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Bank Holiday Monday 27th 2013 - There is no swimming as the Furzefield is closed in the evening.

Queenswood School is closed for the half term - Squad 4 can train at the FF on Tuesday with Squad 5 @ 6pm

PBSC to compete at the International 50m pool at Ponds Forge, Sheffield 

All squad swimmers should have received an email inviting them to compete in the Worksop Dolphins SC Dukeries Open Meet at the International Pool at Ponds Forge, Sheffield on Saturday 30th August 2013. The Club has competed at this event in recent years and it has been a great experience for the swimmers to compete at such a prestigious venue. The British National Age Group Championships are held at Ponds Forge and competing at this venue really inspires the swimmers.

The trip involves an overnight stay in Sheffield, which is also great for team morale and bonding. We would like to encourage as many of our swimmers to take part in this event as it will be a great experience. If you have not received the email that provides details of the event and the hotel used by the team then please email pbscgalasec@googlemail.com

PBSC Masters compete at Luton

The club has a very active masters section coached by PBSC Masters Coach John Cunningham and a team competed at a masters competition in the 50m pool at Luton last Saturday. Please click here to see the event report courtesy of Jonathan Refson.

Peanuts Results for the Blue Team

The PBSC Blue team (169pts) finished in second place to Hatfield SC (91pts) and ahead of Bishops Stortford SC (171pts), Hoddesdon (191pts), Hertford SC (201pts) and Cheshunt SC (209pts). This result should see the team through to the final of Division 1. There was a great atmosphere at the gala and the team thrived on the vocal support of the PBSC supporters in the balcony. The teams performance can be summarised as follows:

• There were eight first place performances: James Blount, Ben Harrison, James Smith and Morgan Newman each won their individual events and there were 1st places for Girls 10yrs Medley and Free Relays (Eliza Connery, Katie Harrison, Olivia Seal and Harriet Newman) and the Boys 12 yrs Medley and Free Relays (Mathew Honeyman, James Blount, Ben Harrison and Morgan Newman). Well done!
• There were seven second places as follows: Lucinda Andrews, Georgianna Balchin, Jesscia Woodward, Olivia Seal, Girls 9 year old Medley and Relays (Jessica Heesom, Jessica Woodward, Lucinda Andrews and Justine Sansom) and the Boys 10 yrs Medley Relay (David Cai, Alfie Francis, Charlie Milbery and James Smith). Great swimming - Well done!
• There were thirteen third places: Samuel Blachin, Harriet Newman, Georgina Tallon, Jessica Heesom, Alfie Francis, the Boys 9 years Medley Relay (Billy Barber, Callum Tilley, Samuel Balchin and Alex Quilter), Girls 12 yrs Relay (Georgina Tallon, Georgianna Balchin, Olivia Seal and Leah Refson), Boys 11 years Relay (David Cai, Adam Zeinden, Alfie Francis and James Smith)
• There were PB's from virtually every swimmer which just evidences that it was great team performance. The performance report for the team can be accessed by clicking here.

A big thank you to Lauren A, Rachel C, Katie C and James W who came along to assist Coaches Darren and Chris with managing the team, you were a big help with making the night run smoothly.

PBSC Blue Team Coach Darren Woodward "It was my debut as the Lane end Coach and I am delighted that the kids put in a great performance. The performance report shows that they all stepped up a gear and swam well. We should look forward to being in the Division 1 Final which will be great night of racing, not to be missed"

PBSC Jade Team results

The PBSC Jade team travelled to Hemel Hempstead and swam well to finish in 5th place overall. The teams overall performance can be summarised as follows:

• 2 x 1st places for Natasha Giudice in 25m U 11’s Backstroke & Madeleine Formby in 50m U 13’s Butterfly. Well done girls!
• 4 x 2nd places for Benji Refson in 25m U 11’s Freestyle, Madeleine Formby in 50m U 13’s Breaststroke, U 11’s Girls Medley & Freestyle team of Natasha Giudice, Anna Shipman, Alex Rice-Smith & Nicole Humphreys. Well done!
• 9 x 3rd places for Nicole Humphreys in 25m U 11’s Freestyle, Ismail Mert in 50m U 13’s 50m Breaststroke, U 13’s Boys Medley & Freestyle team of Jordan Seal, Ismail Mert, Ed Burt & Adam Gill, Amy Webb in 25m 9yr’s Backstroke, Emilea Read-Letts in 50m U 13’s Freestyle, Adam Gill in 50m U 13’s Freestyle, Jordan Seal in 50m U 13’s Butterfly & 9yr’s Girls Special Relay team of Amy Webb, Leah Block, Charlotte Cork & Inez Crowe. Well done !

The PBSC Jade team swam well and the finish in 5th place does not reflect the true ability of the team. It was unfortunate that a number of our younger swimmers were not available to swim as this meant that we did not score in a number of the events.The team will go into the final round and will need a strong performance to avoid relegation.

Click here for the performance report.

PBSC Head Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper "The Jade Team swam very well and I am pleased with the swimmers performances overall. We will need to swim our strongest team in the third round so please keep the date free so that you are able to swim if you are selected"

Harriet Newman finishes 4th in National Schools Final

Last weekend Harriet travelled to the K2 Sports Centre in Crawley to compete in the National IAPS schools swimming finals. Harriet qualified as sixth fastest in the country over 25m Freestyle. Harriet swam a very fast 15.39 seconds in the heat and went into the final. In the final Harriet swam well to finish in fourth place - a fantastic achievement - Well done, Harriet. 

Braintree and Bocking Open Meet

Good luck to all PBSC swimmers competing this weekend, hope you all have a great time and swim fast!

Millfield School Swim Camp

If you are interested in attending a swim camp that is being held between August 10th and 14th at Millfield School, Somerset then please speak with Dani Harrison and Wray Shewell-Cooper for more details. The swim camp is being led by Double Olympian swimmer Ed Sinclair and will make use of the top class facilities at the school.

A group of PBSC swimmers attended a similar camp at the school two years ago and had a great time. There is a report on the swimmers information page on the website that gives you an insight to the experience those swimmers had!  

Herts ASA County Championship Qualifying times 2014

The qualifying times for next years County Championships have now been released and you can access a copy by clicking here. We are encouraging all of our squad swimmers to try and achieve a CQT for 2014.  The Club has its very own licensed open meet on Saturday 29th June and this is a good opportunity for swimmers to try and record sometimes.

Open Meets, Club competitions and Herts County Qualifying times!

We will soon be publishing details of forthcomimg open meets and Club competitions that our Head Coach Wray and the PBSC Coaching Team have decided that we as a club will enter. This includes a trip to the Ponds Forge International 50m pool in Sheffield at the end of August. This will be a great opportunity for all swimmers to gain experience swimming long course in a pool where many International and National Swimming events have taken place. In fact Ben Harrison, our first National Age group qualifyer in many years will be swimming there in the British National Age Group Championships in July. This will also be a good opportunity for PBSC swimmers to try and break the recently published PBSC Long course club records.

Whilst Wray and the coaching team are planning the competition programme for next season it is a good time to advise all members that as a Club we aim to provide a competition programme for all levels of swimmer within the Club. In doing so we aim to provide the right level of competition at the appropriate time in the swimming calendar for those swimmers seeking County, Regional and National Qualifying times. In setting the open meet competition programme we also have to fit this around club competitions such as the Peanuts League, Herts Major League and National Arena Swimming League. As a general rule we do attend open meets on days of club competitions. However there may on occasions be good reasons to attend an open meet that is unsupported by the Club. In such circumstances please ensure that you have spoken to Wray before entering so that he and the coaching team are aware and can advise.

Herts ASA are finalising the 2014 County Qualifying times and they are likely to be published soon. One of the first opportuntities to acquire CQT's will be at our very own open meet on June 29th. If you have not already submitted your entries for this event, then we advise you to do so quickly, as it is already two-thirds full and we are expecting a couple of big club entries from two other local clubs.

ASA East Region Youth Championships

Phoebe Love is our only competitor in the 2013 ASA East Region Youth Championships being held this weekend. Phoebe will be competing in the 50m Butterfly and we look forward to hearing how she swims - Good Luck Phoebe!

Social and Disco at Elm Court Saturday 27th April

Put the date in your diaries. There is a club social and disco at Elm Court on Saturday 27th April to celebrate the success at Herts Majors and the Herts Counties amongst others and to look forward to the forthcoming Peanuts galas. Start time 7pm for 7.30pm, tickets are priced at £3.00 each. There will be a soft drinks bar and members are invited to bring their own alcoholic drinks and nibbles. There will be the usual burgers, hot dogs and cakes on sale. Tickets will be available from the "Help Desk" on the balcony from this Friday. Please come along and support the club!

Peanuts Round 1 - Jade and Blue Teams off to a great start !

The Official results are in for the Blue team. The results for the Jade team are here.

Jade Team - Gala Report

Round 1 of division 2 of the peanuts league was held at Furzefield. The Jade team finished in a comfortable 3rd place with 162 points, behind Hemel, 141 points, and the winners Veralum, 91 points. They were ahead of Berkhamstead 191 points, Ware 197 point a and Welwyn 237 points. There was tough competition but the team performed very well even though for many of our swimmers it was their first ever gala. It was an exciting evening with a well deserved result.

There were first place results from, Stefan Dojin U11s fly (23.90s) Anna Shipman U11s breaststroke(22.35s) and Natasha Giudice U11s backstroke(22.35s). The girls under 11s relay team did the double with first places in both the medley and freestyle relay, well done to Alex Rice-Smith, Anna Shipman, Natasha Giudice and Nicole Humphreys.

There were 13 second places-Nicole Humphreys, Madeleine Formby, Ismail Mert, Inez Crowe, Katie Hamshere, Emilea Read-Letts, the 9 year old girls freestyle relay team, the 11 year old boys medley and freestyle teams.

Henry Follett, Alex Rice-Smith, David Cai, the 9 year old girls and boys medley team, U13 girls freestyle team and the squadron team all gained third places.

Overall on the night the swimmers swam 32 personal best times!

Head Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper said "It was an excellent performance from all swimmers and a great result. I am particularly pleased with the number of personal bests swum which shows how much effort the children put in. Keep up the good work for round 2."
Head Coach Bronwen Hardy said "I am very proud of how the children swam on Saturday, they all swam to the best of their ability and should be very pleased with their performance."

     Blue Team - Gala Report

The Blue Team travelled to Stevenage to compete in the first round gala in Division 1. We finished in second place with 155pts behind City of St Albans (99pts) and ahead of Harpenden SC (169pts), Hertford SC (174 pts), City of St Albans B (206pts) and Cheshunt SC (227pts). It was a tense and exciting gala as team positions changed throughout and it was great for our young swimmers to finish in a worthy second place. The teams performance can be summarised as follows: -

• There were individual 1st place finishes by Jessica Woodward, James Blount, Morgan Newman, Thomas Stanbury and James Smith. Our 12 year old boys of Adam Gill, Morgan Newman, James Blount and Mathew Honeyman  also won the 4 x 50m Medley Relay.  Well done to all!
• There were second place individual finishes Lucinda Andrews, Mathew Honeyman, Jessica Woodward and Georgina Tallon. Great swimming!
• Georgianna Blachin, Olivia Seal, Elise Cork, Katie Harrison, Amy Mason and Thomas Stanbury also had individual third place finishes.
• Our relay teams put in great performances and finished in the top 3 places for most events, which shows what great strength in depth we have in the Club.This was a big factor in securing second place for the team. Well done to all swimmers.
• PBSC Blue Team swimmers recorded 29 Personal Best Times (PB's) - Well done to Adam Zeinden, Lucy Hopkins, Eliza Connery, James Blount, Amy Mason, Katie Harrison, Billy Barber, Jessicia Heesom, Mathew Honeyman, Georgina Tallon, Olivia Seal, Alex Quilter, Morgan Newman, Georgianna Balchin, Kate Andrew, James Smith, Samule Balchin, Justine Sansom and Jessica Woodward.
• Chris and Darren, the PBSC Blue Team coaches are delighted that we went through the whole gala without a single DQ so a big well done to all the swimmers.

PBSC Blue Team Coach Chris Andrew "I am delighted with the performance of the Blue Team as finishing in second place was beyond my expectations.The performance report shows how well they swam and it is great to see so many PB's recorded. I would encourage all swimmers to try and make an extra session or two as we have the second round in a few weeks time and we need to build on this good result"

ASA Long Term Athlete Development

The ASA Long term athlete development document is an interesting read for all parents particularly for those that have just joined the Club and are new to competitive swimming. It explains the system of Licened Open Meets, the theory behind the BAGCATS competition and the stepping stones to high level competition. For those swimmers and parents new to competitive swimming it is an interesting read. 

Peanuts League 2013

Our youngest swimmers will be competing on Saturday 20th April 2013 in the first round of the Hertfordshire Swimming Peanuts League.  The PBSC Jade team gained promotion last year so make their first appearance in Division 2 with their first round gala being at the Furzefield. The PBSC Jade Team are in Division 1 and will be at Stevenage competing against the strongest clubs in the County. We are encouraging family and friends to come along and support our teams on the night as its always great for our swimmers to have fantastic support from the balcony as it really helps lift the swimmers performances.

PBSC Head Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper "I am really looking forward to seeing our youngest swimmers competing in the Peanuts League this year. It's a great competition for our youngest swimmers to gain some competitive experience and I am looking forward to a great evening of racing" , "I would encourage swimmers to try and make an extra session this week so they are ready to race on Saturday"

Potters Bar Summer Open Meet - Saturday 29th June 2013

We are encouraging all PBSC Squad swimmers to submit their entries a.s.a.p to this event the full details of which are on the PBSC Open Meets page accessed by clicking on the tab on the left.

Swimmer of the Month - Ben Harrison

Last month Head Coach Wray said he was looking for a big performance to catch his eye for this months award and Ben's performances over the last month certainly did not leave Wray disapppointed. Ben had a great County Championships becoming Hertfordshire County Champion in the 50m Butterfly and 50m Backstroke and winning a further six silver medals and five bronzes to make an impressive haul. Ben also finished 3rd in his age groups BAGCATS competition. When most swimmers were taking a rest Ben travelled to the City of Norwich Easter Meet and swam a fantastic 200m Butterfly to record his first ever British National Age Group Qualifying time, so he will be competing in the National Championships to be held at the Ponds Forge 50m pool in Sheffield in July. Ben has been the first PBSC swimmer under the reign of Wray as Head Coach to achieve a British National Age Group Qualifying time and is the first PBSC swimmer for many years to do so. Well done, Ben!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Ben's performances at the County Championships and the attaining of a British National Age Group Qualifying time make him the worthy recipient of this months award. Achieving a National Time is a huge personal milestone for Ben and also for the Club too. I am sure Ben's achievements will help raise the aspirations of all PBSC swimmers"

PBSC Swimmers qualify for the Schools Swimming National Championships

Harriet Newman, who swims in Squad 2 and is a pupil at Stormont School has qualified as the 6th fastest freestyler in the country for the IAPS Schools National Swimming Championships that are being held at the K2 50m pool in Crawley on 11th May 2013. Three other Potters Bar swimmers also swam at the qualifying round for the relays, Victoria Curley, Lucy Hopkins and Elena Izquierdo-Hall. Despite being 2 seconds faster than their schools team last year who did qualify, the team narrowly missed out on qualifying for the National Final of the relay event this year.

Not deterred by missing out on the IAPS National relay event, Harriet and her team mates that include PBSC swimmers Natasha Guidice and Lucy Hopkins from Stormont School have also qualified for the ESSA National Schools relay Championships in both the Medley and the Freestyle. In winning both of these events, they were the overall winners in Hertfordshire for the small schools category. They were up against mixed teams of boy and girls and still triumphed. The ESSA National Finals are being held at the Ponds Forge International 50m Pool in Sheffield on June 15th. Well done and best of luck for the Nationals!

Welsh National Championships

Over the Easter Weekend Phoebe Love competed in the Welsh National Championships and finished a creditable 16th in the 50m Freestyle missing out on the final by just 0.34 seconds - Well done, Phoebe.

National Qualifying Time for Ben!

Ben Harrison has achieved a national qualifying time for 200m fly at the City of Norwich meet on 31st March 2013.  He swam 2:38.14 which is one second inside the qualifying time for 11/12 year olds in a long course pool.  Well done Ben!

Counties 2013 Results

The club's results at the Hertfordshire County Championships are here.  They have also been included in the online database of swimmers' times.

Squad 4 - Easter Training

Over the East Holidays Squad 4 are invited to train on Tuesday evenings between 6pm and 7pm at the FF. Once the half term is over they will revert to training at Queenswood.

Queenswood School Training - Withdrawal of Monday Nights Training session

After twenty years of swimming at Queenswood School we are disappointed to announce that the Monday evening training sessions at the school have been terminated as of April 1st 2013. Over the last few weeks we have been in dialogue with the School/Queenswood Enterprises Ltd asking them to reconsider their decision and to try and secure other available pool time but this has not been successful. As members of the Club you will appreciate that this decision has a direct impact on over 50 of our youngest swimmers in Squads 4 and 5.  Therefore to ensure that we continue to provide our youngest swimmers with sufficient pool time to enable their development we have had to re-schedule the Squads Training sessions. As of April 1st 2013 there will be new training times so please click on the training times tab on the left for full details. As a Club we need additional water time to aid the development of our swimmers so we will continue to look for other options.

Herts County Championships 2013 - 2nd weekend

PBSC swimmers continued their good form with more excellent performances in the pool winning more medals as follows: -

• Ben Harrison was PBSC's medal man winning gold in the 50m backstroke, silver medals in the 400m Freestyle, 100m backstroke, 200m Butterfly and 100m IM. Ben also won bronze medals in the 50m Freestyle and 200m breaststroke.
• Katie Harrison also swam fantastically to win gold in the 400m Freestyle, silver in the 100m IM and bronze in the 200m Freestyle.
• David Shipman won gold in the 50m Freestyle and and silver in the 100m Freestyle. In winning his silver medal David went under the "minute barrier" for the 1st time and broke the County Record only to see it broken again a few heats later by the event winner.
• Amy Mason swam impressively in the 50m Butterfly to come third making this her second bronze medal of the Championships.
• Harriet Newman swam a great 400m Freestyle to finish with a bronze medal recording her first Regional Qualifying time in doing so.
• Jessica Woodward really stepped up a gear and did magnificently to win a bronze medal in the 50m Breaststroke in her 1st ever Counties
• Olivia Seal swam a very gutsy 400m IM and won a bronze medal for her endeavours.
• James Woodward won a bronze medal in the 200m Butterfly one of the toughest events in the swimming programme.

Ben Harrison, David Shipman, Thomas Stanbury, Morgan Newman and Katie Harrison have been invited to the Herts County Championships 2013 presentation night that will be held on Wednesday evening as they have finished in one of the top eight positions of the BAGCATS age group competitions. The final placings will be revealed on the night - well done to all!

Over the two weekends we have had over 55 PBSC swimmers competing. The vast majority of swimmers recorded personal best times showing that they were able to put in some great individual performances. Well done to all PBSC swimmers that qualified this year which has been our biggest ever team at this prestigious event.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "We should be very proud of the performances put in by our swimmers and the medal count shows that we have a broad range of talent within the Club. I am hoping our younger swimmers will be inspired by our medal winners and will be looking to emulate their success next year"

Land Training Sessions - Spaces available

There are spaces available for the Land Training sessions that take place on Friday evenings between 7pm and 8pm for those swimmers in Squads 1 and 2. A block of ten sessions costs £25. The next block of sessions start on Friday 19th April 2013. Please speak to Chris or email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk if you are interested.

PBSC Camping weekend -5th to 7th July

There are still plenty of spaces for the PBSC Camping weekend so if you are interested please speak to Steve and Anita Shipman who are co-ordinating the event. The campsite is by the River Thames and has excellent facilities and last years trip was a great success. We have a field for exclusive use of PBSC members. Alternatively email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk and your email will be forward to Anita and Steve.

Medals Galore at the Herts County Championships 2013

PBSC swimmers have been competing over this weekend in the 2013 Herts County Championships and have managed to achieve podium places as follows: -

• Ben Harrison has won six medals this weekend which consisted of a gold medal in the 50m Butterfly, two silvers in the 100m Butterfly and 200m Backstroke and three bronzes in the 400m IM, 50m Breaststroke and 200m IM.
• David Shipman won gold in the 50m Breaststroke (which saw a PBSC 1-2-3) and bronze medals in the 100m Breaststroke and 200m Freestyle.
• Katie Harrison won gold in the 200m IM and a bronze medal in the 200m Breaststroke.
• Morgan Newman won a silver medal in the 100m Breaststroke  and another in the 50m Breaststoke.
• Lauren Andrew won a bronze medal in the 100m Butterfly
• Thomas Stanbury won a bronze medal in the 200m IM
• Amy Mason who won a bronze in the 50m Freestyle
• Olivia Seal won a bronze medal in the 200m Butterfly

There were lots of other great swims by PBSC swimmers with many PB's recorded and once we have processed the official results a performance report will be posted.

PBSC Head Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper "The performances by PBSC swimmers this weekend on the whole has been great and for some of them to go on and win medals at this level of competition is fantastic. Lets hope we can continue this success next weekend" 

Easter Bank Holiday weekend

There will be no training over the Easter weekend starting on Good Friday 29th March 2013 to Monday 1st April 2013 inclusive. After a busy few weeks at the Counties all swimmers and coaches will be having a well earned break ready to re-charge batteries for the remainder of the swimming season ahead.

Kate Lack Open Meet - Club entry rejected!

The Clubs entry to the Kate Lack Open Meet has been rejected as the events is massively oversubscribed. Clearly we are disappointed for the 39 swimmers that entered. All swimmers should receive an email inviting them to enter the Braintree and Bocking Open Meet being held the same weekend. Swimmers will need to reply very quickly as we wish to submit the entry to this meet early to avoid missing out again. Any queries please email Martin and Dani on pbscgalasec@googlemail.com

Important information re Counties

The Counties events are run on an "active" withdrawal basis and therefore it is each swimmers responsibility to make sure that they have withdrawn from any events they will not be swimming. Herts ASA will be imposing fines of £10 per swim missed and these fines will be passed onto the individual swimmers/parents to settle. Therefore if you know that you have entered an event that you will not be swimming please ensure that you notify Martin Higgins and Dani Harrison our gala secretary's by email on pbscgalasec@googlemail.com so that these fines can be avoided. If you need to withdraw from an event on the day then please speak to Wray and/or Chris who will be poolisde for most sessions.

Live Results from the Herts County Championships and the latest session times

If you wish to get live results from the County Championships to your Ipad or mobile then have a look at the Herts ASA website for details. Herts ASA have also posted the latest session times to help plan your weekend at the pool. www.hertsasa.org.uk

Ellen wins Gold to become our first County Champion in 2013

Last night saw PBSC swimmers competing in the Long distance events at the Inspire 50m pool at Luton. Ellen Hunt was certainly inspired as she raced to 1st place in the 17 year olds 800m Freestyle striking PBSC's first Gold medal of the Hertfordshire County Championships 2013. There were also great swims by Katie Conyers, Georgianna Balchin, Katie Gormley and Lauren Andrew who all set fast times too indicating they are all in good form for the events ahead. Well done girls!

Ben Harrison continued the PBSC medal hunt claiming silver medal behind Hatfields Nathan Hughes in the 1500m Freestyle and recording a regional qualifying time in doing so, There were good swims too by Morgan Newman and Jack Shewell-Cooper who swam well in their 1st ever competitive 1500m swim. Well done boys.

PBSC Heady Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper said "What a great start to the 2013 County Championships! I am delighted that Katie C, Georgianna, Katie G, Lauren, Morgan and Jack all swam some great times in their 1st ever long course distance swims. Ellen, who is our first County Champion of 2013, and Ben have got the Club off to a great start in the medal count so a big well done to all"

Herts County Championships 2013

Last night saw many of the PBSC County Squad 2013 being presented with their County T-Shirts and Hats which have been kindly sponsored by Oakfield Foods and tonight eight of our swimmers will compete in the Long distance events at Luton which herald the start of the 2013 Herts County Championships. Good luck to those competing this evening and lets get off to a great start!

Over the next three weekends our swimmers will be in action and its going to be interesting to see how they all do. This year sees PBSC's largest every entry and the swimmers have been working hard in training so hopefully this will convert to good performances in the pool. Its also clear that other Clubs in the County have stepped up their performances so its going to be interesting to see how our swimmers fare. We will endeavour to keep the website updated with the results and make sure you are subscribed to our "twitter" feed @pottersbar swim for live updates from the pool.

There is also added incentive for our swimmers as Herts ASA have announced that the top 8 in each BAGCAT Age Group will be invited to a development day where they will receive coaching guidance and instruction by Plymouth Leander Head Coach Jon Rudd who is also the Lithuanian Olympic Coach. Jon Rudd will be bringing his 15 year old Olympic Gold Medallist Ruta Meilutyte and British Olympian Butterflyer Anthony James who finished 32nd at London 2012 to the event so lets hope some of our swimmers can make the top eight in their age groups. There is added interest in this event as PBSC Coach Chris swam with the same Club and went to the same school as Jon Rudd and is hoping to attend and pick up a few tips from his old team mate.

