| Friday 14th June 2013
The AGM will be held at 7.00pm in the seminar room at Stratford Leisure Centre, all club members are welcome.
Full details here
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Stratford Sharks ASC welcomed the Chairman of Stratford District Council, Councillor Rev. Neville Beamer and his wife in a celebration of 40 years of Learn to Swim by the swimming club in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The last 40 years have seen in excess of 1200 swimmers participate and graduate through the Stratford Sharks Learn to Swim programme, with many progressing on to competitive swimming and lifesaving. Mike Wardle who has been a volunteer swim teacher on the programme for nearly 30 years said “Once the children get confidence in the water, without getting technical too early, it’s just about having fun and teaching them to propel themselves through the water as fast as they can!”
To celebrate this 40 year milestone Councillor & Mrs Beamer watched the swimmers take part in a sponsored swim at the SLVC to raise funds for our preferred charity The Shakespeare Hospice. Ali Gray Corporate & Events Fundraiser for The Shakespeare Hospice said “Stratford Sharks have supported our fund raising through sponsored swims for a number of years, but to see such young swimmers dedicating their time for our cause is most heart-warming”.
Jonathan Penny, Chairman of Stratford Sharks said “59 Learn to Swim members aged from 4 to 12 years swam over 39,000 metres and raised £1,000 for The Shakespeare Hospice. Our Learn to Swim section fulfils the clubs holistic approach to our swimmers needs and there is a clear cycle within the club. Learn to swim, Junior Reception, Junior Development, Junior Performance, and Seniors, Lifesaving, Triathlon and teaching/coaching. This cycle is clearly demonstrated by the number of our senior swimmers volunteering to teach the younger ones on poolside every Friday night". |
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| We will be running Junior Time Trials on Sunday 2nd June at Warwick School, 1.00-3.00pm. These are open to all Junior Reception & Development Squad members. We will run 200m & some 50m events but the priority will be on 200m swims.
This session will tie into the short Club Timekeeper course we’re running soon so we’ll need the help of any existing officials to help mentor the new ones during the session, thank you. The session will start at 1.00pm prompt with a short warm-up, please be there and ready to start on time. |
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| Are you
interested in becoming a swimming official, helping the club and becoming more
involved in your swimmer’s sport?
The club
always needs more officials, especially for Junior events and the first step in
becoming an official is Club Timekeeper.
We are
arranging a Club Timekeeper Theory Seminar ( date TBC) and then there will be a
Timekeeper Practical Assessment at the upcoming Time Trials on the 2nd
June at Warwick (1.00-3.00pm).
The
seminar introduces the Timekeeper role and the rules governing the taking and
recording of official times, followed by a poolside session to put the theory
into practice. On qualification you will be able to help the club at friendly
galas and the club championships.
You can
then move on to Judge level one training and you will find you have already
covered a large section of the course!
Anyone
interested should contact Karen Walker; e-mail:
officials@stratfordsharksasc.co.uk,
or phone: (01789) 551781 |
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| A big thank you to Kim, Lisa, Julie, Malcolm and all the volunteer teachers and poolside helpers who made last nights "Sponsored Learn to Swim" so successful. With your help 59 Children from 4 to 12 years raised £1,000.00 for The Shakespeare Hospice.
Without doubt our Learn to Swim section fulfils the clubs holistic approach to our swimmers needs and there is a clear cycle within the club. Learn to swim, Junior Reception, Junior Development, Junior Performance, and Seniors, Lifesaving, Triathlon and teaching/coaching. This cycle is clearly demonstrated by the number of our senior swimmers we see helping teach the younger ones on poolside every Friday night.
Thank you!!!
JP |
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| Training for Junior Performance & Senior Squads will swap from 5.30-7.00am at SLVC to the Banbury LIDO from the 25th May until the end of August. The
first training session will be on the morning of 25th May, from 07:00 to 09:00,
there will be no land training. Land Training will continue Tuesday and Thursday at SLVC before the main session at 6.00pm, please be there at 5.00pm to stretch beforehand.
