The Swimathon Foundation Community Grants Scheme offers funding to groups and individuals who provide swimming in their local community. Grants range from £300 – £2500, and are awarded to organisations supported by pools taking part in the main Swimathon event. Applications close 13th March 2020. More information can be found on the Swimathonfoundation website.
Jo Stalley
Winter Nationals Success For East Region Swimmers!
It was a great four days in Sheffield for Swim England East Region athletes with some really intense racing across the competition. This year the meet was split into 18/over and 18/under for finals which gave some of our aspiring junior athletes the chance step up. Over all we had 14 clubs who made finals (City of Peterborough, TeamIpswich, Hatfield, West Suffolk, City of Norwich, Basildon, Harlow, Putteridge, Hemel Hempstead, Bishop Stortford, Dunmow Atlantis, St Felix School and Chelmsford).
A special congratulations to our athletes who won medals:
Lawrence Palmer (Putteridge), 50 and 100 breaststroke silver.
Angharad Evans (West Suffolk), 50 and 100 breaststroke silver.
Regan Lloyd (TeamIpswich), 400 freestyle silver.
Beth Dennis (City of Peterborough), 200 breaststroke bronze.
Georgina Pryor (Harlow), 50 butterfly bronze.
Lija Radziunaite (TeamIpswich), 50 backstroke bronze.
Swim England’s events team did a great job, with the added lighting and visuals really boosting the atmosphere which was great for the athletes. Well done to everyone who raced and we wish you all the best in your preparations for the Olympic Trials, which take place April 14th-19th at the London Aquatics Centre.
East Region Success at the Swim England National Awards Ceremony
A huge congratulations to all those shortlisted for the Swim England (SE) National Awards, an event where the successes and achievements of individuals and clubs were celebrated. This year the event was held at the University of Birmingham on 30 November, where a total of 34 awards were presented.
Congratulations also go to the east region members that were presented with an award, including Sue Purchase (St Felix SC) for SE Coach of the Year Silver Award, and John Bellis (South Beds Masters SC) for SE Long Service to Aqauatics Bronze Award.
There were also awards for each discipline, highlighting a talented athlete of the year. Nathan Hughes (Hatfield SC) won the Open Water SE Talented Athlete of the Year, and Ellie Chalis (Colchester Phoenix SC) won the Para-swimming SE Talented Athlete of the Year Award.
Ellie Challis Wins SportsAid’s One-to-Watch Award
Congratulations to Ellie Challis who has won the SportsAid One-to-Watch Award for her outstanding recent successes in the pool. The Colchester Phoenix Para-Swimmer was up against around 1000 rising stars across 60 different sports.
Read more on the Swim England website.
An Opportunity to Shape the Future of Water Polo
Following the appointment of David Meli to help develop a plan for water polo through engagement with key stakeholders, and to help Swim England to fully understand the current status of water polo at a local level, Swim England will be hosting face-to-face regional meetings. The East Region meeting is scheduled for 2pm-4pm at Riverside Ice and Leisure Centre, Victoria Rd, Chelmsford, CM1 1FG, 2.00pm – 4.00pm on Saturday 14th December. This is prior to the start of the East Region Water Polo Grand Prix.
The meeting will allow Swim England to hear directly from those involved in the delivery of water polo activities at all levels and enable them to collectively shape a manageable and sustainable plan for the sport in the future.
Swim England would like to see committee members, coaches and volunteers attending the meeting, who want to help shape the future direction and delivery of the sport.
To enable Swim England to communicate openly with the community, we ask that those who will be attending to follow this link and fill in their details. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Swim England.
Swimming coaches conference 2020 bookings are now LIVE!
Off the back of two successful events in 2019, Swim England East Region are proud to introduce their flagship coach development event for 2020. For more information please click here.
Entries Open For East Region Water Polo Grand Prix
Entries are now open for teams to enter the 2019 East Region Water Polo Grand Prix on 14th December in Chelmsford.
Full details, including event conditions and entry details, can be found on the Grand Prix event page.
Start Para-Swimming Initiative- Funding Available
Start Para-Swimming is the new model which will help provide a seamless pathway from Learn to Swim into your clubs entry point. The initiative is focused on identifying and developing those with an eligible impairment (further details found in the information pack) at stage 4 of the learn to swim framework. Start Para-Swimming is about establishing or using existing pool time to deliver weekly sessions to enhance and develop their skills.
There is a maximum grant of £500 to your club to become a Start Para-Swimming centre. Further details of what can be funded are in the Expression of Interest form (EoI). Swim England has developed resources to help deliver Start Para-Swimming, this includes a 10-12week guide for session plans and flyers to help advertise the sessions. There will also be support through the Swim England Club Development Officer, and from the Para-swimming talent team, for this project.
Please complete the EoI and return to [email protected] by Tuesday 19th November 2019. We will be in contact with you regarding your completed expression of interest by Tuesday 3rd December 2019.
Swimmers from East Region on Para-Swimming Programme
Congratulations to the six swimmers from the East Region who have been named by British Swimming on the Para-Swimming World Class Programme! The swimmers are:
Podium: Jessica-Jane Applegate (Co Norwich), Louise Fiddes (Hatfield) and Jordan Catchpole (Co Norwich)
Podium Potential: Danielle Hartin (Basildon & Phoenix), Ellie Challis (Colchester Phoenix) and Grace Harvey (Hoddesdon)
Swim England East Region Long Course Championships and Summer Meet 2020
Swim England East Region is today releasing details of its long course competition programme for 2020.
The Region will be running two competitions this season – the 2020 Swim England East Region Long Course Championships in the national qualifying window and the 2020 Swim England East Region Summer Meet in July.
This guidance document provides details of the changes and should be read carefully.
The Schedule, Qualifying Times and Entry Packs for both events can now be found on the Swimming Competitions page.
The Region will be using an online entry system for these events.
The Region has put together some additional information after receiving a number of questions following the launch of the new format. This can be found here.
Ian Mackenzie Becomes Swim England President
Congratulations to Ian Mackenzie, East Region Management Board member, who took over the Swim England President role at the weekend. Ian will serve as the Swim England president until May 2021. Hear what Ian had to say about taking on the role.
Masters Manager Urgently Needed
You may be aware that our current Masters Manager, Sharon Perry, has decided to stand down from the role. Sharon has done a fantastic job as our Masters Manager over the past three years, but has a busy and demanding job which frequently takes her away from home, and is unable to continue to juggle the masters role with her paid work.
In preparation for our Annual Council Meeting in September, we advertised the post but received no nominations for this role. Sharon has kindly agreed to stay on in an interim basis to see that this year’s Regional Masters Championships and the Inter-county Competition take place but will be finishing after the competitions conclude in November.
So, the need for the region to find a new Masters Manager is becoming urgent. If no-one comes forward to take on this role, the regional staff will continue to arrange development events, but there will be no regional masters competitions until we do fill the role. It is not necessary for the Manager to do everything, there is a Masters Committee to help, but we do need a Manager to pull it all together and to make sure that everything happens.
If you think you might be able to help please look at the role description for this voluntary post and contact Amy Bryant, Regional Development Officer, at [email protected], to discuss the role further or to register your interest in taking the role on.
