Last weekend 8 of our swimmers headed to Trowbridge to compete in the last competition of the year. Along with numerous new Personal Best times being set, the small team brought home an amazing 27 medals! A great achievement!
Pictured: the swimmers who competed on Sunday.
A small team of 8 of our Performance Squad swimmers spent last weekend in action at the Swim Bournemouth Winter Level 2 Open Meet.
Our team swam brilliantly up against tough competition from some top clubs from around the country with a whopping 25 time improvements out of 36 events.
Special mention should go to our medal winners:
Freddie George – 50m Backstroke – Gold
100m Backstroke – Bronze
100m Breastroke – Bronze
Toby Beale – 50m Backstroke – Silver
Well done all!
A small team of 8 of our Performance Squad swimmers spent last weekend in action at the Swim Bournemouth Winter Level 2 Open Meet.
Our team swam brilliantly up against tough competition from some top clubs from around the country with a whopping 25 time improvements out of 36 events.
Special mention should go to our medal winners:
Freddie George – 50m Backstroke – Gold
100m Backstroke – Bronze
100m Breastroke – Bronze
Toby Beale – 50m Backstroke – Silver
Well done all!
The first-ever licensed swimming competition at the RiversMeet Gillingham was held on 22 and 25 June in the form of our L4 time trials. More than 50 NDTSC swimmers aged from nine to 16 swam against each other in mixed HDW heats in all four 50-metre events – butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle – in their regular training slot on Tuesday; then in five 100-metre events on Friday evening (pictured), including the individual medley.
The meet was granted a Level 4 license by Swim England, amd we submitted a Covid-oriented risk assessment as part of our application.
Of nearly 140 event personal-bests in the Rankings system before our first session, no fewer than 107 were bettered over the two days. Even allowing for about a year and a half of physical growth, this surely proves that neither our swimmers’ fitness nor their competitive spirit has been eroded by the pandemic.
Aside from the blizzard of PBs, we were all so impressed – with the 100-metre events – by many of the younger swimmers who could only just complete the distance at pace, battling their way up to the finish at the deep end, and the way in which those who ‘lost’ their heats by the widest margin got the loudest cheers.
We’re now hoping to send some Performance Squad swimmers to the South-West Festival of Swimming at Millfield on 24 and 25 July.
The first-ever licensed swimming competition at the RiversMeet Gillingham was held on 22 and 25 June in the form of our L4 time trials. More than 50 NDTSC swimmers aged from nine to 16 swam against each other in mixed HDW heats in all four 50-metre events – butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle – in their regular training slot on Tuesday; then in five 100-metre events on Friday evening (pictured), including the individual medley.
The meet was granted a Level 4 license by Swim England, amd we submitted a Covid-oriented risk assessment as part of our application.
Of nearly 140 event personal-bests in the Rankings system before our first session, no fewer than 107 were bettered over the two days. Even allowing for about a year and a half of physical growth, this surely proves that neither our swimmers’ fitness nor their competitive spirit has been eroded by the pandemic.
Aside from the blizzard of PBs, we were all so impressed – with the 100-metre events – by many of the younger swimmers who could only just complete the distance at pace, battling their way up to the finish at the deep end, and the way in which those who ‘lost’ their heats by the widest margin got the loudest cheers.
We’re now hoping to send some Performance Squad swimmers to the South-West Festival of Swimming at Millfield on 24 and 25 July.
NDTSC Performance Squad swimmers set their alarms and braved the blustery conditions to get back into Millfield’s 50-metre Olympic pool on Saturday for the first time this year. Big thanks due to Millfield Sport and West Dorset Swimming Club, and to coaches Colin and (pictured) Rich. The Millfield Saturday sessions – one a month for the time being – help our swimmers get used to more demanding long-course training and competition, after which, by all accounts, 25 metres feels a lot easier! (And by the way, please bookmark our new Swim Manager website that went live last week. The URL has not changed.)
