Sunday, 10 January 2016
Junior County Qualifiers 2016
2015 was a good year with 13 Junior swimmers competing in 71 different events.
This year we've done even better with 23 Junior swimmers gaining 130 qualifying times.
Well done squad!
Monday, 9 November 2015
Long Eaton 2016
As communicated, we are looking to take a full team to Long Eaton Open Meet. I've had a few questions regarding what events swimmers can enter, the information below should help clarify some things. This is a team event with a good opportunity of racing swimmers from a different catchment (without traveling too far!)
Last years meet was a real success with a great amount of personal bests swam at the pool. It is hoped a coach will be arranged for transport
For swimmers with county times, this will be good race preparation before Coventry in Feb and March.
For swimmers without county times, this is a good meet to swim fast and post some official times.
Without competing in licensed events like these, swimmers miss out on making qualifying times for further meets. If your child in Junior Development has not competed in an Open Meet since September, it is highly recommended to compete at this event as with the ever demanding increase of members in squads, priority positions in will go to those who compete and represent the club, it is after all why swimmers commit so many hours!
The events swimmers can compete in are as follows:.
50m Fly,Back and Breast . 9 Years Only Heat Declared Winner (HDW. )
50m Freestyle 9 Years and above.
100m Freestyle 10 and over. Heats and Finals. (no 9 year olds)
100m Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly 10 and Over. ( No 9 year olds)
200m IM HDW 9 Years and Above
200m Freestyle HDW 9 Years and Above
So 9 year olds can do 50's and 200's, 10 years and above can do 100's and 200's (plus 50m Freestyle).
I would recommend swimmers have at least four swims, (2 per session minimum) to keep them from getting tired just from waiting. From previous experience, the gap between the girls 200m IM and Girls 100m Fly isn't that big, and the same for the boys versions. (Events 8 & 10, and 28 & 30) Although with the right attitude, this shouldn't deter some swimmers!
Please get entries in to Carla at the new email - with corresponding cheques to Carla/coaches at training. £5 per event.
orionentries@gmail.com |
Thursday, 15 October 2015
1st Round Arena League Win 2015
Arena League Nuneaton 10th October 2015
A fantastic start to this year’s Arena League. Orion managed to finish in first place at the Pingles Pool in Nuneaton.
A great performance from the Team as a whole. When the results were read out I was flabbergasted to hear that Orion were in the lead. There were some astonishing swims from all of the other participating clubs, which gave me the impression that we could possibly be in last position. How could we be in first place? The answer was revealed when I looked at the Recorders Results Sheet. No, the additions were correct. There were three teams with more first places than Orion. Hinckley had twelve first places, Coalville had ten and Oldbury nine, we had eight. The astonishing aspect of Orion’s Team was that while the other Clubs had last places, remember that there are fifty events and therefore fifty last places with the exception of a few disqualifications, Orion did not record any last places. A wonderful achievement. This consistency in the standard of the swims is vital to achieve good results. WELL DONE SWIMMERS.
The open swimmers found that the other clubs had one or two top class swimmers. First to swim was Jo Longland in the 200m Individual Medley. This was a very good swim from Jo with a very good time but this was the first shock to the system. Jo came fifth. How good were the other Clubs? My assessment of the possible outcome of the gala for Orion was going downhill. Matt James came first in the mens 200m Individual Medley, the second race, a bit of relief. The third race was where we were going to show the other clubs where our strength lay, was what I was thinking, the 11 years girls freestyle team, until I saw an eleven year old swimmer from Coalville swim a twenty nine second swim on the first leg, game over I thought. But eventually I could see that the Orion Team were performing well ( “you can’t start a sentence with a but” my English teacher used to say, well I have just managed it).
Girls 11/u Team of Ella Blyth, Ruby Couzens, Ellie Sibbald-Perkins and Imogen Viney had three third places, two second places and Ruby came first in the 50m butterfly.
Boys 11/u Team of Stef Davies, Joe Day, Daniel Hindle and Karnell Nunes-Smith had one fifth place, one fourth place two third places and Karnell came first in the 50m breaststroke.
