Soundwell Swimming Club

A record number of Soundwell Swimming Club members took on the best youngsters in the South West during the recent Regional Age Group Championships.

Soundwell’s Jasmine Stone and George Williams, both 12, made their championship debuts and took home a couple of pb’s. Ben Phelps, 14, swam only 1 day after fracturing his wrist. However, by clocking 57.72, finished as Gloucester Counties fastest boy. Freya Bradley and Ella Theobald both finished the meet with new personal bests in all events. Freya finishing top ten in several of hers. Jack Keepin, 14, swimming in his third consecutive championships, had great swims in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke. Jack Smith aged 12 and 14 year old Jorji Longdon, both had successful weekends and made numerous finals. Jorji swam for the Gloucester Hub relay and looks set to qualify for this year’s Nationals. Club chairman Julian Lewis was more than delighted when his son Sam Lewis qualified for two National backstroke events this summer.

National age group swimmer Jedd Woodruff, 12, made numerous finals. He grabbed two new National qualifying times in the 100BC and 400FC, plus two Bronze medals in his preferred 100FC and 200FC. Anna Soteriou, 11, qualified for every event this year, she had an outstanding competition, taking home; 100FLY Gold, 100FC Gold, 200FC Gold and 400IM Bronze. Anna also clocked a first National qualifying time in the 100FC. Joel Williams, 12, had one of the busiest schedules over the course of the Championships, he was the clubs highest scoring individual with 5 coloured medals; 100BC Gold, 200BRS Gold, 100BRS Silver, 400IM Bronze and 200IM Bronze. He too bagged himself a first National qualification time.

Assistant Head Coach Jon Wills said; “I was delighted with the performance of all of our young swimmers over the two weekends of competition. We are building for the future and the exciting progression we see is a testament to the great programme we have in place here at Soundwell Swimming Club. The high level of commitment and hard work from our swimmers has been second to none, of late. I would like to encourage the swimmers to keep up their great work in training.’’

Thirteen swimmers from twenty qualifiers travelled to Plymouth from Soundwell Swimming Club for the ASA South West Youth Championships on May 3-5th. The three days of intense swimming competition is the culminating championships meet in the South West of England.

Head coach Matt Puddy commented; ‘’The clubs swimmers swam aggressively and accomplished astonishing personal best times in most of their events.’’

To qualify for the South West Championships is a remarkable feat in itself. Fifteen year olds Maddie Barnett and Rose Nicholson, plus Connor Laughey, aged seventeen, set new pb’s besides making the challenging cut. Connor just missed out on a National qualification time.

Soundwell Swimming Club qualified for a staggering thirty one finals over May bank holiday. Danny Pirret aged fifteen, Hannah Evans and James Tomlinson aged sixteen and Luke Height aged seventeen, swam determined races to finish inside the top ten. Club captain Georgia Pirret, aged seventeen, and 2013 National qualifier Evie Reed, aged fifteen, both achieved personal best times over the weekend. Georgia made all three backstroke finals and Evie finished fourth in her preferred 100m butterfly.

The South Gloucestershire team were delighted when sixteen year old Ben Thompson became the clubs fifth National qualifier. He achieved both his 100m and 200m butterfly times. Taking a Bronze medal in the latter. Eighteen year old Bethan Tomlinson also bagged herself a second NQT when she finished 100m freestyle in 59.42. Sprint specialist Joe Parker brought home two silver medals in the 50m freestyle and butterfly. Joe also finished fifth in the fifteen year old boys 100m freestyle.

Fifteen year old England Talent swimmer Will Cole broke the ASA South West Junior 100m freestyle record. Will posted a life time best of 52.28 at the Youth Championships to break Sam Straughan's (Plymouth Leander) 2009 record, this makes him the fastest boy in South West history. Will went on to win eight Gold medals over the course of the weekend.

Soundwell Swimming Club also took part in two relay events. Both the girls and the boys performed exceptionally well and beat many larger, elite squads. Hopes are high for National relay qualification (positions here).

Julian Lewis, Chairman of the club said; ‘’Our results reflect the hard work and dedication of our swimmers and coaching team, we have established ourselves as a strong club in the South West. I look forward to continued success for Matt and his team.’’

The 2014 ASA Gloucestershire County Championships was attended by more than twenty of the county's top swimming clubs. Hundreds of swimmers from the age of ten competed in age group and open events and for most was the culmination of month upon month of sustained training effort. Soundwell Swimming Club are proud to announce that on Sunday 23rd March 2014 they achieved the status of Gloucestershire County Runners Up for the fourth consecutive year, in both individual and relay events. Gloucester City Swimming Club were crowned the overall champions. Particularly encouraging for the future is that Soundwell’s medallists ranged from ten to twenty one years of age. The club not only amassed its largest medal haul to date, but also achieved plenty of personal best’s, Western County and National qualification times. The championships were concluded with some superb swims from the clubs relay teams. Not only did the club cement its position as the premier team in Bristol and South Gloucestershire but they also proved that the clubs team spirit is second to none.

Assistant Head Coach Jon Wills commented; we emphasise the importance of fundamentals at our club. These are taught, and learned, from a young age, as soon as you start to swim. Things like sculling, kicking with and without a board, drills on all four strokes, breathing patterns, streamlining, starts, turns and finishes are all essential things for a competitive swimmer to master. We devote sufficient time to these skills which will ensure each swimmer fulfils their full potential. We are extremely proud that we produce strong age group, youth and senior swimmers. Particularly pleasing was the amount of youth and senior medals that we collected in comparison to other teams.

If you would like to join Soundwell Swimming Club please contact the headcoach@soundwellswim.org.uk.