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Saxon Crown Newsletter
Saxon Crown Newsletter May 2018 Page 1
Welcome everyone to your Spring newsletter
It’s been a really busy three months for Saxon Crown with lots of galas taking place and our
swimmers have been doing amazingly well!!
Firstly, huge congratulations to Josh Monaghan Coombs. In December 2017 Josh participated
in the National Disability Championships at the Manchester Aquatic Centre. Here he
demonstrated how his recent training has paid off by gaining personal best times in 100m
breaststroke, 50m freestyle (swimming butterfly), 200 IM and 100m backstroke. He finished
the competition with 4 gold medals and one bronze medal!!
Josh has qualified to take part in Team England for the Cerebral Palsy World Games in
Barcelona in August 2018 and we wish him the best of luck and look forward to hearing all
about it in our next newsletter!!
Congratulations also to Henry Norman who, based on his performances at this year’s Kent
Championships, has been selected to attend the Swim England’s 2018 Talent Pathway
programme for 11 year olds.
Saxon Crown has now over 500 swimmers and as we grow as a club there becomes an ever-
increasing need for more parents to volunteer to help make things run smoothly. This is
especially so when the club is hosting galas such as the upcoming Future Champs and Club
Championships, if anyone is interested in becoming a volunteer please email Neil at
Below is a reminder of how you can be a positive member of the club and ensure our swimmers
are properly supported.
AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOUR
Aggressive or rude behaviour to coaches or volunteers is never acceptable and can ultimately
in the most serious circumstances lead to expulsion from the club. Many of us give up a lot of
our free time to support the club, and we also have a duty of care to the coaches we employ. If
you have a concern, you need to talk to volunteers and coaches in a constructive and polite way
about it, and also set an example to our younger swimmers.
RAISING A CONCERN
We have established routes for raising a concern, which we recognise may happen from time
to time. In the first instance please arrange a time to talk to coaches, or contact the welfare
officer if you'd prefer. Details on how to do this are on our website - under Club Information.
It is never acceptable to come on poolside uninvited to talk to a coach, or to interrupt them if
they are meeting someone else. They need to supervise swimmers and not be distracted.
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SUPPORTING YOUR SWIMMER
It is great to be enthusiastic about your swimmers' achievements but please don't put them under
pressure to perform. There is a great video on YouTube about this, which is worth everyone
watching, called "It's our game not yours"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8R50LdkTVc
PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography is not permitted in any of our training sessions unless agreed in advance with the
Club and the Leisure Centre.
FEEDBACK
We encourage our coaches to give feedback first and foremost direct to the swimmers rather
than parents, and, to keep fees down, we do not provide written reports on progress. Please
contact the coach concerned if you wish to discuss a swimmer's progression but ideally this is
always done with the swimmer present as they are the ones who need to learn how to swim
better, not us parents!
Many thanks in your co-operation in making Saxon Crown a friendly and supportive amateur
sports club. Thanks to everyone who has helped with all the activities and events this year.
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SAXON CROWN NEWS
PRESENTATION EVENING – SATURDAY 24TH FEBRUARY
On Saturday 24 February a large number of our swimmers and their families headed over to the
Catford & Cyphers Cricket Club for a welcomed return of Saxon Crown’s presentation evening
which saw Renee Somerville and Mateusz Szopinski being crowned 2018 Senior Captains, and
Madison Williams and Luke Oladele-Ajose being crowned 2018 Junior Captains. The evening
was great fun, thank you to everyone who came and to everyone who bought food to add to the
buffet … the doughnuts were divine!!
We look forward to seeing you all there next year.
Not only do our swimmers represent Saxon Crown in lots of different competitions but a few
of them also represent their schools in swimming galas. Zach and Sophia Kirkman, Ryan and
Ellen Napper and Ben Jarman represented their school in the Kent Secondary School
Swimming Championships in Margate. Well done to them!
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Andrew, Joseph and Sophia took part in the Kingfisher Aquathon on very cold early Sunday
morning.
