For all those swimming in the JFL B Final – Please be at Whittlesey for 5.30pm
‘B’ FINAL
WHITTLESEY HOSTS – MARCH
6.00pm warm up
6.30pm start
LANE 1 DEEPINGS
LANE 2 CITY OF ELY
LANE 3 THETFORD
LANE 4 MARCH
LANE 5 HUNTINGDON
Coach – Matt Newton
Team mangers – Liz Coggins & Neil Drinkwater
Parents; Athletes
CC Coaches
Apologies for the delay in the email reaching you, I have been working hard as I know many others have to drive forwards the club development with lots of changes after speaking with parents, athletes, coaches and committee members.
I attached the following for reference:
>Squad lists (I am aware some people are missing so do get in touch- this is based on your current lanes)
>Squad criteria
>Squad training timetable
>Competition calendar
>Pyramid of success
Squad structure and training going forwards
Please find attached the documents that have also been posted at the pool. This affects the older swimmers. I need to begin to draw up a list of swimmers that would like to do the gym sessions and who will be invited as they need to attend an induction session (cost £10-£15 as a one off then £3-£4 per session on a pay as you go basis with myself or another Strength and Conditioning Qualified Coach).
In addition, I am looking at seeing if we could do a land training session for everyone which David Jakeman has already agreed to help us in the new year as well as reviewing groupings, pool time and sessions available hopefully if the sessions are well supported by the swimmers. This would not be in place until 2019 in the new year.
Notice board and club communication
We are currently updating the website and notice boards with the latest and current information. Please do keep checking these.
VOLUNTEER(S) NEEDED– For collating a monthly club newsletter.
Video
Video sessions can be a good way to identify elements of good technique and areas for development. Please let me know if this is something that would be of interest giving written permission (again one for the older session) so they can see themselves and receive visual feedback.
Kit
Please can all members ensure they have a club kit for poolside especially when we go to competitions.
Club Champs
I have recently seen whether it would be possible to add further opportunities to swim events and so have spoken with Ben who has agreed for Huntingdon swimmers to enter the COPS club champs under Huntingdon and we can use these dates (normally a Saturday evening). This has a number of advantages- sharing officials and volunteers, better competition for our swimmers and more opportunities (two internal swims each season for each event eg. 50 FR).
Helpers
As always, we are looking for people to help poolside, officials and new committee members as many hands make light work- please do get in touch if this is of interest.
Good luck to those swimmers who are competing this weekend. I am very excited to see how we get on!
I look forward to continuing the development of the club.
Thanks and Kind Regards,
Matt Newton
Head Coach
Huntingdon Piranhas Swimming Club
Draft LTAD for Huntingdon.docx
To all those competing tomorrow – please find attached revised warm up times – these have only been forwarded today so please read carefully.
Please be on poolside 20 minutes before the start of warm up.
Matt Newton – coach
Liz Coggins – Team manager
Neil Drinkwater – Team manager
Swim tough everyone!
Friday AM training
As you are aware we are having a reshuffle at the moment and looking at which sessions are most popular. Suffice to say Friday AM currently only has one or two swimmers and is not sustainable. Therefore with immediate effect we are cancelling Friday morning training.
Club Champs
Club champs will be held this Tuesday 16th October – this will replace normal training. Sign in will be 6.50 and warm up will start at 7pm.
The events will be – 50m freestyle & 50m backstroke
– 25m freestyle & 25m backstroke (9yrs under)
There is no sign up sheet but if you could email me with the name of your swimmer who will be attending, their age on 31st Dec 2018 and the events they wish to swim in – it would help immensely.
Due to a number of factors we are unable to field a squad to take part in the Richard Shaw Gala (Saturday 13th Oct 2018) and have had to withdraw.
Apologies to those of you who were available to compete.
KIT UPDATE
Great news the kit ordering window is now open until Monday 8th Oct. Orders will be delivered before Christmas.
Please log onto the Zeon website and create an account. Once you have registered you can log on, see the prices and order. Please use the sIze charts to help guide you. The Piranhas kit is a custom made kit from Zeon. There is a minimum order quantity of 11 items per item. If the club does not reach this minimum order quantity then the orders for that item won’t be progressed and parents will be refunded after the club window closes on the 8th October.
Once the complete order is ready, the bulk delivery will be sent to Esther Pauley, the Kit Secretary, and she will distribute your individual orders at swimming or you can arrange collection from Brampton.
If you have any queries please email esther.pauley
Please find attached the Diss Open Accepted Entries. Really useful for your swimmers to have a copy on the day of the events they are swimming and in which session.