Girls 13/u Team of Niamh Bevan, Jodie Carreon, Rosa Day, Maya Graves and Grace Rees had one fourth place, two third places, two second places and the medley team came first.
Boys 13/u Team of Amir Behrouz, Althaf Bukhari, Asha Gurung and Daniel Hindle had two third places, two second places and two first places. Althaf came first in the 100m butterfly and Alex came first in the 100m freestyle.
Girls 15/u Team of Holly White alone had the younger swimmers coming to the rescue and they swam up an age group. This put a lot of pressure on the younger swimmers. This team had two fifth places, three fourth places and one second place. Well done Holly all alone.
Boys 15/u Team of Bruno Benegra, Nick Draisey, Gabriel Hicks, Michale James-Thomas and Robin Lacey had one fifth place, one fourth place, three third places and one second place.
Ladies Open Team of Esthel Carreon, Jo Longland, Alice Miller and Mollie Wilson had four fifth places, one fourth place, one third place and one second place.
Mens Open Team of Darren Barber, Phil Hodgson, Matt James, Joe Sadio and Daniel Snushall-Smith with some assistance from Bruno Benegra in the 6 x 50m freestyle had four second places and three first places. Matt had two wins, one in the 200m individual medley and one in the 100m breaststroke. Jo won the 100m backstroke.
One note of interest. The Mens Open Team came second to Oldbury in the 6 x 50m freestyle. I was in shock when this happened. Hopefully we will meet Oldbury again so you can get revenge, come on swimmers. I am sure this will get back to the Oldbury ‘old guys’ so they might be up to the challenge again next time.
We will need a good effort from everyone in the second round of the Arena League which is on the 14th November so keep training hard. I have already had a binding contract from Daniel Hindle who is going to smash his best times in the next round, after a year of little movement. That’s the attitude Daniel.
Coach - Carl
Boldmere Meet Preperation.
Hi Swimmers/Parents (Performance Group),
Just sending you a reminder about the Boldmere Open Meet this weekend just in case you wake up, on Saturday morning, thinking ‘I am sure I’ve got something on this morning, what is it? O well it will come to me.’
Friday’s warm-up starts at 6.00 p.m. so please be there ready to get in the water on time, this looks like a short warm-up for a distance swim. You will need to cover as much distance in the warm-up as you feel comfortable with. It’s important that you get a feel for the water and test the wall to ensure you don’t slip in the race, get the heart rate up, increase the speed every now and again and loosen up the muscles and joints. All of the swims are distance swims, so try and find the right pace to swim at, for the race, during the warm-up. After the warm-up get dry and keep warm. The swimmers and coaches sit in the stands. Darren will be there on the Friday evening session.
Saturday and Sunday’s warm-up starts at 8.00 a.m. Some swimmers look at the time that they are swimming at and turn up shortly before their swim, and warm-up in the end portion of the pool by swimming across the width of the pool. This is not an ideal practice. I know it’s inconvenient to get to the pool and have to wait a long time for the first race, but it beats paying lip service to a warm-up, swimming across the crowded width of a pool where everyone is swimming down after a race. There endeth my sermon. Besides, a good long warm-up will blow away the cobwebs. There endeth my second sermon.
Make sure you all remember to bring your swimming gear including t-shirts to keep warm and dry, footwear to enter the poolside and back up to the seating area, food and drink for the day but remember it’s not a party with fizzy pop, crisps and all the other party paraphernalia (I admit I had to look up the spelling even though my English teacher was always praising me).
There is one other important thing to remember, swimmers. You haven’t entered this Open Meet to go through the motions of just competing, you are there to swim to perfection, if possible. Starts and turns should be executed precisely, swimming technique held throughout, even when the pain kicks in and death doesn’t seem so far away (yes I’ve been there, done it, got the t-shirt) always swim hard and fast into the wall especially at the end of a race.
If anyone has any questions I will help as best I can (as long as it’s not Einstein’s theory of realativity, which I could explain, of course, but not just now).
Lets have a good Open Meet.
Carl.
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
Warwickshire County Qualifying Times
Tuesday, 6 October 2015
Derventio Open Meet Report from our City of Birmingham representatives.
