Winsford Swimming Club

Twelve of our top swimmers made the trip south to City of Coventry Swimming Club’s Level 1 National Qualifier meet over the weekend, the last weekend of the National Qualification
Window. To make us feel at home they made the pool taste and feel just like the pool we trained in in Lanzarote (it was slightly salty!). Well done to our behind-the-scenes team in
getting so many swims lined up for our swimmers.

Swimmers were there to see if they could either get themselves into the British, English, Welsh and Irish lists, or to improve on their times and move up the rankings as swim meets were held
across the country. Some swimmers even swam in multiple meets across the weekend in search of the coveted placings.

Hats off to COCSS for organizing a great meet. Their pool is first rate and given the lack of a separate warm-up/cool-down pool they thoughtfully structured the meet into seven short sessions to allow swimmers time to warm down and recover between sessions.

As you would expect there was mixture of both joy and sadness over the weekend as the racing progressed with both these emotions being deeply felt by your Coach. Medals were won, times
were improved, personal bests were achieved, personal demons were fought bravely and for a few there was disappointment. Coming away from Coventry each of our swimmers has learnt
more about themselves personally, and how to get even faster. That’s a big win in and of itself.

Personally, I’m not a fan of the national qualifying window, I’d prefer it done on performance over a calendar year. The 10-week window puts tremendous pressure on swimmers over a
period running right up to the academic exam window. With some swimmers racing most weekends their long-term training is disrupted by constant tapering and racing, affecting them
into the Nationals themselves and into the following year. The North West coaches gave Swim England North West this feedback during Regionals.

Final rankings will be known within a day or two and the Coaches and the rest of the club await them with bated breath. Thank you to Eve and Jayne for looking after us all over the weekend,
and to Anthony and David for Officiating. All that remains for me to say to all of you folks reading this is that our swimmers acquitted themselves well and wore our orange uniform with pride. It was a privilege to be your Coach.

Coach Andy