February Round Up
So What’s Been Happening in the First Two Months of the Year?
What a remarkable two months it has been for Glenrothes swimmers and for the club as a whole, as our list of achievements here shows….
Fife Area Squad
Eight of our up and coming swimmers took part in the Fife Area Squad training at Kirkcaldy Pool on Sunday 7th January. The Fife Area Squad brings together swimmers selected by their coaches from the nine Fife swimming clubs with guest coaches putting the swimmers through their paces in the water and on land. Congratulations to Remi, Lewis, Lucien, Noah, Adam, Sylvie, Grace and Priya, and thanks to our coach Helen and to volunteers David, Leanne and Lisa.
Recruitment
With some tweaking of our existing squad arrangements, we were able to bring 17 new swimmers into the club from Wednesday 10th January, thus reducing a waiting list that has existed since June 2023. Welcome to all our new swimmers and their parents! We have also recruited four new Poolside Helpers who hopefully in time can contribute to teaching and coaching.
Swim West Lothian Meet
Our first invitation meet of 2024 was the Swim West Lothian Open Meet held at Bathgate on Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th January. We took a big squad of swimmers and they didn’t disappoint, coming back with a whopping 25 first placed swims in their age groups, 12 in second, 8 in third, and 42 top eight finishes. Wow!
Scottish Swimming Aquamark
Aquamark is Scottish Swimming’s accreditation scheme to assist clubs to make sure that their management and governance is in good order. We have taken the first steps to achieving accreditation by holding a very helpful Club Development Session with Scottish Swimming’s Regional Development Manager Andy Maguire on Wednesday 17th January. We now have a lot of hard work to do to ensure that our policies and procedures are in good order and up-to-date.
Novice and Fife Leagues
Our leagues in Fife are a great place for younger swimmers to gain experience, or for older ones to try new strokes or distances. The first Novice League of the year held on Sunday 21st January saw our youngest swimmers performing really well with overall first places for Cameron Thomson (50 Free), Elise Burel (100 IM), and Flynn O’Brien (100 IM), while Cameron and Flynn also got second places in their other races along with Caleb Hughes (25 Back and 25 Free), Riley Pullar (50 Free), and Aria Soutar (25 Back).
Later that same day our older swimmers were involved in the Fife League, and the number of successes was huge. Those that won their age group events were Maisie Adair, Kaitlyn Baker, Amelia Burel, Remi Burel, Sophie Carruthers, Kyran Chapman, Grace Colville, Noah Haman, Caitlin Kirk, Sylvie McNicol, Jack Nisbet, Fearne O’Brien. Ella Pullman, Brogan Smith, David Smith, and Katie Wells – not a bad list!
Technical Officials
We held a Timekeepers Training session on Wednesday 24th January with a full complement of ten volunteers completing the course. Thanks very much for those who have come forward to help! We are looking for more people to assist – if we don’t have technical officials, we don’t have galas – and we intend to hold a second course later in the year.
Silver City Blues Masters Meet
On Saturday 27th January our Masters swimmers (that is our swimmers who are over 25) headed off to this event in Aberdeen and performed really well with our champion Masters swimmer Scott Mitchell winning three gold medals. Two of our coaching team Sean Whittet and Lara Ferguson also won golds, while Heather Ingram and Lucy Crookston also were among the top swimmers in their events.
East District Age Group Championships – 2nd Weekend (EDAGS2)
The second weekend of this year’s East District Age Group Championships was held at the Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh from Saturday 3rd to Sunday 4th February. From a club perspective, EDAGS 2 was one of the most successful galas that the club has participated in for a long time. In all the club gained 8 East District titles, won 26 medals and had a total of 63 top 8 finishes.
Swim Camp Lanzarote
30 swimmers accompanied by five coaches and team managers head to Lanzarote on Friday 9th February until Friday 16th February for a week long swim camp. Through fund-raising and sponsorships we raised a massive £8000 to support the trip. Let’s hope that it is a rewarding and worthwhile trip for everyone.
Glenrothes Spring Meet
The Glenrothes Spring Meet is being held over two days on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th February. The first day is a Level 2 event and the second a Level 3 event for younger swimmers. We have more than fifty swimmers taking part! There is still time to volunteer your help on the day.
Scottish Schools Championships
We have a small squad of swimmers who will participate in this year’s Scottish Schools Championships event at East Kilbride on Friday 23rd February. Wishing them all good luck!
Young Leaders Course
And finally…on the weekend of Friday 23rd-Sunday 25th February, four of our swimmers – Lexie O’Brien, Eevie Lamont, Sophie Carruthers and Katie Wells – will be taking part in this year’s residential event which will be held at Fordell Firs, near Dunfermline. When the girls have completed the course, we intend to involve them in helping us to improve the club.
So much for a quiet start to the year. That’s all folks!!!