PBSC Head Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper "I'm really looking forward to the Counties and quietly confident that there are some big performances to come out over the next couple of weeks. Good luck to all PBSC swimmers, enjoy taking part and believe that you can do well as I am confident that you can"

Swimmer of the month - February

Well done to Lucinda Andrews in Squad 4 who was named as the swimmer of the month for February.

Wray Shewell Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Lucinda has been with the Club a relatively short period but has progressed well. In the recent competitions she has excelled recording some very fast times and is well deserving of this months award. Keep up the good progress"

Wray went onto say "The Herts County Championships are upon us and I am looking for a swimmer to catch my eye with a big performance at the Counties for March's swimmer of the month award"

Herts Major League - Fantastic Performances by Jade and Blue Teams

Here are the gala results from the Herts Major League Division 1 gala last night which are subject to confirmation by the League. The results from the Jade Team Division 2 gala are awaited.

Division 1 - Round 3 Relegation Final Gala result

1st 130 Points - Potters Bar Blue
2nd 138 Points - Harpenden A
3rd 165 Points - Stevenage A
4th 170 Points - Berkhamstead SC
5th 171 Points - Hertford SC
6th 265 Points - Bushey A

Final - Division 1 League Position

7th Harpenden A
8th Potters Bar Blue
9th Stevenage A
10th Berkhamstead SC
11th Hertford SC
12th Bushey SC

A fantastic performance team performance on the night secures our Division 1 status for next season. Again this is subject to confirmation by the League. Going into the gala we had to finish in the top 4 to ensure we would avoid relegation. By the end of the evening we ran out as strong winners with some exceptional individual and relay performances that included 14 first places, 14 second places and 6 third places. There were 1st Places for;

• Individuals - Phoebe Love, Kelly Dunn, James Woodward, Daryl Mason, Thomas Stanbury, Ben Harrison  
• Girls Open Medley & Free (Kelly Dunn, April Richards, Phoebe Love, Sam Over, Andrea Houben) 
• Boys Open Medley (Chris Holmes, Daryl Mason, James Ayres, Robert Branch) 
• U16 Girls Medley (Andrea Houben, Phoebe Love, Sam Over, Anna Church) 
• U14 Girls Free (Katie Conyers, Georgianna Balchin, Lauren Andrew, Maya Spence) 
• U14 Boys Free & Medley (Ben Harrison, Morgan Newman, James Woodward, David Shipman)
• Squadron (Elise Cork, Thomas Stanbury, Katie Conyers, David Shipman, Phoebe Love, Thilan Walallawita, April Richards, Robert Branch)

There were 11 PBs set in the individual events and some of the stand out performances were;

• David Shipman - Congratulations for breaking the Potters Bar Club record in the 100m Freestyle record in 1.00.23s (beating Jonathan's Quinn's record set 10 years ago)
• Georgianna Balchin who swam a regional time in the 100m Breaststroke (but needs to repeat this in a licensed meet)
• Ben Harrison who is now only 1 second off a national qualifying time in the 100m Butterfly

Here is a performance report for the Blue Team.

Chris Andrew, PBSC Blue Team Coach "The team put in a terrific performance to come out as worthy winners of this gala. They raced hard throughout the evening and never gave up. It was great to see us come out on top in some of the close margin races, no more so than in the Squadron relay where we came from third place in the last few metres to win. Well done to all the team"  

A big thank you to all PBSC Volunteers who helped with the hosting of this event and made the event run smoothly.

Potters Bar SC Summer Open Meet 2013

Our annual summer open meet will be held on Saturday 29th June 2013 at the Furzefield Sports Cetre, Potters Bar. Full details have been published on the "PBSC Open Meets" page so just "click" on the tab on the left for more information. All PBSC Squad swimmers are encouraged to take part in this event which is Licensed at ASA Level 3 (Licence Number 3ER3306).

Herts County Championships Squad 2013 - Presentation

Next weekend sees the start of the 2013 Hertfordshire County Championships and the Club will be presenting County T-Shirts and Hats sponsored by Oakfield to all PBSC swimmers that are competing. The presentation will take place at 8pm on Friday 8th March 2013 and all PBSC County Swimmers are encouraged to attend this presentation.  

Land Training - New Block of sessions - Bookings being taken.

We are taking bookings for the next block of 10 Land Training sessions that will start on Friday 19th April 2012 and take place between 7pm and 8pm. The Land Training sessions are open to swimmers aged 10 and over who swim in Squad 1 and 2. The cost for this block is £25. In order to secure a place please email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk. There are 25 places available and these will be allocated on a "first come, first served" basis. Those swimmers taking part are expected to swim in the Friday night Squad session. Speak to Chris if you have any questions.

Open Meets

Swimmers in Squads 1 to 5 should have received various emails inviting them to enter competitions over the next couple of months. The Coaching Team would like to see as many of our younger swimmers taking part in these events to gain experience of competition swimming. The closing date for Club entries are on a short time scale.

PBSC Masters swimmers competing in Ireland this weekend!

This week will see eight of our masters swimmers travel to Ireland to swim in the Limerick Masters Open Meet that is being held at the University of Limerick 50m pool. Good Luck to Dani Harrison, Ian Bays, Julian Swindale, Jonathan Refson, Eugene Gormley, Mark Formby, Darren Hamshere and Martin Higgins who have all been preparing well for this event by following a pool and land training programme set by John Cunningham, PBSC Masters Coach and current World Masters Champion. The swimmers will also be attending a gala dinner on the Saturday night before flying home on Sunday.

Sunday Training on March 3rd 2012 - Change to training times

Due to the Furzefield taking a "double booking" we have been asked to change our training times for this Sunday only in order to avoid a very young child and their friends missing out on a pool birthday party celebration. Therefore for this Sunday only training will be between 7.15pm to 9.15pm with the various Squads start and finish times as follows: -

7.15pm - 8.15pm - Squads 3, 4 and 5

7.15pm -9.15pm - Squads 1 and 2 as well Masters swimmers who will follow the squad session programme.

8.15pm - 9.15pm - Novice Masters

Normal Sunday training times will resume next week.

Herts County Championship entries 2013 Herts County Champs

The Clubs entry to the 2013 County Championships has been submitted and we have entered 56 swimmers for a total of 275 individual swims. This shows a huge improvement on 2012 where we entered 40 swimmers in a total of 183 swims. This is a great indication that the Club has continued to progress well over the last 12 months. This year we will be entering three girls relay teams and two boys relay teams to represent the Club and selection for the relays will take place in the next week or so. 

Another great turn out at Saturday morning training

This morning saw another great turn out from our youngest swimmers some of whom attended a PBSC Breakfast at a local cafe. We hope to run another breakfast next week and are looking for an even bigger turn out to morning training.

Mark Foster Swim Camp

This week a number of PBSC swimmers will be attending a swim camp with Mark Foster, ex-world record holder, Olympian and TV Personality. Keep an eye on the website for pictures and a report from Ben Harrison, James Woodward and James Blount from this event.

Fantastic turn out to Saturday morning training!

Well done to the fifty plus swimmers that made morning training this morning and put in a sterling effort in the pool. Thanks also to Daryl, our resident ex-international swimmer who took time to pass on some of his "hot" tips to our youngest swimmers. Wray and Chris were absolutely delighted to see so many of our younger swimmers commit to this session and its evident we have a strong contigent of young swimmers developing within the Club. Hope to see you all next week!

Perhaps we should have a PBSC post training breakfast at a suitable local venue?

Herts Flyers "Last Chance" Open Meet - Session Times

Good luck to all PBSC Swimmers competing this weekend.  Here are start times.......

Venue : QE Boys School, Queens Road, Barnet, EN5 4DQ

1st Session events 1-14  Warm-up 1.15pm   Withdrawals by 1.30pm

2nd session events 15-28 Warm-up straight after 1st session finishes Withdrawals by 4.15pm, Start 4.45pm

Herts Major League results

We are still awaiting the results for the Jade Team but please click here to see a performance report for the Blue Team who finished the gala in 5th place after a tough night of competition. The final placings were Watford (115 pts), CoSTA (134pts), BishopStortford (155pts), Harpenden (188pts), PBSC Blue (215pts) and Hertford (223pts). A big well done to Ben and Thomas who were our only individual winners on the night and and to all those swimmers that swam PB's.

This result means that the PBSC Blue Team will be contesting the relegation final in the third round and we must improve on our current placing in the league to avoid relegation. We expect the Jade team to be in a similar position in Division 2. The PBSC Selection Committee have met this week to select the two teams for the final round and selection emails will be sent out later this week. It is important that those selected make every effort to be available to represent the Club in the final round as we would like to have a strong a team as possible for Blue and Jade. 

Chris Andrew, PBSC Blue Team Coach "Despite facing strong competition I was pleased with the efforts put in by the Blue Team, I particularly enjoyed the great result by the Cannon relay, who swam in reverse and really gave our supporters something to cheer about. That said we must avoid relagation from Division 1 so I am asking the swimmers to put in some extra sessions over the next few weeks"   

Herts Flyers "Last Chance" Open Meet - Accepted and Rejected entries

We have just received notification of the accepted and rejected entries for this weekend's open meet. As you will see from the attached report many of the Club's entries have been rejected (marked SCR). This is due to the event being heavily oversubscribed. Naturally we are disapppointed that so many entries have been rejected for this event. Dani Harrison, one of our gala secretary's will be arranging the appropriate refunds so please either speak to her direct or email pbscgalasec@googlemail.com

Good luck to those swimmers that will be competing on Sunday.

Tape Trophy - Performance report update

We have now had chance to evaluate the performances from last week end and a very well done to both the Blue and Jade teams for their performances. Here are some of the notable performances: -

The Blue Team saw individual wins for Alexandra Rice-Smith, Amy Mason, Ben Harrison, Georgianna Balchin, Harriet Newman, James Blount, James Smith, Jessica Woodward, Katie Harrison, Leah Refson, Sophia Zeinden and Thomas Stanbury. The Under 11 girls Alex, Katie, Harriet & Olivia Seal won both the medley and free style relays as did the Under 13 girls Georgianna, Amy, Leah & Georgina Tallon. The Under 12 girls Amy, Sophia, Katie Hamshere & Elise Cork won their free style relay. The Under 11 boys James S, Charlie Milberry, David Cai & Henry Follett won the medley and the Under 13s of Ben, James B, Mathew Honeyman & Morgan Newman took first place in both the medley and freestyle relays.

The Jade Team had four 2nd places, well done to Efa Davies, Anna Shipman, Natasha Giuidice and the 9yr old girls relay team of Olivia Moray, Charlotte Cork, Madison Harrison & Amy Webb. Excellent swims by Millie McGrath, Emilea Read-Letts & Medeleine Formby saw them finish in 3rd place in their races. The Jade Team also saw a number of PBs (personal best times) swum by Nicole Humphries, Freddie George, Joshua Over, Ismail Mert, Thomas Walk, Elena Izquierdo-Hall, Arthur Follett, Oscar Eagle, Kate Andrew, Ella Higgens, Millie, Emilea & Natasha.

Land Training

There are still a few land training places available if there are any swimmers interested. These sessions take place on a Friday evening between 7pm and 8pm and swimmers are expected to swim in the Friday Squad session. If you are interested please speak to Chris in the first instance or email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk

Swimmer of the Month - January 2013

A big well done to Nicole Humphrey's who was awarded the "swimmer of the month" trophy for January 2013. Nicole received her award in front of over seventy swimmers that attended last fridays "starts and turns" session. This months decision was particularly difficult one after some fantastic performances by our youngest members at the Tape trophy.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Nicole swam really well at the Watford County Qualifier open meet and recorded her first ever County Time which is a great achievement. As one of our younger swimmers she has shown potential to do well and deserves this months award"

Tape Trophy 2013

Many thanks to visiting teams from Berkhampstead, Watford, Stevenage and Hertford along with our own Blue and Jade teams for a thrilling gala to set the scene for the forthcoming Peanuts League.  The gala results are here.

The balcony of Furzefield was packed with supporters eager to see in excess of 60 of our young swimmers put on a good show in the Tape Trophy against Berkhamsted, Watford, Stevenage and Hertford, and they weren’t disappointed! 

Potters Bar fielded two teams, Blue and Jade. The Jade team was made up of many swimmers for whom this was their first experience racing against swimmers from outside of the club. Without exception, both teams did brilliantly. Many of our youngest swimmers overcame their nerves in what can at first be a very daunting experience and blasted their way to big PB’s.

Support from our older swimmers, including our club captains Thilan Walallawita and Samantha Over was brilliant. Thank you all for giving up your Saturday evening to support the clubs next generation.

Thank you also to the officials and the small army of parent helpers who all mucked in and made the event run smoothly, without your help events like this would not run. A special mention goes out to our poolside team managers: Mel Woodward, Bronwyn Cork, Susie Chapman, Sam Over and Georgie Lawson. Having learned everyone’s names and dealt with the nerves, and the endless questions that the nerves bring on, they got the swimmers to their races at the right time every time! Well done!

Consistently strong performances by the PBSC Blue team saw them win the event with 22 - 1st places, 16 - 2nd places and 5 - 3rd places. The Blue team results are here.  The Jade team results are here.

Swimmers of particular note were: Freddie George who fearlessly stepped in & took on races for a late withdrawal and 9yr old Lucinda Andrews who in her first gala who took 3s off her 25m Freestyle time to finish second in 18.31s.

Team coach for the night, Martin Higgins said, “This event saw some fantastic performances and sees us going into the Peanuts League in a strong position. We have a few weeks left before the first round which gives everyone a last chance to really push themselves for more improvements.”
Jade Team's manager Melanis Woodward said "Jade Team put a fantastic effort in last night's tape trophy. For many it was their first experience of a team gala or any gala come to that, and they all dealt with the challenges that lay ahead superbly. The children were exceptionally well behaved and took on instructions with ease. Some showed signs of nerves but eventually overcame them to actually enjoy the gala. I would also like to say how well my co-team-manager, Sam Over, performed on the night. Her calm demeanour was a great asset for many of the younger swimmers in the Jade team."

Blue Team swimmers Georgianna Balchin and Ben Harrison receive the trophy from club chairman Ian Bays.

New Sponsor Oakfield Food

The club is very fortunate to be supported by Oakfield Food who this year are sponsoring the County swimmers' club shirts and "County" hats.  All of our sponsors make a positive difference to our swimmers and club.  We are delighted with this generous support.

Tape Trophy 2013

Good luck to our youngest swimmers who will be competing in the Tape Trophy this weekend at the Furzefield. We have two teams and over sixty swimmers from the Club taking part and for many this will be their first experience of competitive swimming. We would encourage all the swimmers parents and family members to come along to watch this exciting event and to give lots of encouragement to our two teams from the balcony. 

Just Seven weeks to the County Championships 2013!

We are now just seven weeks away from the start of the 2013 Hertfordshire County Championships and those swimmers with aspirations to do well are encouraged to participate in a few extra sessions over the coming weeks. Squad 1 and 2 swimmers are reminded that they can attend Saturday morning sessions at the FF starting at 0715 hrs. This would be an appropriate additional session to attend by swimmers in these squads.  

Watford Open Meet Results

Here is a performance report for our swimmers. These results confirm that our kids put in some great performances which can be summarised as follows: -

 1) Sixty one swimmers swam in 245 races of which 147 were PB's and 47 were no previous times. This means that 79% of these races were PB's or NPT's which is an excellent success rate.

2) PBSC Swimmers won 27 Gold medals, 17 silver medals and 9 bronze medals and record 107 County Qualifying times and 13 Regional Qualfiying times - a fantastic effort by the swimmers. There are just too many swimmers to name individually!

3) Well done to Samuel Balchin, Nicole Humphreys, Leah Refson, Sean Lovell, Madeliene Formby and Luc Houben who recorded their first County Qualifying times and are now invited to attended the County Performance Squad Training that takes place at Queenswood School on Tuesday evenings. This now means that PBSC have 60 swimmers that have qualified to enter the Hertfordshire County Championships that take place in March 2013. 

4) A big well done to Katie Harrison and Thomas Stanbury who recorded their first Regional Qualifying times for 2013. They now join a squad of eight PBSC swimmers that have qualified to swim in the ASA East Region Championships in 2013.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "The performances at the weekend were fantastic and with just seven weeks to go to the County Championships I am asking the swimmers to make the extra effort in training in these last few weeks. I am delighted with Nicole, Leah, Luc, Sean and Madeleine for recording their first County Qualifying times and delighted that Katie and Thomas have recorded their first Regional Qualifying times too. With the "last Chance" meet to come I am still hoping to add to the County Squad"

PBSC Club Championship dates for 2013

The dates for this years Club Championships have been entered onto the diary page. All PBSC swimmers are encouraged to take part in these events so please put the dates in your diary. We are in the process of applying for a license so that times achieved will be eligible towards entering into the 2014 Hertfordshire County Championships and the ASA East Region Championships.

Swim Camp in Mallorca,Spain during October Half Term

We are looking to organise a swim camp to the Mallorca, Spain during the October Half term and will be holding a meeting on the balcony on Thursday 24th January at 6.30 pm for those who may be interested. The Club is considering booking with Blue Water Training Camps who have their own website that can give you an insight. We have to make a quick decision on this so if you interested please make every effort to attend this meeting. Information regarding costs will be provided at the meeting.

You may also wish to register your interest by emailing secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk and when  there is further information available we will be able to send this to you. Anita and Steve Shipman are looking into the arrangements so you may wish to speak directly with them.

Social Dates for your diary

Here are a couple of dates to book : -

                              1)  Saturday 27th April 2013 - Social and Disco

                              2) Friday 12th July 2013 - Summer Barbeque

Herts Major League - Blue Team Results

Here are the results for the Blue Team who finished 6th in the 1st Round gala that was won by Hatfield. Well done to Phoebe Love who was our only winner and the swimmers that recorded 14 Personal best times during the gala.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "We faced really tough opposition in the first round and despite finishing last I was pleased with the performance of PBSC swimmers. There were 14 PB's on the night and Phoebe put in a great performance in winning her 100m Fly. It's important that we are placed higher in Round 2 so I really need all swimmers to be available to swim. We need to avoid relegation this year so I'd encourage the team to put in a few extra sessions"

Land Training - Last few places remaining so don't delay!

We are now taking bookings for the next block of 10 land training sessions that will start on Friday 1st February. The Land Training sessions are open to those in Squads 1 and 2. The cost will be £25.  There are a limited number of places and to register your interest please email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk 

The Land Training sessions are held at the FF on a Friday evening between 7pm and 8pm in the dance studio. Those taking part are expected to swim in the Friday night Squad session.

PBSC - Newly qualified Officials

Many congratulations to Samantha Burt and Chris Andrew who have both recently qualified as Level 2 Judges. Sam joins Niamh Gormley as one of the clubs youngest J2s. Well done also to Dani Harrison who passed her Level 1 Judges qualification last weekend. This is great news for PBSC. There is always a demand for officials and with the club entering 2 teams into the Herts Majors and Peanut Leagues it’s important to continue to encourage new parents and older swimmers to undertake these courses.

Anyone interested in learning more about becoming an official can contact Karen Lawson or any of the other Club Officials for advice. Or visit the Herts ASA website.

Jade Team come fourth in their Divison 2 debut

Our Jade team made a good start to this years campaign in Division 2 of the Herts Major League finshing fourth in the gala that was won by a strong Berkhampstead Barracudas Team. The team picked up six second place finishes and eight third places and there were four disqualifications.

Click here to see the performance report for our swimmers.

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC Jade Team coach "The Jade team swam really well in our debut in Division 2 and to come out fourth was a good result especially as we lost a few swimmers to the Blue Team at short notice to cover. I need all my Jade team swimmers to work hard over the next few weeks so we can improve and if we reduce the number of disqualifications and have everyone available I am sure we can do well in round 2" 

Interested in attending a 3 day swim camp with Mark Foster, Ex-World Champion swimmer and TV personality?

During the Spring half term - from the 18th to the 20th February - Mark Foster will be holding a 3 day swim camp at the Holloway Sports College for club swimmers aged 12 to 17 who swim at county level or above. He is going to work together with the swimmers to educate them about: -

1) Proven ways to dramatically improve their strokes, speed and endurance

2) Advanced land training and conditioning programmes to transform their fitness levels

3) The mental and physical strategies that he and other successful international swimmers have used to achieve champion level performance. 

His website address is www.mfsa.co.uk There are only 60 places available so if you want to reserve places, or have any questions, call Damian Lo Cascio camp organizer on 07941766659 or email enquiries@mfsa.com

Wray and Dani Harrison are co-ordinating any interest from the Club so you may wish to speak with them about this camp.

Peanut's Time Trial results!

Last night we had over sixty of our youngest members take part in the 2013 Peanut's time trials. It was great to see so many taking part supported by an appreciative gallery. In fact this is probably our most attended trials in recent years, another good sign that the club is developing well. It's also clear from the results that our young swimmers performed really well so they should be really pleased with their performances.

The event was officiated in accordance with the ASA Rules and as alway this means that some swimmers will have been disqualified (DQ'D) in events. This is not an un-common occurence as it takes time for swimmers to learn to swim the Butterfly and Breast strokes correctly and to make sure that their starts and finishes are in accordance with the rules of swimming. The results of the trials are reviewed by Wray and Bronwen, the Club's lead coaches so that area's for improvement can be addressed in training over the coming weeks.

Last nights results have helped us to select the swimmers who will represent PBSC in the Tape Trophy on the evening of January 26th when we will be hosting four visiting swimming clubs. Those selected to represent the Club should receive selection emails later this week. For those new to the club it is important to confirm by return email only whether you are able to swim or not. This is because if you are not available to swim we need to select other swimmers and it's only right we give them as much notice as possible.

Well done to all PBSC Peanut trialists on a great night of swimming, Click here for the results.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I am really pleased with the swimmers performances and we can look forward to competing in this years Peanut's League with confidence that we can do well. We have the Tape Trophy and South Herts Trophy as warm up events and I'd like all of our swimmers to experience competing against visiting clubs"

A big thank you to all officials and volunteers especially the older swimmers that assisted on the Lane ends and with the marshalling of the competing swimmers.

PBSC Masters swimmers to compete at the Limerick Masters in Ireland

A team of PBSC masters swimmers are heading to Limerick, Ireland to compete in the Limerick Masters Open meet that takes place between March 1st and 3rd 2013. The team will include Ian Bays, our Chairman, Julian Swindale, Martin Higgins, Dani Harrison and Eugene Gormley. This competition is open to all PBSC Masters and is likely to be a very social weekend. If you are interested have a chat with those that have already committed to this event as they can advise regarding flights and accomodation

Swimmer of the Month - December

Last nights "starts and turns" session saw a fantastic turn out of over 60 swimmers in the pool and at the end of the session our Head Coach Wray awarded the swimmer of the month trophy to Morgan Newman in Squad 1.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Morgan has worked hard over the last year and his performances have placed him as one of the fastest boys in his age group in the Country. His recent breaststroke times have been close to attaining National Qualifying times and he deserves my award!" 

Happy New Year!

The New Year has arrived and at PBSC we have a busy swimming programme ahead which starts this weekend with the Peanut's Trials (see below article for further details). We will be using the swimmers times from this event to select the two teams that will compete in the Tape Trophy, which we are hosting on January 26th. It's important swimmers keep this date free so they are available to swim (if selected). Selection emails will be sent next week.

The following weekend we have two teams competing in the Herts Major League, the Blue Team in Division 1 and the Jade Team making their debut in Division 2 after promotion last year. These events will see over 60 swimmers representing the Club and we are confident that our two teams can continue their good form of recent years in this competitioon.

There are just ten weeks to the start of the Hertfordshire County Championships, one of the main competitions in our swimming calendar. With over 52 PBSC swimmers qualified to date it's clear we are going to have a bigger presence on the poolside. Qualifying to swim in the County Championships is a great achievement in itself but it's important that our swimmers make an extra effort over these last ten weeks to attend training regularly so that they can maximise their performances. "Be prepared or prepare to fail" is an appropriate motivational quote as those swimmers that perform well in training are more likely to excell in competition. Individual performances over the last year have shown that we have some very talented young swimmers who have the potential to do well at the County Championships and should be looking to achieve podium positions.

Shortly after the Counties our youngest swimmers will compete in the Peanut's League, which is over three rounds and will require nearly all of our swimmers to be available to represent the Club. The dates are on the Club Diary page so please try and keep these free so that you are able to swim (if selected) as it's important that we are able to field our strongest teams. This is also a great competition for young novice swimmers to compete in to gain experience of competitive swimming.

At PBSC we rely upon new members joining the Club each year so we encourage our members to recommend us to their friends, family and acquaintances etc If you do have any one interested in joining the Club then please do get them to come along for a trial, which we hold on Friday's. We have a thriving masters section which is always on the lookout for new talent too. Please speak to Wray, Bronwen on the Coaching Team or Eleanor our membership secretary if you know anybody that would like to have have a trial.

We hope everybody has had a good break and a chance to re-charge the batteries ready for the busy swimming programme ahead. Best wishes for the New Year and we hope you enjoy your swimming with PBSC.

