Entry eligibility periods for British Gas ASA National Championships.

“It has become customary for the 1st October to be the opening day for swims to be used for entry into the various British Gas ASA National Championships in the following year.
This means that the length of the period from the 1st October to the event closing date has varied, for each event, with some swimmers having a longer period in which to qualify than others, which is clearly not ideal.
British Swimming has normally used a 12 month qualifying period.
In 2012 there is the added complication that many Youth swimmers were deprived of the chance to swim at their Regional Youth Championships, on the Sunday, to attend the opening ceremony of the Children’s Games.
Having considered these matters the ASA Technical Swimming Committee have decided to change the eligibility period for entries to all its events to a period of 12 months before the closing date for the particular event.
This change will be introduced immediately and will apply to the various 2012 Championships.
The qualification dates for the 2012 Championships will be as follows:-
British Gas ASA National Championships (50m) 2012.
Times must be achieved between the 31st May 2011 and the 31st May 2012.
British Gas ASA National Youth & MC Championships 2012
British Gas ASA National Age Group Championships 2012
Times must be achieved between the 27th June 2011 and the 27th June 2012.
The conditions appertaining to the Level of Meet required etc remain the same as in the published conditions for each event.

Barry J Saunders
Competition Manager
ASA Technical Swimming Committee.
16th May 2012

A third of children in England cannot swim by the time they leave primary school, according to research from the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA).

The research suggests many non-swimmers have never had a school swimming lesson despite its being part of the national curriculum for seven-to-11-year-olds.
The ASA says swimming is the only curriculum subject that saves lives.

The Department for Education said schools must provide lessons and pupils must be taught to swim 25m unaided.

The researchers for ASA and cereal company Kellogg’s, sponsors of the association’s swimming awards, set out to find out what proportion of 11-year-olds achieved the national curriculum target of being able to swim 25m by the time they left primary school.
Only 35 local authorities in England – around a quarter of those contacted – gave full responses to Freedom of Information requests from the team, relating to their records for 2011.

Their answers revealed that two-thirds of children achieved the target, meaning one-third did not.

The researchers calculate that this means around 200,000 children leave primary school each year unable to swim properly.

The survey responses also suggested that of the children who could not swim, 39% had never been offered school swimming lessons.

The report, Save School Swimming, Save Lives, calls for every child in the UK to have the opportunity to learn to swim in primary school.

It quotes figures from the National Water Safety Forum which show that more than 400 people drown each year in the UK and that drowning is the third most common cause of accidental death in children.

The report states: “Each child should be safe in and around water, and a key element of this is being able to swim a minimum of 25m unaided.

“We call on central and local government to show their commitment to school swimming by reiterating this expectation to schools.”

It also calls on primary head teachers to make swimming a priority in their school budgets and wants Ofsted to monitor the inclusion and delivery of swimming lessons.

ASA is also offering help and advice to encourage schools with their own pools to keep them open.

David Sparkes, of the ASA, said: “Swimming is the only subject on the national curriculum that can save your life.”

The report points to a direct correlation between swimming ability and school lessons. For example, all children in South Northamptonshire, where 91% of 11-year-olds achieve the government target, get swimming lessons at school.

The report also includes a survey of more than 1,000 parents which showed almost all (98%) believed every child should be able to swim by the end of primary school but only 40% thought their children would be able to swim to safety if they got into danger in the water.

Around a quarter (24%) of parents paid for private swimming lessons but another 24% said they could not afford either lessons or pool admission.

David Walker, of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) said: “We are concerned to see that so many children are struggling to swim at an acceptable standard.

“RoSPA believes that good awareness of water safety and the ability to swim are essential skills.”

A spokeswoman for the DfE said: “Swimming is a compulsory part of the national curriculum, and all primary schools have a duty to provide swimming lessons for their pupils.

“By the end of primary school, pupils must be taught to swim 25m unaided using recognised strokes on their front and back and use a range of personal survival skills.

