About Potters Bar Swimming Club
PBSC was formed in 1968 and trains at the Furzefield Centre in Mutton Lane and at Queenswood School pool in Shepherds Way, Brookmans Park.
The club is a friendly but competitive club with around 240 members that caters for swimmers from five years upwards of all abilities, from learn to swim to those competing in national events. Wray Shewell-Cooper is our Head Coach and he has been involved with the Club for over 25 years and in his day he competed to National Standard Level. Wray is still a keen swimmer and still competes for the Club and in masters events. Wray's drive and commitment to the Club is a great inspiration for our swimmers.
So far we have 38 swimmers who have qualified to compete in the Hertfordshire County Championships to be held in 2012 as well as swimmers that have attained qualifying times for ASA East Region, Scottish, Welsh and Irish National Championships too. In our masters section we have swimmers that are in training for the World Championships that are being held in Italy in 2012.
The club is affiliated to the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA), the ASA East Region and the Herts Amateur Swimming Association. The club is also a member of the Herts Swimming League and The National Arena Swimming League, and we have just been promoted to NASL Division 2 (London) after a great performance in this years competition. In 2012 we are fielding two teams in the Herts Major League, with one team in Division 1 and one in Division 3.
We have always been one of the leading clubs in Hertfordshire and have produced many quality swimmers who have gone on to win titles at county, district and national events. The most notable amongst these being Caroline Cooper, who whilst a PBSC swimmer won Commonwealth gold in the 100m butterfly and Sarah Price, olympic finalist, commonwealth double gold medalist and world record holder, who started her swimming career at Potters Bar. The Club is proud of John Cunningham, one of our masters swimmers who is currently World Masters Champion having won the 100m Butterfly in Sweden. John is also the holder of many Irish National records.
Training or teaching sessions take place six days a week, current times are on the website and the noticeboard on the balcony at Furzefield. Occasionally it is necessary to vary these during school holidays, bank holidays, pool closures or to fit around galas.
Swimmers are divided into squads and groups based on ability and fitness, movement between these is decided by the coaching staff. The current squads and groups are :-
The club is run by a committee of up to twelve volunteers, elected each year at our Annual General Meeting in November. The committee is responsible for employing coaching and teaching staff and the general administration of the club.
| Squad 1 | The top swimmers who compete and train regularly, around 3 to 6 sessions a week (up to 9 hours). Age range tends to be 13 years plus |
| Squad 2 | Swimmers who compete and train regularly, around 3 to 6 sessions a week (up to 9 hours). Age range tends to be 11 to 15 years but will include some talented younger swimmers. |
| Squad 3 | Competitive swimmers who train regularly, around 3 to 6 times a week (up to 7 hours). Age range tends to be 9 to 14 years. |
| Squad 4 | Competitive swimmers who train regularly, around 2 to 4 sessions a week (up to 4 hours). Age range tends to be 8 to 12 years. |
| Squad 5 | Swimmers just starting to swim competively, who train twice a week (2 hours). Age range tends to be 7 to 11 years. |
| Groups A - E | Younger swimmers who are either in the "Learn to Swim" scheme or are developing thier strokes (½ hour a week). Ages tend to be 5 to 10 years. |
| Masters | The over 19s who train once, twice or more times a week. Abilities range from those who compete in Masters and team galas to those trying to keep fit. |