Peanuts Trials - Sunday 6th January 2013

On Sunday 6th January 2013 we will be holding time trials at the FF to aid selection for the two teams that will represent PBSC in the Peanuts League in 2013. The time trials are open to all PBSC swimmers aged between 8 and 12 as of 15th June 2013. All swimmers in this age group in Squads 5 and upwards are encouraged to take part in this event and should have received an email inviting them to do so. If you have not already entered please submit an entry asap by emailing pbscselection@gmail.com .

The time trials are an ideal opportunity for our younger swimmers to experience competitive swimming within the environment of the club. It also allows us to record their times which aids the selection process. Additionally it will be beneficial to our older swimmers in this age group to record up to date times. All of this will help us to ensure that we have the best possible teams selected for the forthcoming competitions.

We will also be using the times from this event to select two teams to represent PBSC in the Tape Trophy, which is an annual gala held at the FF and this year takes places on the evening of Saturday 26th January 2013. This is a good "warm up" gala for our two teams as we will be competing against visiting clubs.

On the night of the Peanut's trial it is necessary that all swimmers must sign in between 5.45pm and 6.00pm at the sign in desks that will be in the foyer. This is really important as we need to prepare the event heat sheets etc and so failure to sign in by 6pm means that swimmers are likely to be disappointed by being unable to participate. Naturally we wish to avoid this so please sign in in good time. 

We look forward to seeing all our young swimmers on Sunday and we will have plenty of our older swimmers poolside to assist those that may be nervous about taking part in this event.

Xmas Training Schedule

Please click on the following for our Xmas Training Schedule. We would encourage all of our swimmers to take a dip in the pool over the Xmas period especially those that are competing early in the New Year. Also just a quick reminder that we are holding "distance" time trials at the Furzefield on Sunday 16th December 2012 so there is no training session that night.

Phoebe makes final at the Welsh National Championships in Swansea, Wales

Phoebe Love is competing this weekend at the Welsh National Championships in Swansea, Wales. The competition started on Friday and Phoebe raced in the 15 and under 50m Butterfly finishing in 10th with a time of 32.32 seconds - missing the final by just 0.26 seconds.

Today Phoebe has continued her good form competing in the 15 and under 50m Freestyle where she has set a very fast time of 29.53 seconds to qualify in eight place for tonight's Welsh National Final. This is a great achievement and we wish her the best of luck tonight!! 

Phoebe improved her performance in the final to 7th place.

NASL Division 2 Final - Harlow

PBSC Captains - Robert Branch, Georgina Lawson, Samantha Over and Thilan Wallalawita pictured with the pennant for finishing in 8th place in Division 2 ofthe National Arena League (London).

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "It was a great experience for PBSC to take part in the Division 2 final and I was pleased to see all the swimmers put in a great effort. I am delighted we have done so well this year and making this final in the first year after promotion was beyond my expectations. We can look forward to next years competition knowing that we can do well"   

Swimmer of the Month - Katie Harrison

A big well done to Katie Harrison who was awarded the swimmer of the month trophy for the month of November. This is well deserved as Katie's efforts in training and her performances at the Watford Open meet have been great.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Katie did a huge PB at the Watford Open Meet and has been training like a "pocket rocket" and is the worthy recipient of the swimmer of the month trophy"

PBSC Boys Team succeed in winning the Daplyn Trophy

PBSC entered two boys and two girls teams in the Daplyn Trophy, which is a small team gala for swimmers aged 13 and under. The Daplyn Trophy has a long history and is named after a former Hertfordshire President. All of our swimmers swam well above expectations. A massive well done to the PBSC Blue Boys team of Jack Shewell-Cooper, James Woodward, Morgan Newman, Jack Higgins and James Blount who swam brilliantly to win the Daplyn Trophy. This is a brilliant achievement as the last time the Club held the Trophy was over thirty years ago.

Our PBSC Blue Team of girls consisting of Lauren Andrew , Katie Conyers, Jessica Hurley, Maya Spence and Georgianna Balchin came fourth in their competition which is a great result. It bodes well for next year as many of the girls will be still be eligible to swim. PBSC Jade Team swimmers of Mathew Honeyman, Alex Ayres, Josef Wheeler, James Spence, Siobhan Gallagher, Rachel Connery, Leah Refson, Katherine McEnery and Georgina Tallon also swam very well with some great PB's achieved.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach " The boys put in a great performance and it's fantastic they lifted the trophy for PBSC. As Head Coach I am absolutely delighted as this success raises the profile of the Club"

Daplyn Results

PBSC Swimmer Phoebe Love competes at the ASA East Region Winter Championships in Cambridge.

Phoebe Love, 15yrs, competed this weekend at the ASA East Region Winter Regionals in Cambridge. Phoebe swam in the 50m free, 100m free and 50m fly competing against the very best swimmers from the Counties of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. This was an open age group competition and the 2nd year running that Phoebe has qualified to compete in the Regional Winter Championships.  

• Phoebe recorded a time of 29.19 in the 50m Free coming 40th. A time of 32.13 in the 50 fly saw Phoebe finish in 25th place and in the 100 free a time of 104.83 saw a 56th placing.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Phoebe qualifying for these Championships for the second year is a great achievement and then to perform so well on the day is very very pleasing. I'm delighted "

Watford Middle Distance Open Meet results

Here is a link to a performance report from last Sunday's Open meet at Watford.

A fantastic 48 PBSC swimmers competed at this open meet and came away with some great results that can be summarised as follows: -

• there were 162 swims by PBSC swimmers from which 20 gold medals , 19 silver medals and 22 bronze medals were won.
• 67 of the 162 swims were swum in Personal best times (PB's), a further 29 swims were events in which the swimmer had no previous time (NPT)
• Morgan Newman and Ben Harrison attained Regional Qualifying times - Well done!
• 73 swims attained the Herts Count Qualifying time - Nicholas Formby achieved his first CQT of the season - Well done Nicholas!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I am very pleased with the performances of PBSC swimmers and it was great to have the biggest team at the event"

PBSC Camping Trip - July 5th to 7th 2013

We are arranging another PBSC Camping trip and are inviting members to register their interest so that we can get an indication of numbers. Steve Shipman has kindly agreed to co-ordinate the event again. If you are interested please email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk and Steve will be in touch in due course with further details.

Distance Time Trials and "Peanut's" Time Trial dates for your diary's

We will be running 1500m (Boys) and 800m (Girls) Time Trials for swimmers in Squads 1 and 2 on Sunday 16th December. This will be of particular interest to those swimmers seeking County Qualifying times over these distances. Entry details will be posted soon.

The Peanut's Trials for younger swimmers under the age of 13 who are in Squads 1 to 5 will take place on Sunday 6th January 2013. More details will be circulated soon.

Xmas Pantomine Trip for PBSC Swimmers

We have only 14 tickets left for the pantomime "Cinderella" on Saturday 22nd December, 6.30pm at The Wyllyots Theatre in Potters Bar.
50 members of PBSC are already booked to go, so if you would like to join them, please let Vivien Higgins know before 29th November. Tickets are £14 per child. email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk

We are now collecting payment for the tickets so please pass all monies to Vivien or a member of the committee, in an envelope with your name on, marked Panto money. Please make cheques payable to PBSC. Payment by 29th November please!

Potters Bar SC - Presentation evening 

Last night's saw over three hundred swimmers and family members gather at Mount Grace School for our annual presentation evening. This is our biggest ever attendance and it was great to see our swimmers being awarded their medals before such an appreciative audience. The recipients of the various squad awards, Wrays awards, the "swimmers" swimmer of the year, Major League and Peanut swimmers of the year and the Open and Junior Championship winners were all well received.

Head Coach Wray also announced that Samantha Over and Thilan Wallalawita, both swimmers in Squad 1 would be the Club Captains for 2013 - We wish them an enjoyable year ahead.

Thanks must go to those members that donated some fantastic raffle prizes and to the army of helpers that helped set up, that ran the bar, the door, the raffle, those that coooked the excellent food and those that helped clear up at the end of the night. A "Special" Thank you to Karen Lawson for co-ordinating such a great night, the highlight of which must have been the sight of PBSC swimmers on the stage dancing "Gang Nam" style!! It was also great to see so many swimmers and parents having a great time on the dance floor.

The below link takes you to some pictures from the evening.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=115496772782293772798&target=ALBUM&id=5812175861060336465&authkey=Gv1sRgCJHmsM3pxMOAYA&feat=email

Apologies but due to a technical problem some pics did not come out in focus.

National Arena League - PBSC make the "Promotion Final"

According to the results published on the National Arena League website we have qualified to swim in the promotion final taking the eighth and final spot. This is an absolutely great achievement for our first year in Division 2 particularly with so many of our swimmers at the younger end of their age groups. This is an event to really look forward too and it will be a thrilling finale to this years league! The final will take place at Harlow Leisurzone Complex and we will be the hosts for the event.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "It's fantastic that the Club has done so well this year and I'm really looking forward to the Club competing in the "promotion" final. I'm confident our swimmers can lift their performances and do well but I need all our swimmers to be available to swim if they are selected. I also need our swimmers to continue to raise their efforts in training over the coming weeks"

National Arena League - Round 2

PBSC (219pts) finished in 5th place behind City of St Albans (318pts), Anaconda (273 pts ), Berkhampstead Sports (260pts) and Stevenage (232 pts) and ahead of Haringey Aquatics (197 pts), Hitchin SC (183pts) and Greenwich Royals (96pts). This means it will be "touch and go" as to whether we make the "promotion" final in the third round which is dependant on the results from the other galas.

April Richards and Andrea Houben were individual winners of their events last night, so well done to them! Kelly Dunn, Thomas Stanbury, Georgianna Balchin, Lauren Andrew and David Shipman all swam very well to be placed second in their individual events. Third place finishes were achieved by Katie Conyers, Kelly Dunn, Samantha Over, Ben Harrison and Thomas Stanbury - well done to these swimmers.

Here is a performance report.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "We were up against some strong teams last night and 5th place was a good result. All of our swimmers swam really well and showed that we can be competitive at this level. Hopefully we may make the "promotion" final"

Cheshunt Open Meet Results

Finally here are are the results.

Regional Qualifying Times are out!

Here are the 2013 Regional Qualifying times (RQT's) that have just been published. Last year seven PBSC swimmers managed to qualify for the Regional Championships and we hope to increase the numbers doing so this year.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Now we know what the RQT's are it should give PBSC swimmers some added focus for the season ahead. Some of the times are harder than last year so it's really important our swimmers put in the training over the next few months if they are aiming to qualify" 

NASL Round 2

Good luck to PBSC swimmers competing this evening in round 2 of the National Arena Swimming League at Borehamwood.

Cheshunt Open Meet results

We are still awaiting the official results from the host club so are unable to publish a performance report just yet. The report from the PBSC Coaches gives us every confidence that the performance report will show how well our swimmers performed. As soon as we are able to publish the official results we will do so.

Club AGM

The Club's Annual General Meeting will be on Thursday 8th November at the Furzefield Centre, starting at 8.30pm. All members are invited to attend. The following nominations for positions on the committee have been received: -

Chair - Ian Bays

Hon. Treasurer - Catrina Church

Hon. Secretary - Chris Andrew

Committee Members - Darren Woodward, Eleanor Burt, Karen Lawson, Dani Harrison, Bill Letts, Mike Smith, Anita Shipman, Claire Formby, Jacqui Gormley, Martin Higgins, Paul Newman, Graham Hunt, Chris Andrew, Ian Bays and Catrina Church. The agenda is here.  Last year's minutes are here.

Swimmer of the Month - October

Samantha Over from Squad 1 was the recipient of the "Swimmer of the month" award and was presented with the trophy by Wray at training this week.

Wray said "Samantha's performances in the Club Championships and in the 1st round of the National Arena League have really stood out for me and she is the worthy winner of this month's award"

Land Training - New Block of sessions

Bookings are now being taken for the next block of ten land training sessions that will start on Friday 16th November 2012. This is open to swimmers in Squads 1 and 2. There are 25 places available so if interested please email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk to register your interest. The cost will be £25 for the 10 sessions.

Cheshunt Open Meet

Good luck to all PBSC Swimmers competing tomorrow at Southbury Road, Enfield - Swim fast!

ESSA Primary Schools Gala at Watford on Friday 23rd November 2012

PBSC swimmers in years 5 and 6 of primary schools may wish to consider entering the Hertfordshire Primary Schools Gala that will take place on Friday 23rd November 2011 at Watford. More details and how to enter can be found via the attached link. Those interested need to submit their own entries to this event.

 http://www.hertsssa.org.uk/

PBSC - Presentation Evening at Mount Grace School on Saturday 17th November 2012

This year's Presentation Evening will be held at Mount Grace School, Potters Bar on Saturday the 17th of November. Doors open at 7pm and the presentations will start at 7.30pm.There will be presentations to all swimmers who competed in this year's Club Championships, individual squad awards, club trophies including Swimmers "Swimmer", the Hurley Trophies, Wray's Award and this year for the first time - Junior and Open Championship awards. We have had a great year and this is a great opportunity to celebrate the progress the swimmers and club have made so please make every effort to come along!

We plan to operate the evening as a fundraiser which means we will be operating a Raffle - any donations would be gratefully received - prizes can be anything from a bottle of wine, sporting tickets, unwanted presents to meal vouchers. There will be a licensed bar, Disco and food available.

Tickets for the evening are priced at £3 per head and are available from Karen Lawson, Ian Bays or from any member of the committee or coaching staff from this coming Friday. We look forward to seeing you there and making this another enjoyable night for our swimmers and their families ! This really is a chance for swimmers and parents alike to mix and hopefully raise some funds in the process.

NASL 2nd Round Selection

Selection for the second round of the NASL which takes place on November 10th has taken place. Those selected to represent PBSC have been sent a "selection" email.

An early reply is always appreciated as we need to select other swimmers if you are not available.

Masters - Land Training Programme

Masters Land Training has been confirmed for Sundays at 19:15 for an hour. This is a 10 week block of sessions, with aim to improve flexibility and core strength. If anyone else is interested, please email John Cunningham at pbscmasterscoach@gmail.com as there is still availability for members.

National Arena League - Round 1 Results

Here is a performance report from last nights gala. 

PBSC put in a great first round performance to come fourth behind Hemel Hempstead, City of St Albans and St Paul's Barnes. This has placed us sixth in the Division 2 League. As can be seen from the attached performance report there were some very good performances by PBSC swimmers. Well done to Samantha Over who recorded a very fast 100m Freestyle time and follows on from her good performances in the Club Championships.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach " To come fourth in this gala was a great result as we were promoted from Division 3 last year. I'm looking forward to the next round and if we put in a good team performance we could make the "promotion" final"

October Subs notices

The October subs letters have been sent by email (on 11th October).  If you have not received or seen the email please check it is not in your spam folder (the subject was "Potters Bar Swimming Club October Fees now due"), and if still not found please contact the membership secretary preferably by email on membership@pottersbarsc.co.uk  Thank you for your support.

Fifty PBSC Swimmers qualify for the 2013 Herts County Championships

With the new season barely under way it is fantastic to announce that already fifty (50) of our swimmers have recorded county qualifying times CQT's) making them eligible to enter the 2013 Hertfordshire County Championships, that will take place in March 2013. This exceeds the forty five qualifiers from last year. Those that have recorded CQT's have been added to the "roll of honour" that can be viewed by clicking on the 2013 Qualifiers tab on the left of this page. We also have five swimmers who have also recorded Regional Qualifying times (RQT's) for the ASA East Region Winter Championships which is another great achievement so early in the season.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "It's fantastic that we have exceeded the number of County Qualifiers from last year so early in the season. It's important that we build on this over the coming months and I'm confident we can qualify a significant number of more swimmers. I'm really looking forward to see how the team performs at the County Championships"

Wray has also commented "I would like to see Squad 1 and 2 swimmers attending Friday and Saturday morning trainining sessions as part of their preparation for next years County Champs"

Session Four results! Five more Club Champs records broken!

 Here are the results for session 4.

Another great evening of racing and a fantastic atmosphere. This session saw five Club Championship records broken. Highlights of the night were as follows: - 

• Martin and Joshua Higgins were clear winners of the "blue ribond" parent and child relay ensuring they have "bragging" rights for the next year. Well done on a great performance!
• Kelly Dunn set a new Club Championship record in the 100m Backstroke - 17-24 years age bracket. The original record was set over 22 years ago. Well done, Kelly!
• Morgan Newman broke the 11 year old boys 50m Club Champ record in a time of 30.77s. Well done, Morgan!
• Thomas Stanbury broke the 11 year old boys 100m backstroke record in a time of 1.21.66. This record set over 10 years ago was previously held by Jonathan Quinn, who went on to become a Junior International - Well done, Thomas.
• David Shipman smashed the 12 year old boys 50m record also previously held by Jonathan Quinn setting a new mark at 28.93 seconds. Well done, David!
• Chris Holmes broke the 100m backstroke record in the 17-24 year old age bracket with a time of 1.08.02 secs. Well done, Chris!
• Daryl Mason and Kelly Dunn were the winners of the 50m Freestyle events and along with Chris Holmes, all recorded Regional Qualifying times  (RQT's) making them eligible to enter the East Region Winter Championships in December - Well done to all!
• There were some great swims by our 5 to 8 year old swimmers many of whom were competing for the first time.

A big "thank you" must go to all the volunteers and officials who helped with the management and running of this years Club Championships. It was great to see so many willing volunteers help put on a great event for our swimmers. Well done to the swimmers for putting in some great performances too!

Here are some pictures for session 4

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=115496772782293772798&target=ALBUM&id=5796552306626171393&authkey=Gv1sRgCLvRuIf81_u1Sw&feat=email

Here are some pictures from session 3

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=115496772782293772798&target=ALBUM&id=5796203071876144433&authkey=Gv1sRgCIGm0qucvOja2gE&feat=email

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=101434373104780742340&target=ALBUM&id=5797815738954402161&authkey=Gv1sRgCL7-2uzl-cuVwAE&feat=email

Swimmer of the Month - Rachel Connery

Rachel was awarded the swimmer of the month trophy last night by Head Coach Wray in recognition of her hard work and progression over the last month. Rachel has worked really well in the training pool and her efforts caught the eye of the coaching team, Her hardwork has led to some big PB's being set during the Club Championships and has led to her being promoted to Squad 1. Well done, Rachel.

PBSC Club Championships Update ! Seven Club Champ Records tumble!!

Here are the results for session 3.

It's the final session tonight and the big event that we have all been looking forward to is upon us. The "parent and Child" relay has seen a record entry and it will probably be the most "hotly" contested event of the evening. Lets have a good evening and create a great atmosphere. Good Luck to all parents taking part! Please do not forget to sign in for this event!

PBSC swimmers have excelled in the pool so far in this years Club Championships and we have seen seven (7) Club Championship records broken as follows: -

1)  Chris Holmes has set a new record in the 100m IM in the 17-24 year old bracket with a great time of 1.05.50 - Well done, Chris.

2) Thilan Walallawita broke the 14 year old 50m breaststroke record setting a new mark of 36.75 seconds - Well done, Thilan.

3)  Dani Harrison in the over 25 year old bracket broke the 100m Freestyle record setting a new time of 1.11.85 - Great swim, Dani.

4)  Kelly Dunn set a new record time of 1.09.25 in the 100 m butterfly in 17 - 24 years bracket. Well done Kelly.

5)  Morgan Newman has broken two club championship records in the 11 year olds 50m and 100m breaststroke in times of 40.50 seconds and 1.27.71 respectively - Well done, Morgan

6) David Shipman broke the 12 year olds 100m Freestyle Club Championship record setting in a time of 1.03.15. Well done, David.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I am delighted that so many Club records have been broken at this years Club Champs and with one session to go I am hoping that we may see more broken tonight"

Club Championships - Session 1 & 2 results!

Here are the official results for the first two sessions of the PBSC Club Championships - there was some great swimming over the weekend so well done to all swimmers!

A big "thank you" to all PBSC Officials and volunteers who made these events run smoothly as without your assistance these would not happen.

The attached links take you to some photo's from the Club Champs: -

session 1

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=115496772782293772798&target=ALBUM&id=5793888143596570161&authkey=Gv1sRgCPSF75SXxszOSA&feat=email

session 2

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=115496772782293772798&target=ALBUM&id=5794803742439980913&authkey=Gv1sRgCLPdgLKkzpbmigE&feat=email

Change to Squad 3 and County Performance Training Times

Due to the increasing size of the County Performance Squad it has been decided that: -

• With immediate effect the County Performance Squad will train at Queenswood between 6pm and 7pm each Tuesday evening where they will have full use of the pool under the guidance of Head Coach Wray.
• Squad 3 Training will move to the FF on Tuesdays between 6pm and 7pm where they will have two lanes 

Bishops Stortford Open Meet Results

There were some great swims by PBSC swimmers who were competing in the first open meet of the new season. The attached performance report lists all the PB's and the percentage improvement and its clear to see just how well our kids swam. A few of the many highlights are as follows: -

• Thilan Wallalawita was in great form in the 50m breaststroke setting a new Club record for 14 year old boys - Well done Thilan!
• Ben Harrison won nine gold medals and according to the ASA rankings set the fastest times in the country for an 11 year old in the 50 & 100m Fly and the 100m IM. Well done to Ben - Keep up the hard work it's really paying off!
• Mathew Honeyman and James Smith recorded their first ever County Qualifying times (CQT's) of which they should be rightly proud - well done boys!
• James Blount continued with his good early season form recording some huge PB's  
• Katie Harrison swam a 14 second PB in the 200m Freestyle which was a fine swim.
• Andrea Houben showed good early season form recording PB's in the 100m Fly and 200IM
• Maya Spence also swam PB's in the 50m Free and 200m Free.
• Well done to all other PBSC swimmers that recorded PB's, there are so so many from this meet!

PBSC now has 36 swimmers that have achieved CQT's for the 2013 Championships which is fantastic given that the new season has only just started.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "The results from this meet show just how well our swimmers performed and I'm extremely pleased with just how well everyone did", "It's clear that the swimmers efforts in training are being rewarded with some huge PB's so I'd encourage everyone to continue working hard in the training pool", "Well done to Thilan on breaking the 14 year old boys 50m breaststroke club record"

Hoddesdon Open Meet Results

Here is a performance report for those that competed. There were some great performances by our swimmers and particular mention to Eliza Connery and Anna Shipman who recorded their first ever County Qualifying times.

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC Coach - "I was delighted with the performances of all the swimmers as for many it was their first real experience of competing at an open meet outside the Club environment", " Well done to Anna and Eliza for achieving CQT's" 

Club Championships 2012 - Session Programmes published!

Please "click" on the Club Champs tab on the left of this screen for important information regarding this years Club Championships!

Pantomime 22nd December

See flyer for details of the trip to Wyllyotts to see Cinderella.

Volunteers sought!

If you can help at any of the Club Championship sessions please email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk or speak with Paul or Collette Newman. We need help to run the door & raffle, the sign-in desks, refreshments and marshalling of swimmers etc. No experience necessary!

Eric Eady Trophy - Morgan breaks Club records and Robert goes beneath the "minute"!

It was a tough start to the new season for PBSC swimmers that competed in the Eric Eady Trophy at Southbury Road, Enfield last night. PBSC (219 pts) finished in fifth place behind Enfield Swim Squad (360 pts), Hoddesdon (312 pts), Enfield Swim Squad "B" (234 pts), Haringey Aquatics (224.5 pts) and ahead of Bethnal Green Sharks (198.5 pts), Hackney Aquatics (142pts) and Ware (100 pts) The event has given us an insight to the level of competition that we will face in Division 2 of the forthcoming National Arena League. The highlights of the night from the PBSC perspective are summarised as follows; -

• Morgan Newman swam a fantastic 100m breaststroke winning in a time 1.22.87 to break both the 50m and 100m Club records which were set over 10 years ago by Johnathan Quinn, who went onto to become a Junior International. Morgan's time would place him as the fastest 11 year old in the country.   
• Robert Branch swam a time of 59.18 seconds to break the minute barrier in the 100m Freestyle. This is a significant achievement in freestyle swimming so congratulations to Robert. Who will be the next PBSC swimmer to do so?
• Thomas Stanbury showed good early season form to win the 50m's Backstroke and Breaststroke. Well done to Thomas!
• There were second place swims for Kelly Dunn, Andrea Houben and David Shipman - Well done!
• Samantha Burt, Olivia Seal, Georgina Lawson and Ben Harrison achieved third place finishes so well done to these swimmers
• Well done to the following swimmers who recorded personal best times -Ben Harrison, Kelly Dunn, Georgianna Balchin, Morgan Newman, Olivia Seal, Thomas Stanbury, Maya Spence, Jack Higgins, Thilan Wallalawita, Samantha Over, Emilea Read-Letts, Adam Gill, Katie Conyers, David Shipman and Robert Branch.

PBSC swimmers performances can be viewed via this performance report.

