As the school exam period gets underway we'd like to say Good Luck to all our swimmers who will be sitting exams, particularly those taking GCSE, AS and A2 exams. Our older swimmers will tell you that trying to keep up with at least some swimming sessions during this stressful period really does help: it relaxes you mentally and makes the blood flow to the brain, so that you revise better!
For some of our swimmers the London Region championships get underway shortly, while for almost everyone, the Borough Championships are looming in a couple of months time. Now that the weather is better and the evenings are lighter it's not quite so hard to leave the house to plunge into that cold water - make the most of it.
Please to try to come to our AGM - details below - and enjoy the bank holidays that are coming up. But don't rest up too much - swimming sessions continue over the bank hols, needless to say.

Jackie Ashley on behalf of WSC Committee

Gala Reports

British Championships, Sheffield

Emily Marr and coach Marina Pollara headed up to the Ponds Forge pool in Sheffield to take part in the British Swimming Championships, which were also the trials for this summer's Olympics. Inspired by watching top class swimmers, such as Liam Tancock, Fran Halsall and Caitlin McClatchey, Emily swam a great personal best in the 50 metres freestyle, knocking .7 of a second off her previous time, to finish in a longcourse time of 28.40. She improved her place in the overall national rankings from 49th to 44th and was 13th in her age group. Congratulations to Emily and to Marina.

Crawley Open Meet

A small band of swimmers went down to Crawley to get some much needed long course gala practice, ahead of the London Region competition. Hannah and Paige Kern, along with Emma and Issy Takayama, Emily Marr and Timothy Robinson were all supported by Marina during a lot hot weekend at the K2 pool. All swimmers gained some valuable experience, but a special mention must be given to Tim Robinson, who won a bronze medal in the 200m free in this highly competitive gala, and to Paige Kern, who came 6th in the 100m backstroke, and is now just a whisker away from an NQT for this event. Congratulations!

Forthcoming Competitions

The London Region Youth Championships begin this weekend, and we wish all our swimmers the best of luck. They will be followed by the London Region Bagcats which kick off on 7th June.

Two Open Galas are coming up - Bracknell and Guildford, and entries for these are now closed.

And a reminder that the next Inter-House gala will be on 30th May - these galas are increasingly well supported, and are great fun for all. Do turn up and support your house.

AGM

The AGM of Wandsworth Swimming Club will be held on Thursday 5th June at 7.30pm in the Small Hall, Putney Leisure Centre, Dryburgh Road, London SW15. Please try to attend. This is your chance to air your views about the club, and to elect the officers responsible for running the club.

A G E N D A
1. Chairman's Report 2007/08
2. WSC Accounts for the period 01/08/06 to 31/03/08 and
Membership Secretary's Report
3. Election of Independent Examiner
4. Election of Officers for 2008/09*
5. Resolutions

Nominations for Officers and any Resolutions should be submitted to the Club Secretary at least 28 days before the meeting. Please see the website to download the papers for this meeting at www.wandsworthsc.com or contact:
the Secretary.
Maggie Thurlow
Club Secretary
secretary@wandsworthsc.com
42 Festing Road SW15 1LP
020 8789 6063

* Chairman, Club Secretary, Membership Secretary, Development Officer, Competition Secretary, Swim 21 Administrator, Volunteer Development Officer and Local Community Liaison Officer.

Session Cancellations

The following sessions have been cancelled because of events at St. Paul's School: 2nd, 9th, 10th May - all sessions; 30th May - Putney sessions.

News from the Shallow End: Pre-Dev & Dev 1

INTERHOUSE GALAS: These events have been wonderful for the Pre-dev and Dev 1 swimmers who get a chance to experience competition conditions and test their skills against their peers. It is important to remember, however, that these are learning experiences. Sometimes you'll be disqualified or will be in a heat full of swimmers far more experienced than you. It's not a disaster! Find out why you were disqualified and tell your coach about it during your next training session so you can fix the problem. If you come last in a race, don't be discouraged! Find out what your time was and tell your coach who will then be able to tell you how you've done against your own previous times and against swimmers of equal experience. You may lose a race but still gain a `personal best' time! In some of these galas, we have heats of swimmers of widely varying ages and levels of skill. Always swim YOUR best race.

BANK OF ENGLAND: Sometimes we cannot open the door for latecomers on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Rather than tapping on the glass and waving madly hoping to get my attention, would you please enter the pool area via the long and winding route beginning at the Reception area, behind you if you are standing at the pool doors. Pass the security office and proceed down the hallway following the signs to the swimming pool. You will go up some stairs, across a 'bridge' and down again before coming out just above the pool entrance.

A request from the Bank of England pool lifeguard staff: would everyone entering the locker rooms please make sure they don't track MUD in with them. This applies particularly to the parents who accompany their children into the changing rooms. (Apparently the footprint evidence is large rather than small.)

Dev 1 SWIMMERS: Please bring a water bottle, full of water, to each session. Take sips of water throughout the session. The coaches will give you opportunities to drink. Yes, I know you're up to your neck in water, but swimmers get extremely dehydrated and need to take small amounts of water at frequent intervals.

The training schedule is now moving up a gear for Dev 1 swimmers. For the last 12 weeks the sessions have focussed more on skill acquistion, the next 12 week cycle will be focussed on increasing aerobic capacity (stamina), and we will looking to push the total metreage swum per session to 1200 metres, based around broken 200m swims which will include drill / swim combinations.
 

Cindy Hanegraaf

Junior Squad

JUNIOR 1500M TIMED SWIM IMMINENT

A reminder to all Junior swimmers to prepare for their 1500m timed swim which will take place during their training sessions starting 1st week in May. 1 lane with two swimmers only will be used per session with a time keeper noting 100m splits, stroke count, breathing pattern and overall time which will then be entered into their log books and forwarded to John Mills to be recorded on Hy-tek. We have spent 3 months of hard aerobic / aerobic overload training culminating with this 1500m swim. I'm hoping swimmers old enough to swim this event in the Surreys next year will be encouraged to up their training commitment when they see how close their times are to the Surrey Qualifying times.
Toblerones will be awarded to the fastest boy and girl in each age group. Runners up will receive a prize with high nutritional value - fruit!

Milton Sills

Club Squad

Club Squad during the past twelve months has gone from strength to strength with a core 15 swimmers attending on mainly Tuesdays and Saturdays. Additional sessions on Sunday afternoon and Friday evening are less well attended providing lots of space for those interested.

Sessions are very variable and certainly not based on repetitive length swimming. Favourites include the "Chain Session" "Ball relays" and the "12 days session". Want to know more, come down to the pool.
 

Steve Baker

BIRTHDAYS

Many Happy Returns to the following swimmers who have birthdays in April: Xavier Attwell, Nicole Brown, Constance Chester, Elizabeth Dale, Nial Gillen, Caitlin Hargreaves, Oscar Hartman-Davis, Jack Hope, Elizabeth Horne, Nae Itagaki, Lexie Jagla, Conor Larkin, Hannah Mather, Philippa Nowikow, Miles Rendell.