Several weeks have passed since our last report, and in the meantime a number of competitions have taken place. In early July, the Cardiff International Meet was held, and our younger swimmers took part in the Junior Shield competition in Pembroke shortly after. Next came the two big events of the summer, the ASA Nationals in Sheffield and the Welsh Summer Nationals in Swansea.

ASA National Age Group Championships

We are delighted to report that our Welsh international, Bethan Davie, has once again come away with a medal from the biggest stage for age group swimmers in the UK.

As usual, the competition was once again held at Ponds Forge in Sheffield and the top swimmers in the UK, who strive all year just to qualify for the competition, congregated to do battle from July 22 - 26.

This year, Bethan qualified for five events, and chose to enter her two preferred breaststroke races together with the 100m freestyle and 200m IM, spread over the five days of competition. All in the 13 years age group category.

Bethan is generally a 'big race' swimmer, but going into the Nationals she had suffered a last minute dip in form due to illness, so had some doubts about how she would get on.

Starting with the 100m freestyle, which is by no means her specialist event, she set a very good new PB, on her way to a midfield finish.

Over the next two days her attention switched to her specialist breaststroke events. Once again she set two more personal bests and swam to an excellent bronze medal finish in the 200m and fourth in the 100m.

However, the results were muddied by a couple of factors this year. Firstly one of the largest teams entered a very talented South African swimmer in Beth's age group who last year at the age of 12, narrowly missed qualifying for the South African Olympic team. Not surprisingly, she finished in front of Bethan in both the 100m and 200m, and her inclusion meant the British girls were racing for just two medals in each race.

The second issue was that of high tech swim suits. One British swimmer, Jodie Hawksworth from Cheadle, was in scintillating form, setting British age group records in the 100m and 200m breaststroke. However, she, like the SA swimmer, was wearing an ultra high tech swim suit such as those worn by the swimmers who recently took apart so many world records at the recent World Championships in Rome. Nevertheless, her swimming was exceptional, and it will be interesting to see where everyone really is when they get back into fabric suits next year.

To close the week, a very tired Bethan set yet another PB on her way to a ninth place finish in 200m IM.

All in all, it was a really encouraging week and an excellent result for Bethan. To PB all events and win a medal for the third year running when feeling under the weather was a very gritty performance indeed, and we hope it bodes well for the future.

ASA National Youth Group Championships

This year, in the week following the Age Groups, Andrew James swam at the National Youth Championships as a member of the Swansea Performance 4 x 200m relay team.

Unfortunately the team was disqualified due to a dodgy take-over, but well done anyway Andrew.

Open Competition Results

The first gala to report is the Cardiff International Open which took place at the 10-lane Cardiff International pool over the weekend of July 3-5.

Just three Tenby swimmers entered, namely Dan Davies, Ffion Davies and trying a long course event for the first time, Talia Merriman. All three swimmers swam in quite a lot of different races over the weekend, and by all accounts acquitted themselves very well, setting excellent new times and battling to some very respectable finishing positions against tough opposition.

They won the following medals: Talia, 3rd 9yrs 100m backstroke; 2nd 9yrs 100m breaststroke; Ffion, 3rd 10-11yrs 100m breaststroke.

The Welsh Summer Nationals took place at the Wales National Pool, Swansea, over the weekend July 30 - August 2. The following Tenby club members took part: Ffion Davies, Dan Davies, together with our county squad swimmers, Sam Lewis, Hannah Saunders and Niamh Slack, and Swansea-based Andrew James.

Of the 56 separate events these swimmers raced in, they set personal best times in no less than 77 per cent of the swims, which is a very respectable result.

Hannah won a sliver medal in the 10-11rys 100m breaststroke and made two other finals. Ffion progressed to three finals and narrowly missed out on a bronze in the 10-11yrs 200m fly. A good effort considering she was out of age for this competition. Well done girls.

Andrew, our Swansea based swimmer, who trains for up to 20 hours per week at the National Pool, enjoyed a very good weekend. Andrew has shown some great improvements over the last year and on this occasion he set four more good PB's on his way to winning no less than four gold and one silver medal.