Chris Andrew, PBSC Coach - "We experienced a higher level of competition last night so it was pleasing to see good early season performances by our swimmers. There are just a few weeks to the start of the National Arena swimming league and I'd ask the swimmers to work hard in training over the coming weeks so we can raise our overall performance",  "Well done to Morgan on breaking two long standing Club records which is a great achievement and reward for his commitment" , "Well done to Robert too on finally breaking the elusive minute barrier"

Closing date for Club Champs - Midnight on Sunday 16th September

This year we have a record entry for our Club Championships and with the closing date for entries a few days away there is still time for those members who have not submitted entries to do so. "Click" on the Club Champs tab on the left of this page for full details and how to enter. The Club Champs are a fun event and a great opportunity for our younger members to experience competitive swimming. We also have a parent and child race which we encourage everyone to take part in.

This friday it will be possible to submit entries at the information desk on the balcony, so please speak with Karen Lawson who will be staffing the desk if you have any questions.

Alfie - swimmer of the month for August

Well done to Alfie Francis who was awarded the swimmer of the month trophy by Wray. Alfie has made good progress over the summer and has attended training regularily and worked hard.  His award is well deserved!

Masters Training changes on Mondays

Please see the Masters page or Training Times for change to details.

Welcome back ! The New swimming season is upon us!

We hope that all PBSC swimmers and families have had a relaxing summer and have takem the opportuntiy to "re-charge batteries" in readyness for the new swimming season. There has been a significant uplift in the numbers at training this week as members return from holidays and its evident that the swimmers and Coaching team are excited about the season ahead. We have much to look forward to as the season gets off to a quick start. 

In the coming weeks we have swimmers competing at the Hoddeson and Bishop Stortford open meets as well as a team competing in the Eric Eady Trophy, which is good warm up event for the National Arena Swimming League that starts in October. We also have our very own Club Championships at the end of September, beginning of October where there are events for all our members to compete in. The parent and child relay is a "must" and is probably the most "hotly" contested event and guarantees "bragging rights" for the rest of the season. All squad swimmers are expected to take part in the Club Championships so if you have not already submitted an entry please do so. If you "click" on the Club Champs tab on the left of this page for the details and "how to enter". The closing date for entries is Midnight on September 16th so don't delay.

The National Arena League starts in October and this year we will be competing in Division 2 having won promotion last year. The level of competition will be a significant step up for PBSC swimmers and there is going to be some very exciting galas against some of the big London swimming Clubs. We are awaiting details of where the galas will be held but it's likely we may have to travel further afield which will be a new experience for us all. We will need to have a strong team in order to maintain Division 2 status so please try to be available if you are selected.

Twenty nine swimmers have been invited to train in the County Performance Squad for 2013 and we expect this to increase significantly as more swimmers meet the criteria over the next few months. This training will start on Tuesday 11th September and not the 4th as previously advised. We hope this training coupled with the ever popular land training will help lift our swimmers performances at next years County Championships.

The Club's membership continues to grow which is great sign that the Club is thriving. We are always keen to encourage new members so please promote the Club to your friends and family. Trials for prospective members are normally held on a Friday evening at the FF and if you know anybody who would like to come along then please speak to Wray, Bronwen or Chris on the coaching team or Eleanor Burt, our membership secrtary.

Craig Gibbons, London 2012 Olympian to visit PBSC for a swim clinic with our swimmers!!!

Inspired by the performances of Team GB at this year's Olympics? Then don't miss the opportunity to attend a swim clinic with 2012 London Olympian and Team GB swimmer, Craig Gibbons. Craig is one of the fastest swimmers in Britain and has been competing at World and European level since 2005. He will be demonstrating and giving advice on swimming technique so don't miss this opportuntiy. There will be opportunities to ask Craig questions about his career and for photographs.

The clinic will be held on the evening of Friday 7th September at the Furzefield at a cost £7.50. If you would like a place at this swim clinic then please print off the attached form and submit it asap to Wray, Bronwen, Chris, Alan or Tracy. 

Land Training will be on as normal and those attending the swimming clinic will attend the third session.

PBSC Club Championships 2012 - Closing date for entries is fast approaching!

Our Club Championships are fast approaching and all swimmers are encouraged to submit their entries as soon as possible.  "Click" on the "Club Champs" tab on the left for full details and how to enter.

County Performance Squad 2013

As we approach the start of the new swimming season congratulations are in order to the below swimmers who have been invited by Wray, PBSC's Head Coach to train in the County Performance Squad for 2013. This training will take place at the FF on Tuesday evenings. The swimmers are: -

Kate Andrew, Katie Harrison, Harriet Newman, Olivia Seal, Elise Cork, Lauren Andrew, Georgianna Balchin, Katie Conyers, Georgina Tallon, Andrea Houben, Rebecca Hurley, Katie Gormley, Georgina Lawson, Phoebe Love, Samantha Burt, Ellen Hunt, Kelly Dunn, Thomas Stanbury, James Blount, Ben Harrison, Jack Higgins, Morgan Newman, David Shipman, Jack Shewell-Cooper, James Woodward, Thilan Wallalawita, Aryan Alekasir and James Ayres.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I'm delighted that we have twenty nine PBSC swimmers that have attained CQT's before the new season even starts. As we progress through the season I expect the size of the County Performance Squad to grow considerably as more swimmers qualify. It's important the swimmers work hard in training over the coming months so that as a Club and individually we do well at next years Championships"

The criteria for being invited to train in this session is as follows: -

• Swimmers must have achieved at least one 2013 County Qualifying time at a licensed meet and intend to compete in the County Championships 2013.
• Swimmers are expected to swim three other additional sessions per week not including the County Squad session. The County Performance Squad session is an additional session over and above the three squad sessions.

Australian Olympic Swimming Champion Ian Thorpe coaches Sam

On the last day of London 2012 PBSC swimmer Samantha Burt was lucky enough to have a coaching session by 5 time Olympic Champion Ian Thorpe.
Ian had tweeted the night before that he would be at Tooting Bec Lido to meet serious swimmers of all abilities. Sam went across London & arrived at a sunny Lido and waited to see what would happen. To a round of applause Ian entered the Lido & made some presentations. Then the children were allowed to meet Ian in small groups. Firstly they had the chance to ask questions and get items signed by Ian. The swimmers then jumped into a not very warm pool & were given a lesson by Ian. Sam’s group asked to do freestyle and butterfly. Their session ended with each swimmer swimming a length on their own for Ian to assess & he then provided some individual feedback.
Sam was given advice on how to improve her freestlye & was told her fly was a beautiful stroke, praise indeed from Ian.
Her length (93 metres!) earned a round of applause from the South London swimmers!

Guess Who Sean met at the Park

PBSC Land Training Programme - NOW FULLY SUBSCRIBED!

We are now taking bookings for the next block of 10 Land training sessions that will start on Friday 31st August 2012 and will run through to Friday 9th November 2012. This is proving to be a very popular session for our swimmers and as there are only 25 places available it is likely to be oversubscribed. The Land Training programme is open to swimmers in Squads 1 and 2, who must commit to swimming in the Friday night squad session if they secure a place.

The cost for the 10 sessions will be £25, so if you are interested please email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk to reserve a place. NB There will be no Land Training on Friday 5th October 2012 as we are holding our Club Championships on this evening.

Swimmer of the month - Phoebe Love

Wray announced at last Fridays session that Phoebe was the swimmer of the month for July for her excellent performances at the Welsh National Championships where she made the final of 50m Freestyle and was the fourth fastest 14 year old in the country of Wales. Well done to Phoebe.

Masters Monday evening times in summer

Masters swimming on Mondays during summer at Furzefield will be at the later time of 9pm to 10pm from 30th July to 3rd September excluding bank holiday on 27th August.

Club Championships 2012

We have now published details of this years Club Championships, which are licensed at ASA Level 4 for the first time. "Click" on the Club Champs tab on the left of this page for details.  

Going to the Olympics?

If any PBSC members are going to the Olympics and get the opportunity to take any pictures with any of the swimmers or athletes please send them in to the above address for publication on the club website. Let's see who can get a picture with the biggest star!

Other photos as they come will be put into the Photo Gallery.

Great BBC documentary

If you have not had chance to see the BBC documentary on Olympic swimming history do try and watch it on iPlayer or youtube.  The iPlayer one may have been taken down as it was a week ago.

PBSC Club Bye-Laws

A copy of the Clubs Bye-Laws have been added to the "Rules and Policies" page that can be accessed via the tab on the left of this screen. Members are encouraged to read these Bye-Laws as there have been recent amendments agreed by the Club's committee concerning "Retro" Squad membership and the consequences of non-payment of Club fees.

Twenty nine PBSC swimmers record CQT's

To date 29 PBSC swimmers have recorded CQT's for the 2013 Herts County Championships. Their names have been added to the 2013 Qualifiers page that can be accessed by clicking on the tab on the left. This is a great start as the new swimming season does not get under way until September! In September we have swimmers competing at open meets at Hoddesdon and Bishops Stortford, and we have our own Club Championships so there are lots of opportunities coming up for more swimmers to qualify.

Swimmer of the month - June

This months recipient is James Blount in Squad 3 who since coming to the Club has progressed rapidly through the squad system. Over the last few months James has excelled with great performances in the promotion winning Jade Peanuts team. He also recorded his first ever County qualifying time at the Potters Bar Summer Open Meet when he attained the 50m freestyle mark. James rarely misses a training session and his efforts have not gone un-noticed by the PBSC Coaching Team - Well done James - keep up the good work!

PBSC Summer Social on Friday 13th July 2012

We would like to invite all PBSC members and families to our summer social event that will be held at Tilbury Hall, Darkes Lane, Potters Bar starting at 7.30pm. This year we have had great success in the Peanuts League, with our Jade Team winning promotion to Division 2 and the Blue Team finishing in third place in Division 1. As recognition of these fantastic performances we will be presenting awards to all swimmers that swam in either the Blue or Jade Peanuts teams so swimmers are encouraged to come along for the presentation. We will also be reflecting on other successes of the Club as this season comes to a close. It is also great opportunity for the kids and parents to socialise away from the pool so please make every effort to come along. There will be a BBQ and Licensed bar.

Herts County Qualifying Times 2013

Next years qualifiying times have been published, here is a link to a copy. It is important to note the warning at the top of the document.

Potters Bar Summer Open Meet

Well done to all swimmers that competed yesterday at our annual open meet. Here is a performance report for PBSC swimmers that show some great improvements. Follow the attached link to some pictures from the event: -

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=chrisandsharona&target=ALBUM&id=5760141745936653217&authkey=Gv1sRgCJiKkqzlqYGY9QE&feat=email

A big thank you to all Officials and volunteers who assisted with the running of the event.

Joel Knight in Torch Relay

Catch Joel Knight on BBC i-player on June 29th at 13:28 on the timeline.  "1328: Up next is teenage swimming sensation Joel Knight from Potter's Bar, who is Britains fastest ever 15-year-old in the 1500m freestyle."

Herts Masters Success for PBSC Swimmers

See the Masters page for the latest on results from the Herts Masters and also the Worlds masters attended by some.

Dates for Christmas Panto for your diary

The tickets for the club outing to the panto at Wyllyotts have been booked for 6.30pm on Saturday December 22nd.  Will Cinderella go to the ball?  Speak to Vivien Higgins for details.  More details after summer.

Updated Report - Fantastic performances by PBSC Jade and Blue Teams in the final round of the Peanuts League 2012

The Jade Team (162 points) who were competing at Hitchin put in a great performance to finish in third place behind a strong Hitchin team (122 points) and Harpenden (156points) which means the team finished second in the league overall. If this result is confirmed then the PBSC Jade will have secured promotion to Division 2. This is a great result by the PBSC Jade Team who have done so well this year. The results from this gala are available by accessing the PBSC Hyek Database, the link for which is on the Swimmers times page. "Click" on meet results and then "Click" on Division 3 Peanuts Round three. Here is a link to a performance report. Apologies for the delay.

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC Jade Team Coach "I am so pleased with the Jade Teams performances this year and absolutely delighted that we have finished second in the league - well done to all swimmers that have swum for the Jade team this year"  

The PBSC Blue Team (178 points) who were competing in the Division 1 final at Biggleswade also swam fast and finished in third place behind Hatfield SC (94 points) and City of St Albans (178 points). This result placed us third in Division 1 which is a great achievement and our best performance in many years. It is further evidence as to how as a Club we are developing. In this gala we had seven first places, six second places and 12 third places and nine PB's by the swimmers. We also swam through the gala without picking up any disqualifications which is so important in team galas where every point counts. 

The results from this gala have been posted on the PBSC Hytek Database. You can also follow this link to a performance report

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach " The Jade team have performed well beyond my expectations this year and I am absolutely delighted they have done so well. The performance of the Blue team has been great too and I am delighted with Jade and Blue doing so well in this years Peanuts League competition", "The results of the Jade and Blue team show that we are progressing well as a Club"

Follow the below link for some pictures from the gala: -

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=chrisandsharona&target=ALBUM&id=5754971554856482305&authkey=Gv1sRgCIKN5eKUwvHrhAE&feat=email

 

Final Round of the Peanuts League

This evening many of our younger swimmers will be competing in the final round of the Peanuts League 2012.

The PBSC - Jade Team are competing at Hitchin and are currently in first place in the League so have a good chance of winning promotion. They are competing against strong teams from Hitchin, Harpenden,Letchworth, Broxbourne and Cheshubnt. In order to be promoted we need to finish in the top of the League after this final round. The previous gala's have been close affairs so we will need our young swimmers to swim well tonight. It will be an exciting gala and the team will doubt get some excellent encouragement from our supporters in the balcony. Good Luck to all PBSC Jade swimmers this evening!

Bronwen Hardy - PBSC Jade Team Coach "The children have done so well this year and I know they are excited about tonights gala. I'm confident they will swim well and have a great evening"

The PBSC- Blue Team are competing at Biggleswade in the Division 1 Final against Hatfield, Stevenage, City of St Albans, Hemel Hempstead and Bishops Stortford. These are the strongest clubs in the County so we can be proud that our swimmers have done so well to make this Final. We have every confidence that they will swim fast and have an exciting night. Good Luck to PBSC - Blue Team!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Blue Team Coach "It will be an exciting gala with some fast races decided by very small margins. It's important we swim hard and avoid disqualifications as every point will count towards the final result"

Thank you to all the PBSC Officials and volunteers at both galas for helping to make these events run smoothly. Have a great evening!

June subs notices sent out

Please note that the June subscriptions are now due and most have been sent by email.  If you have not received this then please ask the membership secretary at the committee desk on the balcony on Friday evening at Furzefield.  If you think you may not have received this then please check your email spam folder.

Day 4 - Regional Championships

There have been further good performances in the pool at Norwich today inlcuding a medal winning performance by Ben Harrison who won the bronze medal in the 100m Butterfly. This followed a 6th place in the 400m Freestyle, where team mate Morgan Newman finsihed in 8th. Ben H finished off the day with 4th place in the 200m Butterfly, which is a very tough event and more so after a busy weekend of racing.

Well done to Ben, Morgan, David, James, Thomas, Phoebe and Georgina on some great swimming over the last two weekends. We should remember that qualifying for the Regionals is a big achievement in itself and it's been a great progression for the Club to have seven of our members qualify this year. Well done to all!

Day 3 - Regional Championships @ Norwich - more success in the pool for PBSC Swimmers

There have been some further great swims by our regional qualifiers who are again competing this weekend in the Regional Championships in Norwich. These can be summarised as follows: -

• Morgan Newman swam an excellent 100 m breaststroke to win the bronze medal in the 11 year old age group. This followed his eigth place in the 200m Freestyle final and 15th in the 200M IM. A podium place is an excellend achievement so a big well done to Morgan!
• Ben Harrison also swimming in the 11 year old age group put in some more strong swims in the 200m IM and and 200m Freestyle, making the final in each event and being placed 6th in both. Ben also finished 11th in the 100m Breaststroke to finish off another good day in the pool.
• Georgina Lawson swam a strong 100m backstroke to finish in 9th place in the 14 year old age group and was the "reserve" finalist.
• Thomas Stanbury also continued his good form and finished 10th in the 200m IM and 14th in the 200m Freestyle.

Well done to our swimmers, it has been great to see so many qualify this year and these great performances are an added bonus. 

Additional Squad 3 Training session at Queenswood

From Tuesday 12th June Squad 3 will have an additional training session at Queenswood school pool between 6pm and 7pm. At this session we will also have some swimmers from Queenswood School participating and we look forward to this new development. Squad 3 swimmers are encouraged to attend this session that will be led by Tracy Seal. 

Regional Results coming in...

Follow the online results here.  Great swims on Saturday from Phoebe, Georgina, Ben and particularly from Thomas Stanbury who made two finals in backstroke.  Sunday produced some fine swims from Georgie, Ben, Morgan, Thomas, James Woodward and David with Morgan making the final in 200m breaststroke and taking fourth place, Ben taking third place in the 100m freestyle final and David taking fourth place in the 100m freestyle final and breaking the club record twice in the process.  More racing next weekend.

Swimmer of the month - David Shipman

This month's winner of the "swimmer of the month" award goes to David Shipman, who swims in Squad 1. Over the last month David has broken long standing Club records in the 50m and 100m Freestyle, both of which were held by Johnathan Quinn who went on to become a Junior International swimmer.  In fact David's 50m Freestyle record placed him as one of the fastest 11 year olds in the Country in the ASA's rankings database.

David's success has come about by lots of hard work in the pool and during the Land training sessions where he is one of those that put in the most effort. Unfortunately David was not able to be present to receive his award as he is in Norwich this weekend competing at the Regional Swimming Championships. However there was a big round of applause from those at "starts and turns" when his name was announced by Wray. 

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Congratulations to David who has really stood out over the last month or so, he should be very proud of his Club records which are the results of his commitment to hardwork in training"

Seven go to Regionals

This weekend seven Potters Bar swimmers will travel to the University of East Anglia Sports Park in Norwich to compete in the 50m pool at the British Gas ASA East Region BAGCAT Championships 2012. The competition is swum over 2 weekends in eight sessions. This is a big step in the right direction for the Club as last year only four swimmers attained the qualifying standard. In order to compete at these Regional Championships swimmers have to attain qualifying times in the preceding year at licensed open meets. These qualifying times are set faster than those for the Hertfordshire County Championships, as the “Regionals” are the next step on the way to competing in the National Championships. On behalf of PBSC we wish them the best of luck and hope they all swim well and enjoy the experience of competing at this high level!

Our youngest competitor Thomas Stanbury will swim in the 10yr old boys category in the 100 & 200 backstroke, 100 & 200 freestyle and the 200 IM. Morgan Newman 11yrs will swim in the 100 & 200 breatstroke and freestyle, the 400 freestyle and the 200IM. Ben Harrison 11yrs qualified for 11 events including the 100 & 200backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly & freestyle the 200 & 400IM and the 400freestyle. David Shipman and James Woodward 12yrs both qualified to swim in the 100freestyle. Our girls will be represented by Pheobe Love 14yrs swimming in the 100 freestyle and Georgina Lawson, Girls Club Captain swimming in the 100, 200 & 400freestyle the 100 & 200backstroke and the 100 butterfly.Thomas, Morgan, James and David will all be competing for the first time at this event and Ben, Pheobe and Georgie are looking forward to their second year at the Championships.
 
Wray Shewell-Cooper PBSC Head Coach “I’m delighted that Thomas, Ben, Morgan, David, James, Pheobe and Georgie have all qualified for the “Regionals” and am confident they will swim well. They have worked hard throughout the year in training so they should be very proud about qualifying and I’m sure they will inspire all PBSC swimmers, as I’d like to be back next year with an even bigger team”

Please see updated report below from Kate Lack Gala

Sunday 27th May - Squad 3,4 and 5 Time Trials

Well done to all swimmers, supporters, officials and ALL helpers for a successful evening.  Great to test out the electronic timing before the Summer Open.

Due to the time trials on Sunday evening for Squads 3, 4 and 5 there will be no training at the FF for Squads 1, 2 and novice masters. All Squad 1, 2 and novice masters are welcome to attend Saturday morning's session which starts at 7.15am.

Squad 3, 4 and 5 swimmers are reminded that the time trials will be over 50m on all four strokes (time permitting). It is important that all swimmers sign in by 5.45pm at the "signing" in desks that will be in the foyer. Clearly we do not want swimmers to be disappointed so please make sure you sign in before 5.45 pm otherwrise it is likely that swimmers will not be able to take part. This is because the time trial needs to be "seeded" and the necessary paperwork for the officials needs to be printed before the event can start.

We look forward to seeing all our Squad 3, 4 and 5 swimmers on Sunday evening. Parents and family are welcome to come and support from the balcony.

Join with us in welcoming Monica to the coaching team

We are pleased to announce that Monica Ragg has joined the coaching team with the club.  Monica will be working with squad 4.  When asked about her swimming credentials Monica said: "I swam at national junior level in Romania and my favourite race Was 200m backstroke. Later on I competed as part of the university team. Upon achieving a sports degree I started my swimming coaching/ teaching career in Dubai running a swim school of 50 members, from beginners to advanced/ competitive swimmers.
Since relocating to UK 9 years ago, I dedicated my time to teaching with emphasis on stroke development".

Wray said: "With the increase in club numbers and pool hours and our ambitions for our swimmers this addition to the coaching team is just what we need.  Please join with us in welcoming Monica to the club".

Not only swimming but also...

Three Potters Bar swimmers braved the damp, cold morning of Sunday 20th May to arrive bright & early at Bedford’s swimming pool. Matthew Papa and Samantha and Edward Burt had entered Bedford Council’s Junior Aquathlon. This event is run alongside a senior Triathlon event and is a great introduction to multi discipline sports. In the Aquathlon competitors swim & then undertake a transistion so they can then run out of the pool for the final part of the race. The distance competed over depends upon the age of the competitor.
Sam started first of the PB swimmers. She swam a strong 400m, ditched her hat & goggles, put on her trainers & t shirt & was out of the door to run her race in just over 6 minutes. She then ran 2.9km. Despite some dreadful blisters she put up a creditable performance and retained the title she won at the last event.
Next up was Matt. His category was much more competitive. His swim was good and his running element was especially good. He ran so fast the photographer could not get a decent shot! His efforts were rewarded and Matt ended up with 2nd in his category a good improvement in both time and position.
Lastly Edward took to the pool. He managed to knock a very impressive 19 seconds off his previous time, an improvement which was good enough to see him finish third.
All three club members had a very enjoyable morning and it was great to see all their efforts rewarded by finishing first, second & third. Well done.

Peanuts League 2nd round - Jade win at Borehamwood and Blue 2nd at Hitchin

PBSC swimmers were in great form last night with the PBSC Jade Team winning the Division 3 gala at Borehamwood by 3 points. This is an excellent result and with the final round to come the team could be looking at promotion to Division 2 - Well done to all PBSC Jade Team swimmers on a fabuluous result.

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC Jade Team Coach "It was a great night and I'm delighted with the result which is a credit to our swimmers performances. Well done to all the Jade Team".

Provisional results show the Jade team with 137 points, Hitchin with 140, Harpenden with 148, Broxbourne with 169 and Letchworth with 228. Cheshunt B team did not compete.  We took 15 first places, 8 seconds and 9 thirds.  Individual firsts went to Amy Mason, Nicholas Formby, Eliza Connery, Luke Maddock-Lyon, James Blount, Alex Ayres, Madeleine Formby and Jack Shewell-Cooper with an amazing seven firsts in the relays showing great strength in depth.

PBSC Jade Team results are here. It's great to see how well the Jade swimmers swam.  Here is a link to some pictures from the gala.

The PBSC Blue Team (137 points) also swam magnificently to finish a very confortable second behind Hatfield SC (88 points), who recently finished second in the National Arena Swimming League final behind Plymouth Leander, so it can be rightly claimed they are the second best team in the country. Hemel Hempstead (176 points) were 3rd, Hertford (193 points) in 4th, Hoddesdon (202 points) were 5th and Berkhamstead Sports Centre (245 points) in 6th. We achieved 13 first places, 9 second places and 10 third places and the swimmers recorded 22 personal best times. We also won the "Squadron Relay" to cap a great evening beating a strong Hatfield team that included County and National Champions. There were individual wins for: -

James Smith (2), Ben Harrison (2), Harriet Newman, Thomas Stanbury (2) and Morgan Newman (2). We also showed great strength in depth in the relays.

Congratulations to David Shipman on breaking his own club record in the boys 11 & under 50m freestyle in a time of 29.13 seconds.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach " Another great night of performances by PBSC swimmers both at Borehamwood and Hitchin which should put us in a good position for the final round on June 19th. Well done to all swimmers and lets keep up the hard work over the next few weeks so we are ready for the finals"

PBSC Blue Team results are here and also on the PBSC Hytek Database accessed via the swimmers times page.  Here are some pictures from the Blue team gala.

Georgianna 7th in National Schools Final

Georgianna Balchin swam in the National Independent Schools Championships on Saturday 19th May at the K2 Centre in Crawley and qualified for the 50m Breaststroke final. In the final she swam her heart out to finish in seventh place recording a personal best time of 41.69 seconds. This is an extremely fast time and shows the high level of competition.