Three swimmers from Junior Development (Ella Blyth, Ruby Couzens and Imogen Viney) along with three from Aquarius Performance (Alex Hindle, Grace Rees and Ellie Sibbald-Perkins) all travelled to Matlock at the weekend for the Derventio Excel Short Course Open Meet in Matlock. They were representing the City of Birmingham Swimming Club, which took swimmers from its Development, Junior and Senior Squads, meaning that all but its very youngest swimmers were present. The girls were all representing the Development Squad and Alex Hindle the Junior Squad. It was Ella's very first Open Meet and Grace's last with the Development Squad as she has now turned 13. The Meet was a Level 2 Meet, which meant that the qualifying times are much faster to attract the fastest swimmers in the region.
Life at City of Birmingham can be tough and Development Squad swimmers had to attend a full training session on the Friday night, from 5.30 to 8.30pm, before travelling up to Matlock, arriving about 10pm. "Make sure you have an early night," Coach Chris said, as they were leaving!!!!! Swimmers then had to be up very early the next day to be pool-side at 7:30am, ready for the warm-up at 8.00am.
Each swimmer took part in 5 events on each of the 2 days, making a total of 10 events each. In the Development Squad, all swimmers had to swim the same 8 events (50 Free, Back, Breast and Fly; 100 Free, 200 Free, 100 IM and 200 IM). The coach then picked an additional 2 events tailored to each swimmer. These might be events he wanted like to see them swim in for the first time or events in which he wanted to track performance. Each swimmer then had to choose a goal for all 10 events. For example, completing a 2 second drive off the wall at each turn, doing four fly kicks after each drive, maintaining a set breathing pattern, keeping their head in a certain position etc. At the end of each race, swimmers are given feedback on their swim technically and whether or not they have achieved their goal. Times are NEVER discussed and swimmers can be told off if they post a fast time but don't pay attention to their goals. However, swimmers can't help looking at their times and it was great to see all our swimmers achieving PBs in most if not all of their races. Well done girls!!!
In the Junior Squad, swimmers are judged on both speed and technique and are asked to swim a variety of races. Alex Hindle didn't disappoint, posting some super-fast times with strong technical performances. Results for all the Orion swimmers can be seen in the link below:
http://www.derventioexcel.org.uk/results/dx15sc/
Special mentions go to Ruby Couzens for winning Top Girl in the 10 year old age group, whilst breaking the Orion 50m Butterfly and 100IM club record. Imogen Viney and Ellie Sibbald-Perkins for holding even splits on the 200m breastroke (not slowing down!) and to Ella Blyth who swam her second 400m freestyle race in a week, showing her confident racing attitude by producing a 20 second personal best!
Unlike most Open Meets, where swimmers have to sit poolside between events, swimmers were housed in the Leisure Centre Sports Hall next to the pool, where they could chill out, warm up on the spinning bikes, eat (lots of) snacks and play games. Another highlight of the weekend was having the Senior Squad present, which really inspired our swimmers, especially seeing the international swimmers such as Luke Davies, Chloe Finch and Brittany Horton race. They also had the opportunity to receive feedback from both Junior and Senior coaches.
The last event on Sunday saw our swimmers cheering Grace on in the 100 IM - her last race representing the Development Squad. The day finished at about 5:30pm with City of Birmingham being announced as the top club in the competition. Our very tired swimmers (and parents!) then made the long journey back to Birmingham.'
Wednesday, 23 September 2015
Sprint Success
Maia Noonan entered and swam at the recent Coventry Sprint event Open Meet. With this event not being a Club Target Meet (due to the upcoming club champs) Maia was the only representative there which can be a little nervous. After a Summer of focusing purely on skills and techniques, plus the Olympic Workshop event that visited Orion, there was no pressure for Maia to perform strong times, however she came out with huge success across five swims, including a learning point for an unfortunate disqualification.
50m Back - Maia used most of the 15m underwater phase, which brought her out in 2nd- she then passed the leader in the final 15m which she was very proud of.
She will continue to be training with Junior Development, working on improving her technical skills in preparation for Boldmere Open Meet and Wyre Forrest Open meet.
Coach Darren