HARPENDEN SWIMMING CLUB

Affiliated to A.S.A. East Region & R.L.S.S.

COACH ES Corner

STATEMENT OF INTENT: Having re-established a competitive section with the opening of the Rothamsted Pool, our team of qualified teachers and coaches who ALL operate on a voluntary basis have, over the last 6 years, established Harpenden Swimming Club as an important participant in County and District Championships as well as many Graded Open Meets throughout the year. Our target is to develop each individual swimmer to their optimum, to equip them with all the skills to achieve this and build up a strong competitive team with strength in depth. We have already reached Division 1 in the Hertfordshire Major League and Hertfordshire Peanuts League, have won numerous medals ataving Having County Championships and produced finalists for the East District Championships. Our immediate targets are to maintain our 1^st Division status, to win more medals at Open Meets & County Championships and to get at LEAST two swimmers to the Nationals. We are a small club, but effective, and importantly EVERY member counts. Our swimmers are taught to set targets, achieve them and develop into thoroughly rounded swimmers able to do all events with emphasis on Medleys and longer distances with the younger swimmers, developing their sprint potential as they get older. We aim to get every swimmer into competition when they have reached the required standards.
Our Coaching and Teaching Team
Barbara Pearce	– Chief Coach
Sally Murdoch	– Coach / Teacher
Linda Nicholl	– Coach / Teacher
Annie Thompson	– Coach / Teacher
Jon Smith	– Coach / Teacher
Philip Jackson	– Coach / Teacher
Sonja Burnett	– Coach / Teacher
Teaching: Our teaching section starts on a Wednesday night at Rothamsted in the learner pool and once capable of swimming lengths the swimmers move on to Aldwickbury on a Monday night. There we concentrate on skill, technique and the development of an all round swimmer that can perform all 4 strokes efficiently with correct starts, turns and finishes. When a swimmer is ready, they are invited back to Rothamsted to join our competitive section. Competitive Swimming: We currently run 3 squads, Junior, Peanuts and Major. Entry to the squads is by skills for both Junior and Peanuts and times for Major. Having recently negotiated extra water time at various pools in the area, we are investigating the best use the water time by the squads, and this should allow us to increase our membership. Land Training: We will soon be providing land training for our swimmers once a week, including stretching, running, and core body strength exercises. In our training we will also be incorporating pilates exercises prior to swimming. We are currently attempting to recruit a specialist to run our land training programme throughout the year and we have already identified a site for this to take place. WATCH THIS SPACE ! We aim to maintain Harpenden Swimming Club as a vibrant club, which makes considerable progress year on year. Barbara (Barbara Pearce – Chief Coach)