International Surfing Association World Junior Surfing Championships
Emily Williams has been selected to represent Wales at the International Surfing Association World Junior Surfing Championships to be held in Ecuador from the 5th April to the 13th April 2014. 24 countries will be represented and competing for individual gold medals and a team medal. It is the first time that Wales has sent a team to a World Championships and competition will be tough.
Emily is current Welsh Womans & Under 18 National Champion and finished second in the U16 girls category at the last British Nationals. Emily will have a busy year as she will also be defending her national titles and hopefully making the the Welsh Team for the European Juniors to be held in the Azores this September.
Emily maintains her fitness by swiming in the Newport Performance squad and we wish her well in her future competitions.
The event will be broadcast live over the internet, a link will be published on the website below nearer the date.
DSE National Junior Para-Swimming Championships, Sheffield 2014
Over the weekend of 1st – 2nd March, Liam Walsh from Junior Performance competed in the National Junior Para-swimming championships in Sheffield. Liam competed in the S8 50 and 100 freestyle, 200IM, 100 FLY, 100 Backstroke and the 100 Breaststroke.
Out of those six events, Liam, who is also part of Swim Wales Home Nation Talent programme, improved on every one of his PBs, and came home with: 2 gold and 3 silver medals.
Liam’s results were:
50 free: 37.0 – Silver
100 free: 1:23.8 – Silver
200IM: 3:28.0 – Gold
100 Back: 1:37.2 – Gold
100 Fly: 1:32.0 – Silver
100 Breast: 1:51.0
This is particularly impressive when you consider there were a large number of GB international swimmers taking part at this meet including current Paralympic Champions Josef Craig and Jessica Jane Applegate as well as a number of other high profile swimmers. The stature of the event is evident with 3 World Records, 2 European Records and 2 British Records being broken over the course of the weekend.
Well done Liam!
Time Trial Gala
On Sunday 2nd March 2014 almost 100 swimmers from our junior squads competed in a time trial gala at Newport International Sports Village. Swimmers from Dolphins, Sharks, Junior Development and Junior Performance all competed in 50m of all strokes, as well as 100m Individual Medley, regardless of age or how long they have been swimming with the club. One swimmer having only joined the club that week competed in all five events swimming superbly well.
What was almost as pleasing as how well all the swimmers swam was how much they seemed to enjoy themselves, and got into the spirit of racing.
I would like to thank all the swimmers for coming down to swim and commend them on their efforts and excellent behaviour, as well as all their parents who brought them down and stayed to support. The next step from here is to enter our Club Championships which like this gala, is only for other Newport swimmers. From there, you should then start entering other competitions where you can test your speed against swimmers from other clubs. If you are interested in entering more competitions, please ask your coach for further information on which galas you should enter.
Lastly, but certainly not least, I would like to thank all the volunteers who came to support and help run this gala. Without their help not only could we not run galas like this, but the club as a whole could not carry on running the way it does.
If you would like to get more involved in the running of your club please come along to our AGM at 7:45pm on Tuesday 11th of March at Newport Stadium, found adjacent to Newport International Sports Village, swimming and tennis centre.
James
Tenerife training camp
14 swimmers from the Regional squad recently attended a warm weather long course training camp in Los Cristinos, Tenerife. The camp served as preparation for the up and coming Commonwealth trials in Glasgow and the Welsh age group and youth championships in Swansea. All of the swimmers represented the club with excellence, both in terms of attitude and performance in the training environment and their overall behaviour away from the pool. The swimmmers were well looked after throughout the trip by the team managers Rhian and Dee, who made some fun presentations to the swimmers on the final evening of the trip. These were as follows:
Connor – Loudest ‘House’ Call in Bingo (Trophy)
Elizabeth, Emme and Sioned – Messiest Room (Rubber gloves)
Tristan – Best job for surviving without mum (Trophy)
Lewis – Vainest person (Mirror)
Louise – Fully embracing the All inclusive (Placemat)
Erin and Hannah – Cutest friendship in Tenerife (Trophy)
Jon – Largest sweet purchase (large bag of sweets)
Will – Best Golf/Pool player (Trophy)
Cerys – Best sun tan protection – minus 100 factor (Trophy)
James – Longest time in the bathroom (keyring)
Cameron – Slowest at everything except swimming (Trophy)
