Happy New Year! And welcome back to all our swimmers.
We kicked off on the 10th January and finally managed to hand out all the selection boxes!
FUNDRAISING
A club application has been accepted for customer voting at Tesco stores. The project will be available for Customer voting at Tesco as follows:
- Time period:
- Mid-January 2023 through end March 2023
- Locations:
- Tesco Aviemore
- Tesco Fort William
- Project and project description:
- Grantown Swim Club
- Grantown Swim Club 50-meter Swimming Pool Visit for Skill Improvements
- Edinburgh
- Grantown Swimclub’s eager and hardworking young swimmers will swim in an Olympic sized pool, using diving board, a climbing wall; focus is on confidence boosting and team spirit.
We are encouraged to “share this list of stores amongst our supporters and within your community” So, please share the upcoming voting opportunity with friends and colleagues from the 23rd January.
This is for one visit only within a school year; should we win the Tesco community vote; we have a year to fulfil the Edinburgh trip.
So, fingers crossed, and happy voting, that we get sufficient support to get funding for such trip either in this swim school year or the next.
MEETS
GSC is looking forward to attending more external Swim Meets this year. For those new to the club “Meets” are like our timing evenings but run by a Club under Scottish Swimming rules. Swimmers go along and try and get a PB (personal best). They are entered with the fasted time we have on record for them at that point for the stroke and distance. The Club running the meet then send us a programme letting us know which Swimmers have their swims. It may be that there have been a lot of entries and they give some swimmers “Reserve” swims (if someone drops out then they get their swim) or they are “scratched” (they won’t get a swim this time).
Mini Meets – are for swimmers under 12 years old
Graded Meets – there is usually a time that swimmers have to be “slower than”. So this slices off the faster swimmers
Development/ District Meets – these have a qualifying time that the swimmer has to be faster than to enter the meet.
Do watch out for emails inviting swimmers who are eligible, to enter meets. Please do also ask the more experienced parents questions as you are poolside or drop me an email at gscmeets@gmail.com.
First date for the diary is 1st April 2023 – there is a graded meet in Inverness. This will be aimed at the top Junior and Senior squads who have relevant experience and times.
TIMEKEEPERS
Some of you will already have helped with our timing evenings by holding a stopwatch and pressing the relevant buttons! When we enter external meets we are expected to provide both qualified Timekeepers and Judges. It is therefore necessary for at least one parent of each swimmer to be qualified as a timekeeper so we have a pool we can pull from and share the duties around. (It also gives you a poolside seat to watch the swimming) Some meets won’t let us enter unless we provide a certain number of both.
To “qualify” there is a course that is delivered online which lasts a couple of hours one evening and then a practical session poolside during a training session. Once you have “qualified” you then collect 6 signatures from being a timekeeper at a Meet and then that is you.
GSC is hoping to run a course in the very near future. Please email gscmeets@gmail.com with the name/s of who you would like to attend a course.
We will prioritise parents of swimmers who are more likely to be attending meets within the next couple of terms. We will then run further courses for the younger/less experienced swimmers parents later in the year.
Please let me know by email if you are already qualified so I can ensure my records are up to date.
MEET THE POOLSIDE HELPERS AT GSC
We thought it would be nice for you to meet our fantastic poolside helpers.
First up is Duncan.
Q and A
How long have you been part of Grantown Swim Club Duncan?
Since I was 8 I think! It has been a while!
What is your favourite swimming event?
100 m backstroke.
Why do you enjoy being a poolside helper?
That’s a good question! It’s a good thing to do – helping others.
Favourite food?
Steak.
Any other hobbies apart from swimming of course?
Playing the guitar and bass, and walking my dog Bobby.
Thank you for sharing more, Duncan.
If you need to get in contact with the coaching team, please email cath.swim@outlook.com.
See you poolside 