Andrew and Sophia swam 400m and then ran 3K, Joseph swam 200m and ran 2K.
TIGER SHARKS
Our Tiger Sharks sessions operate for those swimmers with physical and/or cognitive needs.
We have a team of coaches and volunteers that help run lower ratio sessions to help swimmers
for their personal objectives. This could be for fun, physical, mental, social benefits and to
aspire to develop towards competitive swimming. These are held at:
• Glass Mill: Tuesday 7 – 9pm
• Downham: Wednesday 7 – 9pm
• The Bridge: Friday 4 – 5.30pm
If you know anyone that may benefit from our sessions please encourage them to make contact
as we could start them on the road to being the Paralympian swimmers of tomorrow.
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Two of our Tiger Sharks swimmers entered the annual Sutton Disability Gala at Westcott
Leisure Centre last Friday. Fraiser Grogan and Julianna Golding picked up 3 gold medals and
a gold and a bronze respectively. Well done to them both!!
LEWISHAM GRANT
In partnership with Fusion Lifestyle and Lewisham Council we offer the provision of
interventions to help reduce the barriers to participating in swimming.
These include “Top-up” swimming lessons targeted at primary school pupils in the borough.
These intensive 5-day courses offered in school holiday periods provide a great chance for
swimmers to work towards achieving their National Curriculum objective, delivered by our
club coaches. We can also aid those in our “Learn to Swim” section up to Otters focussing on
aspects of their swimming to help them progress to the next squad. Many of the club swimmers
have used them effectively as a spring board for progression.
Although we send information out to the schools before each holiday often schools do not
access the opportunity in time. As our club has swimmers from across the borough we would
like to have a parent, teacher or staff member in all the schools in the borough that can champion
these opportunities by ensuring the information is reaching those that need it (staff, parents,
pupils). If you are happy to be a school swimming champion for any of the borough’s primary
schools it would be great to hear from you.
Any contact regarding the top-up program and Tiger Sharks please contact Michael Griffin via
the email: [email protected].
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UPCOMING GALAS
The Club is hosting a Future Champs gala on Sunday 17th June. This gala is aimed at any
swimmer from Otters upwards to come and race get some gala experience and get some official
times. If your swimmer is in Otters, Dolphins, Marlins, Pre-Squad or Junior Squad and would
like to enter please get your application form in to Rozanne as soon as possible, the closing date
is Monday 14th May 2018.
Information on the summer Club Championships in July will be sent out nearer the time.
MAY
London Regionals @ London Aquatic Centre –
Saturday 12th & Sunday 13th and Saturday 19th & Sunday
20th
Summer Open Meet @ London Aquatic Centre –
Saturday 26th & Sunday 27th
JUNE
White Horse League R3 –
Saturday 2nd
Kent Junior League R1 – Saturday 9th
Future Champs @ Glassmill – Sunday 17th
White Horse League R4 –
Saturday 30th
JULY
London Youth Games – Crystal Palace – Saturday 7th
Club Champs @ Glassmill – Sunday 15th & Monday 16th
Welsh Nationals – Swansea
– Monday 30th July – Sunday 5th August
Welsh Development Meet –
Swansea – Monday 30th –
Wednesday 1st August
Congratulations to the following swimmers who qualified for the London Regionals. We look
forward to cheering you on and seeing all the medals you bring back!!
Chidubem Abazie Ela Babaccu Ellen Napper
Henry Norman Joshua Monaghan-Coombs Kadeen Jemmott
Kai Johnson Katie Weekly Lauren Napper
Luke Oladele-Ajose Mateusz Szopinski Michael Foster
Noah Oladele-Ajose Pharell Nimoh Renee Somerville
Shay Wellman Teddy Lewis Tommy Lewis
Zach Kirkman
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SWIMMING ROUND-UP
KENT COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS 2018
The Kent County Championships were held over four weekends from 20th January to 11th
February at Crystal Palace and the London Aquatics Centre in Stratford.
