Annual Presentation Evening 2023

On Friday 8th December the Academy Swim Team held their 2nd annual awards presentation night, this time at the BASC ground, the home of Burnham Rugby Club. It was great to see so many swimmers and their families in attendance as the club celebrated another incredible year. In his final act as Chairman before handing over to Mark Jimmieson, Simon Robinson was the MC for the evening and did a great job managing an excited crowd through the 2 rounds of Backwards Bingo that preceded the speeches and presentations. Click the video link below to see a slideshow of the photo's and award winners from the evening.

Having formally taken over from Simon at the AGM the previous week, new Chairman Mark did a quick introduction to himself for all of the parents and set out his intention to carry on the great work that had already been done in the 2 years since the swimming pool was taken over by Legacy Leisure and a new committee was formed.

Ahead of the main awards Rich Horsfall celebrated the achievements of AST Burnham's Triathletes who train and compete with the Academy Swim Team. There is still a significant crossover between the sports at the club with several parents still competing in Triathlons and their children competing in both sports. From the National and Regional Squad’s Matilda Hicks, Macy Noad, Evie Horsfall and Talia Hughes have been competing all year in National Super Series events and are now ranked highly in Great Britain, culminating in them being selected for the South West Regional Academy.

In the Triathlon South West series swimmers from our Development through to Regional Squad’s have been competing more locally. Siblings Killian and Thea Faubel have been competing in the Inter Regional Championships with them now being ranked 2nd and 9th respectively in the series. Agnes Alexander has risen to 10th in the rankings and has been selected for the South West Bike Development pathway, whilst Isaac Masley is now ranked 8th and was 6th in the Torbay Relay’s. Isla Feguson finished 3rd in the same relays and is 8th in the series, Ben Spinner is currently ranked 3rd, Charlotte Chard 10th, whilst Rosie Woodrow is currently 1st in the South West series after a number of wins this year. Bella Gold and Imogen Mawby have also been competing and picking up wins this year, making that 14 of the club’s swimmers who have also been having great success in Triathlon this year. Well done to them all.

Simon then announced the first ever official Swim Team Captain’s for 2024. This was something discussed a year ago that most Swim Teams, or indeed any sporting teams, have and with the continued growth and success of the club, two members of the swim team were selected for the new role. This was in recognition of their going above and beyond for the club, helping out at training, sharing their knowledge and experience with the younger swimmers and generally setting a good example for others to follow. Zach Powell and Amelie Rowley-Wall were then announced as the Boys and Girls Captain’s for 2024 and presented with new swim team captain’s shirts.

Head Coach’s Summary

Head Coach Sara Flinton then took to the stage and attempted to summarise as much as possible another stellar year for the Academy Swim Team. The year started with a record number of entrants for the County Championships that finished with a new record medals total for the club. The Cotswold League campaign was again hugely successful in the qualifying rounds as the team won 3 out of 4 Gala’s to qualify for the A final for the second year in a row. This early success rolled into the South West Regional Championships in April and May for which AST Burnham again had their highest ever number of entrants and finalists.

Over the summer the club had two swimmers in Zach Powell and Leo Woodrow who went to the English and Welsh Nationals respectively. Zach qualified for the 1500M and 200M Free events, just missing out on the 400M Free. He went on to finish 11th in the 200M and took 15 seconds off his long distance PB, a superb achievement. For Leo it was a fantastic Welsh meet where he brought home 5 medals and took another huge step forward in his development.

The autumn started with 5 of the club’s 12 and under swimmers, Leo Woodrow, Evie Rowley-Wall, Ryan Smout and Harry and Lauren Glanville being selected for the County Pathway program, a great achievement and recognition for a club of AST Burnham’s size. Going forward Sara is looking to build on this success by partnering up with larger club’s in the region to provide further opportunities for both competing and training at a higher level for the Academy Swim Team.

As ever Sara was keen to stress that she and the other coaches want to develop the swim team’s skills before speed, as that will come when the skills are right. She emphasised that despite the focus that it is natural to have on times and qualifying for Counties and beyond, they would rather see swimmers get things right in the pool and and go slower as a result, as this will build a much better swimmer that will be able to keep going faster as they get older.

Sara wants to develop rounded swimmers and also see the team swim without fear of the distance, stroke or opposition. She highlighted Harry Glanville’s fearlessness as an 11 year old at the Cotswold League final in April to swim in the Open 100M Fly event as a good example of this. Also, as it was her favourite event, Sara was pleased to see the number of swimmers now taking on the challenging 200M Fly this year.

Sara then congratulated all of the swimmers, both seasoned and new on all their achievements this year. She also thanked all of the poolside helpers and coaches for their contribution to the success of the swim team this year. Sara then made a special mention to Coach Nic Hazelton who was nominated for Swim England South West Coach of the year in November, a great acknowledgement of all the hard work that she dedicates to the club in her free time.

Squad Award Winners

Club Trophy Winners

The Club trophies were then presented to the winners by Sara and Nic. The winners can again be seen below along with a summary for why they were chosen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank You's

As ever there were a lot of people for Simon to thank that have helped the club this year. In their first job as Club Captain’s Amelie and Zach handed out a number of gifts and thank you’s to the club’s coaches and some committee members who were recognised for their efforts this year for the club.

 

Head Coach Sara, Coach’s Nic Hazelton and Liz Power, along with assisting Coach’s Sam Vagg, Nick Faubel, Rich Horsfall and Oliver Astill were all thanked for their efforts in supporting the swimmers this year. Sara was thanked for all of the exhausting hours that she puts into running sessions, Nic for putting in the time and effort that she does on top of her full time job (and now award nominated!), newcomer to the team Liz who has brought a great poolside manner with the kids, Sam who has helped the club out at a time of need when there were no coach’s to run Friday night training sessions, Nick who has completed his L1 coaching qualification this year and helps out at weekends, Rich for delivering poolside sets and land training when coaching cover is needed, then finally to Oliver for whom Sara is tapping into his experience and sees great things ahead.

 

 

 

 

Simon also thanked the committee for giving up their time this year and handed out a few thank you gifts, firstly to the club’s Oracle and Secretary Jan Dykes for her support for the club’s swimmers and to himself over the last couple of years. Outgoing Welfare Officer Sarah Hay was also thanked for bringing the club’s Welfare programme up to date and for the countless hours that she has put in to ensure the welfare provision for the swimmers is as good as it can be. Lastly, Mair Howe was thanked for the huge amount of effort that she has put into ensuring the club maintained its Swim Mark accreditation. This is vital to the swim team remaining a competitive and properly run club.

 

 

In his last words as Chairman Simon signed off by saying “I think each and every swimmer should recognise their own individual achievements this year. The team punches well above its weight and is producing some incredible athletes who I hope go on to achieve great things. It's been a privilege to steer the ship for the last 18 months and it wouldn’t have been possible without everyone's support. Mark is a perfect replacement and will continue to drive the club forwards and keep us well and truly on the map.” Before Simon was allowed to leave the stage he was then presented with a thank you gift from the committee for his role in getting a new committee formed and up and running over the last 2 years.