Chairman's Corner (March 2008)

Dear All,

With the Surrey Championships now concluded and the MGH Gala such a success last night I thought it was time to update you on a few things.

Surrey County Championships
I am delighted to say we have just finished the most successful Surrey County Championships for many years, if not ever!

We picked up a total of 8 Medals over the 4 weekends and our swimmers set a total of 19 Club Records, an outstanding achievement. Congratulations!

The medal winners were:

DIANE ANSTIS GOLD MEDAL 50 FLY
DIANE ANSTIS BRONZE MEDAL 100 FLY
SAM ATKINSON SILVER MEDAL 1500 FREE
SAM ATKINSON BRONZE MEDAL 400 FREE
DANIELLE TULLETT SILVER MEDAL 100 FREE
NATHALIE RICHARDS BRONZE MEDAL 200 FREE
NATHALIE RICHARDS BRONZE MEDAL 400 FREE
ANDREW BROWNING BRONZE MEDAL 200 FREE


The new Club Records were set by:

RYAN GRIFFITHS 400 FREE
ZOE MERRETT 400 IM
NATHALIE RICHARDS 200 FREE
MATTHEW COTTRELL 200 BACK
NATHALIE RICHARDS 400 FREE
RYAN GRIFFITHS 400 IM
MICHAEL GRIFFITHS 200 FREE
NATHALIE RICHARDS 200 BACK
RYAN GRIFFITHS 200 BREAST
DIANE ANSTIS 100 FLY
DANIELLE TULLETT 100 FREE
ALEXANDER FENWICK 100 BREAST
LUCY ARCHER LOCK 100 BREAST
LUCY ARCHER LOCK 50 BREAST
DANIELLE TULLETT 50 FREE
DIANE ANSTIS 50 FLY
MICHAEL GRIFFITHS 50 FREE
DANIELLE TULLETT 100 FREE
MICHAEL GRIFFITHS 100 FREE


A special congratulation must also go to all the swimmers who qualified and swam in the Championship along with a special thanks to all the parents who spent the last 4 weekends in the pool supporting the swimmers and acting as taxi drivers!


MGH Home Gala, Rainbow
I was delighted to see so many new faces on the poolside last night, both swimmers and helpers! Only a few years ago it would have been impossible to field two teams of swimmers who represented the club so well.

The number of smiling faces was evidence of the excellent performances produced by so many of the swimmers.  A very special congratulation must go to all those swimmers for whom it was their first gala.  The number of personal best times (PB's) was outstanding and again highlights the excellent work being done by all the coaches and poolside helpers.

Don't forget you can see all the results and details of your own PB's on our excellent web site at www.edsc.co.uk

I am now looking forward to an exciting Sprint Championships at the end of the month.  Don't forget all the squad swimmers have automatically been entered for all the events unless you have previously discussed the events with your coach.


Training Squad Times
As you know we have recently changed the training times for A, B and C Squads.  I am conscious that there has been a number of queries raised relating to the reason for the changes so I thought I would provide some background to the changes.

The swimming club has been fortunate to witness a steady growth in the membership over the past 3 years.  This necessitated the need to add an additional training squad last year bring the total number of training squads to 4, Prem, A, B and C squads.

Although we had to introduce a fourth squad it had to be facilitated within the existing pool time available.  This resulted in a number of training sessions having to "double up" with squads sharing the pool.  Under normal circumstances this shouldn't have been a problem but due the excellent increase in attendance by the swimmers the sharing of the pool in some circumstances had become dangerous.  Not only was it dangerous but also the quality of training was eroded and we, as a club, ere contravening our hire agreements and failing in our duty of care to the swimmers.  In the worst-case scenario, had there been an accident, the officers of the club could have been sued for negligence.  This situation was obviously untenable.

The committee agreed that, regardless of extra pool hire charges, we should take on the next available pool time that was offered to us to enable us to alleviate the over crowding problem.

Fortunately, thanks to Ree Hicks perseverance, we were offered additional pool time on a Friday evening at City of London Freeman's.  This was not ideal but it was the first additional pool time that we had been offered for over a year so we could not turn it down.

The coaching team immediately embarked on a process of discussion via email to identify the best use of the pool.  As Prem, A and B Squad already trained on a Friday evening the only squad who could sensibly utilise the additional pool time was C Squad.

As the worst and most dangerous overcrowding was at St Johns on a Tuesday evening it was imperative that we moved either B squad or A squad from St Johns.  The only way we could achieve this was by moving B squad into Downsend on a Thursday, as C Squad would now be training on a Friday at Freeman's.

Although the coaches are fully aware that this change is not ideal it was felt by the coaching team that it was the best option available and immediately removed the threat of accidents on a Tuesday evening at St Johns.

I anybody would like to discuss the changes in more detail please do not hesitate to contact me and I will be happy to outline the decision in more detail.

I can assure you that your committee continue to try and improve the facilities offered to our members at all times.  The biggest problem we face is a desperate lack of pool time.  We already use no less that 7 different pools and this is, very shortly, to be reduced to 6 as we are loosing access to Parkside.  We have had extensive discussions with Epsom and Ewell BC with very little support or assistance so we rely heavily on the use of school pools.  If there is anybody out there who has a solution to this problem we would very much like to hear from you.


Best regards.

Leigh Atkinson

EDSC Chairman