Kent is one of the most competitive counties for swimming in the country and to qualify for
even one race is a massive achievement. All our squad swimmers train hard all year round and
enter galas to achieve qualification times so that they can participate in the finals. This year
saw 25 of our swimmers head to Crystal Palace and the London Aquatic Centre for their chance
to swim their way into a final. A massive congratulations to the following swimmers who
qualified:-
Andrew Steer Benjamin Wedenig Chidubem Abazie
Dylan Mayne Ela Babaccu Ellen Napper
Henry Norman Ione Buchanan Kadeen Jemmott
Kai Johnson Katie Weekly Lauren Napper
Luke Oladele-Ajose Madison Williams Mateusz Szopinski
Michael Foster Molly Ferrigan Noah Oladele-Ajose
Owen Ferrigan Pharell Nimoh Renee Somerville
Shay Wellman Teddy Lewis Tommy Lewis
Zach Kirkman
A huge congratulations to the following swimmers who swam their way into medal positions:-
• Double silver for Katie Weekly in the 100m and 200m Butterfly 12 year olds
• Double silver for Michael Foster in the 200m Butterfly 17 year olds and over, and Open
• Bronze for Mateusz in 200 Butterfly 17 year olds and over
• Bronze for Ione in 50m Backstroke 17 year olds and over
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WHITE HORSE LEAGUE – ROUND 1 – SATURDAY 10TH MARCH
We had a nice variety of swimmers across the competitive and non-competitive squads. A lot
of swimmers had their first experience of competing and had a great go at achieving some
fantastic PB's. Everyone showed lots of spirit cheering on their team mates and worked together
to bring in 5th place overall.
LEWISHAM PRIMARY SCHOOLS GALA – FRIDAY 16TH MARCH
This year we had 19 Lewisham primary schools descend upon the Glassmill Leisure Centre to
compete in 25m races for Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly and Medleys. This is
a very noisy gala with a great atmosphere and the children love it!! If your school didn’t take
part in it this year speak to your teachers about taking part next year.
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LATYMER SCHOOL TIME TRIAL – SUNDAY 18TH MARCH
Six of our younger swimmers headed over to Latymer School to test their swimming skills.
The level of swimming was very good and everyone did really well, had lots of fun and had a
really good day.
DARTFORD SPRING MEET – SATURDAY 17TH & SUNDAY 18TH MARCH
An amazing 49 Saxon Crown swimmers braved the Beast from the East’s second visit and
headed to the Medway Sports Centre in Gillingham for a very successful gala. For a lot of the
swimmers it was their first time competing and they all did amazingly well and had a very
enjoyable time, lots of medals were won, lots of swimmers took on new distances, many
swimmers achieved new personal best times and lots of swimmers achieved regional
qualification times, meaning that they can now go on to compete at the London Regional
Championships in May.
BECKENHAM 125TH ANNIVERSARY EASTER MEET – EASTER WEEKEND
18 Saxon Crown swimmers and their parents gave up their Easter weekend and travelled to the
London Aquatic Centre to help Beckenham Swimming Club celebrate their 125th birthday. It
was a fantastic opportunity for our swimmers to swim against other clubs from all around the
country and the level of swimming was extremely high. There were some great performances
with lots of PBs and even a few medals.
Well done to the following swimmers for swimming their way into the medals table:-
• Henry Norman – silver – 50m backstroke with a time of 39.06
• Kadeen Jemmott – bronze – 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:32.84
• Katie Weekly – silver – 200m butterfly with a time of 2:50.95
• Teddy Lewis – bronze – 50m breaststroke with a time of 41.57
MASTERS GALA – THE FRANK RYDER – SUNDAY 19TH MARCH
A Near Win
Despite the snowy beast from the east take two, 23 awesome masters removed themselves from
the comfort of their sofas to swim for their lives in the 2018 showdown that was the Frank
Ryder gala. Looking back to 2017 we were joined (… or propped up) by our heroic Hackney
chums to swim as Shackney Crown … but they enjoyed it so much they came back in force
with a team of their own. So we knew the competition would be tough.