Interestingly enough, Andrew's earliest successes in the pool came in breaststroke events, but since he has immersed himself in an intensive training regime, his freestyle has come to the fore. You younger swimmers may enjoy one stroke now, but as you grow, you may well find that you start to shine in a different event

Andrew, together with our other high volume trainer Bethan, is a clear illustration that to achieve success in the pool you have to do the hard work first. Younger guys please take note!

Team Competition Results

The Junior Shield competition was held at Pembroke Leisure Centre on July 10, and was the first opportunity for our young team to take part in a competition for several months.

As is usual at this competition, we were up against swimmers from the other four clubs in the county, and the racing was fast and furious. We don't have the full team list, but well done to all who took part.

There were some very good swims from the team, and, as we have come to expect, quite a lot of new PB's set. However, on the day, Tenby were well beaten. Our girls team were strong and did well to win the girls competition, but a very much weakened boys team struggled against some very good opposition.

Overall Tenby finished third, so well done to Haverfordwest and Pembroke who were definitely the better teams on the day.

Swimming is a constant learning process for all involved, and the coaches came away with a list of things we need to work on over the coming weeks.

Forthcoming Events

October 3: Llanelli Autumn Meet, Llanelli. A very good meet for our club swimmers. Please check notice board for details.

October 4: RAOB Gala. This is a very important meet for our seven to 10-year-old swimmers. Please make sure you go along if you are lucky enough to be selected. Check notice board nearer the time.

October 24-25: Pembrokeshire Age Groups, Haverfordwest.

November 7: Neath and Nexus Valleys Open Meet. Another good meet. Recommended.

November 20-22: British Gas Welsh Schools and Swim Wales Winter Nationals. WNP, Swansea. Tough qualifying time. See notice board.

November 27-29: Welsh Capital Open Meet. At Cardiff International Pool. A better option for you younger guys who don't have qualifying times for the Welsh Winter Meet.

Club News

Anyone who is actively involved in the club will realise that the dynamics of our squads have changed over the past year or so. Many of our older guys have inevitably moved on, and at the moment we have a large number of younger swimmers who are just starting out on the competition swimming pathway.

As a club we are very much aware that we need to be structured to offer every one of our members the swimming programme best suited to their needs, and as a result we are working hard to gain the Swim Wales Dragon Mark accreditation standard. This is a recognised measure of quality, and proof that we as a club are striving to follow the guidelines recommended by the governing body.

The most obvious thing our swimmers will see is a reorganisation of the squads, based on ability and commitment to training and competitions. We ask for your support when this comes into force at the beginning of the swimming season in September. We will shortly be sending all swimmers details of how the changes affect them.

We would like to pass on our thanks to Sally Johnson, who has arranged for £100 of sponsorship from Abbey. Their generosity is greatly appreciated and the much-needed funds will be used for our ongoing volunteer training programme.

Talking of volunteers, we are delighted to see so many new faces starting to help poolside with the training and coaching. Your assistance is always welcome and, as you have seen, you can make an immediate contribution.

Club and county swimmer Johnnie Delahunty is fortunate enough to be carrying on his studies at Millfield School, which is in Street in Somerset. Johnnie has shown that all the training was worthwhile by winning a swimming scholarship, and he will now be training with some of the top swimmers in the UK, as well as enjoying the other opportunities the school has to offer.

Johnnie will be joined by his brother Lloyd, another Dolphin's 'old boy', who is transferring from Llandovery College on an academic scholarship. Best of luck guys!

Finally in this edition, we would like to congratulate Bethan Davie on her re-selection for the Welsh National Youth Squad, and wish her the best of luck when she takes part in the UK Schools Games, to be held in Swansea and Cardiff at the beginning of September. By the way, anyone in Swansea on September 4 (2.45 - 5.45) and September 5 (11.15 - 2. 15) can go along to watch at the WNP for free, if you apply for tickets in advance! (See notice board for details!).