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Jo Stalley

Paralympic Qualification Success

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With 100 days to go until the Paralympic Games, ParalympicsGB has named a 26-strong para-swimming team that are heading to Paris this summer. 

The first sport to confirm names for Paris for ParalympicsGB features 15 Games debutants and 11 returning Paralympians – including two reigning champions in the pool from Tokyo 2020, Maisie Summers-Newton and Tully Kearney.

ParalympicsGB Chef de Mission Penny Briscoe added: “I’m delighted that today, with exactly 100 days to go to this summer’s Paralympic Games, we can celebrate the first athletes to join the ParalympicsGB team for Paris 2024 – our swimming squad.

“Our 26 swimmers represent an exciting mix of youth and experience, and there’s no doubt they all have fantastic potential to make Great Britain proud in Paris this summer. I’m really excited to see the ParalympicsGB team start to take shape and look forward to welcoming athletes from all corners of the UK, across 19 sports in total, in the coming weeks and months.”

Aquatics GB Associate Performance Director Tim Jones said: “I’m delighted that ParalympicsGB are now announcing these 26 swimmers to compete in the swimming events in Paris in 100 days’ time.

“Our athlete cohort has evolved significantly since the Tokyo Games, and with 15 first-time Paralympians on the team, we know we have great potential to be very successful in Paris.

The region is delighted that five athletes who either still swim in clubs in the East or started their swimming careers in the East have been selected:

Ellie Challis Clacton Swimming Club

Grace Harvey Hoddesdon Swimming Club

Olivia Newman-Baronius Maxwell Swimming Club

William Ellard Saint Felix School

Louise Fiddes Hatfield Swimming Club

Congratulations to everyone! and Good luck in Paris!

Visions and Values Roadshows in your area!

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As one of our members, you are invited to attend one of our Values and Vision roadshows taking place across the country in May, June and July.

Meet our CEO Andy Salmon, members of the Swim England leadership team and join in with engaging activities.

Your attendance is really important as it will help shape the organisation’s future direction and culture and create a clear vision for aquatic sports.

Insight gathered from the roadshows will help refresh Swim England’s existing strategy, with learnings from the Heart of Aquatics Listening Report at its core.

Book your space here

Olympic qualification success

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Aquatics GB have announced an exciting 33-strong team to represent Team GB in the summer at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Following success at recent competitions including the Speedo Aquatics GB Swimming Championships at the London Aquatic Centre, Laura Stephens, who started her swimming career in the East Region, will be part of that team. Joining her in Paris is Angharad Evans who swam her age group years within the region too. Congratulations to both and we wish them all the luck in Paris!

Laura Stephens – World Champion!

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Great Britain and the East Region has a new swimming hero ahead of this year’s Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Laura Stephens became the country’s first individual female gold medalist at the World Aquatic Championships since 2011 by claiming 200m butterfly glory in Doha. The 24-year old says she “can’t believe it” and has now set her sights on glory in France later this year.

Great Britain’s Laura Stephens admits she “cannot believe it” after winning her first world title. The 24-year-old clinched first place in the 200m butterfly at the World Aquatics Championships in Doha. It means she becomes her country’s first female individual world champion since Rebecca Adlington back in 2011.It adds to the silver medal she won in the same event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

And after getting that first taste of gold, Stephens is now setting her sights on further success at the Paris 2024 Olympics later this year.
Laura trained at Harwich, Dovercourt & Parkstone swimming club and Colchester Swimming Club.  Laura is only the 8th woman in GB swimming history to win a Gold medal at the world championships and the a 1st women in GB swimming history to win gold in the 200m butterfly.

Long Course Championships – food/drinks passes available now

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We are pleased to confirm that all poolside passes for coaches, team managers and chaperones will remain free of charge for the 2024 championships.

In recent years, we have not offered food and tea/coffee refreshments to coaches and team personnel. This is largely because coaches have preferred to make their own arrangements. We have received a limited number of requests to offer refreshments to these colleagues. Unfortunately we cannot do this free of charge, as the cost is relatively high and the championships now run on a break-even basis. We will, however, offer it at cost price. Payment will be via invoice to the club.

A tea/coffee pass will cost £10 per person per weekend.

A food pass will cost £25 per person per weekend (and will include tea/coffee – there is no need to purchase both passes). Food will comprise sandwiches, cake, crisps – there is no hot option.

Passes are transferrable – i.e if two coaches do a day each, they can transfer their pass.

If your club would like to purchase one of these options, please complete the form by Wednesday 3rd April, indicating the names of the coaches and which weekend the order is for. We will collate the requests and then invoice the club on 4th April.

