Haddington & District ASC – October 2009 Newsletter

Welcome
Welcome to the first newsletter of the new
committee. A successful Club AGM was held on
Wednesday 23 September and elected the following
volunteers:
Swimming ..

President Sandra Banks

Treasurer Elaine Smith
Secretary Sandra Couperwhite
Coach Representative Vivian Hastie
Competition Secretary Senga Restorick
Membership Secretary Tracey
McDonald
Gala Convener Francis Ogilvy
Medals Organiser Heather Munro Novice Squad
Lifeguard Rota Stewart Imrie Since the summer break we have held two trials. We
Member Yvonne Earl have welcomed the following swimmers to the club:
French Visit 2010 Rachel Cormack - Francis Millward, Ruby, Joe and Eve Smith, Finlay
Hay, James Dickson, Heather Scott, Innes Ogilvie,
The swimmers voted for Club Captains in the week Ellie May Mackenzie, Cera Gemmell, Jamie
prior to the AGM and Congratulations to Ali Mann Nicholson, Katie May Spencer, Charlotte Livesey,
and Esther Jellema, who were elected Boy Captain Imogen Naylor, Anna Lissaman and Rachael
and Girl Captain respectively. Andrews.

It is fantastic to have so many of you who assist with Novice Squad swimmers have competed at the Ian
the running of the Club. There are a number of McFadyen Gala which is an open meet, the first
people who help out without coming on the round of the Coverdale Cup which is a team event
committee, some examples are Dan Barber, who and in a time trial held during training time. Most
looks after our website, Susan Taylor who helps on swimmers have improved enormously over the past
poolside, Audrey Till who has recently started few months. In fact in the Coverdale Cup because it
looking after kit and doing some money collection, is time-banded the swimmers swam so fast that
Eric Munro who is going to help Francis with Gala they were outside the time-band and we didn’t get
organisation, and many who do timekeeping at many points! Congratulations.
competitions. We could not run the Club without the
input of all those who volunteer, so thank you and
please keep it up. Anyone who would like to get Dates for your Diary
more involved please speak to any of the Club Championships – see separate section
committee.
Sat 14th November There WILL be training for
All those who volunteer with the swimming club those not in the Championship finals
should be registered with SASA so please contact on this Saturday morning
Tracey if you have not yet been registered. Sun 22nd November No training the Sunday
morning after the ceilidh
Since the last newsletter we have had a very Fri 27th November Second round of Coverdale
successful Haddington 100s swim meet at Cup at Portobello – training on
Prestonpans in September, particular thanks to as normal at Haddington
Senga for her efforts in making it such a success. Fri 4th December Presidents Gala – no training
We have had the long distance races of the Club the team will go on the board
Championships – results are on the notice board. after the championships.
We are now looking forward to the Club Wed 9th December Next trial for potential
Championships in November – see Vivian's members 6.30pm
Swimming Section for details. Wed 16th December Water Polo evening for all
sessions start 6.30pm – Sunday
In this final paragraph of my first newsletter as 20th December will be the
President I want to say a big thank-you to Krish for last session before Christmas.
the 4 years he did as Club President. That was quite Wed 6th January First session back after
a commitment and he leaves the Club in a good Christmas
position. Thank you too to Susan Porteus who stood
down from the committee this year. I look forward
to the coming year and working with you all to
continue the successful development of swimming Attendance
at Haddington. Enjoy the newsletter. I have been looking at the monthly attendance
records for all squads and I am disappointed that so
Sandra Banks- President many swimmers do not meet the target of 2
 Haddington & District ASC – October 2009 Newsletter
sessions a week for squad 1 and 3 sessions a week Warm up 7.30pm Wednesdays and Friday
for squads 2 and 3. It is impossible to reach your 100m all strokes plus 200m IM
potential as a swimmer without putting in the
training. It is time in the pool that counts. Please If you are not coming to one of the heat evenings
could all swimmers look at their own attendance please let me know so that we can adjust the heats
and try to come along to training regularly every in advance. After the heats, please check the board
week. to find out if you are in the finals.
If there are 4 or less swimmers in an age group
Criteria for invitation to Tuesday there will be no heats or training on the heats
evenings.
evening session with East Lothian
Swim Team Prestonpans 8.00 – 9.30pm
East District Age Group
1. Regular attendance at Haddington training
sessions
Championships
2. Able to work hard in the sessions and
complete the training sets Congratulations to all the swimmers who have
3. Regular attendance at competition achieved consideration times for this series of
4. Ambitious to progress rapidly within the sport competitions.
of Competitive Swimming
5. Coach assessment that swimmer has
reached the standard to be able to swim the Communication
ELST Tuesday session
I will be on holiday after the Championship finals.
Any swimmer who is interested in adding this Please contact Senga about the second round of the
session to their regular training and would like to Coverdale Cup and the Presidents Gala (team lists
know if they have reached the required standard will go up after the Championships).
should come and speak to me. Regular attendance
is expected and the cost is at present £10 per
month Training Day
Twenty five swimmers and four coaches attended
Club Championships 2009 the training day with Gary Vandermuellen at
Prestonpans on Monday 19th October. At the
The club will soon be running the heats for the Club morning pool session he worked on stroke efficiency
Championships. These are for every member of the in all strokes showing the swimmers that by using
club and are held on club training nights. Please try the forearm, as well as the hand, to work on the
to come along to the heats even if they are on a water, the number of strokes per length could be
night that you do not normally train. There will not reduced. This was followed by a land training
be another opportunity to try to get into the finals. session working on core strength and flexibility. The
Please make a note of the dates below. afternoon pool session focussed on balance in the
water both by rotation of the whole body and the
Wed 4th November Backcrawl and Breaststroke correct head position in all strokes. Hopefully those
Heats who attended will not only continue to work on
Fri 6th November Butterfly and Frontcrawl Heats these points themselves but will pass on the
Wed 11th November Individual Medley Heats information to other swimmers at training.
Sat 14th November finals – fastest 4 from the
heats in each event and age
group Vivian Hastie – Head Coach
Sat 21st November Ceilidh and presentations

