Chats

I've had chats with 4 different swimmers so far and found them very useful to talk about much more than just goal setting. If any swimmers and/or parents do want to speak to me about ANYTHING then I'd really like to hear from you. 

Please give me as much feedback as possible so I can improve my job!

Coach Rob

Gala at Redditch Saturday Evening

If you are competing tomorrow night (you'll know if you are!) then please arrive for 5pm! Parents, please help Ian and myself to get the best from your kids - don't assume you can get away with turning up at 5.25 just because it says warm up will be at 5.30!

We will be having a team meeting on poolside once everyone has arrived and changed, before the warm up. Make sure you bring your loudest voices as I'm expecting a great team atmosphere from Orion! Please also wear Orion kit, including caps. If you do not have any, do your best to borrow some.

Please ask if you have any questions! See you all tomorrow!

Coach Rob

Team Photo and Goal Setting

Monday Evening there will be a team photo at 1915. Please wear your Orion kit!

I will also be putting up a sign up sheet for swimmers to come and chat with me about their goals. Please make sure you have filled out a goal setting form before you come and see me! 

Coach Rob

Rotherham Open Meet Success!

Two Orion Junior swimmers travelled to Ponds Forge, Sheffield, this past weekend to compete at the Rotherham Open Meet. Jodie Carreon and Niamh Bevan both swam in 8 events each in the 50m Olympic sized pool. Swimming under the City of Birmingham flag as part of their Development squad, they brought home a number of medals:

Niamh came 2nd in the 50 fly and 3rd in the 100 freestyle.
Jodie came 3rd in the 100 breastroke.

Well done also to Alex Hindle who also competed over the weekend! He came 3rd in the 200 freestyle, 2nd in the 100 freestyle and 1st in the 50 freestyle!

Coach Rob

Open Meets

Please keep an eye out for an email from Loz with the entry forms for:

City of Birmingham Open Meet: 18th - 21st April

This meet is ENCOURAGED however is not expected as its the holiday weekend in school holidays etc. If you are around it will be a good opportunity for the swimmers to experience more of the talent pathway above and beyond Orion, and will give the CoB coaches another chance to assess everyone's progress.
Please see the email and http://www.swimbirmingham.org.uk/open.php for more information.

Rugby Open Meet: 26th-27th April

This meet is the following weekend and all swimmers are EXPECTED to swim. We will hopefully have a very strong team presence as we will for the Counties which is a huge key to a successful meet. Please see the email for all details. Ian and myself will be expecting any swimmer who cannot compete to inform us, in a preferably written manor for our records. 

Its time to start getting excited for the upcoming competitions and to put all of our hard work to the test! Good luck to everyone competing at the gala tonight!

Coach Rob

Time Trial Success and Parent Input

Thank you all for those who took part in the time trial and those who helped it to run so smoothly! Times have been processed and put into a database, but I cannot emphasise enough how important it is that parents have their own copy of their own swimmer's fastest times. It will become very useful as your swimmer progresses through the sport. 

I know a lot of parents are inexperienced in the sport, however please do your best to enter all details on entry forms tot he best of your ability. And if you are unsure please ask someone! Processing the county entries is proving to be very time consuming!

This brings me on to my next point. At the moment, Orion runs purely on the huge input from a handful of very committed parents who give up vast amounts of free time so that all the swimmer's at Orion can have the best possible opportunities. Please ask yourself honestly if you could give up an hour or two of time a week to contribute to the team effort of running the club. 

Is it really fair to come and drop off your child/ren and then pick them up a few hours later a number of times a week, without even considering the amount of work that is required to run a club? If you think you could help, please make your skills and interest known to me or any member of the committee. Work loads will become much bigger around the times of entering competitions as entry forms need to be organised etc.

I'd also like to ask that parents help out with the lane ropes. There have been times when things have been running late yet only one or two parents think to help. Please, help me to help your children by letting me concentrate on doing my job.

Coach Rob

Upcoming...

I have had a few swimmers/parents request to talk to me about their goals so I will be putting a sign up sheet on the notice board at KEBS for you to book a 5 minute slot with me after a training session. 

I have only had 4 or 5 swimmers respond to this, returning their goal sheet to me. I was expecting a lot more to be honest. Parents - if your child is lacking motivation it is up to you to lead by example and encourage them to get the most out of these opportunities! Please help me by supporting and encouraging these additional initiatives to your children - they will be the ones to benefit! 