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We are currently seeking to
recruit a new Junior Development Squad Coach.
The full advert can be seen here JP
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Following the communication sent out by Mike Cole earlier
this year, outlining the minimum standards for our Senior Development Squad, we
felt it was both important and necessary for this squad to have its own
dedicated coach. This will allow the squad to successfully fulfil its
part in our integrated structure allowing a genuine effective swimmer pathway
from LTS through to our top Senior Competitive squad. Kim will continue
to lead the Junior Reception and as such will have a dual role within the club.
As Senior Development Coach, Kim is very much looking forward to working hard with
our older swimmers providing a strong focus and direction for all Senior
Development squad members. |
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Phoenix Cards will be at SLVC this
FRIDAY 19th APRIL 2013 6-8pm (upstairs by viewing gallery), 10% of sales will go to Stratford
Sharks ASC.
You can pick up your FREE Phoenix
2013 Brochure from Julie at the club desk on any Friday evening at SLVC
www.phoenix-trading.eu/web/barbarajoynergreenwood
Alternatively if you can't make SLVC
this Friday to view the Phoenix cards then Barbara can bring a "Fab
Bag" along with a great selection of cards & giftwrap any Friday for you to
browse through at your leisure...
Just email her with your
preferences: Adult/Kids/special occasions etc @ barbaraljg@btopenworld.com 😄 |
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Following the success of last years Grand Raffle, Stratford
Sharks are pleased to announce the launch of the 2013 Raffle. Many thanks
must go to all the generous parties who have kindly donated prizes to enable
the club to raise much needed funds.
Manchester United Football Club, Manager and Players for
gifting a 2013 Team Autographed Football Shirt
Best Western Grosvenor Hotel, Stratford on Avon for donating
a two night stay with dinner, bed and breakfast
The Lazy Cow, Stratford on Avon for a Three course Sunday
Meal for Two
The Macdonald Alveston Manor Hotel for A Full Afternoon Tea
for Two
Land Rover for donating an All Terrain Half Day Adventure
for Two
Tickets will be on sale by the beginning of next week at the
latest at just £2.00 each or £10.00 for a book. Good Luck! |
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Stratford Sharks kicked off their 2013 Mercian Summer
League campaign at the Solihull Leisure Centre. Swimming a combination of team
races and individual events, the Sharks won twenty three of the fifty events,
took seven seconds places and nine thirds. Full report here.
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| A
busy weekend for Stratford Sharks with two swimmers taking part in the Scottish
Championships and the Junior Team starting their 2013 Nuneaton Junior League
campaign. Full report here. |
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Thirty five Stratford Sharks swimmers qualified for the
Nuneaton and Bedworth Spring Open Meet held at the Pingles Leisure Centre. During
the two day event, they set over one hundred and twenty new personal best (PB)
performances, eight club records were broken and the swimmers took twenty nine
top-three places. More here..PDF |
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At this time each year, the British Gas Warwickshire
County Swimming Championships are held over three consecutive Saturdays at the
50 metre Olympic Pool in Coventry. This premier event attracts hundreds of
swimmers from clubs across the county and this year, sixty nine Stratford
Sharks swimmers met the qualification standard to swim in over four hundred
races.
Read the full report here.

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It was another busy weekend for Stratford Sharks junior swimmers
with events at Stechford and Nuneaton.
Thirty one Stratford
Sharks Juniors travelled to Stechford to join almost four hundred swimmers from
eight different clubs to compete in the Boldmere
Junior Invitational meet. In the sixteen event programme, the young Sharks
achieved more than sixty personal best performances (PB’s), over thirty top
three places and were the top visiting club. Read more here...
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| At the weekend, six high performance Stratford Sharks’
swimmers competed in the Derventio eXcel Festival Gala at Sheffield while forty
six other Sharks competed in the Rugby Open Meet which was the final
competition to be held at the Ken Marriott Centre before it is replaced by a
new swimming pool complex. Full report... pdf |
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Demonstrating the growth of competitive swimming,
Stratford Sharks fielded nineteen, four swimmer, teams in the Coventry and
District Team Races at the 50 metre Coventry Olympic Pool
Competing against teams from seven other clubs, the
recent long course training obviously paid dividends with the teams securing
six first, five second and eleven third places. Read more here...
