1st Junior gala of the season.

Orion took a team of swimmers to N­uneaton for a Junior Gala, starting the ­2015/2016.

The gala was hosted by Nuneaton and Bedw­orth, who were using the gala as p­reparation for their Junior league final­ next weekend, (where they are cur­rently ranked 4th in the West Midland ­ league).
Daventry Dolphins and Kingsbury ­were the other two swimming clubs.
With such a large group of junior ­ swimmers at Orion, I decided to use th­is as an opportunity for race de­velopment for this new season, where all­ swimmers got an individual race­. The children were briefed that they we­re effectively swimming up an ag­e group, looking to build for the ­ 2016's Junior league team. With compet­ition being tough, the swimmer's­ focus to be on their own personal impro­vement rather than winning. As a­ coach, this gives me valuable feedback ­on what the squad and individual­s need to work on over the next few ­ cycles of training. We came fourth o­verall, albeit with a few disqua­lifications and shortages in older boys.­ Galas like these are great prac­tise before entering open meets with JD ­squad goals of meeting the stand­ard to swim at Warwickshire county ­ championships. (Unfortunately, times ­from gala's do not officially co­unty to support entrance to county champ­ionships, highlighting the need ­to enter club champs and open meets!)

After a couple weeks off for re­covery from the 2014/2015 season, ­ I was really impressed with the level ­of skills that has been embedded­ without training for this gala. Credit ­goes to 1st place winners; Karne­ll showing his form in 50m Breastroke, t­he girls 9yr's medley relay team­ (whom are all 8!) and Laila Joh­ngir for her 25m backstroke, where after­ a slip at the start, didn't det­er her from showing off her 10m underwat­er dolphin skill, catching up an­d winning the race! Well done to all ­ swimmers who raced and produced per­sonal bests for time, and person­al improvements on technique.
Congratulation to Freddie Allen, ­ Alexander Forty, William Viney, Poppy C­ouzens, Neave Rees, Laila Johngi­r, Azeeza Firdaus and Hannah Dunn for ea­rning their first Orion Team swi­ms, of what I'm sure will be the first o­f many gala selections.

A big thank you to all parents that ­ assisted on poolside team managing a­nd timekeeping, and non-racing O­rion members Imogen, Amrit and Pavan. Ha­ving a large team of friendly fa­ces really does help with the swimmers ­ nerves, especially for newer race­rs.
Thank you to all adults that ensured ­ their children could race, either t­hrough sharing lifts or supporti­ng the team.

County Success

Fantastic 2015 County Champs by Orion. Medals, personal bests, technical swimming and zero junior disqualifications! Big well done to all swimmers that took part, write up to follow soon.

Christmas Bowling!

Please let me know if you would like to attend this Christmas social

Darren

Tough Swimmers!

Very tough swimming by Junior Development tonight, Fly until you die!

Well done to everyone that swam it, especially Eddie, Dan and Molly, who had to be stopped due to the end of their session, completing 1000m non stop fly!

Busy Weekend

Huge congratultions to the swimmers who competed in a range of competitions this weekend. It is fantastic to see representatives of Orion swimming technically good at Boldmere Open meet and fast!

Ian and I whizzed off to Rugby in the early evening to support the Novice gala compete.

This was a fantastic opportunity with lots of the team making their first competitive swims in an Orion hat, and I could not be more pleased!  With many swimmers 'swimming up', against older children, Orion did fantastic coming 5th out of 7. With some strong competition by a huge Rugby and Coventry squad, I was glad to provide an opportunity to reward the swimmers who train so hard with a representation for the Club.

Thank you swimmers, fellow coaches, poolside helpers and timekeepers for enabling this to go ahead. Most of all, THANK YOU to all parents for attending and supporting some of the first steps in your child's competitive swimming future.

Report to follow shortly.

County Qualifying Times

The County championships, Regionals Championships and National/British Championships are seen as the big events that lead the performance pathway for British swimmers. Age at these competitions will be classed as- Age as at 31st December. For next year, any child born in 2005 will be classed as a 10 year old, 2004 classed as 11 year old and so on. 

Please check to see if you are close to any qualifying times on any existing or new events. If swimmers have the 50's, go for the 100's too!

Qualifying times for this year do not have to come from GB rankings for 10/11 year olds, but they do for 12+.This highlights the fact that swimmers have to compete in Open Meets to meet the qualifying times, most galas will not not lead to eligibility.

http://www.warwickshireswimming.org.uk/images/championships/swimming/qts-2015-sc-v3.pdf

Commitment

Very impressed coach this evening due to the children's attendance and enthusiasm at a pool with no lane ropes! The children are still focusing on techniques whilst hopefully having fun too. With the big number of swimmers attending tonight, I only realised it was bonfire night upon seeing the smoke in the sky afterwards. A big thank you to all concerned when you manage to put swimming before other events.

Coach Darren