It has also come to my attention that a lot of swimmers and their parents are completely new to the sport, and I have realised some of my requests have been a little naive to the lack of knowledge and experience some of you may have, through no fault of your own! 

I am therefore going too produce a 'new swimmers and parents guide to competitive swimming'. I'm sure there will be things on the internet but I would like to write this myself, sharing with you my experiences as a competitive swimmer and also that of my parents. Hopefully many of you will be able to benefit from this, clearing up a lot of confusion and letting you know what your in for! I'll do my best to produce this in the next few weeks. 

Remember it is the TIME TRIAL tomorrow evening. This will give everyone a chance to get some more up to date times. We will be running all the 50s, 100s, 200 fc and 200 I.M. any special requests may be catered for depending on time. 

I will shortly be receiving the list of entries for the Counties in March. Hopefully you have all seen by now what is expected, so please ensure this is fulfilled. I have only heard from one or two people about not being able to make it, so I assume that everyone else has entered!

Please also keep your eye out for Teamer notifications with quite a few galas coming up! 

See you tomorrow, 

Coach Rob    

Junior Inter - Team Contest

Congratulations to the BLUE TEAM!! The winners of the first Junior Inter Team Contest. All team members will receive the grand prize of a blue swim cap with 'TEAM PHELPS' printed on the sides. Well Done!

The Final points are as below:

1st - Blue Team 138

2nd - Green Team 137

3rd - Red Team 134

4th - Yellow 69

As you can see, it got extremely tight in the final stages with just 4 points between the top 3 teams! 

I hope you all enjoyed the added excitement of this, and I'd appreciate any feedback or ideas on how we could improve this for next time! 

Coach Rob

Redditch Gala 1/2/14

Please can all swimmers check their Teamer accounts to see if they have been selected for the Redditch gala on the 1st of February. 

If you are unable to attend then you need to notify Ian or myself with an explanation. 

Any problems with transportation please let Ian know.

Meeting the criteria...

Training has resumed and after the Christmas break and quite a few boys and girls have seemed to forgot some of the basics that I preach day in day out. We need to keep the attention levels high and the focus constant during these first two hard weeks.

Attendance:

MINIMUM attendance is 2 sessions per week. It has come to the coaches attention that there are a number of swimmers not attending enough sessions. Registers will now be taken with more accuracy, and offenders will receive a warning. Each swimmer will be allowed 2 warnings, and on the 3rd offence asked to leave the Junior team (not necessarily Orion).

We understand sometimes circumstances dictate how often you can attend, however there are 6 sessions available throughout the week. Written permission will be accepted from parents, however please treat Orion just as you would school. 

Competition:

This will be one of my last reminders that all eligible Junior swimmers are expected to compete in 2 out of the 3 County Championship Saturdays. Once again this is a requirement, not a choice. If swimmers have a genuine reason I need written exemption from their parent. If I have to chase swimmers/parents who have not entered without discussing with myself, they will see the same fate as those not attending, with no warning. Entry forms can be found attached to Loz's newsletter emails. 

Swimmers are also expected to make their best efforts to attend galas they are selected for. They should be treated as a privilege, not a chore. Not contributing to the team effort is only a disservice to your team mates.

I am sorry if this message comes across quite stern, however criteria  are made to be met consistently, and I need to take steps to ensure this. Parents please remember this is YOUR child's most important stage in the progression of the sport. These standards are only set out to best help your child achieve their maximum potential, and they do need support and assistance in attaining that potential at this age from yourselves. 

On another note, we have a very important visitor tomorrow evening (Wednesday) who is coming to see how you are all swimming. This person could potentially have a large impact on the future of your swimming in the future, so take the opportunity to impress. 

Please come and talk to me if there are any questions. 

Coach Rob

New Year Training

The Holidays are almost over and we need to start thinking about what we are going to do better this year to make sure we just keep getting better and better!

This will start with a different approach to the training for the first two weeks as of 6th Jan. I want to encourage everyone to attend as many sessions as possible! If you normally just do 2 sessions a week, try and make 3! The more work you put in these next two weeks, the better you will swim and the faster you will improve when we go back to lots of technique work.

Parents - please do your best to motivate and encourage!

Coach Rob