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Twenty swimmers from Stratford Sharks journeyed to
Aylesbury to compete in the Maxwell Gala which was reduced to just one day by
the appalling weather conditions. They were rewarded with thirty five personal
best performances and twenty five top three places. More here...
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Stratford Sharks swimmers Sandy Forysiack and Ailsa Gavan
McHarg headed north to Edinburgh's newly revamped Royal Commonwealth Pool after
qualifying for the highly competitive Scottish Gas National SC Swimming
Championships. Sandy gained three PBs in his four races picking up a club record in the 100m Individual
Medley. Then in the 400m IM, Sandy knocked more than three seconds off his time
to record a commendable 12th place out of 51swimmers. Ailsa gained her PB and new club record in the 800m freestyle being placed 16th
in a field of 56. She rounded off her debut performance at these championships
with another club record in the 400m IM. |
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Seventy Nine personal best
performances made the long day at the Wyre Forest Christmas County Qualifier
worthwhile for the twenty nine Stratford Sharks who travelled to Wolverhampton
Central Baths.
Read more...
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Stratford Sharks team made a return visit to the new ARC
Leisure Centre in Matlock, Derbyshire for the third round of the Arena National
League. With all seven teams chasing promotion to Division One of the League, the
competition was bound to be fierce.
Seven personal best performances (PB’s) and nineteen top
three places contributed to a fourth place in this round which, with wins in
the previous two rounds, was enough to secure promotion to Division One of the
League.
Full report here.
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Twenty three swimmers from
Stratford Sharks travelled to the Pingles Pool in Nuneaton to compete in the Nuneaton
& Bedworth Short Course 2012 Winter Open Meet. With swimmers drawn from
across the country, a string of top three places and sixty personal best (PB)
performances made this a successful weekend. more...
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Stratford Sharks Club Championships sponsored by FPS, the
Stratford based parts and accessory value-add distribution business, attracted
the largest entry in the club’s history.
For the eighth year, Tom Tame, the Club’s Junior
Performance coach, with his team of volunteers pulled together a thirty four
event programme organised into six sessions resulting in over nine hundred
swims. Whilst every competitor set at least one
personal best performance, sixteen swimmers broke a total of sixty age group
championship records. More here... |
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Stratford Sharks consolidated their position in the Arena
National League with an outstanding win in the second round held at Stafford.
With the other clubs fielding high class teams, Sharks’ swimmers needed to be on
top form to fight off their challenge. After a strong start in the first
quarter, the team had slipped to fourth place by the mid-point of the gala.
However, four first places in the second half of the individual races and top
three places in five out of the last eight team races saw Sharks pull clear to
win by 15 points. Read more..
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Well done to the following swimmers who passed their
competitive start diving award test on Saturday 10th November.
JRS
Lauren
Richards, Michael
McCarthy, Kiera
Kennendy, Holly Wilkins, Edward
Crossley, Matthew
Merricks, Harriet Wain, Aaron Syme
Junior
Development
Jake Ashfield, Owen Taplin, Olivia
Steward, Charlotte
Ledden, Michael Allen, Tom Watson, Immy Dauncey, Nick Evans |
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A small band of Stratford Sharks’ swimmers headed north to
one of the UK’s most famous venues – Ponds Forge in Sheffield to a Level 1 open
meet hosted by performance club Lincoln Vulcans. It is notorious for having difficult
qualification times, and this year was no exception. With the level of competitiveness
in the Sharks squad improving week by week, they brought home twenty six
Personal Best (PB) performances, sixteen new Club Records, ten Gold and six
Silver medals.
Read the full report here.
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Stratford Sharks team of twenty eight swimmers travelled
to the new ARC Leisure Centre in Matlock, Derbyshire to compete against teams
from five other clubs in the first round of the Arena National League. With
fiercely competitive racing across a combination of individual swims and relay
events, Stratford Sharks’ secured an outstanding win by taking eleven first,
fourteen second and thirteen third places.