“We would expect that schools would take the needs of their children into account in making all decisions.”

Helen Bilton, of University of Reading’s Institute of Education, called for the government to help with the upkeep of school pools.

“Schools are getting the blame but really they need more support from government,” she said. “PE is not sufficiently valued as a subject for the resources to be spent on it.

“At the end of the day, swimming can’t be a priority if English and Maths Sats results are what makes a school survive an Ofsted report or not.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-18075151

Organisation British Swimming
Location Loughborough
Salary Commensurate with experience and qualifications
Closing date Jun 11, 2012
Sector National governing body
Job Type Permanent
Date added May 09, 2012

Job ref no MAY12/MS000h2/BS

British Swimming, the National Governing Body for Swimming, is seeking a GB Director of Coaching to join the World Class Programmes swimming team.

The purpose of the role is to provide coaching advice and mentoring support and guidance to British Swimming’s coaches, establish and drive a culture of best practice and continuous improvement within coaching, to act as the technical lead on all coaching matters, support the home country leads of coaching and be accountable for the overall effectiveness of coach development and mentoring across the world class pathway.

The successful candidate will have proven experience of coaching at international level at benchmark meets, planning and delivering mentoring programmes and experience of planning, implementing and managing major programmes or services within a national governing body as well as a broad knowledge of coaching and support services required to support talent and performance swimming programmes. An ability to build and maintain effective working relationships with internal/external stakeholders, implement, manage and balance a complex programme of work within agreed timelines are also key requirements for the role. Detailed knowledge and understanding of national and international swimming is essential. The successful candidate must also have experience of undertaking appraisals, experience of leading a project team, managing and prioritising budgets and collecting and analysing data. So if you feel you have the suitable skills and attributes for this position then we would like to hear from you.

A CRB check will be taken up as part of this employment.

How to apply:
Please download the attached application pack. Alternatively contact our HR Department using the email address or recruitment telephone line number below.

The ASA is an equal opportunities employer and a holder of the Equality Standard at Foundation, Preliminary and Intermediate levels.

A non-smoking policy operates throughout our premises occupied.

Closing date: 11 June 2012 at 12.00 noon.
Interview date: 25 June 2012

Apply by email: HRdepartment@swimming.org
Apply by telephone: 01509 618703

Job Description & Person Spec can be found HERE

The application form can be found HERE

http://www.london2012.com/swimming/schedule-and-results/index.html

All booking details are available by clicking HERE

Technical details about Conference timings and content will still be dealt with by the BSCA office, but all queries relating to bookings will be managed by Calders via their events office on: 0844 375 4277 or email BSCA@calders.org.uk

Closing date for registration is Friday 17 August 2012 for the FULL CONFERENCE PACKAGE. Regrettably after this date, any cancellations will be charged in full. Full payment is required at the time of booking.

The 2011 world 100 metres breaststroke champion and one of Norway’s best hopes for a medal at this year’s London Olympics was attending an altitude training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona.

His team-mates became worried when they noticed he had spent a long time in the shower on Monday evening and Dale Oen did not react when they called out and knocked on the door. When they got into the bathroom, they found him lying half-in and half-out of the bath tub.

Ola Ronsen, doctor to Norway’s elite Olympians, was quickly on the scene and an ambulance arrived shortly afterwards, but despite their best efforts to revive him Dale Oen was pronounced dead at 2100 local time.

“This is incredibly sad and tragic,” Ronsen said. “As a doctor, it is painful experience not to succeed with resuscitation.

“Everything was done according to procedure, and everything was tried, so it’s infinitely sad that we were unable to revive him.”

Born in Oygarden in south-western Norway, Dale Oen’s career was ground-breaking for Norwegian swimming, and his bronze medal at the 2006 short course championships was the first for a Norwegian man in a world event.

He also won his country’s first Olympic swimming medal when he took silver in the 100m breaststroke in Beijing in 2008 but it was at the 2011 world championships that he became a real national hero to the Norwegian people.