Well done to Georgianna on this great result

David claims his 2nd Club Record at the Kate Lack Open Meet

Well done to David Shipman for breaking the Potters Bar club record for the Boys 11 & Under 100m Freestyle when swimming at last weekends Kate Lack Open Meet at Barnet Copthall. His time of 1 05.15 surpassed Jonathan's Quinn's record of 1 05.61 set in April 2002. David has trained extremely well over recent months and he is reaping the rewards of his efforts. This is the second Club record that David has broken this year.

Land Training programme

We are now taking bookings for places on the next "block" of ten land training sessions that will start on Friday 15th June. This block will run through to August 25th. It is clear from the recent performances of our swimmers that this additional "strength and conditioning" training has contributed greatly. The cost of this "block" of ten (10) sessions will be £25. To secure your place on the programme please register your interest by email to pbscselection@gmail.com

NB The Land Training programme is open in the first instance to all swimmers in Squads 1 and 2 and takes place on Friday evenings between 7pm and 8 pm. Those swimmers that wish to take part in this session must also commit to swimming in the Friday night Squad session between 8.15 pm and 9.15pm.

Time Trials for Squad 3, 4 and 5 - Sunday 27th May 2012 at FF

On Sunday 27th May 2012 we will be holding time trials at the Furzefield Sports Centre for all swimmers that are in Squads 3, 4 and 5. We are running the time trials to give our swimmers some valuable competitive swimming experience within the club environment and to establish current times in advance of the Potters Bar Summer Open meet. All Squad 3, 4 and 5 swimmers are encouraged to take part!

The swimmers will be competing over 50 metres on all the four strokes (time permitting) and the event will require all swimmers to "sign in" on the night by 5.45 pm. It is very important thall all swimmers sign in by this time so that the necessary "meet management" paperwork can be printed so that the time trials can start promptly. NB Please note that if swimmers do not sign in by 5.45pm then it is highly likely that you will not be able to take part. Clearly we do not want anybody to be disappointed so please arrive in good time to sign in.

On the night we hope to have electronic timing in operation so this should add to the excitement and enjoyment for swimmers and parents. The event will be subject to ASA rules and will be "officiated" by qualified officials from within the Club. We will have access to the pool from 6.15pm and need to be finished before 8.15 pm when the public swimming session starts.The results from these time trials will be entered into the Club database and are used to help select teams that represent the Club.

Kate Lack Trophy Results

A great turn out and lots of spectacular swims for Potters Bar swimmers at the Kate Lack trophy at Barnet Copthall on Sunday.  We were the third largest team with over 158 swims, 26 first places were claimed by Thomas Stanbury ,Ben Harrison, Morgan Newman, Georgianna Balchin, Lauren Andrew, James Woodward, David Shipman, Jack Shewell-Cooper, Andrea Houben, Thilan Walallawita, Oliver Formby, Pheobe Love, Georgina Lawson, James Ayres and Samantha Burt. 20 silver medals were taken by Katie Harrison, Harriet Newman, Thomas, Georgianna, Ben, Lauren, David, Jessica Hurley, Jack, Rebecca Hurley, Thilan, Pheobe and Samantha. 13 bronze medals were won by Elise Cork, Olivia, Harriet, Thomas, Ben, Jack, Andrea, Charlie Stapleton, Oliver Formby, Katie Gormley and Samantha.
Personal best times were swum by James Blount, James Spence, Maya Spence, Madeleine Formby, Emiles Read-Letts, Siobham Gallagher, Amelia Hardy, Aleyna Mert, Ismail Mert, Adam Gill, Ed Burt, Kate Andrew, Katie Conyers, Elie Lawson, Katharine McEnery, Alice Johnson, Sean Lovell and Nicolas Formby. Well done to James Smith, Natasha Guidice, Anna Shipman, Greg Hurley, Claudia Hawkins, Eleanor Yong and Niamh Gormley who all swam well this being their first open meet for some.
To top it all there were 2 new regional qualifiers with James Woodward and David Shipman qualifying for the East Region Championships in the 11yr old and 12 yr 100 free style which takes the number of swimmers qualifying for regionals to 7 this year.  Georgina Lawson added a further RQT in the 200 back stroke.

Meanwhile the results summary is here.

Dunstable Gareth Jeans team gala results

The Potters Bar team won 14 out of the 49 events in this invitation gala at Dunstable on Saturday against Dunstable SC, Flitwick Dolphins SC, Witney SC and Aylesbury SC.  They were narrowly pipped into third place but plenty of great swims.  Here is the result sheet.

Squad 5 Training session on Sunday evenings

Squad 5 swimmers are invited to attend an additional session on Sunday evenings at the FF between 6.15pm and 7.15pm. 

PBSC swimmers represent Mid Herts Schools Team

The Club was well represented in the Mid Herts School Team that competed at the Primary schools district gala that was held at Watford earlier this evening. This event also acted as the selection trials for the Hertfordshire Primary School Team.

Those selected for the Mid Herts School team from the Club were: -

Kate Andrew, Katie Harrison, Elise Cork, Sophia Zeinden, Adam Zeinden, Katie Hamshere, Thomas Stanbury, Sean Lovell, Yasmine Crowe, Adam Gill, Edward Burt, Georgianna Balchin, Morgan Newman, Ben Harrison, Greg Hurley, Georgina and Stephanie Tallon and Susan Bugg. Well done to all these swimmers!

A particular well done to Morgan, Ben, Thomas and Georgianna for being selected to represent Herts County Primary schools team in a forthcoming Inter-County event to be held at Watford.

Our swimmers times have now been published on the PBSC Hytek Database that can be accessed via the swimmers times page.

Busy weekend ahead for PBSC swimmers!

This weekend we have a team of swimmers representing PBSC at the "Gareth Jeans" gala that is taking place in Dunstable on Saturday evening. We will be competing  against Dunstable SC, Flitwick Dolphins SC, Witney SC and Aylesbury SC in this team event - Good Luck to all those swimmers representing PBSC.

On Sunday we have a large team of swimmers competing at the Kate Lack Open Meet that is being held at Barnet Copthall Pool. It will be good to see how our swimmers perform particularly those who are looking to achieve Regional QT's before the closing date for entries next week. Last year we came away from the event with the "Top Club" Trophy and we hope to be in the running for it again this year - Good Luck to all those competing!  

PBSC Camping Trip

The camping trip over the weekend of the 6th, 7th and 8th of July has proved to be very popular with members. There are still pitches available should any more members like to come along - If you are interested you need to speak to Steve Shipman as soon as possible.  Scroll down this page for the full details of the campsite and its website.

For those that have already expressed an interest deposits of £10 need to be paid to Steve by Wednesday 16th May 2012 so that numbers can be finalised. Email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk and your email will be forwared to Steve.

Time Trials on Sunday 27th May 2012

We will be holding time trials over 50m for swimmers in Squads 3, 4 and 5. This will afford the swimmers the opportunity to have times recorded in advance of the PBSC Summer Open Meet. All swimmers in Squads 3, 4 and 5 are encouraged to take part in the time trial to gain experience. The swimmers times are also recorded in the Clubs Database and are used by the PBSC Selection committee to select the teams to represent the Club in the various leagues and galas that we participate in. More details concerning the time trials will be posted nearer the date.

PBSC Summer Open Meet - Saturday 30th June 2012

Just a quick reminder to PBSC swimmers to submit their entries for the PBSC Summer open meet promptly. The event is licensed at ASA Level 3 so times recorded at the event will be entered into the ASA's rankings database and will also be eligible to be used as qualification times for the Herts County Championships in 2013. The full details of the open meet and how to enter are on the PBSC Open meets page of this website.

A good evening had by all at the PBSC Social

About 150 PBSC members attended the social and disco held at Elm Court on Saturday. It was great to see the kids having a great time and there were some star performers on the dance floor and stage! Swimmers who represented PBSC in the National Arena League were awarded certificates marking their contribution to the team that gained promotion to Division 2. Swimmers who represented the PBSC-Jade Team, which  in the teams first year in the Herts Major League secured promotion to Division 2, were also awarded certificates to recognise their fantastic performance - Well done to all swimmers!

Amy Mason was awarded "swimmer of the month" trophy having excelled in recent weeks at training and having put in some great swims in the first round of the Peanuts League. Well done Amy!

A big thank you to Karen Lawson for organising an enjoyable evening and to all those that helped with the set up, the running of the bar/raffle and for the Chef's that worked hard in the kitchen.

Additional Squad 5 session on Sunday evenings!

Squad 5 swimmers are invited to train on a Sunday evening at the Furzefield Sports Centre between 6.15 pm and 7.15 pm. The PBSC Coaching team are keen for Squad 5 swimmers to take advantage of this additional session to help improve performances in the Peanuts League and the forthcoming Potters Bar Summer Open Meet. The first session will be on Sunday 29th April 2012. We look forward to seeing Squad 5 swimmers on Sunday evening. This session will be reviewed at the end of June .

This message has been "tweeted" to PBSC members so please follow us at @pottersbarswim if you have not already done so!

PBSC Blue Team put in a great performance and come 3rd in 1st round of Peanuts Division 1

The Blue team finished in a very credible third place with 148 points behind winners Hatfield (128 points) and City of St Albans (136 points). These are two of the biggest and strongest Clubs in the League so to finish so close behind them was an excellent performance. Over the course of the gala we had 14 1st places, 7 2nd places, 9 3rd places and just one DQ. Twenty four (24) personal best times were also recorded by PBSC Swimmers.

There were individual wins for Ben Harrison, David Shipman, Morgan Newman, James Woodward and Thomas Stanbury. In winning the 25m backstroke in a time of 17.97 seconds Thomas Stanbury broke the Club Record that had stood for over 9 years.

Well done to all PBSC Blue Team swimmers on an excellent performance. 

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I am very pleased with the performance of both the Blue and Jade Teams. We have the 2nd round in a few weeks time and I'd like to see everyone put in a few extra sessions so that we can build on these 1st round performances. Well done to Thomas on breaking the 25m backstroke Club record"

PBSC Jade Team Win First Round of Peanuts Division 3

Here is the gala report for the Jade Team kindly written by Anna Church - many thanks for the report!

"It was an exciting night for the members of the Jade team at Borehamwood on Saturday. They won the close fought gala with a total of 148 points (9 points ahead of Hitchin, their nearest rival.) Amy Mason got the gala off to a great start by winning the freestyle and getting a personal best. There were also individual wins by Jordan Seal, Eliza Connery, Luke Maddock-Lyon, Lucy Hopkins, James Blount, Alex Ayres, Madeleine Formby and Jack Shewell-Cooper. The 9 year old girls (Anna Shipman, Eliza Connery, Holly Bradbury, Ella Higgens and Victoria Curley) and the 12 year old boys(Luke Maddock-Lyon, Nicholas Formby, Alex Ayres, Jack Shewell-Cooper and Josef Wheeler) won both the freestyle and medley relays. And the 11 year old boys (James Blount, Jordan Seal, Edward Burt and Ismail Mert) won their freestyle relay. We finished the evening off with an exciting squadron swim in which we came second with a brilliant final leg by Jack Shewell-Cooper in a time of 14.94 seconds! 

Coach Bronwen Hardy said "The children were fantastic they all swam brilliantly and the result was well deserved!"

The results from this gala are on the "reports and results" page and are also on the PBSC Hytek Database accessed through the link on the swimmers tims page. For relay splits make sure you click on the "relays" button and then the "splits" button and this will bring up the swimmers relay split times.  Here are some photos from the gala.

Follow PBSC on "Twitter"

Club members are now able to follow PBSC on "Twitter" @pottersbarswim . We will be "tweeting" news from the Club so if you have a "Twitter" account then please sign up to to keep up to date with the latest news.

Morgan Newman achieves two Regional qualifying times

Morgan attended the Redbridge Regional qualifying open meet this weekend with the aim of achieving two regional qualifying times (RQT's). In recent weeks he has worked really hard in training and his efforts paid off in that he attained RQT's in the 200m IM and 100m Breaststroke. The added bonus was that he won the gold medals in these events and the 100m backstroke too. His 100m Backstroke time was a 9 second personal best - Well done Morgan and keep up the hard work in training!

Morgan is one of five PBSC swimmers that have qualified to swim in the Regional Championships that take place in June. The Championships are being held at te 50m pool in Norwich. Ben Harrison, Thomas Stanbury, Georgina Lawson and Phoebe Love are our other qualifiers.

Herts ASA on "Twitter" and "Facebook"

PBSC swimmers and members may wish to sign up to Hertfordshire ASA's "Twitter" and "Facebook" accounts to gain instant unpdates from them regarding swimming in the County. See their website www.hertsasa.org.uk for more information.

Camping Trip - Friday 6th to Sunday 8th July 2012

Steve Shipman is kindly co-ordinating a camping trip over the above weekend for PBSC swimmers and families. A number of pitches have been reserved at the Hurley riverside park campsite in Hurley. The website for this campsite is www.hurleyriversidepark.co.uk which gives full details of the site and amenities available.

To secure your pitch requires a payment of £10 to Steve as soon as possible with the remaining balance to be paid to the campsite on arrival. A pitch for a small tent (up to 4 metres) to include 2 people costs £19 per night. A larger tent (up to 6 metres) to include 2 people costs £21 per night. Extra adults are £3 per night and extra children are £2 per night. Dogs are welcome too at a cost of £2 per night.This camping trip is open to all PBSC members and the site is a short drive away from Chessington World of Adventures.

Speak to Steve Shipman to reserve your pitch or email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk and your email will be forwarded to him. This is a good opportunity for the kids to have a fun weekend together away from the pool and enjoy the fresh air!

Peanuts League - Round 1

This weekend we will have about seventy of our youngest swimmers competing in the Peanuts League 2012. We have the PBSC - Jade Team competing in Division 3 at the Venue, Borehamwood (meet at 5.45pm) and PBSC - Blue Team in Division 1 at Stevenage (meet at 6pm). This should be a great experience for our swimmers and the PBSC Coaching team are keen to see how they perform.

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC - Jade Team Coach "I am looking forward to a great evening with the Jade team and I'm sure the swimmers will swim their socks off and have a fun night"

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC - Blue Team Coach "We are swimming against some of the strongest clubs in Hertfordshire so I'm looking for the Blue team to put in a big performance. Every point will count so its so important that we avoid unnecessary disqualifications and I'm confident we will do well if we do"

Want to swim like Rebecca Adlington?

PBSC swimmers will enjoy this video of Rebecca Adlington. There are some great underwater shots in which she demonstrates great streamlining and the importance of a good "catch" and "pull" through the water. Excellent streamlining is one of the most important skills that all competitive swimmers need to acquire! The "catch" and "pull" is equally as important as this helps generate speed through the water. Let your Coach know if you have viewed this video!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuJo_lVmO1Q 

Starts and Turns - Friday 13th April

Just a reminder that this fridays session will be a "starts" and "turns" session and that all swimmers in Squad 1, 2, 3 and 4 are encouraged to attend. With the first round of the Peanuts League just a week away we are keen to see many of our younger swimmers at this session for some extra practice. 

Social and Disco at Elm Court Saturday 28th April

Put the date in your diaries.  There is a club social and disco at Elm Court on Saturday 28th April to celebrate the success at Herts Majors, the Herts Counties amongst others and to look forward to the forth coming Peanuts galas.  Start time 7.30pm and price £3.00 each.  Licenced bar and food available.  Tickets available from the "Help Desk" on the balcony from this Friday.

Phoebe at the Welsh National Age Group Championships

Over the Easter weekend 14 year old Phoebe Love will be competing in the Welsh National Age Group Championships that are being held at the 50m pool in Swansea, Wales. She has a busy weekend competing in the 50m, 100m, 200m Freestyle, 100m Breaststroke and 100m Butterfly. In the 50m Freestyle she is currently seeded as the fourth fastest 14 year old in the age group. Phoebe will be cheered on by members of her family who live locally so she will have plenty of supporters to impress.  Good luck to Phoebe from all at PBSC!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Phoebe should be delighted she has qualified for the Welsh National Championships as this is a big achievement in itself.That said she has a great chance to make finals and I'm confident that in front of her supporters she will swim well and be a great ambassador for PBSC"

Potters Bar Summer Open Meet - Saturday 30th June 2012

We are now accepting entries to this years summer open meet which will be held at the Furzefield Sports Centre in Potters Bar. This event is an ASA Level 3 Licensed event so swimmers times will be eligible for the ASA's rankings database and for entry to next years Herts ASA County Championships. At PBSC we appreciate the importance of rewarding swimmers and will be making awards for those placed in the first eight (9/10 yrs and 11/12 years age groups) and to the top six in all other age categories. We are also mindful of the cost of entries so have fixed this at £4 per entry which is much less than the current norm.

Please click on the PBSC Open Meets Tab on the left of this page for full details including meet conditions, programme of events, upper and lower qualifying times and HYTEK files for visiting Club entries. This is a very popular event so you are advised to submit entries promptly.

PBSC Swimmers need to submit their entries via email to pbscsummeropen@gmail.com . The entry form can be found on the PBSC Open Meets page. Please also submit a hard copy entry to the Coaching Team or a member of the PBSC Committee. 

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I am very keen to have a big entry from the Club and encourage all PBSC swimmers to compete in as many events as possible. There are medals and prizes for the first eight in some age groups and the first six in others so there is a good chance that your efforts will be rewarded"

South Herts Trophy

The results for the South Herts Trophy have been posted on the "reports and results page" and can also be accessed through the PBSC Hytek on line database the link for which is on the "Swimmers times" page on this website.

Last nights gala was a great introduction to competition racing for many of the young swimmers that took part and the PBSC Blue team put in a good performance to finish second to Hoddesdon SC by just seven points. PBSC Jade team also swam well and gained valueable experience ahead of the forthcoming Peanuts League.

Click on the below link for some pictures from last nights event.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115496772782293772798/SouthHertsTrophyMarch2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCNq0h5bm5cagywE#5726402412930861618

Swimmer of the Month - March 2012

At the end of last night's training session PBSC Head Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper awarded the swimmer of the month trophy to 10 year old Thomas Stanbury who trains in Squad 2. Thomas put in some great performances at the Herts County Championships in his first year of competition and won a bronze medal in the 50m Backstroke in a time that was just 0.03 seconds off the PBSC Club record. He also finished in fourth place in the 10 year olds BAGCATS competition and recorded several Regional Qualifying times which is a great ahcievement. Well done - Thomas!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "This months award has been the most difficult for me to decide upon after a number great performances by PBSC swimmers at the Herts County Championships. Thomas has swum really well in his first year of competition and to win medals at the Counties, achieve Regional Qualifying times and come 4th in the BAGCATS competition is a real stand out performance" , "We have the Peanut's League and South Herts Trophy coming up and I'm looking for our younger swimmers to impress me over the next month"

Georgie at Scottish National Agegroups

This weekend Georgina Lawson, Girls Club Captain, will travel to the Sunderland Aquatics Centre to compete in the Scottish Gas National Age Groups Championships 2012 which are being held between the Saturday the 31st of March and Tuesday the 3rd of April. Georgina will be competing against Scotlands top swimmers in her age group at this National long course event. Georgie achieved qualifying times in the 100 back stroke and the 100 freestyle which will be swum on the Saturday and Tuesday afternoons. Good luck Georgie.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach - “I am delighted that Georgina has qualified for the Scottish National Age Group Championships. It’s well deserved given her efforts over the last year and I’m sure she will thoroughly enjoy the event. I’m confident she will swim well and be a great ambassador for Potters Bar SC. Hopefully Georgie will rise to the challenge having just completed 2 weekends swimming at the County Championships"

Six PBSC Swimmers finish in the top 8 in the Herts ASA BAGCATS Competition

In this years BAGCATS we have six PBSC swimmers that have finished in the top eight of their age groups BAGCAT competition. They are Kate Andrew, Katie Harrison, Thomas Stanbury, Ben Harrison, Morgan Newman and David Shipman who are all invited to attend the presentation evening at Welwyn Civic Centre, Prospect Place, Welwyn, AL6 9ER on Wednesday 28th March 2012 where the final placings will be revealed. The presentation evening starts at 7pm. Our Bronze medal winning relay team of Georgina Lawson, Andrea Houben, Claire Dean and Phoebe Love are also invited to the presentation where they will be awarded their medals. Katie Gormley is also invited so she can be awarded her silver medal in the 1500m Freestyle.

The PBSC Coaching team are extremely pleased that so many of our swimmers have finished in the top eight and shows a big improvement on last year were we had two top eight finishes. In order to participate in the overall BAGCAT competition, you must enter and compete in at least one event from a number of categories. Points are scored for each event, dependent upon the time swum, contributing to an overall score and position. If you enter more than 1 event in any category it is only the “best” score that counts towards the overall competition.  

And more medal winning performances on the final day of the Herts County Championships!

Well done to Thomas Stanbury who swam a fantastic 50m backstroke on the final day that won him the bronze medal in the 10 year boys age group. Ben Harrison rounded off a very successful championhips by winning the silver medal in the 400m Freestyle. Both swimmers recorded personal best times to finish on the podium - Well done to Thomas and Ben.

We are awaiting the official result files from Herts ASA before posting our swimmers times on the website/swimmers times database but will do so as soon as we are able. That said the PBSC Coaching Team are delighted with the overall performance of PBSC swimmers at this years Championships.

PBSC swimmers win more medals at Herts County Championships 2012 and David Shipman breaks a Club Record

There has been more success this weekend at the Herts County Championships 2012 that are being held the Venue in Borehamwood as follows: -

1) David Shipman was in "red hot" form in the 50m Freestyle where he smashed the 11 year old boys Club record on the way to winning the silver medal - Well done David - well deserved.

2) Olivia Seal and Kate Andrew won silver and bronze medals respectively in the girls 9 years 50m butterfly, both girls swimming personal best performances to do so. Well done to Olivia and Kate!

3) Morgan Newman and Ben Harrison won silver and bronze medals respectively in the boys 11 years 200m breaststroke - Again both recorded new PB's for this event - Well done to Morgan and Ben.

There is one final day to go so we are hopeful of more medal winning performances and PB's from our swimmers.

Good luck to all that are competing tomorrow.

Good News

Masters rankings for 2011 are out and John Cunningham is ranked 3rd in the world for 50m and 100m short course butterfly!

Long-standing club member and masters swimmer Richard McGonegle picked up an award for "Highly Commended Adult Volunteer of the Year" at the Enfield Sports Awards for his work with Enfield swimming clubs.

Well done both.

Herts County Championships - Update!

Sunday

It has been another good day at The Venue, Borehamwood where our swimmers have continued with the good form of yesterday.They have again swum fantastically with many recording personal best times in their events. Again a number of medals have been won and they are summarised as follows: -

1) Georgina Lawson won a silver medal in the 14 year old 100m Backstroke, which added to her bronze medal of the previous day. Unfortunately Georgina injured her hand as she finished and had to withdraw from the 200m Backstroke and 100m Butterfly that was held later in the day.

2) Ben Harrison added to his haul of medals with another silver medal in the 11 year olds 50m Breaststroke and bronze medals in the 200m Individual medley and 200m Freestyle.

3) David Shipman raced to a bronze medal in the 11 year olds 50m Breaststroke, making it 2nd and 3rd for PBSC. 

4) Lauren Andrew swam a very determined 100m Butterfly which saw her win the bronze medal in the 11 year old Girls age group.

Again many of the PBSC swimmers swam PB's and we are awaiting the official results so we can enter them into the Club database. Well done to all swimmers that competed today and in particular to Thomas Stanbury and Morgan Newman who both achieved Regional Qualifying Times. Thomas attained qualifying times for the 200 IM and 200m Freestyle and Morgan the 200m Freestyle. Despite achieving these Regional Times they were both placed just outside the medals so this gives some indication as to the high standard of swimming that has been seen at The Venue over the weekend. 

Wray Shewell-Cooper " We have continued with good performances today and again I am delighted with the efforts of our swimmers. Despite it being the second day of competition many of the swimmers recorded PB's and won medals so they deserve a big "Well done". I'm looking forward to next weekend and hopeful that the good performances will continue"

Saturday

Today we have had a large number of our swimmers competing at The Venue in Borehamwood in sessions 2, 3 and 4 of the Herts County Championships. Many of our swimmers have put in great swims and recorded personal best times. We have also had swimmers achieve podium finishes in their events which can be summarised as follows: -

1) Phoebe Love swam an extremely fast 50m Freestyle to win the silver medal in the 14 year age group. This swim was just 0.03 seconds outside the PBSC Club Record.

2) Ben Harrison was in the medals with silver in the 400 IM and Bronze medals in the 50m Butterfly and 200m Backstroke. His 200m Backstroke was a Regional qualifying time.

3) Georgina Lawson swam a very fast 100m Freestyle in the 14 year old age group and won the bronze medal which is another great achievement.

4) The 15 & Under Girls 4 x 50m Freestyle Team of Phoebe Love, Claire Dean, Andrea Houben and Georgina Lawson put in a big performance to come third and collect the bronze medal. This is the Club's first relay medal at these Championships for many years. All of these swimmers will be eligible to represent the Club in the same event next year which is great news.

Many of our swimmers recorded PB's and these will be published once they have been inputted to the Club Database but a "big well done" to all those swimmers who raised their performance today.