Full report here..
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| Almost fifty Stratford
Sharks’ swimmers qualified for the Coventry and District Association
Championships held at Pingles Leisure Centre in Nuneaton over the last two
weekends. The Sharks’ swimmers are reaping the rewards of their dedication to
the intensive training programme set by their coach, Mike Cole, at the start of
the season. From the three day, five session gala, Sharks’ medal haul was thirteen
Gold (up from 5 in 2011), eleven Silver and twenty Bronze medals and over two
hundred Personal Best (PB) performance improvements. Full report here. |
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Stratford Sharks swimmers travelled to Nuneaton for a friendly gala against five other clubs which is the prelude to the Junior League. With all the swimmers moving up an age group, it is the opportunity for eight year old swimmers to experience the competitive team gala for the first time. Read the full report here.
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| Well done to all the swimmers who competed at the Midland Age Group Champs over the last two weekends. Results can be viewed here.
Both Will Foster and Kathryn Lythgo achieved National Times during the Championships, Will adding the 200+400m freestyle to his 100+1500m times and Kathryn getting her 800m freestyle, great swimming.
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| For a list of 2012/2013 test dates please click here |
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Eight members
of Stratford Sharks Triathlon section travelled to Haden Hill to take part in
the Oldbury Swimming and Triathlon Club Aquathlon.
The event
involved a pool swim in the Haden Hill Leisure Centre followed by a run around
the grounds of the Haden Hill House Museum, and, as the name suggests, it was
very (very) hilly. Everyone was glad that the weather was somewhat warmer
however the “hills” were rather daunting.

First off
were Gregor Kelling, Johnathan Furey, Dominic Furey, Harry Coley-Smith, Daniel
Wilkinson and Annie Cox in the TriStar 3 Age Group. This involved a 200m swim
followed by a 2,500m run. In the first Heat Gregor and Annie completed the swim
in a group with the leaders. The run section saw the field begin to thin out. However,
Gregor had an excellent run challenging the leaders throughout to finish third
in the boys’ race. Annie had a very competitive run with her nearest challenger
chasing her hard only a few yards behind throughout. Annie held on to finish
second in the girls’ race.
In the next heat,
Sharks had four competitors which added to the “competition”. Johnathan was first out of the water followed
by younger brother Dominic, Daniel and closely followed by Harry. Daniel and
Harry had a little catching up to do after the swim but one of the fastest run
times of the day saw Daniel make easy work of all the hills to over-take his
team mates and finish in fifth place. Johnathan paced himself steadily over the
2,500m course and like Daniel appeared to enjoy the hills, coming in seventh. When
Dominic and Harry reached the final hill of the first lap they were neck and
neck. However, the final hill on the first lap took more out of Dominic (but
still smiling!) and Harry (also smiling) pulled away. In the end Harry finished
twelfth and Dominic thirteenth.
In TriStar 2
category Sharks only had one representative in Kieran Speechly. After a good
swim Kieran led his heat out onto the run. Showing an excellent running
technique just one of the boys in his heat passed him and he came in a very
creditable seventh in the boys’ race.
The final
Sharks competitor of the day was Daniel Cox in the Tristar 1 category. A very
close swim saw the first three locked together as they went out on the run. At
the end of the first lap with pain etched on their faces all three were
sprinting up the hill in a battle for places but with still another half lap to
go. In the end it came down to the sprint at the finish with Daniel showing
great stamina and power to come in second only three seconds behind the winner
(and 6 seconds separating first from third).
Ros Kelling,
one of the Sharks Coaches and mother of Gregor took part in the main adults’
race and finished fourth overall.
