Regional Pathway Camp Report 2017

The regional camps took on a different format this year. The South East came in line with the national pathway programme led by England Talent. The three camps ran on;

Saturday 8th July – ACS Cobham

Saturday 2nd September – ACS Cobham

Sunday 3rd December – K2 Crawley

Selection

36 athletes were selected from the 12 year olds across the region; 18 girls and 18 boys. Long course times on rankings achieved between the 1st January – end of the regional championships were used to select athletes from across all events. Attendance at the first camp was 33/36, some missed the morning session due to the open water championships, the second day 36/36 attended. The third day at K2 29/36 attended.

Content

The camps focused on starts and turns, including two 1.25 hour sessions. There were three specialist workshops, two of which were for the parents as well, nutrition and psychology (goal setting), the psychology workshop was fairly well attended. The nutrition workshop was very poorly attended by the parents. The third workshop was on mobility for starts and turns with a physiotherapist and was just for the athletes.

Coaching

Amanda Ford (Abingdon Vale) was Head Coach on the camps. Six lane coaches were appointed based on applications and were paid on a self-employed basis;

  • Stuart McCrea (Leatherhead)
  • Will Philpott (Wey Valley)
  • Zichen Liu (City of Oxford)
  • Arthur Lawler (Thanet)
  • Sue Eason (Bognor)
  • Sam Chadwick (Winchester)
  • Emily Dickens (Abingdon Vale) covered one session.

Coach Development

This year we invited coaches to attend in an observational capacity. At the first camp we had 4, at the second camp we had 4 and at the third camp we had 7 coaches. After the third camp the coaches were asked to evaluate their experience. All coaches felt that the experience was good or excellent in relation to relevance, content and usefulness. The region purchased a PA system to allow coaches to hear on poolside more easily.

The land training was provided by Strength and Conditioning specialists:

Alice Tourell, Guildford City

Cameron Roberts, Wycombe District

Sports Science support was provided by;

Julie Johnston, Sports Psychologist

Anita Bean, Nutritionist

Dan Nichols, Physiotherapist

The days were supported by paid team managers;

Terry Norris and Heather Reid

Positives

  • The coaches were more committed this year, being part of a programme with the conference really helped this.
  • Administration for a camp this size was more manageable.
  • For the first time we had coach observers.
  • Introduction of a Team Manager element into the regional conference was very well received and while attendance was small, feedback was excellent.

Areas for improvement

  • Feedback on the regional coaching conference was mixed, the content was not attractive to additional attendees. The UK coaching talent workshop was not well received.
  • The parent workshop really would work better at the start or end of the day.
  • Feedback from the coaches via email was patchy and none at all at the end, a paper based feedback sheet or booklet would be more consistent.

A full list of participating swimmers can be found below, this is a summary of swimmers per county;

County / 12 year girls / 12 year boys / Total
Berks and S Bucks / 1 / 1 / 2
Hampshire / 1 / 2 / 3
Kent / 8 / 3 / 11
Oxfordshire and N Bucks / 4 / 3 / 7
Surrey / 2 / 8 / 10
Sussex / 2 / 1 / 3
Males / Females
Alex / Paton / Guildford / Alicia / Peinado / Winchester
Alexander / Cook / Guildford / Amber / Ranson / Atlantis
Carmelo / Almadin / Maxwell / Bethany / Abrams / Mid Sussex
Charlie / Curran / Rushmoor / Caitlin / Ebbage / Tonbridge
Christian / Duetoft / Leatherhead / Claudia / De Vivo / Folkstone
Dan / Hicks / Guildford / Elspeth / Watson / Sevenoaks
David / Allen / Black Lion / Emily / Graziano / Edenbridge
Dominic / Morgan / Dorking / Erin / Nisbet / Tonbridge
George / Stan / Rushmoor / Maddison / Langley / Didcot
Harry / Wynne-Jones / CMK / Gracie / Hudson / Maxwell
Mackenzie / Russell / Guildford / Hannah / Torres / Epsom
Ryan / Rautenbach / Elmbridge / Holli / Gushlow / Edenbridge
Archie / Hawkins / Thanet / Holly / Showler / CMK
Sunni / Johnson / Wantage / Imogen / Stoddart / Sevenoaks
Teilo / Williams / Mid Sussex / Izzie / Mercer / RTW Monson
William / Dean / Maidenhead / Kiera / Heney / Woking
William / Reeves / Thanet / Merissa / Booth / Wycombe
William / Smith / Guildford / Sophie / Govan / Maxwell

Dates for 2018

Saturday 30th June - ACS Cobham

Saturday 1st September – ACS Cobham

Saturday 24th November – ACS Cobham

Kristie Jarrett

Regional Club Development Officer, Swim England South East