Well done to Thomas Stanbury who became PBSC's fifth qualifier for the Regional Championships that take place later in the year. Thomas qualified in the 200m Backstroke and surpassed the qualifying time by over seven seconds. This swim placed him fourth today in the 10 year olds age group - Well done - Thomas!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "PBSC swimmers have really stepped up today and I'm delighted with so many PB's. The medals won by our swimmers are an added bonus and hopefully we can continue with more great swims over the remaining sessions."

Hertfordshire County Championships 2012 - Warm up Times

Sunday 18th March 2012

Session 5 - warm up starts @ 0830 hrs and Session 6 - warm up starts @ 1200 hrs

Their will be a "live results" service operating over the weekend so you can keep in touch with the progress of our swimmers over weekend via the following link: -

http://results.hertsasa.org.uk/2012_champs/

Good luck to all those competing this weekend

Fantastic efforts by PBSC Swimmers who raise money for charity by taking part in the Rotary Swimathon

The following report and above pictures have been received courtesy of one of our members: -

"An excellent turn out from Potters Bar SC for the annual Charity Swim Challenge. Out of the 18 teams that entered, 10 teams included Potters Bar swimmers. This was an excellent turn out from the Club. All teams that entered did extremely well and appeared to being having great fun in aid of raising money for both The Alzheimer’s Society and The Orpheus Centre.

"The Girl Racers" (Samantha Over, Phoebe Love, Claire Dean and Rebecca Hurley) were in the lead up until the 6:30pm with a very respectful 56 lengths in 20 minutes of racing.

At 6:30pm The Dream Team (Morgan Newman, Ben Harrison, David Shipman, James Woodward & Thilan Wallalawita) were swimming alongside, or should I say against "The Strokes" (Paul Newman, John Cunningham, Neil Kirk, Nicola Lawrence & Julian Swindale). To say the testosterone levels where running high would have been an understatement. The rolling starts by a certain International master were rather dubious but The Dream Team matched them in speed and take-overs, both finishing with 63 lengths in the name of charity and good fun. The Old Codgers (Chris Dean, Tom Dean, Ed Lawson, Robert Branch and Andy Gardner) achieved 57 lengths in the 20 minutes. Robert swam back to back races, as The Old Codgers were running one short. Well done Robert!

Also racing at the same time where Team Flower Power (Harriet Newman, Victoria Curley, Anna Shipman and Yasmin Wheeler). The team were also one short and very sportingly both Anne Curley and Steven Shipman very kindly offered to step in at the last minute. Steve won the toss of the coin and added to the fabulous job that the girls did, achieving 32 lengths.

It is not currently known how much has been raised to date, but a rough figure of nearly £2,000 has been raised already. Sorry for any accidental omissions but unfortunately, did not see all of the races to comment on"

Many thanks for the report!

PBSC Swimmers enjoy a great evening at the Olympic Aquatic Center

 This evening a number of PBSC Swimmers attended the Olympic Aquatic Center to watch the British Gas Swimming Championships which are doubling up as the Olympic Trials. There was added interest in tonights session in that former PBSC swimmer, Joel Knight was competing in the final of the 1500m freestyle. Joel is pictured left with our swimmers.

Joel qualified for the final in 8th place but put in a fantastic performance to finish fifth  setting a new British record for 16 year olds in a time of 15 mins 24.92 seconds. This mark is also a European Junior Championships qualifying time. This is a great achievement and shows that Joel has great potential to make the 2016 Olympic Team that will compete in Brazil. His performance was an inspiration to our swimmers. Well done Joel!

To round off a great evening PBSC Swimmers managed to secure a great picture with Liam Tancock who is the current 50m Backstroke World Record Holder who secured his place on the London 2012 Olympic Team by winning the 100m backstroke. Our eagle eyed swimmers spotted Liam in the nearby Westfield Shopping Centre and congratulated him on his performances and in return he obliged by posing for a photograph.

       One young PBSC swimmer also managed to scure a hug from Liam after declaring   how much she loved his performances this week or was it how much she loved him?

       Thanks to Liam and good luck to him and all the GB Team at the Olympics

Here is a link to some more great photographs from the British Gas Championships 2012: -

https://picasaweb.google.com/115496772782293772798/BGasSwimmingChampionshipsMarch2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCJnUkYqk-tm9Rg

Joel Knight makes final of 1500m at the British Gas Championships 2012 (Olympic Trials)

Our friend and ex-PBSC swimmer Joel Knight has made the final of the 1500m at the British Gas Championships 2012 at the new Olympic pool. Joel who is 16 years old now attends and swims for Millfield School which has a great reputation for developing some of the very best swimmers in the country.

PBSC members will recall Joel kindly presented awards at the summer social event that we held at the cricket club. Joel also popped in over the summer and helped with sessions with some of our younger swimmers.The Final is on Saturday 10th March and for those that don't have tickets you will be able to watch it via BBC1 (red button) at 1825 hrs. In the final there are two places up for grabs on the GB Olympic Team. There are a number of PBSC members attending tomorrow night and will be rooting for Joel. Good luck to Joel from all of us!

Here are some photos from the heats.  Here is a link to their website.

Anna Church meets three time Olympian and ex-World Record Holder Mark Foster at the British Gas Championships 2012 (Olympic Trials)

  

Here is a super picture of Anna Church with Mark Foster outside the Olympic Aquatic Centre. Anna has been one of many PBSC swimmers that have taken the opportunity to attend the British Gas Championships which are doubling up as the Olympic Trials to select the GB Team.

Well done Anna on securing a great picture!

Herts County Championships 2012 - T-shirts and Hats to be presented on friday evening

This weekend sees the start of the Hertfordshire County Championships 2012. Over the next three weeks we have forty five swimmers from the Club competing which is a record entry. With so many swimmers competing it is going to be a very busy period and we will keep the website updated with our swimmers progress and achievements. Herts ASA will also be running a "real time" on line results service and the link will be published soon. Once it is known we will add it to the website so you can keep up to date with how PBSC Swimmers are doing!

At this fridays Squad session Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach will be presenting "Counties" T-Shirts and Hats to those swimmers competing at this years Championships, so swimmers please come along. We will also take the opportunity to have a team photograph. The "Counties" T-Shirts are to be worn to and from the pool, with the PBSC Rhino T-Shirts to be worn on the pool side. We are keen to have a uniform approach on the deck and be one team all supporting each other!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach - "The PBSC Coaching Team are looking forward to see how our swimmers perform and have every confidence that we will see some great performances. Hopefully some performances will see podium finishes and I'm confident we will see improved results in the BAGCAT's events. Good luck to all PBSC swimmers and make sure you enjoy the occasion"

Swimmer of the Month - February

Josef Wheeler in Squad 2 was awarded the swimmer of the month trophy at last nights "starts and turns" session by Head Coach Wray. Josef has been a long standing member of the Club who was recently promoted to Squad 2, where he has excelled and managed to progress towards the front of the lane. Josef rarely misses a training session and his efforts have seen him achieve his first County Qualifying Time this year. Well done Josef your award was well deserved!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Josef's progress over the last few months has not gone un-noticed by the Coaching Team. His determination and hard work in training has paid off in that he has achieved a County Qualifying time of which he should be rightly proud" 

The Swimmer of the month trophy for March will be awarded at the next "starts and turns" session and with the Hertfordshire County Championships this month there is plenty of opportunity for swimmers to stake a claim for the award.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "For next months award I am looking for a swimmer who put's in a big performance at the Counties, not necessarily one that win's a medal but a swimmer that shows a big improvement and a big step up! We have forty five swimmers competing so they all have a chance of winning the swimmer of the month trophy"

Herts Major League results published

See the articles below for the links for the swimmers results. The results can also be accessed via the "reports and results " tab. Well done to all swimmers on some great performances !

Kate Lack Open Meet at Barnet Copthall - Sunday 13th May 2012

We will be entering the Kate Lack Open Meet once again and this event is open to all swimmers in Squad 5 and above that meet the criteria for entry. This is a Level 4 Licensed open meet and is suitable for those looking to experience their first competition through to those who are more experienced competitors. It would be great to see some of our newer members taking part in this event as it is likely we will have a big team presence on the poolside. This will be the last opportunity for any swimmers seeking Regional Qualifying Times as Regional Entries Close on May 17th 2012.

The flyer for this event is here and the Upper Qualifying Times are here.

NB The Closing Date for Club Entries is Saturday 3rd March 2012 so don't delay in submitting your entry to Martin Higgins on pbscgalasec@gmail.com

PBSC Blue finish in top 6 of Div 1 Herts Major League

The Blue team took fifth place in the winners gala of the third round of Herts Major League on Saturday.  Chief Coach Wray said "This is a fabulous achievement for a team that was only just promoted to division one this year.  It proves we are truly worthy of our place in division 1".

Up against the top swimmers in the county many of our swimmers were achieving personal best times but still coming fourth or fifth in the races.  The Under 12 boys medley relay team won an exciting first place and boosted team morale. Here are the results. 

Here is a link to some pictures from this gala: -

https://picasaweb.google.com/115496772782293772798/HMLDiv1Final25212?authkey=Gv1sRgCJXA05q8lvqSfw&feat=email

Tania and Josephine qualify as J1 Officials

It wasn't only the swimmers that were put through their paces at the weekend, Tania Houben and Josephine Connery also undertook their J1 Judges assessments at the Herts Major League Div 1 Final and passed with flying colours. They are the latest club members to qualify as officials and thats great news for the Club as we always need plenty of officials to help with the running of gala's at home and when we are competing away.

Officials Training Courses are run by Herts ASA each year and we are keen for any other interested members or parents to undertake the training in support of the Club. If you are interested in undertaking the training then have a chat with Karen Lawson, PBSC's Officials co-ordinator or drop her an email at officials@pottersbarsc.co.uk . It's a great way to help the Club and learn more about our sport.

PBSC Jade Team come 2nd in Herts Major League Division 3

Last night PBSC Jade Team swimmers put in a great performance to win the final round in Division 3 of the Herts Major League 2012.This fantastic result elevated our position in the league to second behind Royston Swimming Club. Niamh Gormley and Robert Mclean, PBSC Jade Team Captains proudly collected the runners up trophy on behalf of the Jade team. This result will see the PBSC Jade Team promoted to Division 2 for next years competition.

On the night there were 19 first places, 11 second places and nine third places and just one disqualification which just shows how well the PBSC Jade team performed. The excellent results in the relay events showcased what great strength in depth we have in the Club and was integral to achieving such a good result.

There were individual first places for April Richards, Jack Higgins, Leah Refson, Charli Stapleton, Lorcan Vieyra,, Paul Newman, Thomas Stanbury, Chris Andrew, Josef Wheeler, Danielle Houben and Robert Mclean - Well done to these swimmers for winning their events!

There were individual second places for Thomas Hay, Rachel Connery, Ellen Hunt, Katherine McEnery and Luke Maddock-Lyon - Well done! Robert Mclean, Ellen Hunt, Martin Higgins, Madeleine Formby, Luke Maddock-Lyon, Rachel Connery and Jack Shewell-Cooper all had individual third place finishes in their events, so well done to them too.

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC Jade team Coach "Last night's performance by the Jade Team built on the excellent results the team had in the earlier rounds so well done to all swimmers that represented the Jade Team this year. I am really pleased with the strength in depth we have in the team and this should help us next year when we are in Division 2"

Here are the results from the gala. In the meantime here is a link to some photographs from the event: -

https://picasaweb.google.com/115528579666953238463/StevenageJadeHSLFeb12?authkey=Gv1sRgCIbY6PCYhq_pdA

Swimmer of the Month - February!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach will be awarding the PBSC Swimmer of the month trophy at next Friday's "Starts and turns" sesssion so please come along to see who this is awarded too - It may be you!!

"Over the last month I have had a number of swimmers in mind for the award so I have a difficult decision to make over this week" said Wray earlier today when at the PBSC "Big Breakfast".

PBSC "Big Breakfast"

This morning saw a record turn out for Saturday morning training with many swimmers inspired to take part in the PBSC "Big Breakfast" event at the "golden arches!". In fact there were more swimmers there this morning than we see in some our evening squad sessions. Well done to all those swimmers who set their alarm clocks and made it along this morning, we hope to see you and more next week!

Next week we plan another "big breakfast" and plan to go to another venue in Potters Bar. If all PBSC Swimmers could wear their hoodies next week at the "big breakfast" that would be great!

Herts County Championships 2012 - Volunteers required !

We have received a request from Herts ASA seeking volunteers to assist with the running of the Herts Count Championships. Volunteers are required at each of the sessions to assist with roles such as running the door, marshalling, refreshments etc. This year PBSC has a Club record entry and therefore we need to do our bit to make sure these Championships run smoothly so are hoping that some of the parents of our swimmers will be able to assist.

If you are able to assist please email Caroline Holt on caroline.holt1@hotmail.com and please remember to mention that you are from Potters Bar SC. There are sessions on Sunday 11th March and both days of the weekends of March 17th/18 and March 24th and 25th. If you do volunteer please could you let Karen Lawson know too.

PBSC Blue and Jade Teams in action this weekend in the final round of the Herts Major League

The final round of the Herts Major League 2012 takes place this weekend and PBSC will have over fifty of our swimmers competing, so its another very busy weekend for the Club.

PBSC Jade Team have excelled and are competing in the final of Division 3 and need a good result to try and gain promotion in their first year of competition in this league. The Jade team is competing at Stevenage and the team needs to meet by 6pm.

PBSC Blue Team performance this year has already exceded our expectations and has made the final in Division 1 and will be competing against the very best clubs in Hertfordshire.  This means we will finish at least sixth in Division 1 which is a great achievement in our first year after promotion. PBSC Blue Team are at Hitchin and need to meet by 6.15pm.

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC Jade Team Coach "I'm looking for a good performance from the Jade Team on Saturday and have every confidence they will swim well. It should be an exciting gala as previous rounds have shown there is a small margin between the teams.We need to avoid any disqualifications in this final round as every point will count"

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Good luck to PBSC Swimmers this weekend. The Jade team are in for an exciting gala and have a chance at gaining promotion. The Blue Team have already exceeded my expectations so they can go into the final and enjoy swimming against the very best teams in Hertfordshire"

Hertfordshire County Championships 2012

The closing date for entries to this years County Championships closed on Friday and PBSC has forty five swimmers competing this year. This is a fantastic achievement and a massive improvement from the twenty two swimmers that qualified last year. A big well done to the swimmers and Head Coach Wray and his coaching team on this great achievement. This has been the result of a great deal of hard work and commitment by the swimmers and coaching team over the last 12 months.

With just four weeks go to the Counties PBSC "County Qualifiers" are encouraged to try and add a couple of extra sessions to their training over the next few weeks. The PBSC Coaching Team are particularly keen to see those swimming at the County Championships at the Saturday morning, Thursday and Sunday evening sessions over the next few weeks. To encourage attendance at next Saturdays morning training session it is proposed that all swimmers are invited to a post training "big" breakfast at a location within Potters Bar. The venue is often referred to by some as having "Golden Arches" - The PBSC Coaching Team look forward to seeing our swimmers at next Saturdays session.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I'm delighted with the number of swimmers that have qualified for this year's Counties. With just four weeks to go it's now important that we focus on preparing the swimmers so that they raise their performances at the Counties. For that reason I'm encouraging them to try and fit in some extra sessions over the next few weeks "

Motivational quotes: -

• "If you're not on your 'A' game in your workouts every day, you're going to get absolutely smoked." - Michael Phelps, Swimming Legend
• "The swimmer who says, "It can't be done" is passed by the swimmer who is doing it"

Land Training Programme - Expressions of interest!

As many of our members know we have have been running a Land Training "trial" programme on a Friday night between 7pm and 8pm. Feedback to date suggests that the swimmers have found it very enjoyable and the PBSC Coaching Team are keen to continue running this session. We are seeking "expressions of interest" from those that would like to be considered for the next block of sessions. It is proposed to start these on Friday 30th March and run for 9 weeks which takes us through to Friday 25th May 2012, which is one week before the ASA East Regional Championships 2012. 

The Land Training programme is in the first instance offered to those in Squads 1 and 2. In the event of it being oversubscribed then a decision will be made by the Coaching Team as to who is offered places. This will be based upon factors that include frequency of attendance at swimming training, level of competition at which the swimmer competes, attitude and effort in training.

In the first instance swimmers are invited to register your interest by emailing Chris Andrew at secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk

British Swimming Championships 2012 (Olympic Trials) - March 3rd to March 10th

For those British Swimmers seeking to make the Olympic Team there is just two weeks until the start of the British Swimming Championships 2012 (Olympic Trials) that are being held at the Olympic pool in Stratford. There are a number of PBSC swimmers that earlier in the year took the opportunity to purchase tickets. It is clear that these swimming championships are going to be one of the best ever swimming events staged in this country. This week the "draft" programme of entries has been published and this has revealed the large number of foreign international swimmers that are coming over to experience the Olympic Pool.  These include Paul Biederman of Germany and Milos Cavic of Serbia, who are both featured in the videos on the "Coaches Corner" page of this website. Lotte Friss of Denmark who was the silver medal winner behind Rebecca Adlington at the 2011 World Championships is also competing so this should make for an exciting race with the British Double Olympic Champion.

The draft programme is here and here is a link to information for those spectators attending the British Championships (Olympic Trials) 2012. For those attending it will be a great opportunity to meet some of the stars of our sport and they are often quite happy to sign autographs and have photographs taken so our young swimmers are advised to take along their camera's and autograph books. If you do get a picture then let Chris Andrew know via secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk and we can arrange for it to be published on the website. Lets see who can get the best picture!

The event will also be covered on the TV so make sure you take the time to watch and see our top British swimmers competing for a place in the British Olympic Team.

Club Information Desk - Friday 17th February

This Friday members of the PBSC Committee will be staffing an information desk on the balcony at the Furzefield and will be available to help members with providing information about the Club. This could include information about membership, training times, open meet competitions, Club galas, volunteering and officiating opportunities so please don't hesitate to ask any questions that you have. They will also be available to collect membership fees that are now due. PBSC Hats will be on sale and it is also an opportunity to order PBSC Club T-Shirts for those that do not have them.

Eleanor Burt, the Club's membership secretary and Karen Lawson, a committee member and PBSC's officials co-ordinator will be staffing the desk so please stop by and have a chat with them.

Rotary Sponsored Swim 10th March

The Rotary Club is organising a sponsored swim on the evening of Saturday 10th March.  The application form here explains all.  You will need a team of 5 swimmers who swim in relay over 20 minutes.  Try to break a record or raise some money for charity or just have some fun.  Apply early to get the best start time.

Tape Trophy - Results are in!!

Well done to all PBSC swimmers that competed at the Tape Trophy on Saturday evening. It was a great event and the PBSC Blue team came out as winners (65 points) ahead of Stevenage (151 points), Bushey (162 points), Potters Bar Jade (171 points) and Broxbourne (215 points).

PBSC Jade Team put in some great swims so well done to all swimmers and in particular to Elena Izquierdo-Hall, Tomas Hay, Amelia Hardy, Nicholas Formby, Alice Johnston, Stephen Curley, Indigo Sagoo, Abbie Longley, Siobhan Gallagher, Nicole Humphreys, David Cai and Carlo Cusenza who all recorded Personal Best times (PB's)

A strong performance by the PBSC Blue Team, who managed to swim through the gala without picking up any disqualifications (DQ's) saw them come out as winners of the Tape Trophy for the second year running. Well done to all swimmers and in particular to Jessica Hurley, Lorcan Vieyra, Harriet Newman, James Smith, James Blount, Georgianna Balchin, Natasha Guidice, Katie Hamshere, David Shipman and Charlie Milbery who all recorded Personal Best Times (PB's).

The results are here : PBSC Jade Team and here: PBSC Blue Team

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC Jade Team Coach " I was delighted with the performance of the swimmers in the Jade team, many of whom were competing in their first competitive swimming gala. It has given them some much needed experience in preparation for the Peanut's League and they all did fantastically well"

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "It was another exciting evening of swimming and I am delighted to see so many of our swimmers doing well, so a big well done from me. Successfully retaining the Tape Trophy for the second year running was an added bonus, as was seeing so many PB's recorded by those in the Jade and Blue Teams"

A big thank you to all PBSC Officials, volunteers and our senior swimmers that all helped make this event happen. In particular it was great to see so many of our older swimmers volunteering to help and offering their experience and expertise to our younger members - A big "THANK YOU"

To see some pictures from the event please click on the below link:

https://picasaweb.google.com/115528579666953238463/TapeTrophy2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCPLvt4ul08rVGg

Herts Flyers Open Meet - Going ahead as planned

Today's event at QE Boys is going ahead as planned. The warm up is at 1.30 pm. Swimmers need to give notice if they are not attending so they can be withdrawn from the events they have entered. This is particularly important so that events are not swum with "empty" lanes. If you are not planning to attend then please email pbscgalasec@gmail.com . This email address is being monitored so your withdrawal can be notified to the event organisers.

To those swimmers who are attending we wish you the best of luck and hope that you swim well.

January - Swimmer of the Month Trophy "And the winner is........."

Wray Shewell Cooper, PBSC's Head Coach last night awarded the Swimmer of the month trophy to Nicholas Formby who swims in Squad 2. Nicholas has the honour of being the first recipient of this trophy and it is well deserved given the recent progresses he has made. Over the last few months he has shown a great commitment to training regularly and although not having been in Squad 2 for long has progressed towards the front of the lane. His commitment to training has also led to improved performances in competition where he has posted a number of PB's and he has also achieved his first County Qualifying time.

Well done Nicholas!

Herts Flyers - "Last Chance County Qualifier" Open Meet

Tomorrow we have forty four PBSC swimmers competing at QE Boys School in the Herts Flyers Open Meet. This open meet is the last opportunity for those swimmers seeking to attain County Qualifying times and we wish all PBSC swimmers the best of luck and hope they swim well.

The warm up starts at 1.30pm and PBSC Swimmers are advised to be ready on poolside by 1.15pm.

PBSC Camping weekend / Chessington World of Adventures

A number of the Clubs members are keen campers and Steve Shipman has kindly offered to organise a camping weekend for those that are interested in a weekend away. The dates in mind are the weekend of July 7th and 8th 2012. Initial thoughts are to look for a site close to Chessington World of Adventures to incorporate a day at the theme park. If you are interested in taking part in this weekend which is open to all Club members then either speak to Steve Shipman who is often on the balcony at the FF or email secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk and your email will be forwarded to him. Steve will need to know numbers and tent sizes etc so that he can make appropiate enquiries with campsites.This is a geat opportunity for the kids to have some social time away from the rigours of training and competition.

Thanks to Steve for offering to arrange this activity! 

Herts Major League Results

We are still to post the Herts Major League results from last weekends events. This is because due to delays by the "hosting" clubs not submitting them to the Herts Swimming League(HSL). The HSL need to confirm the results before circulating the official results to Clubs.

As soon as we are able to publish the official results we will update tthe website and the PBSC Hytek Database. 

PBSC Social -Peanuts and Counties Awards night

PBSC will be having a social event and disco at Elm Court on Saturday 28th April 2012. At this event there will be awards for our swimmers who have swum in the Peanuts Trials and at the Herts County Championships. It will also be a great opportunity for the kids and parents to socialise away from the pool so make sure you put it in your diary now.

More info closer to the date!

Squad 4 - Friday training at 6.15pm

We are pleased to announce that Squad 4 will have a new session at the Furzefield starting this Friday 3rd February 2012 at 6.15pm. Swimmers will need to be on the pool side for 6.10pm.

This weeks usual Squad 4 session on Thursday at 7.15pm will go ahead as usual but will be replaced by the Friday session after this week. Over recent months we have seen significant growth in the Club which has led to a high demand on the water time that is available to our swimmers. To alleviate some of this pressure we have had consultation with the Furzefield Sports Centre management and have managed to secure this additional pool time.

Wray, PBSC's Head Coach has taken the decision to move Squad 4 to the Friday evening slot. This will allow Wray, the opportunity to take Squad 4 on a regular basis which also gives the swimmers a great opportunity to have his experience and direction as well as the opportunity to impress him.

In the event that this change causes any great difficulties then please speak with Wray and Bronwen.

We look forward to seeing Squad 4 swimmers at this new session.

Great Performances by "Jade" and "Blue" Teams

Last night saw two excellent performances by the "Jade" and "Blue" Team's that were competing in the second round of the Herts Major League in Divisions 3 and 1 respectively.

The "Jade" team who were competing at the Furzefield finished in second place to Royston SC in a close run gala. In the early part of the gala we were in fourth place but came through strongly to finish second. This result should put us into a good position in the league going into the final round where if we do well we may have a chance at gaining promotion - Well done to all PBSC "Jade" team on a great result!

The "Blue" team who were competing at The Venue, Borehamwood also excelled in their performances and finished in third place behind very strong teams from Watford SC and Hoddesdon SC. This great result should put us into the final where we will be competing against the top six Hertfordshire Clubs. This is a great achievement for the Club after gaining promotion last year - Well done to all PBSC "Blue" team on another fantastic result. 

