Wow what a weekend! We mentioned in the last report that we had a good entry for the Llanelli 2009 Open Meet, and our swimmers certainly did not disappoint. With a cross-section of age ranges and abilities from the club taking part, there was plenty to watch and support over the full two days of the competition. Head coach John Amos, who was in attendance throughout, has been enthusing about the consistently high level of swimming our young athletes produced.
Llanelli Open 2009
The Llanelli Open is a well-organised and popular event, and as has been the case in previous years, very well attended. In fact, such is the popularity of the sport at the moment that once again this competition was oversubscribed and several of our swimmers were not able to compete in all the events they entered, being instead 'scratched' in favour of an entrant with a faster qualifying time.
Nevertheless the following Tenby swimmers travelled to Llanelli to take part in the gala: Nick Allen, James Crowney-Richards, Bethan Davie, Gareth Davie, Matt Davie, Daniel Davies, Ffion Davies, Abigail Hicks, Kaitlyn Hicks, Sam Lewis, Talia Merriman, Ben Rees, Safi Rooney, Hannah Saunders and Henry Whittaker.
Only a couple of weeks ago, our swimmers were battling for honours at the West Wales Regional Championships, where you may recall, many of them set impressive new personal best times on their way to winning a great collection of medals. You might have expected that after such feats of exertion they would have been a little off track at this meet, because it is often difficult to replicate high level performances with just a few weeks gap and only a little extra training. Clearly John motivated his swimmers very well, because not only did they improve again, but many of them by huge margins. A truly impressive feat in such a short space of time.
In alphabetical order our medallists this time were: Bethan Davie (13), 1st 12-13yrs 200m Freestyle, 1st 12-13yrs 400m IM (NCR), 1st 12-13yrs 200m Breaststroke (NCR), 1st 12-13yrs 100m Freestyle (NCR); Matt Davie (16), 1st 15-16yrs 200m Breaststroke (NCR), 3rd 15-16yrs 200m IM; Daniel Davies (10), 1st 9-10yrs 50m Breaststroke (NCR), 2nd 9-10yrs 50m Backstroke, 2nd 9-10yrs 50m Freestyle, 3rd 9-10yrs 50m Butterfly; Ffion Davies (9), 1st 9yrs 50m Freestyle (NCR), 1st 9yrs 50m Butterfly (NCR), 1st 9 yrs 50m Breaststroke (NCR), 1st 50m Backstroke (NCR), 2nd 9yrs 100m IM; Sam Lewis (13), 2nd 13-14yrs 100m Breaststroke; Hannah Saunders (10), 2nd 10-11yrs 200m Breaststroke, 2nd 10-11yrs 100m Breaststroke; Henry Whittaker (14), 3rd 13-14yrs 200m Breaststroke.
Well done to all the medallists, but as mentioned above, the really impressive aspect of the Tenby results was the fact that almost without exception our swimmers posted such large improvements in their times. The overall finishing position is always difficult to interpret when combined age ranges compete in one category. For instance, Sam Lewis (13) swam his socks off all weekend, setting truly massive PB's, but only recorded one second place finish because he was competing in the 13-14 year age group category. Hannah Saunders was in a comparable position in her age group. Never mind, we know how good the times were, so very well done to all of you!
The results show that our swimmers also set a large number of new championship records (NCR). Courtesy of an event age reclassification from 8-9 to 9 year girls and from 8-10 to 9-10 year boys, Ffion and Dan Davies's winning times in the 50m events were all records; although in fairness to them, they swam so fast that they both would have recorded records in the previous event format. Similarly, Bethan Davie set a record in the 12-13yrs 400m IM, because it was the first time it had been included in the gala, albeit swum in an incredibly fast short course time for a swimmer who clearly favours long course events. Her two other records in the 200m Breaststroke and 100m Freestyle, together with the one set by older brother Matt Davie in the 15-16yrs 200m Breaststroke, were genuine improvements on the previous championship best times. Super swimming by all four of you!
To round off a splendid weekend, we are also delighted to report that Tenby won the overall best visiting club award, and Ffion Davies was awarded a prize as the best girl for the whole weekend. Brilliant!
Even though the days were typically rather long, the swimmers and coaches enjoyed the fun and relaxed poolside atmosphere at the gala and everyone had a great time. This is what it's all about! More of the same next time out from everyone please!
Forthcoming Events
March 14-15: WISE International Gala. WNP Swansea (Bethan selected to represent Welsh Schools team).
March 27-29: Tiger Bay Open. Cardiff International Pool.
April 10-13: Welsh Age Group Championships. Wales National Pool, Swansea. Entries closed.
May 9-10: Swansea Valley Junior Open Meet. Neath. A good gala for club swimmers. Always a nice atmosphere. Highly recommended!
May 16-17: Swim Swansea Long Course Open. WNP Swansea. Good LC meet. Try it if you have the qualifying times.
May 23-24: Pembrokeshire Whitsun Weekender. The inaugural meet at the new pool in Haverfordwest. Can't afford to miss it. No excuses if you have the qualifying or consideration times! Let's see a huge Tenby entry!
June 6: West Wales Region Junior Development Meet. This competition is designed for swimmers who have not qualified for the Welsh Age Groups. It's a one day event, so make sure you enter!
Club News
Somebody recently asked about the Swimming Meet Licensing system. You may well of read that a meet is called a 'Level 1' meet or a 'Level 4' meet, for instance, but this is clearly confusing if you don't know how the grading system is set up and what the classification actually means. There are planned changes that will come into force in September this year, but for the time being the system components which will be of interest to swimmers are as follows:
Level One Meet (intended for national qualifiers):
• Pool must be either 25m or 50m long.
• A swim-down facility should be provided, if available at the same venue.
• All meets must include at least one distance event of 400m or over in each age group and sex.
• A minimum set of qualifying standards is used. No upper limit time is required.
Level Two Meet (intended for regional qualifiers):
• Swimmers who achieve a national qualifying time at a level two meet may use that time for entry into National Championships.
• Pool must be 25m or 50m long.
• Upper limit times should not be faster than the national qualifying time for the respective age group. A lower qualifying standard is required.
Level Three Meet (intended for county qualifiers):
• Pools must be at least 25m. 33.3m and 36.6yds are permitted, however results will be entered as Short Course.
• Upper limit times and qualifying times are required.
Level Four Meet:
• Pools must be at least 25m. 33.3m and 36.6yds are permitted, however results will be entered as Short Course.
• Upper limit times required (except for Club Championships). No lower qualifying time is required.
That has probably confused you even more, but try reading the official ASA documents on http://www.britishswimming.co.uk">www.britishswimming.co.uk if you really want to get a headache!
Due to the movement of the County Swimming Programme to the new pool in Haverfordwest, there will now be additional swimming available to the club on Tuesday evenings. Details of this will be posted on the notice board. Check to see if you are eligible to swim.
To close this report, just another quick reminder about competition swimming. We have in excess of 110 swimmers in the club, but very few of you enter open competitions. There are some great galas coming up for club swimmers, so let's see if we can have a big Dolphins entry at all of them. If you are starting out, the Junior Development Meet in Haverfordwest on June 6 is a good event to take the first step on the competition ladder. If you are not sure what to do, please ask! We have said it a great many times before, but we are a competitive swimming club, so enter some competitions, don't just train! They are noisy, rewarding, exciting, but don't be nervous, because above all else, galas are a huge amount of fun for swimmers and spectators alike!
S.D.