All poolside passes must still be obtained via the online system.

 

Water Polo Coaching Conference

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This year’s Water Polo coaching conference promises to be a really beneficial day and ties in to the additional coach development that we’re currently working on. It will take place 9:00-17:00 on Saturday 25th May at the Sportpark, Loughborough University campus with speakers and outline of topics below.

As we are aware that most of our coaches are volunteers we are able to offer the conference for a reduced £20 per person and we would encourage clubs to cover the cost for coaches as part of their CPD training.

Clubs/ club coaches can sign up via the following link: https://forms.swimming.org/water-polo-conference/

Speakers
Richard Blackshaw & Anna Garside Richard as the new of Head of Performance and Anna as the new head of Performance Operations will open up the conference.
Piers Martin British Swimming Board Member Piers will discuss how to maximise coaching potential.
GBR Womens rep Great Britain Women’s player will discuss her journey in Water Polo that led her to the Word Championships in Doha
Paul Connolly Experienced coach Developer Paul will discuss “What is our Why?” the importance of our ‘why’ when coaching. What are we trying to achieve? And why is important not to lose sight of our end goals in everything that we do.
Drew Barrand Drew Barrand, the British Swimming CEO will share British Swimming’s organisational strategy and how Water Polo fits into that broader vision for aquatic sport.
Gergely Lukacs Our Key note speaker Gergely Lukacs will share his experience in coaching which he has gained over a number of years in Hungary following a successful playing career and has delivered water polo coaching clinics for World Aquatics.

 

Gergelys coaching highlights include winning 2x U21 National titles In Hungary with his club Pecs before spending over 5 years coaching the Pecs senior team. Gergely has also tasted international success during his 6 years working with the junior Hungarian national team, winning the U18 World Championships as the Hungarian team’s assistant coach in 2020.

 

Most recently Gergely was the assistant to Hungarian men’s coach Zsolt Varga at the European Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.

Swim England East Region AGM 2024

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The Swim England East Region AGM is taking place on Wednesday 24th April 2024.

There are a number of volunteer roles due to be appointed at the AGM this year – these are –

  • President Elect
  • Chairman
  • Finance Manager/Director
  • 3 x Regional Operations Committee members

A role description for each role is available on request for your reference.

If you are interested in applying for any of these roles, please complete this nomination form and email it to [email protected] – the closing date for nominations is Sunday 10th March 2024.

 

Diving – Athlete and Coach Development Day

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Swim England East Region Team A and Team B selected athletes are invited to join the Athlete and Coach Development day taking place at Luton Sports Village on Saturday 17th February 2024.  The athletes will be taken through dryland and pool sessions focused on hurdle drills which will be led by British Olympic diving coach, Stephen Hewat. The divers will also take part in a ballet session led by Anna Volynets who works with British Diving athletes.  

 

Workshop poster 17th Feb

 

Cost: £20 per athlete.  

East Region Coaches of all levels are invited to attend free of charge.  

Please register here: https://eastswimming.org/diving/diving-development/

Water Polo – New rules 2024

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During 2023, World Aquatics introduced a number of new rules in Water Polo. During this online session, Chris Stephens the Officials Lead in the Water Polo Leadership Group will offer a comprehensive explanation of the new rules and their implementation followed by the opportunity for questions.

The session, aimed at referees, is also open to other members of the Water Polo community looking to gain a better understanding of the rules.

4th February 5-6.30pm

Register here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/X7FCCHC

Closing Date to express interest: Monday 29th January 2024

Zoom details will be shared after this date.

Regional Development Programme 2023-4

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Saturday 23rd September saw 48 athletes from the region descend on Stanground Academy for Day One of the Region Development Programme 2023-4.

The day was spent in small groups with a coach to mentor them and included S&C sessions, Pre and post pool sessions as well as , importantly, pool sessions.

We look forward to seeing everyone again in the new year for Day Two.

Swim England Working Together webinar

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The Swim England ‘Working Together’ webinar focuses on the importance of developing strong and robust working relationships with pool operators.

Club volunteers will learn about the different types of pool operators and common challenges they face when aiming to deliver an inclusive and varied pool programme. The webinar includes examples of good partnership working and will offer practical advice to any club aiming to develop new or existing relationships with their pool operators.

Club representatives can book their place using the following registration link – https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/TJY25YN

  • Thursday 2nd Nov – 7.30pm-8.30pm
  • Tuesday 14th Nov – 12.30pm-1.30pm
  • Thursday 30th Nov – 7.30pm-8.30pm