scorpionswimteam.co.uk

4th August 2010

Just what you want to hear!  TRAINING RESTARTS FRIDAY 6TH AUGUST!!!!

Please remember to bring a large bottle of water with you!  some of you seemed to get a bit forgetful of this at the end of the season?!!!!! lol 

15th July 2010

All swimmers aged 8 and over have been entered into the Fins Graded Meet being held at Kirkcaldy in August for various swims. I can just hear you all x lol x with your usual huffs and puffs when you find out what swimsyou have been accepted for. 

The cries on poolside of "WHAT!  Your joking ! NO!"  always give us a good giggle

12th July 2010

I know we are all supposed to be on holiday but there is no real holiday for coaches.  

Just need to say CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!! to Eve Harris our new Team Captain and James Cruickshank our new Vice Captain.  Both will be getting their photos on the website in due course - and I can just hear the two of you now going NOOOOOOOOOOO! 

Both of you are a real credit and asset to us and the swimmers overall and will be fantastic in your additional roles.

13th June 2010

Time has been going by so fast that we find ourselves almost at the end of the season already!

Recent competitions have seen the swimmers knocking 'lumps' off their pb's but i wont go into that too much as our Head Coach's report will say it all.

All the swimmers are dealing very well with the lack of splashboards and diving blocks during training due to a Health and Safety issue with them.  In fac,t the lack of diving blocks have been a bonus in some ways as it has meant they need to use their legs!!!!!

They are a close knit bunch and are a credit to us and their parents as they all look out for each other and they support they give each other as competitions just makes us so proud and some other coaches jealous!

Well done guys

24th February 2010

Well hello to all!  

Our happy little band is training hard and intensely.  They have been well up to this challenge and have surpassed our expectations on this.

The Tranentv Christmas Gala gave the swimmers medal after medal and we actually lost count of what the medal haul  was on the day.  The swimmers has a fantastic time as did the parents some of which suffered from loss of voice the next day from 'encouraging' the team on in their heats. 

It is nerve-wracking for the swimmers but I can assure you that as coaches and parents we are just as nervous as you and we have more heats to endure,

The fact that you all get on really well and look after each other is what team work is all about.  No matter what never lose that as it is envied by other teams and clubs. 

Well  not really sure what to say but that there are not many times that I am lost for words but this weekend  almost! (not quite) saw this happen.

Many of our swimmers competed at the Lothian Graded on Saturday where they had an early start to the day but competed absolutely 'out of their skins'

A fuller report on this meet is on our Head Coach page.

Sunday morning saw many of the same swimmers competing on behalf of their respective schools in the Edinburgh Schools competition at Ainslie Park. 

Yet again they did us proud and there were pb's on top of the ones some of them posted just they day before.

We just cannot express in words really how all of our swimmers make us feel as the word 'proud' just seems totally inadequate.

Well done all

20th September 2009

The whole team are working hard at training but it never ceases to amaze us at the huge smiles that come from the swimmers throught the sessions its a great sight to see. 

We are gearing up for the next competition where the majority of swimmers have been entered and hopefully they will be accepted.

5th September 2009

 Our Team just seems to be going from strength to strength and also growing in numbers.  Recent newcomers that have joined us are Abbie, Robyn and Cameron but you would never know that they were 'newbies' as they have fitted in so well.  Its truely amazing to see the Team mix and gel so well considering the small amount of time they have actually been together. The other swimmers really look after the new ones and make sure they settle in and not left out in anyway.

We had some of our 'seasoned' swimmers compete at Fins in August.  This, as they found out is a totally different class of competition to the others they have done in the past and some were doing their first 100m swims at competition level. 

Over the whole weekend they put us through severe emotional dramas! from nose bleeds, turning up too early goggles leaking, goggles breaking, goggles coming off, an unjust DQ and lots of tears - the coaches were emotional wrecks by the end of the weekend(parents were no better either).  Having said all of this they were absolutely phenomenal and overcame every single one these obstacles to swim well, setting PB's and Team Records and Eve actually making a final!

There really is only one thing to say and that is we are so proud of these kids and what they achieved that weekend.  That said we are extremely proud of all our swimmers and their dedication to the Team.

9th August 2009

Welcome Back everyone !!! Hope you have all had a restful and good break.

Friday saw us back to training and considering that it is still the School Holidays we had over half the Team in the water, it was great to see.

There has been a few changes in squad members and training times but these wont take long to get used to.

