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March saw around 20 swimmers competing at Tiger Bay – congratulations to all those who entered – it was great to see not only so many personal successes, but above all, our swimmers enjoying their sport!
April promises to be another busy month for 4SSC! Over 30 swimmers attended the CMK gala last weekend; it was fabulous to see so many brilliant swims. As well as gaining numerous PBs, our swimmers also did us proud in winning lots of medals! Well done to all those who competed!
We look forward to seeing many of you, swimmers and parents alike, at our forthcoming Spring Meet at Carterton on 9 and 23 April. Please remember that there will be no Saturday morning training sessions at Kingham on either of these dates.
The Committee and Coaching Team have spent considerable time discussing the best way to provide feedback for parents. The best approach is generally face-to-face and our Coaches are always happy to discuss your child’s progress with you. We appreciate that this is not always easy at some sessions due to venue, or where one session immediately follows another – if this is something you would like, please let us know and we will arrange this for you. Alternatively, if you would like a brief written summary, please contact us and this will be organised for you towards the end of April following the Spring Meet.
Our Coaches will be reviewing the squads following the Spring Meet. Our later session at Kingham on Wednesday is being opened up to Competition squad this term; please contact me if your swimmer is in this squad and would like to join this session as spaces are limited.
Please remember our first monthly ‘fun’ session is being held at Kingham on Wednesday 27 April. All swimmers are invited to attend these sessions (to be held on the last Wednesday of each month as follows:
6-7pm for Fitness, Academy & Pre-Competition squads
7-8.30pm for all other squads including Masters.
So please come along! These sessions are being introduced on a trial basis for the term ahead and the committee would welcome parental and swimmer feedback as to whether or not they are a success. As well as giving swimmers some time to socialise with each other, they will also give the Coaches some specific time for focussed squad-specific training where required.
Thank you to all who helped bag pack at Sainsburys – a total of £212 was raised – with £100 going to Sport Relief and the rest going to 4SSC.
Tickets are now on sale for our Race Night to be held at Glyme Hall on Saturday 16 April. I look forward to seeing you there!
Finally, best of luck to our top swimmers striving to gain their Regional times, and at the forthcoming Regional Championships.
with best wishes
Rachel
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Officials and Team Managers at galas
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Congratulations to Sam Oliver who passed her final assessment whilst officiating at the CMK Meet on Saturday, making her a fully qualified J1 Official. Well done, Sam!
Whilst on the subject, a big ‘thank you’ to our team of officials who give up many hours to officiate at galas, and without whose dedication and continued support, 4SSC swimmers would not be accepted into Meets as we are expected to supply officials whenever we enter galas. If your child/ren enjoy entering external Meets, why not consider training as an official? If interested, please let us know and Nigel will be pleased to give you more information and answer any questions you may have.
We also need more parents to become involved in Team Managing. Why not give it a go at a forthcoming gala? We can arrange for you to shadow a more experienced TM to enable you to gain an idea of the role without feeling ‘thrown in at the deep end’!! You will not be asked to TM on your own until you feel confident in doing so, and will only be asked to TM at a Meet that your swimmer attends. Please remember that as the number of swimmers competing continues to grow, so does the number of TMs required to support them! 4SSC are required to ensure that all TMs are DBS checked which is straightforward to organise – again please let us know if you are able to support our swimmers in this way.
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Updates from our Head Coach … Kim
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We took a team of 19 to the level 3 Open Meet in Cardiff, resulting in 56 PBs with 19 Medals, 4 Firsts, 10 Seconds & 5 Thirds. Outstanding results and very good experience of racing in a 50m pool.
We have a growing group of swimmers that are aiming for the Regional Championships; they are competing this month in Luton, Gloucester and Bletchley.
Best of luck to them all.
Now onto the Club Champs.
I’m hoping all will enter the events suitable for their Squads.
If in doubt ask your coaches.
Kim
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The remainder of April and much of May will be taken up with our second Club Championships and then some of our top swimmers will be competing at the South East Regional Championships.
Meets in May
The latest in the series of development meets hosted by COSC, details have been sent.
Meets in June
We have an invitaion to attend the Witney & Dsitrict SC Sprints Development meet at the beginning of June, watch out for the email over the next week. June will also see our participation at the Vale Cup, an invitation team meet. Kim will contact swimmers about inclusion in our team. There will also be a Level 3 meet at Maxwell at the end of June, again watch out for the email over the next week or two.
Meets in July
Finally into July will be the Banbury Open Air team meet and our last meet of the season will be at Oxford, with the COSC Level three meet, which will include longer distances, details to follow.
As always, keep up to date with the latest details via our website
The new Gala Submission Form appears to be working well. The one gripe was that parents couldn't remember what they enetered after pressing submit, and unfortunately there isn't a print facility. I've now included a field for you to enter your email address and you will be added as a "viewer" of the entries so you can check later, and see who else has entered! There is also now an area to sign-up for helping, either judging or team managing.
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A gala administrative fee of £2.50 per swimmer per gala will be introduced from April to help fund the rising costs (such as purchasing poolside passes and meeting Coaches’ expenses) of attending Meets. This will only apply to external Meets, not our own ‘Club Champs.’
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Junior Trainer of the Month for March is
Elsa Thwaites, Elsa is very keen and joined us in 2013, she works extremely hard in her sessions, listens to her coaches and it has been great to see her as a young swimmer improve and develop. We
hope to see her move up squads soon.
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Senior Swimmer of the month for March is Emily Alsop. Emily has been a top squad member for years, she is always seen working hard as she shares
the lane with various County & Club Champions. Never complaining, she silently completes
the sessions whilst younger swimmers are heard complaining of aches and pains! Off to
University soon, she will be missed.
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We are delighted to welcome Jamie Terroba-Taylor to 4SSC - he has now joined his sisters, Nina and Carla, who became members last year.
We hope you enjoy your swimming and make lots of new friends!
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