NDTSC Performance Squad swimmers set their alarms and braved the blustery conditions to get back into Millfield’s 50-metre Olympic pool on Saturday for the first time this year. Big thanks due to Millfield Sport and West Dorset Swimming Club, and to coaches Colin and (pictured) Rich. The Millfield Saturday sessions – one a month for the time being – help our swimmers get used to more demanding long-course training and competition, after which, by all accounts, 25 metres feels a lot easier! (And by the way, please bookmark our new Swim Manager website that went live last week. The URL has not changed.)
We resumed our full training schedule at RiversMeet, Gillingham, on 13 April, the day after the centre itself reopened as part of the latest stage of the government’s easing of lockdown.
There was an excellent turnout of 33 swimmers, including Pre-Turbos, and eight Performance Squad for their dedicated two-lane slot the following evening.
Our new recruitment flyer is here.
“We’re again in RiversMeet’s debt for slotting us straight back in with our regular training schedule almost as soon as they restart themselves – the third time now they have done this,” said NDTSC Chair Alex Wynter.
“As we inch back to normality our coaches will be giving the children time to regain their pre-lockdown fitness, then we can start to think about club time-trials, and – everyone hopes – a return to competition later this year.
“Any and all local youngsters aged from eight to eighteen with an interest in or experience of competitive swimming should get in touch with our secretary, Nikki Hopkins, at secretaryndt@gmail.com or our Head Coach, Rich Brocklehurst, at headcoachndt@gmail.com.”
We resumed our full training schedule at RiversMeet, Gillingham, on 13 April, the day after the centre itself reopened as part of the latest stage of the government’s easing of lockdown.
There was an excellent turnout of 33 swimmers, including Pre-Turbos, and eight Performance Squad for their dedicated two-lane slot the following evening.
Our new recruitment flyer is here.
“We’re again in RiversMeet’s debt for slotting us straight back in with our regular training schedule almost as soon as they restart themselves – the third time now they have done this,” said NDTSC Chair Alex Wynter.
“As we inch back to normality our coaches will be giving the children time to regain their pre-lockdown fitness, then we can start to think about club time-trials, and – everyone hopes – a return to competition later this year.
“Any and all local youngsters aged from eight to eighteen with an interest in or experience of competitive swimming should get in touch with our secretary, Nikki Hopkins, at secretaryndt@gmail.com or our Head Coach, Rich Brocklehurst, at headcoachndt@gmail.com.”
Competition hardware in the form of deck-level starting blocks at the deep end and anti-wave lane ropes was installed on 15 December at our RiversMeet training base by the Cheltenham engineering firm, Brookforge. The equipment will enable us to hold time trials once Lockdown 3.0 ends, and eventually, it’s hoped, the first licensed competition under Swim England rules at RiversMeet’s 25-metre pool.
“This represents a substantial investment by Turbos and we will be more than happy to look at further improvements to the offering here at RiversMeet,” said the centre’s General Manager, Alan Waistell. “I’m looking forward to helping the club achieve great things.”
Turbos were one of the first competitive swimming clubs in Dorset to restart training in late July, the day after the centre itself reopened after the first lockdown; all three of its squads, including its elite county-level Performance Squad swimmers, were back in the water in December after the second lockdown.
The club hopes to take part in the special Level X events – single-club time trials – established by Swim England in response to Covid-19 restrictions that, for the time being, prevent inter-club meets.
“This kit represents a huge breakthrough for us since, aside from anything else, we no longer have access to the competition pools at Port Regis or St Mary’s schools,” said Chair Alex Wynter. “What we have to hope now is that Swim England can see its way clear to allowing any new personal bests our swimmers achieve in time trials to stand for possible qualification for county and even regional competition.
“Almost all our young swimmers came back to training after the first two lockdowns, but they need a goal and notching up PBs that will take them forward into full-scale competition will help keep them motivated.
“This is also a good moment to pay tribute to my predecessor as club chair, Anne Mowlem, under whose tenure over several years the bulk of the money was raised that has enabled us to buy the equipment that, in effect, saves us as a competitive club.”