As he prepared for the 100m breaststroke competition in Shanghai, Dale Oen’s nordic homeland was rocked by the massacre of 77 people by far right fanatic Anders Behring Breivik.

The country was thrown into shock and Dale Oen struggled with his emotions in the aftermath of the attacks, touching the Norwegian flag on his swimming cap every time he entered the pool deck.

Three days later, he swam to victory in the 100m breaststroke final and dedicated his triumph to the Norwegian people.

“We need to let everyday life come back because we cannot get things ruined,” he told reporters after the race.

“In a time like this for Norway, we need to be together, to be one. I think now that everyone back at home, of course, is paralysed. I can feel the emotion, but I’m here in Shanghai and I have to show my best and … just think of those at home.”

Dale Oen, who was in Arizona preparing for the London Olympics, was active on social media site Twitter, and in his final message he told his followers he was looking forward to returning to his native country.

“2 days left of our camp up here in Flagstaff, then it’s back to the most beautiful city in Norway – Bergen,” he wrote.

Norwegian officials offered their condolences to Dale Oen’s family and friends, and to the wider Norwegian sporting community.

“My thoughts go first and foremost to his family in Oygarden,” Per Rune Eknes, president of the Norwegian Swimming Federation said in a statement. “This is the toughest day the sport of swimming in Norway has ever had.”

“Norwegian sport has lost a sporting hero, not just because of his performances in the pool, but also because of his manner,” said Borre Rognilen, president of Norway’s Olympic council.

Reuters

The mixed relays will make their Europeans debut at this December’s 2012 Short Course Europeans in Chartres, France, with 4×50 relays. The mixed relays will be swum for the first time at the main European Championships in the 2014 edition and with the 4×100 relays. (Note: The 2014 Europeans are listed as being in Berlin, Germany from August 13-24.)

For the Short Course Europeans, the frequency change from every-year to every-other-year is so that the meet is held only in years without Short Course Worlds. (even years= SC Worlds; odd years= SC Europeans)

The changes to LEN championships formatting came from recommendations approved by LEN’s Technical Swimming Committee at a meeting it held in March.

Further information is available on the LEN page here: http://www.len.eu/cms?press+pr+2012=228

The BSCA is pleased to announce that the 2012 event will focus upon three key areas this year;
1. Resume of 2012 Olympics and planning for 2016 Rio & 2020
2. Sprint swimming in Britain, women v men
3. Reviewing the future – LTAD

To this end we are lining up doemstic & international speakers to meet these topics:
Jacco Verhaeran – Sporting Director, Dutch Swim Federation; coach to Pieter van den Hoogenband, Inge De Bruin, Marcel Wouda, Marleen Veldhuis, Inge Dekker ………

Jan Olbrecht – Jan Olbrecht has a Ph.D in Physiology and Bio-Mechanics from Cologne and has swum in three World Championships for Belgium. He is training adviser to several world class athletes and uses a unique method of lactate testing to assess the conditioning of his athletes. Jan believes in careful planning and in altitude training to optimize the athlete’s conditioning and performance. He advises athletes whose races last from 20 seconds in swimming to over 8 hours in the Ironman.

Alongside this we will have a host of practical & theory Workshops in classroom & poolside environments, including and led by renowned coaches from the UK, winning medals today and who have been at the pinnacle of the sport for decades.

Booking will be arranged via our partners Calders and details will be available within the next few days.

Look forward to seeing you then ….

We hope you all enjoyed the British Trials and we congratulate all those swimmers who have qualified for the Olympic team so far, and good luck all again in June. We look forward to watching with interest.

The BEST Centre has been the training base for the British senior team and Disability team and remains one of the top sites in Europe for club training camps from small clubs to national teams. Ask us for prices and availability for your next camp and join over 35 Olympic and World medallists who have enjoyed training with us. We also book teams in camps in all the main sites across Europe to suit all budgets and needs. With over 10 years of organising training camps, we have the experience to make your next camp a success.