Overall the
Sharks competitors had an very enjoyable and successful event and can now look
forward to their home event the Warwickshire Childrens’ Aquathlon on May 11th
2013, with a few less hills!. |
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| Warwickshire Childrens Aquathlon organised by Stratford Sharks Triathlon section takes place on Saturday 11th May. Registration is from 12 noon and more details are available here |
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All Sharks members are welcome to join us for triathlon training on Saturday mornings. The training plan for April and May is now available and may be downloaded here. |
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|  As the Olympic triathlon hopefuls prepare for their big day, Stratford Sharks has already seen a large boost in the numbers of children signing up for their triathlon training sessions and record numbers entering their recent Aquathlon event this year. Triathlon is the fastest growing sport in the UK and with medal hopefuls the Brownlee brothers and Helen Jenkins boosting its profile, Sharks have predicted that their triathlon section will double in numbers this year. For a full report click here |
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Following the Lifesaving Sport Awards many more Sharks
Lifesavers have taken part in competitive lifesaving both locally, regionally
and even nationally: Stratford Sharks had previously been branch and regional
cup holders.
So it was with great pride and expectation that our new Junior
Novice team, of 12 to 14 year olds, competed in the Birmingham Splash Novice
Shield. Competing in their first competition, they battled hard in stroke relays, aquatic obstacle races,
towing races and rope throwing events. In a closely fought event, with only one
point between the first and second places, the Stratford Novice team of Reuben
Ledger, Dominic Furey, Oliver Edwards, Jack Chidgy, Alice Jennings and Maya
Wear surpassed all expectations to win the shield on their very first outing.
The older members of the club were invited to take part
in the Worcester winter league for the first time. An honour to be invited, the
competition was toughly fought as it visited each of the four hosting clubs. With
some competitors from national squads, Stratford Sharks had to raise their game
significantly to take a respectable second place in the Mixed Team part of the
league.
Sharks Lifesaving’s biggest success was to get a
competitor through to the RLSS UK National Speed Championships in Sheffield.
Josh Walker competed in a number of events, including manikin carry and tows,
rescue medley and obstacle swim. In his first attempt at national level he astounded
all by winning Silver medals in the 100 metre obstacle swim and the rescue
medley. His other races resulted in places of 4th, 5th and 9th. With an average
of 50 male entrants in his age group, this was an impressive debut at the
National Level and Josh’s success shows what can be achieved through training
and dedication.
This summer, Stratford Sharks Lifesaving will be moving
to open water lifesaving with a new site on the River Avon and returning to the
Isle of Wight for their summer training and competition.


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| At Tiddington Home Guard Club, Saturday 15th December 2012
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| Results Link.
Full list of accepted entries can be viewed here.
Meet info and schedule here.
There are no cards for this meet, if you are not swimming an event you must notify either the promoter or a coach on poolside at the start of the warm-up, not half way through.
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| This year’s Summer Shutdown will run from Sun 28th July to Sun 4th August, the only exception will be JP/Senior training at the Banbury LIDO on Saturday 3rd August. Details of the Summer Schedule for Lifesaving, Triathlon and Learn to Swim will be published as they become available. |
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| The web site now has a modification to the Blog page so we can email a squad when a new Blog goes up from a coach. |
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| Session is cancelled due to the Coventry & District Secondaries at which everyone should be competing.
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Well done to the following swimmers who passed their competitive start diving award test today!
Thank you to all parents for your on going support and to you the swimmers for all your hard work over the passed couple of weeks. Well done.
Kim
Charlie Palmer
Evie Thompson
Abbie Wooton
Hannah Markham
Patrick Reidy
Jasmine Ashfield
Alana Bridges
Matthew Flynn
Delta Freeman
Rebecca Morrsion
Alex Aitchison
Cameron Black |
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| The new Spring Newsletter is now available from the Members/Newsletter page. Thanks to Andy & Colin price as always for all their hard work.
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| April Draw results.
1st - 100
2nd - 15
3rd - 23
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| New Car stickers availbale form the club shop now for £2. PDF |
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| With the Sue England Physiotherapy Clinic. Physio screening dates for all Junior Performance & Senior Competitive Swimmers - 27th October, 2nd February and 15th June. 7.15-8.15am during Land Training. More detail here. |
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