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC "Jade" team coach - "It was a great performance by the Jade Team to finish in second place and I was delighted by the effort shown by the swimmers. This result put's the team in a great position going into the final round were if we can avoid disqualifications we can do well"

Wray Shewell-Cooper - PBSC "Blue" team coach "It was another great performance by the Blue team, who are performing well above my expectations in the Herts Major League. As Head Coach I'm also extemely happy with the performance of the "Jade" team who are competing in the Herts Major League for the first time"

The swimmers times from each of the galas will be posted as soon as we are able, which is likely to be in the next few days because we have to await the official results from each event.

Here are some photos from the Blue team gala at Borehamwood.

Georgina finishes 11th at "Zonal" Championships

The ASA "Zonal" Championships were held on Saturday 28th January 2012 at Corby in Northamptonshire and PBSC's only qualifier for this event was our girls captain, Georgina Lawson.

The "Zonal" Championships were a new competition introduced last year and they are the next "stepping" stone between the Regional and National Championships. To qualify and swim in these Championships is therefore a fantastic achievement in itself.

Georgina is the first PBSC swimmer to compete in a "Zonal" Championship and on Saturday she swam in the 50m Freestyle recording a time of 28.91 seconds to finish in 11th place out of 43 competitiors in the 14 year old girls age group. This was a great swim and Georgina just missed out on making the final by 0.2 seconds. Well done to Georgina!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Georgina swam really well to finish 11th and I'm very happy with the performance. It's my first "Zonal" Championships too and I'm hoping to be back with more swimmers from PBSC next year"

Good Luck to PBSC Swimmers competing this weekend!

This weekend we have Potters Bar Blue and Jade Teams competing in the second round of the Herts Major League at The Venue, Borehamwood (arrive 5.45pm) and Furzefield Sports Centre (arrive 6.15pm). We will have over fifty swimmers from the Club taking part in these two gala's. In addition to this Georgina Lawson, PBSC's Girls Captain will be competing in the "Zonal" Championships that are being held earlier in the day before heading back down the motorway to Borehamwood.

PBSC Blue are currently in sixth place in Division 1 going into the second round and need to consolidate on a great first round performance. PBSC Jade Team who are competing in the Herts Major League for the first time this year are currently in 3rd place in Division 3 and should have a good chance on improving on this position at our home pool. Good Luck to all PBSC swimmers that are swimming in the two galas!

Georgina Lawson is the Clubs only qualifier for the "Zonal" Championships that are being held this weekend in Corby. "Zonal" Championships were introduced last year and are the next tier between Regional and National Championships. Georgina will be competing in the 50m Freestyle and will be competing against the very best swimmers from East Region and the Midlands - Good Luck to Georgina!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach " I was delighted with the first round performances from the Jade and Blue Teams. It's important we try and consolidate on the first round results, and I'm confident we will. It's important that both teams avoid picking up disqualifiactions as like the first round there is likely to be a small points margin between the competing Clubs"  , "I'm also looking forward to attending my first "Zonal" Championships with Georgina and I'm looking for her to cotinue her recent good form at this high level event"

Swimmer of the Month Trophy

As we approach the end of January 2012 it is an appropriate time to announce that Wray Shewell-Cooper, Head Coach will be awarding the "swimmer of the month" trophy. This is a new initiative for 2012 and Wray's nomination for January is currently under consideration. The recipient of the monthly award will be presented with the above trophy that can be retained until the next recipient is named.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I'm looking forward to awarding the "swimmer of the month" trophy and have a number of swimmers under consideration for the inaugural award. There are lot's of different criteria for which I will be making the award that include attitude and commitment to training, improvement in technique and competition perfomance. I was impressed by the swimmers performances in the Peanut's trials and have a number of the younger swimmers who took part under consideration for it's first award" 

Peanuts Trials at the Furzefield on Sunday 22nd January 2012

Well done to all swimmers, supporters, officials and helpers for a successful time trials on Sunday night.  62 swimmers swam 25m of each stroke and recorded 136 personal best times and a further 68 NPT (no previous time).  The information gained from the trials will help the selectors for the upcoming galas and will help the coaches develop the swimmers.  There were a small number of disqualifications which happens in all galas at all levels and even these help swimmers and coaches focus on swimming and racing technique.  Here are the results of the trials.  If you missed the trials please speak to your coach about whether there might be other opportunities to record times.

We will be entering two PBSC Teams "Blue" and "Jade" in the 2012 Peanut's league which is a swimming league for young swimmers in Hertfordshire. As part of the Club's preparation for these events we ran some time trials for all "Squad" swimmers who are under the Age of 13 as of 30th June 2012.

The results from these time trials will help us select the teams that will represent PBSC in the forthcoming galas: -

The Tape Trophy - Saturday 11th February
The South Herts Trophy - Saturday 31st March
Peanut's Gala Round 1 - Saturday 21st April
Peanut's Gala Round 2 - Saturday 19th May
Peanut's Gala Round 3 - Saturday 16th June

Please try and keep the above dates free so that you are able to swim for the Club (if selected). If you have any questions with regard to the Peanut's trials please speak with Wray and Bronwen. Note the youngest age for swimming in the galas is 9 years on 30th June 2012, but we encourage 8-year olds to enter the time trials.

Thanks to the older squad swimmers and masters swimmers for giving up their pool time on Sunday.

Hoorah for the young officials

Niamh Gormley has qualified as a level 2 judge and as such is probably the youngest in the country at 15.  This is hot on the heels of Samantha Burt who was the youngest J1 in the country at 14.  Fantastic progress and well done to both of them.

Watford Open Meet - The Results are in and PBSC swimmers performances exceed expectations

The results from this weekends County Qualifier Open Meet at Watford are in and show that PBSC swimmers were in great form. The results from the event can be summarised as follows:

* PBSC swimmers competed in 258 swims of which 142 (55%) were personal best times for the swimmer. In fact so many of our 55 swimmers set PB's that there are too many to list by name on this website entry. Please see the results on this link to see all the PB's but special mentions to Amelia Hardy for a 9 second PB on her 100m Butterfly, a 28 second PB to Jack Shewell Cooper in the 400m Free, Georgina and Stephanie Tallon in the 200m IM, Stephanie Tallon in the 50m Butterfly, Katie Gormley (200m Free, 400m Free and 200m Breast), Samantha Burt (200m free and 50m breast), Vinthiya Perinpanathan in the 200m Breaststroke, Charli Stapleton (100m Breast),  Madeleine Formby (50m Breast), Adam Gill and James Blount in the 50m Freestyle - Well done to all swimmers that achieved PB's in their events

* We had numerous swimmers who won medals in their events - Georgina Lawson, Ben Harrison, David Shipman, Andrea Houben, Ellen Hunt, Samantha Burt, Morgan Newman, Jack Higgins, Sean Lovell, Katie Harrison, Georgianna Balchin, Phoebe Love, Aryan Alekasir, Georgina Tallon, Thomas Stanbury, Andrew Bays, Kate Andrew, Harriet Newman, Lauren Andrew, James Woodward, James Ayres, Katie Gormley and Jack Shewell-Cooper - A big well done!

*There were 103 swims that were swum in a time that achieved the swimmers a County Qualifying time. Those that attained their first County Qualfiying times for the 2012 Hertfordshire County Championships were Harriet Newman, Rachel Connery, Claudia Hawkins, Sean Lovell, Nicholas Formby, Kaywon Alekasir, Joshua Higgins and Josef Wheeler. PBSC now have 46 swimmers that have attained qualification for the 2012 Championships. Well done to all PBSC Swimmers that swam CQT's this weekend.

* Four PBSC swimmers achieved Regional Qualifying Times. They were Ben Harrison (200m Breast, 200m Free, 400m Free, 200m Fly, 200m IM),
Morgan Newman (200m Breast), Georgina Lawson (100m Free, 200m Free, 400m Free, 100m Back) and Phoebe love (100m Free, 200m Free). Well done to Ben, Morgan, Phoebe and Georgina.

* Georgina Lawson continued her current record breaking feats by breaking four PBSC Club records in the 100m Individual Medley in a time of   1 min 11.66 and then breaking her own 100m Club record in the 100m Freestyle in a time of 1 min 01.08. Well Done to Georgina.

The results from the Watford Open meet are now on the PBSC Hytek Database that can be accessed via the link on the swimmers times page.

Wray Shewell-Cooper PBSC Head Coach "It has been a successful weekend at Watford and it is great that so many of our swimmers achieved PB's especially as for some this was their first open meet experience. It's also great to see so many of our swimmers winning medals and I am really pleased with how the team performed, it was above my expectation"

Here and here are some pictures from session 2.  Here are some pictures from Sunday.  Apologies for any accidental omissions.

Watford County Qualifier Open Meet 2012 - Good Luck to all PBSC swimmers that are competing!

This weekend there will be over fifty PBSC Swimmers competing in the Watford County Qualifier Open meet that takes place over four sessions, two on Saturday and two on Sunday. We are the Club with the biggest number of swimmers competing so we should have a big presence on the poolside which should help make for a great weekend of racing. For many of our swimmers they will be aspiring to achieve County Qualifying times to so they are eligible to enter this years Hertfordshire County Championships. The session timings are as follows: -

Saturday 14th January 2012   - Session 1 warm up 1300 hrs and start 1400 hrs, Session 2 warm up 1700hrs and start 1800 hrs.

Sunday 15th January 212 - Session 3 warm up 0830 hrs and start 0930 hrs, Session 4 warm up 1245 hrs and start 1345 hrs.

Wray Shewell-Cooper PBSC Head Coach "I'm excited about having such a big team from PBSC competing at the Watford County Qualifier Open meet and confident there will be some good performances from all of our swimmers. I'm looking for the team to encourage each other over the weekend"

Extra Video's on "Coaches Corner"

See "Coaches Corner" for some extra video's and the link to the "Go Swim" website, that has great video's, tips and drill's and well worth viewing by our swimmers.

Goals achieved in Bognor!

Samantha & Edward Burt ventured South over the weekend to take part in Littlehampton Swimming Club’s Splash into 2012 meet. They rose to the occasion and both achieved the goals they had set themselves. Edward started off the gala well, gaining a new personal best in the 50 free. He then joined his grandparents to watch Samantha come away with medals in all the events she entered, including gold for the 200m free. Medals were not what Sam wanted from the meet, her goal was to gain another CQT. This looked unlikely as she could barely walk following the land training on Friday. However, grit, determination and a strong level of competition meant that she achieved her aim. Well done to both of them. It was a great meet, the hosts were very welcoming and the level of competition was strong throughout the age groups. The pool was opposite Butlins at Bognor & close to the sea. Maybe this is a venue more of the cub could experience in the future – their next meet is in April.   

PBSC Morning training sessions at Queenswood School to start this week!

We are pleased to announce that PBSC will this week start two weekly morning training sessions at the Queenswood School pool. Wray-Shewell Cooper, PBSC Head Coach will be taking these sessions and PBSC swimmers will be training alongside swimmers from Queenswood School.

These morning sessions are an important development for the Club and are open to swimmers in Squads 1, 2 and 3. These sessions will take place on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, starting at 7am though to 7.45/8am depending on the swimmers need to get to school.

PBSC are keen to develop our swimming programme and the link with Queenswood School is a great opportunity, so we are encouraging our swimmers to try and get along and take part in these sessions. The first session will start on Tuesday 10th January 2011.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "The additional water time and the opportunity to link up with Queenswood School is a fantastic opportunity for the Club and I am encouraging as many of our Squad 1, 2 and 3 swimmers to come along for some extra training"

PBSC Swimmers off to a "Flyer" in the Herts Major League 2012

PBSC swimmers made a super start to 2012 with two great team performances on Saturday 7th January 2012 in the first round of the Herts Major League.

Hemel Hempstead

Potters Bar "Jade" were competing in the Division 3 at Hemel Hempstead and finished in fourth place, just missing out on third place to Bushey SC by six points. This is a great first round performance by the team as it is the first time we have entered two teams in this swimming league and our swimmers demonstrated they can do well in this competition. 

There were individual first places by Thomas Stanbury, Paul Newman, James Blount, Rebecca Hurley and Stephen Curley - Well done to these swimmers and it's good to see their efforts in training being rewarded.

It is also very pleasing that there were 25 PB's Times achieved by the following swimmers: Eleanor Lawson, Amelia Hardy, Siobhan Gallagher, Luc Houben, Lorcan Vieyra, Nicholas Formby (x3), Madeleine Formby, Josef Wheeler, Sabrina Dighe, Jessica Hurley, Alex Ayres, Adam Gill, Mathew Papa (x2), Kate Andrew, James Blount (x2), Rebecca Hurley, Paul Newman, Yasmine Crowe and Stephen Curley - Well done to all these swimmers.

The results are here.  The results can also be accessed via the PBSC Hytek on-line database, the link for which is on the "Swimmers times" page. To see the splits from the relays just "click" on the "Relay" button.

https://picasaweb.google.com/115528579666953238463/HemelHSL7thJan2012?authkey=Gv1sRgCKGdmpyjwNjqqgE

Click on the above link for some photographs take by our swimmers

Borehamwood

Potters Bar "Blue" were competing in Division 1, having been promoted last season and showed that as a Club we have really progressed over the last 18 months. In this first round gala we finished in third place behind very strong teams from Watford SC and City of St Albans SC. This was a great performance, especially in light of the fact that many of the swimmers were feeling the rigours of land training the previous night.

There were individual 1st places for David Shipman, Katie Conyers, Ben Harrison and Georgina Lawson and personal best swims from Phoebe Love, James Woodward, Jash Pooni, Claire Dean, Oliver Formby, James Ayres, David Shipman and Stephanie Tallon. Well done!

The results are here. The results can also be accessed via the PBSC Hytek on-line database, the link for which is on the "Swimmers times" page. To see the splits from the relays just "click" on the "Relay" button. 

Coaches Comments: -

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I'm delighted with the performance of the two teams last night and it shows we can hold our own in Division's 1 and 3. I'm really pleased that there were so many PB's and it's a great start to 2012 by the PBSC "Blue" and "Jade" teams so a big well done to all the swimmers"

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC Senior Coach "The performance by the PBSC "Jade" team was excellent and all the swimmers swam really well. In particular I was really pleased with the team spirit and I'm delighted with so many PB's"

And finally, a big thank you to all the PBSC Volunteers and helpers that assisted with the management of the teams and the running of the gala's as without you these events would not happen.

Mid Herts Schools Team

We have received a request for swimmers to represent Mid-Herts Schools in the Hertfordshire School's Swimming Association District Gala on Friday 3rd February at Watford. This is to swim for Mid-Herts against five other districts in Hertfordshire as a team gala. The races are 100m IM, 50m each stroke individuals and a medley and freestyle relay each 4 x 50m. These are swum for each gender and for each of three agegroups: Years 7-8, years 9-10 and years 11-13. To qualify the swimmer needs to be at a school in the right area (Mid Herts - area 4) of Herfordshire:

http://www.hertsssa.org.uk/uploads/5/2/5/3/5253152/herts_district_map.pdf  

Joanne Mitchinson jmt@monkswalk.herts.sch.uk is coordinating entries for Mid Herts and has vacancies in most genders and agegroups. The next step for you is to reply to Joanne. Please mention your date of birth, which school you attend and that you swim with Potters Bar Swimming Club. Then Joanne will confirm whether you are selected to swim.

Wray Shewell Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "I am encouraging all PBSC swimmers to put themselves forward for selection for the Mid-Herts Schools Team as being selected is a worthy achievement and it also helps raise the profile of our Club. I'm hoping that some of our swimmers may gain selection for the area schools teams and perhaps even go on and swim in the Schools National Championships"

Happy New Year - It's Olympic Year!

 

It's "Olympic Year" and best wishes to all swimmers, families and friends of Potters Bar SC for the year ahead. With the excitement of the Olympic's it is going to pass quickly and the sport of swimming will have its profile raised in the media in the coming months. The fireworks in London last night have given an insight to how exciting the year ahead will be.

At the beginning of March we have the British Championships at the Olympic pool in Stratford, which also double as the "Olympic Trials" for those hoping to make the British Team. A number of PBSC swimmers have tickets for this event and it will be a geat opportunity for them to see some great swimming. You can get to know more about the GB swimmers who will be looking to qualify for the Olympics by following the attached link http://www.swimming.org/britishswimming/2012trials/  . You can check out the stat's and profiles of swimmers such as Liam Tancock, Rebecca Adlington, Fran Halsall and Hannah Miley who are all Olympic podium prospects.

Not withstanding the excitement of the Olympics at PBSC we have a busy start to the New Year with two teams competing in the Herts Major League (Divisions 1 and 3) this weekend, with over fifty swimmers representing the Club. We also have over fifty swimmers competing at the Watford County Qualifier Open Meet over the weekend of January 13th and 14th 2012. This is a Club record entry for an open meet.

So far we have 38 swimmers qualified for this years Hertfordshire County Championships and many of those competing at Watford will be looking to attain qualifying times for additional events with some aslo aspiring for regional, zonal and perhaps National qualifying times! Good luck to all those competing! 

The Hertfordshire County Championships are a little over 10 weeks away and it will be of great interest to see how our swimmers perform. This week sees the start of a 10 week Land Training programme trial which should help boost our swimmers performances and help provide a varied form of training. For our younger swimmers we have the Peanut's Trials that will take place at the Furzefeild Sports Centre on Sunday 22nd January which is an event for them to look forward too. More details on the Peanut's trial to be published shortly.

Those that have been at the Furzefield over the Xmas break will have seen that our swimmers have put plenty of time in the pool and Wray and Brownwen are delighted with the attendance.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, Head Coach "It has been great to see so many swimmers taking a "dip" in the pool over Xmas and I'm confident this will help them perform well in the Herts Major League and Watford Open meets. The Herts County Championships are just over 10 weeks away and I'm hoping that the good attendance will continue" 

We hope to keep the website up to date with good news stories. If you have any suitable items then please email them to Chris Andrew secretary@pottersbarsc.co.uk

Coaches Corner

PBSC Swimmers are encouraged to check out the video's on the Coaches Corner page, just click on the links. The Coaching staff are interested to know who has watched them so make sure you mention that you have the next time your at training.

Eugene Gormley awarded the Masters Trophy for 2011

Twenty six PBSC Masters swimmers met this evening for the annual Christmas Curry. This evening is also the presentation evening for the Masters Trophy, which this year has been awarded to Eugene Gormley. Eugene has been a PBSC Masters swimmer for a number of years, regularly training with the masters and squads. He is also a PBSC Official and often on the poolside helping out at the various galas as a volunteer and always greets everyone with a big smile!

Well done, Eugene - well deserved!

Hertsmere Challenge Team Gala

Well done to the PBSC swimmers who competed in the Hertsmere Challenge at The Venue, Borehamwood. The Official results have been received and have now been posted on the PBSC Hytek on-line database that can be accessed via the Swimmers times page. On the night : -

• Four individual 1st places for Emily Dean, Paul Newman, Luc Houben and James Blount - Well done to these four swimmers.
• Sixteen PBSC swimmers recorded PB's, they were Sabrina Dighe, Luc Houben, Harriet Newman, Sean Lovell, Vinthiya Perinpanathan, Mathew Papa, Siobhan Gallagher, James Blount, Kirsty Newton, Jack Shewell-Cooper, Sophia Zeinden, Yasmine Crowe, Paul Newman and Anna Church - Well done!

Wray Shewell-Cooper - PBSC Head Coach "PBSC Swimmers once again showed that they are swimming well and I'm extremely happy that so many of the swimmers recorded PB's"

Click on the below link to see some pictures from the evening

https://picasaweb.google.com/115528579666953238463/HertsmereChallengeDec11?authkey=Gv1sRgCOn--8vE8Z3p0AE

Georgina Lawson swims fantastically well at the Scottish Open Winter Championships

  

PBSC Girls Captain, Georgina Lawson has these last few days been in Inverness, Scotland competing at the Scottish Winter Short Course Championships. This is an Open Age competition so for 14 year old Georgina to qualify for this event is a big achievement at such a young age. Georgina has Scottish heritage, through her Mum, Karen.

On day one of the competition Georgina spent part of the session chatting with Scottish swimming sensation, Hannah Miley (pictured above) who is already an Olympian and World Championship silver medallist and a podium prospect for London 2012. In fact Georgina has commented that she was delighted that Hannah asked to look at her programme to keep track of events. On the first day of competition Georgina competed in the 50m Butterfly and set a personal best time of 31.43 seconds coming 36th out of 63 swimmers. This time was a fraction of a second outside the PBSC Club record and was a great 1st swim at these Championships.

Georgina also competed in the 50m backstroke where she made the "B" final in which she swam an incredible 31.83 seconds to finish 14th in the whole of Scotland. At the age of 14 this is a superb performance. Her final time of 31.83 seconds is not only a PB but but also broke four PBSC Club Records. This result also placed her as the 4th fastest 14 year old in Scotland.

On the final day of competition Georgina competed in the 50m Free and recorded a time of 28.49 seconds which placed her 22nd out of an entry of 60 swimmers. This fast time saw Georgina become the third fastest 14 year old in Scotland in this open age group event. This swim also surpassed the ASA Zonal Qualifying time for the Zonal Championships that take place in January 2012. Georgina is the 1st PBSC Swimmer to qualify for these new Championships, that are the next step between ASA East Regional Championships and ASA National Championships.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Georgina has done amazingly well and to make the "B" Final in the Scottish National Championships is fantastic. To raise her performance in the final and finish 14th in the whole of Scotland whilst breaking Club Records too is just great. I'm absolutely delighted for her"

Swimmers Times Database, Club records and ASA Rankings Database

PBSC Swimmers should now be able to access the PBSC Hytek-On Line Database to view their times and the PBSC Club Records. The database also records the times from each of the galas we have taken part in, so it is well worth saving the link as a "favourite" on your computer.

There is also a link to the ASA Rankings database as you may wish to search their databse to see how you are ranked Nationally, in ASA East Region and Hertfordshire ASA. The ASA Rankings database only records times that have been attained at ASA Licensed events. For those competing at the Hertfordshire County Championships 2012 you may wish to see how you are currently ranked within Hertfordshire ASA.

The link for access is on the "Swimmers Times" page, there is also a link from the "Club records" page.

Good Luck to PBSC Swimmers competing this evening in the Hertmere Challenge!

A team from PBSC are competing in the Hertsmere Challenge Gala this evening at The Venue, Borehamwood. We hope they have a great time and swim well.

Wray Shewell-Cooper - "I'm looking forward to being on poolside with the team, who I'm confident will swim well. For some of the swimmers it will be their first competition in the new season so I'm keen to see how they perform. It should be an exciting event!"

NASL Final - PBSC Swimmers achieve 19 PB's and Georgina Lawson breaks 13 Club Records

The official results from last weekend's Division 3 Final have been received and as expected show that our swimmers swam fantastically well recording 19 Personal Best times (PB's). Georgina Lawson was in incredible form breaking an amazing thirteen (13) Club Records on the night, some of which have stood for over 15 years. Georgina's times and the  Club records broken were: -

• 50m Back in a time of 31.99 seconds breaking the 14,15,16 and Open age group records 
• 100m Back in a time 1.08.64 breaking the 14, 15, 16 and Open age group records - These records were held by Sarah Price, who went on to become a double Olympian!
• 50m Free in a time 28.28 seconds breaking the 14,15,16 and Open age group records 
• 100m Free in a time 1.01.62 breaking the 14 years age group record - This record had stood since 1987.

There were PB's for Katie Conyers, Morgan Newman, Claire Dean, Joshua Higgins, Thilan Walallawita, Kelly Sanders, Lauren Andrew, James Woodward, Andrew Bays, David Shipman, Jash Pooni, Katie Gormley and Phoebe Love

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "The results show that our swimmers really swam well and I'm delighted that so many of them recorded PB's on the night. Georgina was in "red hot" form and to break 13 Club records in one gala is a great achievement" 

The results are here.

Georgina to compete at the Scottish National Short Course Championships in Inverness, Scotland

Georgina Lawson, a pupil at Mount Grace School and Potters Bar Swimming Club’s Girls Captain, will fly to Inverness in Scotland to take part in the British Gas Scottish National Open Short Course Championships that are being held between December 15th and 18th 2011. This is one of the premier events in the Scottish Swimming Calendar and Georgina will be rubbing shoulders with 2012 Olympic hopefuls like Hannah Miley, who won a silver medal at the World Championships in 2011.