BEST MEDITERRANEAN Swim Programme

As you know, the BEST CENTRE, Mallorca, has now been open for almost three years and in that time has attracted some of the world’s best swimmers, coaches and triathletes.

In September this year, we plan to start our BEST MEDITERRANEAN Swim Programme. Our aim is to start up a senior swim programme of swimmers, from around Europe, that lives and trains at the pool in Colonia Sant Jordi.

Coaching qualifications and language classes

This group of swimmers will also have the opportunity to take their level 1 and 2 coaching qualifications, run onsite by the IOS, or study Spanish, or take A levels.

As well as a great year of swimming, the athletes can come away with a qualification that can start them on their coaching career. Or they can become fluent in Spanish, or continue with their A level qualifications.

For Senior swimmers that need a change

The Programme is aimed at those swimmers at a crossroads in their swimming and educational careers. Ideally they should be 18 years old or over, but we will also consider 16 and 17 year olds with parental consent and for whom this is an appropriate move.

Swimmers will be asked to make a minimum commitment of 9 months, starting in September and running until July. At the end of the year, the swimmers can return to their home programmes, stay on for another year, or continue their swimming careers at university or elsewhere.

The Programme will be coached by us, and as well as offering outdoor long course training year round, weights, video analysis and some fun cross training, like kayaking and mountain biking, the swimmers will have a tailor made competition programme to suit their level and their goals.

We value and encourage the input of the swimmers’ club coaches and retain an open door for visits from the athlete’s family.

Away from the pool, a benefit of this programme will be the personal development of the athletes. Living in, and communicating with, a new culture in a new language will provide the swimmers with valuable life skills. Swimmers will stay in shared accommodation in the town and will be expected to take full responsibility for their personal well being and actions.

If you would like to know more about the programme, or if you have a swimmer(s) in your group that you feel would benefit from a year with us, please let them know about BEST Mediterranean. They can contact us at the pool on 0034 971 65 65 60, or in the UK on 0161 408 2982 or by e-mail at info@bestswimcentre.com for more information and an informal chat.

We would, of course, welcome the chance to speak to you about the programme in order for you to know more and be able to offer an informed recommendation to your swimmers.

James Parrack

BEST Centre – No. 1 Private Sports Facility in the Balearics, 2011

Awarded by the Balearic Association of Sport Facilities, Sport Providers and Sports Professionals

www.BESTswimCentre.com

jamesparrack@BESTswimCentre.com

Tel: +44 161 408 2982

Tel: +33 6 87 28 73 68

The British Olympic Association have lost a court case to keep their lifetime ban for drugs cheats.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will announce on Monday their decision that the BOA’s bylaw does not comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) global code, sources with knowledge of the case have confirmed to the Press Association.

The outcome means sprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclist David Millar will have their lifetime bans lifted to allow their selection for Team GB for the London 2012 Games.

CAS rulings are not always cut and dried in favour of a single party, but it is understood this ruling is unequivocally in favour of WADA.

The BOA’s response will be to accept the defeat, with the first action to formally remove the bylaw at a full board meeting. That will then open the way to allowing UK Athletics to select Chambers in July, and British Cycling to do the same with Millar in June.

The two athletes had been subject to the lifetime rule for after being banned for doping offences eight years ago. Shot-putter Carl Myerscough would also be eligible for selection

The BOA will now concentrate on their proposals to change WADA’s global code on doping. They have proposed a minimum four-year ban for a first serious doping offence, including missing one Olympics, with national Olympic committees having the autonomy to have tougher sanctions if they so choose including a lifetime ban.

Any such agreement would not come before the London Games however so would not affect Chambers’ and Millar’s participation.

Most anti-doping experts believe that it is more likely that WADA will agree to change the new code to increase the length of a ban for a serious offence, but will stop short of allowing different Olympic committees to have different sanctions.

Chambers tested positive for the designer steroid THG in 2003 and was banned for two years. Millar admitted to taking the blood-boosting agent EPO and he too was banned for two years.