Although we are just back to training our first competition is Fins Graded on 22nd and 23rd August. This is a big competition held over 2 days and has 50's as well as 100 metre swims. Our accepted swimmers will be doing 100 metre swims this time round, which is a big step, but we have confidence that they are ready to take on the challenge.

Its really good to be back on poolside and see you all and that includes all the parents too!!!

6th May 2009

Last weekend saw eleven of our swimmers competing, some of them for the very first time, at Prestonpans. They all turned up in full team kit which had been delivered earlier in the week and they looked fantastic.

They were all quite nervous but we had gone through all the technical bits of swimming in a gala with them so when the meet started they all realised that they knew what was expected.

They certainly did not let us down!

They all swam fantastically setting PB after PB AND new Team Records.

As this was a graded meet it saw James and Eve go 'too fast' and be presented with speeding tickets. If fact they didnt just break the speed limits they blasted the time out of sight and in Eve's case it was by 10 seconds!!! They all shouted support for each other and had a good laugh, in fact a couple of other coaches approached us to ask what was our secret to getting our kids to have such a fun time at a competition. Its no secret but it is a very special and rare thing to have and we treasure it jealously

Medal haul was as follows:

Olivia - Silver, Lauren - Gold, James - Bronze and a Speeding Ticket, Eve - Speeding Ticket, Sean - Silver, Liam - Gold, Jennifer - Silver

Records broken were

25m Butterfly: Olivia Harris

50m Breaststroke: Liam Moyes, James Cruikshank, Eve Harris and Lauren Brownlee

50m Backstroke: Ryan Shaw, Eve Harris

50m Freestyle: James Cruikshank

Colin and I were so proud of how you all swam and how you all enjoyed yourself throughout the day WELL DONE all of you!!!! and I hope to get my voice back very soon as I did just a little bit of shouting support on the day and am suffering for it now - would not have it any other way!!!!

The beginning of the 2009 saw the Team add a new squad to its format and some of our swimmers move up squads. Congratulations go to Eve, Declan, Ross and Robert for meeting the criteria for Top Squad. James and Cameron moved up into our Intermediate Squad and Olivia joined our Development Squad.

Liam and Lauren joined us in January and have already improved to the point that Liam has now joined our Top Squad and Lauren has moved into our Development Squad.

Our new Novice Squad is filling up nicely. This squad was set up for swimmers straight out of lessons who wanted to take their swimming further but need to build up their stamina and work on their technique before moving into our Competion Development Squad.

We also welcome Jennifer to our Intermediate Squad and Ryan to our Development Squad. Both start on friday and are a little nervous but our team of swimmers will make them very welcome as they all work are a team and look after each other.

2nd January 2009

Well a very Happy New Year to you all. I know we havent updated the website for quite a while but thats one of our Resolutions for the New Year.

Over the past few months we have had new members join us and added a new squad to the team, our Novice Squad. We give a BIG welcome too....... OLIVIA, KIRSTIE, SARAH and ROBERT!!! LIAM and LAUREN are joining us when we restart back on the 6th January.

We have also had a fair!!! (understatement!!!) amount of success at the 2 competitions that the Team entered in November and December.

Cameron, Declan, Eve, James, Robert, Ross and Sean were all decidedly nervous when they turned up to swim at the Lothian Graded Meet in November as only Declan and Ross had experienced a competition before, although they were a bit nervous too. There was no need for any of them to worry as they did the Team AND themselves proud clocking up massive PB's, especially Robert who took a MASSIVE 18seconds off his 50 Freestyle AND Declan making 2 finals!! Declan swam his heart out and took me at my word to give it his all and he could only 'die' at the end of his swims.!

James, Ross, Eve and Declan all set new Team records and the smiles were absolutely fantastic to see and that was just the parents.! In fact the parents went home hoarse as they was shouting so much it was brilliant.!!

In December Cameron, Declan, Eve and James swam in their next competition which found them arriving all the more nervous than the last time, as they now knew what to expect, and what was needed from them. Yet again they did absolutely fantastic. Cameron and Declan set new PB's, James swam a tremendous 50m Breaststroke leading from the very beginning and his smile at the end of the race was HUGE!! This was all the more tremendous as James came to the competition not feeling too good at all. Eve, who was swimming in only her second competition, came 5th in both her races receiving momentos for these achievements.

WELL done to all of you for all your hard work at training and competitions. It is really daft but your coaches swim every stroke with you at competitions as we know how much work goes into these swims and what you have put in to get to the competition.