Barrow Amateur Swimming Club News
Welcome everyone to the first edition of the ‘Barrow Amateur Swimming Club News’ we hope this publication will help communicate issues associated with BASC and supplement information posted on the club website and noticeboards. The BASC website can be found at http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/barrowswimming and you can find out all the latest information regarding competitions, events, training times as well as keeping a check on the swimmers times, PBs and club records. Update Well February and March has certainly seen the club move forward in great strides both on the swimming and coaching fronts. Firstly the swimmers, a number of you took part and completed a Sponsored Swim, well done to all who managed to complete their required distances and if you have not done so a gentle reminder to please collect and hand in your sponsor money. Secondly congratulations must go to those swimmers who took part in the recent Cumbria Age Group competitions. Excellent performances ensured BASC was well represented and hopefully a strong BASC contingent will be selected to represent Cumbria ASA in the upcoming Inter-Association Competition. As we all know these performances can only be achieved with commitment, dedication and desire of the individual and their coaches. The coaching staff at the moment right from ‘A’ elite down to Monday night club are all striving hard and the results are starting to pay dividends. Furthermore a number of you recently attended a Level 1 coaches course run through March and congratulations to those who qualified, now the real hard work begins. “You have the qualifications please don’t waste them” There is another Level 1 course to be run through June so if you are interested please contact John Quinn for further details.
Go Diddy Leaguers April sees the start of the Diddy League, a team event competition for 9-11 year olds against the other swimming clubs in Cumbria. This is an excellent competition and the kids really enjoy racing against other clubs and for some it will their first experience of competition racing. The Diddy League is run on a cumulative score basis over the two qualifying rounds during which for each race there is 6 points awarded for 1^st, 5 for 2^nd, 4 for 3^rd etc all the way down to 0 points awarded for a disqualification.
The points each club achieves over the two rounds are added together with the top six teams entering the ‘A’ final and the remaining teams contesting the ‘B’ final. Congratulations go to this years Diddy League captains Andrew Kerr and Rebecca Reid both we are sure will lead by example. As ever Ulverston, Kendal and City of Carlisle will have strong teams however the Diddy League coaches are quietly confident and see ourselves as the competition dark horses with luck on our side we can make the ‘A’ Final.
Club Champs April events also include the BASC Club Champs Gala No’ 2, these events (there are five across the year) form one of the basic structures of the club and are much more than just swimming galas.
		For younger swimmers they give an early introduction to racing in a friendly and familiar setting and opportunities to record official times.For the older experienced swimmers they serve as regular chances to improve PB times and hopefully gain qualifications for other events. The galas are open to all swimmers so if your son or daughter is interested please speak to any of the coaching staff or check out the website. As you can imagine the amount of effort in organising these galas is phenomenal and volunteers are always welcome so please don’t be shy if asked to help out.
Issues Recently there have been developments with regards training and sessions have had to be changed and some parents have voiced concerns. Please be assured the committee and coaching staff are working hard trying to resolve this, please bear with us whilst we implement revised arrangements and keep checking the noticeboards for training times. Ultimately we are a victim of our own success as we are currently experiencing a boom in swimmers who are good enough to move into the A & B squads. Once again congratulations must go to the Monday Night Club and C & D Squad coaching staff for producing good young swimmers, well done.
Well as they say that’s all folks for this month, hopefully this first edition has been a good icebreaker and next time we will be reporting on success stories in the Sprint and Diddy Leagues. Any suggestions for future content of this newsletter would be greatly appreciated or if you would prefer to receive this electronically please email dave.kerry@talktalk.net. Look out for the next edition of BASC News due out in May 07 hopefully we will be including information on the club structure (positions/committee), coaching coordinators and staff, training timetable and new member information.
Forthcoming Events
Date	Event		Venue		Entries in by
April
20^th	Club Championship Gala No’ 2		Barrow		01/04/07
21^st	Diddy League Rnd 1		Workington or Kendal		-
21^st/22^nd	Harrogate Distance Meet		Harrogate Hydro		18/03/07
28^th	13^th CW & M Griffin Gala		Whitehaven		23/03/07
May
12^th	Club Championship Gala No’ 3		Barrow		TBC
13^th	Sprint League Rnd 1		Kendal		-
19^th	Diddy League Rnd 2		Workington or Kendal		-
19^th/20^th	Manchester Open		Manchester Aquatic Centre		01/04/07
26^th/27^th	Inter-Association Competition		Blackpool		-
June
2^nd/3^rd	ASANWR Age Groups		Manchester Aquatic Centre		20/04/07
9^th/10^th	ASANWR Age Groups		Manchester Aquatic Centre		20/04/07
16^th/17^th	Harrogate Graded Gala		Harrogate Hydro		11/05/07
30^th	Diddy League Finals ‘A’ & ‘B’		‘A’ – Kendal ‘B’ - Workington		-
July
1^st	Sprint League Rnd 2		Carlisle		-
6^th	Presentation Evening		BAE Sports, Barrow		-
7^th	12^th Copeland Graded Gala		Whitehaven		TBC
21^st/22^nd	Rotheram Metro ‘A’ & ‘B’ Short Course Graded		Ponds Forge, Sheffield		31/05/07
27^th-29^th	World Youth Friendly Games		Holland		See Kev Thompson
September
22^nd	Rotheram Metro ‘A’ & ‘B’ Short Course Graded		Ponds Forge, Sheffield		01/07/07
23^rd	Sprint League Rnd 3/Final		Whitehaven		-
23^rd	25^th Annual Teaspoon Gala		Ponds Forge, Sheffield		20/04/07
30^th	Diddy League Grand Final		Carlisle		-
Please check website for further details and as always entries to Fixtures/Competition Secretary (Christine North) either in person or by email compsecbarrow@fsmail.net by the date required. Please ensure payment for events is paid to the Club Treasurer promptly by date required. Team sheets for Diddy and Sprint League teams will be posted on the club noticeboard, please confirm your availability ASAP.