose change.

The tickets are £1 each and the only restrictions are you must be at least 16 to buy a ticket and they are sold on a first come, first served basis. At the moment Beca is selling tickets for the first Saturday draw of each month up to and including December of this year so if you would like to have the same number for the rest of the year £5 will secure that number in the remaining 5 draws this year.

Thank you to those of you who have already bought tickets.  If you have not, then it’s not too late to start; just see Beca Young, Karen Mansfield (who is assisting Beca and is at the pool most sessions in the week) or Paul Moxham (also in lane 3 these days) who will willingly sell you a ticket.

Good luck and if you do any buying online please have a look at https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/huntingdonpiranhas/ where you can raise funds for the club with no extra expense to yourself!!!

Dear all

Friday 8 July will be the last Friday morning training session. There will be no Friday am training on 15 July. All other sessions will remain as normal up to and including Thursday 21 July 2016. This will be our last session before the summer holidays.

Summer Hollidays

During the summer holidays training will be as follows

Tuesdays –  26 July/2 August/9 August/16 August

Tuesday evening training 7 – 8.30pm  – this is for swimmers who normally swim 7pm on Tuesdays/7.30pm Fridays and in lane 4 at 8pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Thursdays – 28 July/4 August/11 August

Thursday evening training 8 – 9.30pm – this is for swimmers who swim in lanes 1,2 & 3 at 8pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays & Friday 8.30pm.

No Training

There will be no training from Thursday 18th August to Monday September 5th Inclusive. Regular training will resume on Tuesday 6th September 2016.

L

Youth Regionals

Well done to Jessica Mansfield who competed at the youth (15 & over) regional championships at UEA in Norwich over the May bank holiday weekend. These championships are for the best in the East region who have reached the qualifying time.
Jess qualified for 6 regional events this year but decided on recommendation from John to concentrate on her strongest sprints:
50 free: Jess was ranked 9th in the programme but won her heat in a strong long course time of 28.95 putting her into the final ranked 4th but with only 1 hundredth of a second separating her from 2 other girls. In the final Jess swam a lifetime best of 28.74 to finish in 5th place.

100 fly: Jess was a real outsider going into this event only just scraping the qualifying time and was the slowest 15 year old in the programme. Despite this Jess swam a storming race to win heat 1 by a good 10 metres and secure 5th place for the final. In the final Jess swam faster still achieving a lifetime best of 1.10.27 and a fantastic 6th place.

100 free: Jess was ranked 10th in the programme and swam a strong 1.03.31 making her second reserve for the final.

50 fly: Jess was ranked 8th going into the race a but swam a super pb of 30.89 to gain her a place in the final in 5th position. Another nail biting final as four girls were separated by just 4 hundredths of a second. Jess swam another lifetime best of 30.67 to maintain 5th place.

A fantastic result for Jess and the club. Both Jess and Karen would like to thank John for giving up so much of his time to be with Jess at the regionals and also to thank Andy Hunter (St Ives) who took Jess under his wing for one session.

Well done also to Hannah Daley who has qualified for the 50 freestyle in the age group regionals which take place at the end of the month – swim tough!