Georgina has succeeded in attaining qualification to compete in the following events: -  50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle, 50m and 100m backstroke and the 100m Individual Medley

Over the last year Georgina has excelled in her performances that have included breaking a longstanding club record held by double Olympian Sarah Price. As Captain and one of our strongest swimmers Georgina is a great inspiration and role model for our young swimmers.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach - “Georgina should be delighted she has qualified for the Scottish National Short Course Championships. It’s well deserved given her efforts over the last year and I’m sure she will thoroughly enjoy the occasion. I’m confident she will swim well and be a great ambassador for Potters Bar SC”

Ian Bays, PBSC- Chairman “It’s great to see our swimmers competing at such a high level and on behalf of all at Potters Bar SC I wish Georgina a successful time at these National Championships

Timekeepers Course

A big thank you to our members who gave up their time to complete the Timekeepers Course which was held at the Furzefield Centre on Sunday. The Club now have 11 newly qualified TKs - well done to Todd Chadwell, Luc Houben, Georgina Lawson, Aryan Alekasir, Graham Lovell, Darren Woodward, Ian Bays, Eleanor Burt, Bronwen Hardy, Pia Cunningham and Dani Harrison. The course involved a 2 hour classroom session followed by a poolside assesment. All those who passed are given the opportunity to continue onto the Judge 1 course. The club is grateful to Ian MacKenzie who facilitated the afternoon and the clubs own J2S Gary Wright who filled the role of starter for the assessment. The club intends holding another TK course in the New Year - anyone interested in taking part please contact Karen Lawson (officials@pottersbarsc.co.uk) or speak to any Committee member for further information.

PBSC Swimmers excel at Division 3 - Final of the National Arena Swimming League

In a very exciting final PBSC swimmers raised their performances to finish in second place behind Deben, who were worthy winners. The evening got off to a tense start when a number of our swimmers arrived late due to a car fire causing havoc with the London traffic. It was a great relief though to see them arrive moments before they had to get onto the blocks and race. PBSC swimmers showed great determination throughout the gala and were consistently well placed in most races despite some very close finishes. There was fantastic support from the balcony and this made for a great atmosphere. At the end of the gala, Andrew Bays (Boys Captain) and Georgina Lawson (Girls Captain) were presented with the Pennant for PBSC finishing in second place in the Final.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "It was a great gala and a great result for Potters Bar Swimming Club. The swimmers swam fantastically well and they should all be really pleased with their performances"

We are awaiting the official results before publishing the swimmers times but are confident the results will bear out that our swimmers stepped up and swam fantastically well.

Good Luck to PBSC Swimmers in the NASL Division 3 Final

On Saturday 10th December 2011 PBSC swimmers are competing in the Division 3 final of the National Arena Swimming League (London) which is being held at the Clissold Sports Centre, London. PBSC are currently in second place in the league behind a strong team from Deben. On the night we will also be competing against Ware, Brompton Bees, Clissold, Bethnal Green Sharks, Berkhamsted Sports Centre and Griffins of Enfield. If we finish in the top two in the league we will be promoted to Division 2. It is going to be an exciting final and our swimmers will need to raise their performances and swim well to secure promotion.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "This is going to be a very competitive final with many of the events decided by fractions of a second. We must avoid disqualifications so we don't drop unnecessary points. That said it's going to be a great event to take part in and I'm sure our swimmers will do well. I'm also expecting the usual fantastic support from the balcony as this will help raise our swimmers performances"

Niamh and Sam pass their J1 Officials Course

Congratulations to Niamh Gormley and Samantha Burt, who are the latest PBSC swimmers to pass their J1 Officials assessment! Niamh and Sam have already started the next stage of officials training by undertaking the J2 course and we wish them well with that.

Coaches Corner

Have a look at the new tab on the left called "Coaches Corner". There are some video links published that swimmers may enjoy.

PBSC Swimmers excel at the ASA East Region Winter Championships in Norwich, with PB's and Club Records!

Both Georgina Lawson, PBSC Girls Captain and team-mate, Phoebe Love were in excellent form at the ASA East Region Winter Championships, where they were competing against the very best swimmers from the Counties of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk. This was an open age group competition so it was a big "step-up" for Phoebe and Georgina, who are the first two PBSC swimmers to compete at these Championships for many years, and they can be delighted with their performances as follows: -

• Georgina Lawson set personal best times in the 50m Backstroke recording a time of 32.80 seconds and in doing so broke four PBSC Club records in the 14 & Under, 15 & Under, 16 & Under and Open Age Groups which is a fantastic achievement! Georgina swam 29.17 seconds in the 50m Free, 32.90 seconds in the 50m Fly, and 1.03.71 in the 100m Free.
• Phoebe Love recorded a personal best in the 50m Free in a time of 29.00 seconds, a time of 32.17 seconds in the 50m Fly and a time of 1.05.18 in the 100m Freestyle. 

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "Phoebe and Georgina qualifying for these Championships at such a young age is a great achievement in itself and for them to perform so well on the day is very very pleasing. I'm delighted they both set PB's as this shows they rose to the occasion and swam well on the day. Georgina breaking the Club Records in the 50m Backstroke is a great accomplishment of which she should be very proud"

The Daplyn Trophy - PBSC achieve best results for many years!

It has been a busy weekend for PBSC with two boys teams and two girls teams competing at The Daplyn Trophy at The Venue, Borehamwood on Saturday evening. In the Girls competition our teams were up against 15 teams from clubs from across Hertfordshire and our Boys were in a field of 12 teams.In a very exciting gala the PBSC Boys and Girls Teams achieved the best results the Club has had for many years of entering this particular competition, and in particular well done to: -

•   PBSC Girls Blue Team of Anna Church, Katie Gormley, Claire Dean, Andrea Houben and Jessica Hurley who were bronze medal winners. 
•   PBSC Boys Blue Team of James Woodward, Joshua Higgins, Thilan Walallawita, Ben Harrison and David Shipman who came in 5th place.
•   PBSC Girls Jade Team of Georgianna Balchin, Katherine McEnery, Vinthiya, Perinpanathan, Lauren Andrew and Rebecca Hurley who came 12th
•  PBSC Boys Jade Team of Morgan Newman, Jack Higgins, Oliver Formby, Jack Shewell-Cooper and Jash Pooni who came in a very creditable 6th place

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach "It's great to see PBSC post its best results in this competition for some years and well done to Claire, Anna, Katie, Andrea and Jessica for winning bronze medals, which is a great result. I am also really pleased with the achievements of our other teams"

The results from the Herts ASA website are here. Swimmers performances are here.

ASA East Region Winter Championships 2011

                                                                                      

Phoebe Love and Georgina Lawson, two of PBSC's leading female swimmers will this weekend travel to Norwich to compete in the ASA East Region Winter Championships 2012 that are being held at the University of East Anglia Sports Park. This is one of the premier events in the East Region calendar and the girls are the first PBSC swimmers to qualify and compete at these Championships for many years, which is a great achievement in itself.

Wray Shewell-Cooper PBSC Head Coach - "Phoebe and Georgina qualifying for these Championships is not only a fantastic personal achievement but great for PBSC too. As the Head Coach I'm looking to see them raise their performance and I'm confident they will"

Watford Middle Distance Open Meet

It was a busy weekend of competition for the thirty plus PBSC swimmers competing at the Watford Middle Distance Open Meet, the results of which are on the "reports and results" page. 

The overall performance of the swimmers was fantastic with a Club record broken by Georgina Lawson in the 50m backstroke, Ben Harrison achieving East Region Qualifying times, 1st places for Morgan Newman, James Ayres, Olivia Seal, David Shipman, Katie Gormley, Niamh Gormley and Andrea Houben. There were also medals for Katie Harrison, Danielle Houben, Jack Shewell-Cooper, Andrew Bays, Thomas Stanbury, Thilan Walallawita, James Woodward, Lauren Andrew, Aryan Alekasir, Kate Andrew, Georgina Tallon, Georgina Lawson and Emilea Read-Letts. There were lots of PB's too - A big well done to all of our swimmers!

Danielle Houben, Stephanie Tallon, Katie Harrison, Luc Houben, Katherine McEnery and James Ayres also became 1st time County Qualfiers, a great achievement and well done! In total there were 61 swims that surpassed the CQT at this meet.

And not to be outdone by the swimmers, Karen Lawson (J2), Eugene Gormley (J1) and Chris Andrew (J1) also made it a successful weekend by passing their officials course assessments. 

Wray Shewell-Cooper "It's great to see so many of our swimmers coming away from this meet with medals and PB's which is a reward for their commitment in training and well deserved. I'm also delighted that a number of PBSC swimmers became 1st time County Qualifiers as it's going to be great to have a big squad at the Counties" 

Herts Development Meet 

The official results for this gala are on the Reports and Results Page. Well done to Emilea Read-Letts and Olivia Seal on achieving County Qualifying times and also to Amelia Hardy, Georgina Tallon, Stephanie Tallon and Josef Wheeler for setting new Personal Best Times!

Are you interested in becoming a qualified time keeper?

We will be running a time keepers course at the Furzefield Sports Centre on Sunday 11th December 2012. We would encourage any interested members to take part, the course will consist of a two hour classroom session followed by a practical assessment that will be integrated into a time trial session for our younger swimmers.

As a Club we are very keen to increase the number of qualified timekeepers so that we can run the various swimming galas we have planned for next year, so if you are interested please speak with Karen Lawson, our Officials Co-ordinator for more details. Karen can be found on the balcony at the FF most evenings.

Hertfordshire Masters win at Newmarket

A team including nine Potters Bar Masters won the East Region Inter-county Masters competition on Sunday.  Report and writeup are here. Results download is here.  Our own John Cunningham broke the East Region 50m fly record.  Daryl Mason, Nicola Lawrence, Wray Shewell-Cooper, Ian Bays, Barbara Edlin, Steve Lestrange, Kelly Sanders and Jackie Jackson also represented PB for Hertfordshire.  This is the second year that Hertfordshire has won the trophy.  Full results including County positions as a download are here.

Presentation evening

Here are some pictures from the awards ceremony at the presentation evening.

Over 250 PBSC members attended the presentation evening which was held in the school hall at Mount Grace School. It was great to see our swimmers being presented with their medals and certificates by Wray and Bronwen.

Wray, PBSC Head Coach "I was delighted to present our swimmers with their medals and certificates as they have performed so well this year. It was also great to see so many of our Club members at the presentation evening as it's important we celebrate the achievements of all our swimmers" 

Barnet Copthall 100s

Great swims at the Barnet Copthall 100s meet.  Here are the results.  In summary 25 swimmers, 71 swims, one 1st place, two 2nd places, four 3rd places and 31 PBs.

Also here are the current CQT swims for the 2012 County Champs. We are already up to 105 swims, compared to the 98 swims this time last year

NASL Round 2

Great result from the second round of the National Arena Swimming League on Saturday.  First place again and by a mnargin of 35 points.  Well done to the swimmers - young and old and all those who helped make it possible.  Here are the results and here are some photos.

Presentation evening 19th Nov

This year's Presentation Evening will be held at Mount Grace School, Potters Bar on Saturday the 19th of November. 7pm for a 7.30pm start. Presentations to all those who competed in this year's Club Championships, individual squad awards, club trophies including Swimmers Swimmer, Hurley Trophies, Wray's Award and more. We plan to operate the evening as a fundraiser which means we will be operating a Raffle - any donations would be gratefully received - prizes can be anything from a bottle of wine, sporting tickets, unwanted presents to meal vouchers. There will be a licensed bar and food available. Tickets for the evening are priced at £3 per head and are available from Karen Lawson, Ian Bays or from any member of the committee or coaching staff. We look forward to seeing you there and making this another enjoyable night for our swimmers and their families ! This really is a chance for swimmers and parents alike to mix and hopefully raise some funds in the process.

Butterfly Clinic Sun 6th Nov

We are delighted to announce a 'Butterfly Clinic' to be run on Sunday evening from 6.15pm to 8.15pm on Sunday 6th November. John Cunningham our own reigning world champion butterfly swimmer will be demonstrating technique and leading the coaching at this session. The session is open to all squad swimmers and masters who would normally be eligible to swim on Sunday evenings. The different squads will be given appropriate training for their level of development. Just turn up at your normal training time and prepare to have your butterfly tuned up.

We have the whole six lanes of the pool on Sundays from this Sunday 6th November until 18th December. We are suggesting a voluntary donation of £2 per participant at this fly session to contribute to the cost of additional pool time. This can be collected by the coaches or committee on the balcony.

We urge all squad and masters swimmers to take advantage of this offer. If it is successful there may be similar clinics between now and Christmas. Please speak to your coach in the first instance if you have any questions.

Charity Gala 5th Nov

The club is organised a charity gala on 5th November in aid of Pancreatic Cancer Research.  The gala was at Furzefield using the format of the Herts Major League division 2.  PBSC entered two teams as the club will be entering two teams in the Major League in the new year.  Here are the overall results.  The team results are here.  Here are some pictures of the occasion.

Over £600 was raised for Pancreatic Cancer Research from entry, the raffle and Wrays "golden" moment!!

Three cheers for Chief Coach Wray on his golden birthday year and for being a good sport in the name of charity.  Some extra photos here of this sponsored event.

Barnet Copthall 200s

PB swimmers notched up 21 personal bests and 10 NPTs with 3 firsts and 3 seconds at the recent Barnet Copthall 200s meet.  Here are the results.  The picture shows Olympian Ed Sinclair with the PB team.  During his swimming career Ed Sinclair represented Great Britain at two Olympic Games - Sydney 2000 as part of the 4 x 200 Freestyle relay team which finished 5th and Athens in 2004. He also competed at 4 European Championships winning 6 medals and 5 World Championships winning 3 medals. He also held the British record for three years in the 200 meters Freestyle. His highest World Ranking was 7th in 1999 in the 200m Freestyle Long Course.

National Arena League Round 1

Chief Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper said: "PBSC swimmers excelled themselves in the first round of the National Arena Swimming League coming out worthy winners in a very exciting gala. The performances by all swimmers were fantastic and I was particularly pleased with the relay teams as we were well placed in each event. It was also great to have the best support in the gallery as this always spurs the swimmers on! The second round is only a few weeks away so I’m looking for our swimmers to continue to work hard in training so that we can build on last night’s result."

Well done to all that took part.  The Results are here. Here are some great pictures too

Outing to Panto

We are organising a trip to the Panto at Wyllyotts for Dec 22nd. All details here. Closing date Nov 1st.

Club AGM

The Club's Annual General Meeting will be on Thursday 17th November at the Furzefield Centre, starting at 8.30pm, more details and a committee nomination form are here.

Herts Senior League

Please see the Masters page for those masters swimmers and other swimming parents for a fun gala on Nov 26th!

Club Champs

Thanks to all the organisers, officials, helpers, coaches, supporters and swimmers.  Plenty of great swims and some photos are here and here. Photos for session 2 are here and here. Photos for session 3 are here and here. Results are finally here.  Sorry for the delay.  Winners over the years are here

Hoddesdon Open Meet

A good attendance and performance from PB swimmers.  18 first places, 14 speeding tickets, 8 County qualifying times and 58 PB or NPTs.  Here are the results.  Did anyone get any pictures?

Sheffield Dukeries 28th Aug

A team of Potters Bar Swimming Club swimmers travelled North to compete in the Worksop Dolphins “Dukeries” Open Meet, which was held in the 50 metre International Pool at Ponds Forge, Sheffield over the August Bank Holiday weekend. This is the second year that PBSC have competed at this event. It gives our swimmers the opportunity to experience swimming at this prestigious venue at the very start of the new swimming season. The early start for the warm up necessitated that the team stayed over the previous night at a hotel in Sheffield. There was a team bonding session over Pizza’s at a Local restaurant before retiring for an early night. The performance of PBSC Swimmers can be summarised as follows: -

· Phoebe Love was placed 1st in the 50m Butterfly, and 2nd place in the 100m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle. Phoebe also qualified for the “Skins” Final, which was a new experience for her. She made it through to the second round before being eliminated. She also won the Top Swim award for her age group, which capped off a very successful weekend.

· Georgina Lawson won the 100m Freestyle for 12/13 year old Girls, in which Phoebe came second making it a PBSC “1-2”. Georgina was also 3rd in the 50m Backstroke.

· David Shipman swam extremely well to finish in 2nd place in the Boys 11/12 years 100m Freestyle in a time of 1.12.36, a new PB by 2.6 seconds and a County Qualifying time.

· Georgianna Balchin was in great form achieving three County Qualifying times in 100m & 50m Breaststroke events and the 50m Freestyle. Jack Shewell-Cooper (50m Freestyle), Lauren Andrew (50m Butterfly & 100m Freestyle) and Katie Gormley (100m Freestyle) also swam well to achieve County Qualifying Times. Well done to Georgianna, Jack, Lauren and Katie.

· There were also Personal Best swims from Amelia Hardy, Josef Wheeler, Kate Andrew, Luke Maddock Lyon and good early season swims from Eleanor Lawson and Niamh Gormley.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach – “ It was a very enjoyable weekend at Sheffield and I am pleased with the performance of our swimmers so early in the season. The team spirit was great and It was good to see the swimmers enjoying themselves. Phoebe was our top performer at this event and it was great to see a PBSC swimmer winning the Top Swim award and being in the “Skins” final. I’m also delighted with the win by Georgina, the silver medal won by David and the good performances by the rest of the team, many of whom recorded PB’s and achieved County Qualifying times! ”

Bronwen Hardy, PBSC Senior Coach – “ It was great to see our swimmers performing well in this long course pool, and to see many of them recording PB’s in their swims. It was a great opportunity for them to swim in a 50 metre pool, which is often very daunting and they can feel very proud of how they all performed”

Here are some pictures.

Swim Camp 2011 report

A number of swimmers attended a swim camp at Millfield School in Somerset this summer.  Read about it in the Swimmer Information page.

Joel wins gold in European Youth Olympics

Joel Knight former PBSC swimmer has just won gold in the 1500m race at the European Youth Olympics in Trabzon, Turkey.  He broke the British record by 11 seconds in a time of 15:28.26.  Well done Joel!

Joel is pictured at the recent club celebration with the Peanuts teams and their awards.

County Qualifying times

The dates for the Herts County Championships have now been set so we can now see who has achieved CQTs so far.  This will be maintained on the Swimmer Information page.

Watford Open

“Georgina Lawson, PBSC’s Girls Captain was in “red hot” form at the “Alternative Nationals Open Meet” held this last weekend in Watford, where she broke long standing Club Records in the following events: -

· 50m Backstroke in a time of 33.65 seconds
· 50m Freestyle in a time of 28.89 seconds
· 100m Freestyle in a time of 1 min 02.70 seconds – This particular record was held by Sarah Price, who went on to compete in the Sydney Olympics in 2004. Sarah also broke over 30 British Records and one world record, as well as setting Commonwealth and European bests during her swimming career that started at Potters Bar Swimming Club.

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach stated “Georgina has done exceptionally well this year and breaking all these Club records in one weekend is a remarkable achievement. To see Sarah Price’s record broken gives you some idea of the potential Georgina has, and as one of the Club Captains she is a great inspiration for our younger swimmers”

There were also great swims from Sam Burt who swam in the 400m IM in a time of 6.07.15. This was her first time swimming this event and she looked very strong and swam very well. She also swam in the 400m free, this she hadn't swum for a very long time and did a very big PB. She achieved a very good time of 5.19.50. Sam also swam in the 50m fly and free and was very near to her PB times in both.
Ellie Lawson swam well especially in the 200m freestyle, which I believe she hadn't swum before and she clocked a time of 2.53.35, well done to her.
Ben had some good swims too, he swam for the very first time in the 400m IM in a time of 6.06.62, however was dq'd on a backstroke turn (glided in), but really enjoyed the experience and is desperate to do it again! He also swam in the 400m free and looked very strong clocking a time of 5.30.11 a new PB, his previous time was 6.18.55!
Another new event for him was the 200m breaststroke in a time of 3.23.47.
Morgan swam a great 200m breast in a time of 3.32.29, but was unfortunately dq'd - an official even commented on what a great swim it was!
As a club with only a few swimmers we didn't do too badly on the medal table -

Georgie won 4 Golds
Ben won 5 Golds and 1 Silver

It was a great end to a very successful swimming season!

Peanuts Round 3

The Jade team swam brilliantly coming third on the night and third in the league.  Here are the results and  here are some photos of the action.  This means the Jade team should be in a strong position in division 3 next year if the number of teams stays steady.

The Blue team won their gala on the last race at Borehamwood in an exciting finish.  Here are some pictures and here are the results.  This puts the Blue team in 7th place out of 12 in division 1.

Katie Qualifies for Irish National Championships

Potters Bar SC swimmer, Katie Gormley took part in the Irish National Age Group Championships  held at the National Aquatics Centre in Dublin, Ireland. Katie has qualified to compete in the 400m and 800m Freestyle events and will be competing against the best swimmers in Ireland at this prestigious event. It is a fantastic achievement for Katie to qualify for these National Championships and from all at PBSC we wish her the best of luck.

Head Coach Wray Shewell-Cooper said “Katie is one of the hardest workers in training so I’m delighted that her efforts have resulted in her qualifying for the Irish National Age Group Championships. The National Aquatic Centre looks a great venue to compete at and I’m sure the occasion will help Katie raise her performance. I’m confident she will swim well!”

Live results here.

Herts Masters 2011

The Herts Masters Championship was held at the Venue, Borehamwood on Saturday 25th June.  Your team from PBSC put up an impressive performance including 26 first places with 61 personal best or NPT.  Cate Jackson broke the East Region record for 100m IM and Jackie Jackson broke her own East Region record for 50m freestyle.  Daryl Mason broke the club record for 50m breaststroke.  Full results with all competitors are here, and summary of our club's competitors are here.  The team points total is here.  More galas coming up on our Masters page.

PBSC Summer Open

Many thanks to all who competed, officiated, supported and helped at the Summer Open gala at Furzefield on 18th June.  Here are the results. Here are the PBSC swimmer results.  Here and here are some photos of the action.

Open Water Swimming?

Su Tysoe the County Open Water Coordinator has negotiated an opportunity to train in Open Water once a week. This is following initial contact with the centre by Ian Mackenzie. This is a fantastic opportunity to establish regular training for those interested in Open Water swimming - please use it!  Here is the document explaining the arrangements.

Regional Championships

The Regional Championships held the at the 50m pool at the University of East Anglia Sports Park in Norwich concluded this weekend and our four swimmers, Ben Harrison, Georgina Lawson, Phoebe Love and Andrea Houben can be delighted with their performances in the pool at this top level event. Their performances can be summarised as follows: -

· Ben Harrison was PBSC’s top performer with silver medals in the Boys 10 years 100m Freestyle and 100m Butterfly, 200m Individual Medley; a bronze medal in the 200m Butterfly and 200m Freestyle, 6th in the 200m backstroke and 10th place in the 100m backstroke. Ben was placed 3rd overall in the BAGCATS competition and his successes should be set against the fact that he was competing against Hatfield swimmer, Nathan Hughes who broke a British Age Group record at these Championships (subject to ratification) and is probably the fastest 10 year old in the country. Well done, Ben!

· Andrea Houben qualified for the 3rd year in succession for the Regionals. This year Andrea qualified for the 12 years 100 m Breaststroke and swam incredibly well finishing in 11th place. Well done, Andrea!

· Phoebe Love swam in the Girls 13 years 100m Freestyle and swam a personal best of 1m 04.87 seconds which saw her come 9th place and being the “reserve” finalist. This was Pheobes first time swimming at Regional level and missed a place in the final by the smallest of margins. Well done, Phoebe!

· Georgina Lawson, PBSC’s Girls-Team Captain swam superbly in the Girls 13 years 100 and 200m Freestyle races, qualifying for both finals where she came 5th. In an exciting 100m Freestyle final where there was only 1.2 seconds between 1st and 5th place which is a very small margin. Georgina also qualified in the 100m backstroke and came 16th. This was the first time that Georgina has qualified for the Regional’s so making two finals is a great achievement. Well done, Georgie!

Wray Shewell-Cooper, PBSC Head Coach said “I am very pleased with the performances by Ben, Georgina, Phoebe and Andrea as they all rose to the occasion and swam well. Ben did fantastically well, winning so many medals and coming 3rd overall in the BAGCAT’s is a great achievement. It was also great to see Georgina make the finals in her first “regionals” as well seeing Phoebe, who was unlucky in just missing out on the final, and Andrea swim well too. These performances should be an inspiration to our swimmers and I’m hoping to be back next year with a bigger PBSC Squad “

Detailed results here.

Peanuts Round 2

Well swum to all our swimmers in round 2 of the Peanuts League.  Results here for the Blue team in Division 1.  Results here for the Jade team results from division 3.  However here are some pictures from the Jade team gala.

Picture here is from the Blue Team gala at QE Boys School pool.

Top of the World for John at World Masters & 4 Irish National records

John Cunningham won the 100m fly in a time of 58.55 seconds at the World Masters Championship in Gottenberg, Sweden on Tuesday 3rd August 2010. He also broke the championship record for 50m fly (longcourse) on Monday in a time of 25.96 seconds. This took second place by 0.23 seconds. The first event for John on Sunday was the 100m freestyle in the long-course pool where he secured 8th place in a time of 55.78 seconds. On Tuesday morning John swam 25.68 seconds for the 50m free taking 8th place. All four swims beat the Irish National records and one by over 8 seconds. The 50m and 100m fly are also club records in the open age group. There were over 100 competitors in John's age group at Gottenberg.

World Masters website is here.
Congratulations John.  What next?

Thanks also to our sponsors:

Oakfield Food. oakfieldfood.co.uk

Third Eye Installation Systems www.thirdeyeis.co.uk

Lidl UK GmbH www.lidl.co.uk

Buffera Ltd  www.buffwear.co.uk