You will swim in your age group for the heats – the
age you will be by 31st December 2009. The age Money Matters
groups are 8 and under, 9, 10, 11,12, 13, 14, 15 and
over.

8 and under, 9s and 10s

Warm up 6.30pm Wednesdays and Friday
8 and under swim 25m butterfly and 50m of
Backcrawl, Breaststroke, Frontcrawl
There is no individual medley for this age group
9 and 10 year olds 50m all strokes plus 100m IM
Fundraising
11 years and over
 Haddington & District ASC – October 2009 Newsletter
The Haddington 100s Competition that we held on 6. Coordinator of officials: 1
20th September was a great success. We raised 7. Marshalls: 2-3
£1,965.19 which was fantastic. A huge thanks to all 8. Runners: 2
who helped out on the day and for the donation of 9. Programme maker and sellers: 2
raffle and tombola prizes. 10. Refreshments: 1 - 2
11. Medals and Trophies: 2
Payment of Fees
Please email me to volunteer help
It is a requirement of the club that all pool fees are ([email protected]) or ring me on 01875
paid by monthly standing order (SO). There are still 340 232 or catch me or my brother-in-arms, Eric
a number of members whose fees are not up to date Munro at the poolside. We shall seek to arrange a
and who are not paying by monthly SO. If you need course for timekeepers as soon as possible. The
any assistance in setting up a SO please get in first need will simply be for our own championships.
touch. If you want to simply try it out, please don't join the
Payment of Competition Fees rest of the would-be volunteers who have started to
dive into the changing cubicles as soon as they see
Fees are now due for the first round of the East me!
District Age Group Championships. You can either
pay the fees to myself, Tracey MacDonald, Audrey Are there any who are good at
Till or John Fairgreive in the café on a Wed or Fri attracting sponsorship for the club or who would
evening or make a payment direct to the bank themselves like to sponsor the club? There will
account. be various ways to show recognition to
companies or individuals who would prefer this, the
easiest being with a notice in
competition programmes.
Raffle Prize Donations
Many thanks
If you would like to donate a raffle prize for the Club
Championship Ceilidh at the Corn Exchange on 21st Francis Ogilvy – Gala Convenor
November please pass it to us by Friday 20th of
November.

If you require any further information you can email French Exchange Visit – 2010
me at [email protected]

Elaine Smith - Treasurer

Competition Assistance Needed

Please can you help at
competitions? Surely some of you would enjoy to
assist! It is more fun to be involved than just to After a very successful and enjoyable visit to Serres-
cheer from the sidelines to swimmers who cannot Castet by 30 lucky Club swimmers this summer. We
hear anyway. will be welcoming the French swimmers to
Haddington in July 2010 – provisional dates are for
We need parents and perhaps even club them to arrive on Sunday 18th July and stay with
members to help spread the load away from the hosting families until Wednesday 28th July.
dedicated faithful, if only for one event a year. Each Confirmation of dates and more news about the
competition, including heats, needs at least 13 French Visit 2010 in the next newsletter.
helpers; if we are at Prestonpans, the number goes
up to around 30! Even if we go to another club's If you have not seen them already there are pictures
swimming meet, they will expect us to provide of our visit on the club facebook page which can be
assistance; this is how the world of swimming found here. It is also another source of information
competitions works - ie they do not run themselves! in addition to the website.
In the expectation that many of you could be as
ignorant as I was, the roles are listed below
Christmas Festivities
1. Timekeepers; between 8-18
For the younger swimmers a visit to the pantomime
2. Judges: 4
has been organised for Tuesday 22 December. A
3. Starter : 1
booking sheet is on our noticeboard at Aubigny.
4. Referee: 1
5. Recorder: 2
 Haddington & District ASC – October 2009 Newsletter
For the older swimmers the Club Captains are on the
case and are organising an evening out – contact
Esther or Ali for details.