Clubs celebrate as British Gas award over £55,000 in 2010

 

Swimmers, Water Polo players, divers and synchro stars from over 60 clubs are celebrating after being awarded a cash grant courtesy of British Gas, giving them the opportunity to have more access to expert coaching and training time at 50m pools.

Underlining their commitment to grassroots and elite level swimming, the energy company has earmarked £70,000 to be allocated to clubs around the country as part of their British Gas Club Grant Scheme.

With the first five clubs awarded grants back in June, 2010 has seen British Gas give away more than £55,000 to help improve services and facilities for members at 61 successful clubs.

Chesham Swimming Club received £700 to host a coaching a nutrition clinic for 80 of its athletes, giving them the opportunity to have a coaching session with British international swimmer Craig Gibbons.

Neil Heslop, Chesham Swimming Club Secretary, believes that the clinic will provide some excellent coaching tips for the swimmers and help with future club development: “They are going to get to spend half of the day with Craig in the pool working on swimming techniques and tips, which will be really exciting for them,” he said.

“The grant has given us the opportunity to do something different which will hopefully be inspirational to the members.”

Bristol Central, one of the top synchro clubs in the country, was awarded a £1,000 grant earlier this year to fund land training for their competitive swimmers – an essential part of synchronised swimming.

Boasting two swimmers from the British Synchronised Swimming Team, powered by British Gas, – Katie Dawkins and Anya Tarasiuk - along with a further eight swimmers in the England Talent Squad,

Chris Marsh, Bristol Central’s Synchro Secretary believes the funding will prove vital to the athletes’ development:  “In synchro, land training is vitally important to ensure our competitive swimmers attain the level of strength, fitness and most importantly the flexibility required to progress in our sport. 

“In these hard financial times it is difficult to keep asking parents to pay additional costs for training, but it is vital that we give our swimmers the best possible training facilities and staff to ensure they have the opportunity to reach their maximum potential in the sport. 

“This grant will enable the club to help with costs towards this training and thereby reduce the amount the parents are required to contribute,” added Chris Marsh.

Other clubs that have received a British Gas Club Grant include City of Leicester who plan to develop sustainable weekly long course training sessions for the Age and Youth squads throughout the 2010-2011 season and beyond.

Water Polo is going to be developed with the grant received by Tyldesley who will use the funding to primarily pay for pool time. It is hoped that having a dedicated session for high schools to practice Water Polo will bring more people into the sport.

Each club receives the grant after successfully meeting the criteria for the British Gas Club Grant to go towards club development such as the training of Level 2/3 teachers and coaches, access to 50m pool training facilities and funding pay for expert coaching help.

The British Gas Club Grant is open to all swim21 accredited clubs and those clubs working towards accreditation and is a great way for clubs to improve their level of teaching/coaching, increase membership or provide better opportunities for their members.

The next deadline for clubs to be in with a chance of receiving a grant of up to £1,000 is Monday 14th February 2011.

 

Access the Application form & Information Pack

 

Jodi Adams
County Swimming Coordinator
T: 07824 389746
E: jodi.adams@swimming.org 
W: www.swimming.org
W: www.westmidlandswimming.org