Diss Otters Open Sprint Meet 2018 Accepted Entries Huntingdon.docx
Just a quick reminder to ensure you enter as many swim meets on the calendar as you can. We know it isn’t always possible to commit to them all but it is so important for the development of all competitive swimmers to compete.
Below is an exert I found which talks about the life skills that the swimmers gain from taking part in competitive meets – definitely worth a read. As a parent of older swimmers I see everyday the skills they have learnt from swimming competitively helping them through their everyday life and enabling them to make good decisions.
We hope to see as many swimmers as possible at each of the meets we are entered in. If you have any questions or queries regarding what to enter etc then please speak to their coach who would be more than happy to advise.
Swim meets are a little unforgiving when viewed in a certain manner. You spend months training a countless number of hours, only to have your performance completed in a manner of minutes, with no recourse if you disagree with the numbers on the scoreboard.
But on the other hand, they are also places where swimmers learn the value of hard work, of setting and chasing goals, and other life skills including dealing with setbacks, developing sportsmanship, to even just broing down with your fellow swimmers.
Here are 7 reasons every swimmer should go to swim meets:
1. Sportsmanship. In competition we learn the value of sportsmanship. There is value in waiting for other swimmers to finish before hopping out of the pool after a race, of waiting and cheering on the competition struggling to complete their own race. Watching young swimmers behave in this way is not only educational for other swimmers, but heartening and inspirational for the rest of us.
2. Teaches swimmers to set goals, and make a plan to crush ‘em. Swim meets provide the opportunity for swimmers to work towards a specific goal. Which requires them to make a plan to achieve it, something that will translate well to whatever they choose to do outside of the pool.
3. Learning to cope with disappointments. They swam their little heart out, crashed into the wall in a flurry of arms and splash, spun around to see their time—and their face instantly fell. Either they lost the race they wanted to win, came short of breaking their personal best, or their goggles filled up with water right off the dive. Swimming is a microcosm of life; sometimes things simply don’t fall into place the way we want or expect. Realizing that things won’t always go our way, and understanding that the path forward is one we must pave, is a lesson that will come in handy during all stages of life.
4. It is the ultimate feedback for how you train. Piling up the miles and going in-practice bests are awesome, and can help keep you motivated and excited about training. However, to get a full idea of where your skills and abilities rack up, you gotta get up on the blocks. It’s difficult to fake the nerves and adrenaline you get in the moments before your race, and more importantly, once your race is over you not only get a clear idea of just how fast you are capable of going, but you can figure out where you can improve most moving forward.
5. Teaches the value of hard work. The most dangerous swimmer in the pool can often be found with the silver medal around his or her neck. Coming that close to winning, close enough that they can taste it, often acts as the jet fuel to higher performance. Having come so close, our runner-up will double down on their effort and commitment in the pool so that they never have to suffer the indignity of losing again.
6. Gives you the opportunity to redefine your limits. There is nothing quite like swimming faster than you ever have. That feeling of looking up at the scoreboard and seeing a number faster than you thought was possible of yourself. When you shave a heap of time off of your best time your per-conceived limits are forever altered. You now expect more and better from yourself.
7. Camaraderie. Although swimming is a hybrid individual/team sport, the swim meet is a decidedly team atmosphere. Whether it is taking a coach bus together, painting the sides of the vans with inspirational sayings, or even flying cross country together, swim meets bring athletes together. Teammates cheer for one another, screaming themselves hoarse even though they have a final of their own to swim shortly after, to swimmers from different teams cheering on an athlete who is having the swim of his or her life. A sense of kinship is inevitable when you go to battle together for a full weekend, each chasing the outer limits of what is possible
KIT UPDATE
Great news the kit ordering window is now open until Monday 8th Oct. Orders will be delivered before Christmas.
Please log onto the Zeon website and create an account. Once you have registered you can log on, see the prices and order. Please use the sIze charts to help guide you. The Piranhas kit is a custom made kit from Zeon. There is a minimum order quantity of 11 items per item. If the club does not reach this minimum order quantity then the orders for that item won’t be progressed and parents will be refunded after the club window closes on the 8th October.
Once the complete order is ready, the bulk delivery will be sent to Esther Pauley, the Kit Secretary, and she will distribute your individual orders at swimming or you can arrange collection from Brampton.
If you have any queries please email esther.pauley
The AGM is on the 1 October and will take place at The Stukeley Hotel and start at 19.30. Please attend if you can as this will be a great opportunity to hear from our new head coach and learn about his plans for the future.