Huge thanks to Caroline, Chris, David, Hannah, Imelda, James, Jeff, Jocelyn, Joe, John T, Julie,
Kat, Kelly, Kyriakos, Lauren, Leanne, Neil, Norman, Rebecca and Ruth … and special thanks
to ex-Saxon JB for joining us again for one night only, and coaches Colin and Jon N for not
only getting us race-ready but joining us in the pool. It was the largest and strongest team we’ve
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ever taken to the gala and we stood our ground with an impressive first place until the final
curtain when we were bumped by a Barbarian team – losing by a whisker.
One of many highlights was smashing the 50+25 backstroke in both the male and female
categories with wins early doors (Chris and Jeff, followed by Lauren and Caroline).
All-in-all an excellent turn out, fantastic swims by all, loads of noise, some over-excited false
starts, several age-lies and a mountain of beige food. Well done us!!
Let’s win it next year!!
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HEAD COACH’S ASSESSMENT
I have seen massive improvements from everyone involved in the club in terms of attitude and
moral. Swimmers from every group seem a lot more focused and determined to be better and as a
club we could not have done that without the parents, volunteers and coaching staff that have bought
into what myself and the club want to achieve. I would like to say thank you to the extremely
positive and supportive members of the club that has helped us to get to this point in such a short
period.
When I first joined the club I said I wanted more people to be competing and as you can see from
the excellent number of swimmers that have been competing at various competitions this year it
looks like we are on the right track. With many competitions left this year all swimmers still have
plenty of opportunity to compete and I would love to see as many people as possible at our club
championships in July to finish the season on a high.
Having spent a fair amount of time working with the different groups across all the sites I can see
that as a club we need to improve in the following areas in order to take steps forward:
• General technical skills - all groups have been working from plans to improve technical
ability and hopefully the swimmers are starting to see some of the benefits. The next block
of training plans for most squads will start on the 14th May with the view to improve skills
massively before the end of the season.
• Turns - again all groups have been working on these throughout the recent training plans.
Areas of focus are; not breathing into or out of turns, perfect streamlines, more fly kicks
underwater and not releasing streamline or lifting head on breakouts.
• Technique under fatigue - this is an area that will improve as swimmers get more used to
the skills that are being coached. During the competitions I have watched our turns and
skills start to deteriorate towards the back end of races which may be the difference between
gaining a qualification time or not.
NEW COACHES
You may have seen Martin, Lily and Tammy at some of the pools over the last couple months.
Martin and Lily have both been swimmers at the club who have enjoyed the chance to coach at the
club they have been involved with for a long time.
Tammy, is a good friend of mine, who has vast experience and who I believe will be a great addition
to the team with fresh ideas and a slightly different approach to coaching.
All have been great additions to the team and hopefully you will get to meet them all soon.
This is just the beginning of the success I believe Saxon can achieve, so keep up the great work
and if you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask.
Gareth Keating
Head Coach
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SAXON CROWN CLUB KIT
The Club kit plays an important role in making the Saxon Crown members feel part of the
club, it also projects a united image at the competitions we attend.
Club kit will play a significant role in Welfare / Child Protection e.g. making it easier for
swimmers and officials to be located quickly on a busy poolside.
Our kit will provide a consistent identity through the use of the same design, colours and
typeface across the different products.
The kit supplier is Sports Scene Direct based in Welling (95 Bellegrove Rd, Welling DA16
3PG). They are more than happy for you to pop along so you can try the kit on before you
buy it to ensure you get the right size as personalized items cannot be refunded
The kit can be easily ordered online at http://www.macronlondonsoutheast.com/saxon-
crown-190-c.asp
THE T-SHIRT IS COMPULSORY AT ALL GALAS. WE ALSO STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU PURCHASE THE OTHER PRODUCTS AS IT PROJECTS A POSITIVE IMAGE OF THE CLUB.