Burnham-On-Sea Swimming Club members have made a splash after another set of great results.
The club are- which has a membership of 130 swimmers – aims to teach swimming and coach swimmers to local, county and regional standards.
Kelly Podbury, club secretary, says: “We give swimmers a love for swimming which will either catapult them to greatness or give them a skill for life that they will never forget. Swimming is like riding a bike, once you have the skill you never forget how to use it!
“We have had another fantastic year at a local level, in our 12 and under four season series galas we have won the last two galas in sucession against Cheddar, City of Bristol, Backwell and Clevedon.”
“In the Cotswold Series galas, we swum against 19 other clubs and qualified third in the B final, an improvement on three places from last year. Ten of our swimmers qualified in 28 events of the 2017 Somerset County Championship and we are predicting to have even more qualify for 2018 Champs.”
“Three of our County qualifiers also qualified to swim in the Swim England South West Regional Championships – Alicia Pollard, Tom Dollery and Josie Hooper.”
“Six of the Club Records that have stood for over 20 years have also been broken this year, showing that our swimmers continue to improve.”
“You may not know their names but Callum Richards, Holly Hudghton, Harriet Dickinson and Megan and Holly Richards are the football equivalent to League 1 competitors and are all competing in their respective events this week.”
“They all started swimming at Burnham-On-Sea Swimming Club and we are celebrating their success with them on the National stage in the Swim England National Championships in Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield.”
“Callum, Holly and Harriet have all been finalists and medalled in events and Megan and Holly swim today in the 200m Fly.”
“Charlie Attwood is a football equivalent to the Championship and is a Tokyo 2020 Olympic hopeful.”
“We will be keeping our tabs on him to see how he gets on with his training. Whilst they all now swim for other clubs, AST Burnham, Taunton Deane, Gloucester, Weston-super-Mare and University of Bath, they all had to start somewhere.”
“It is our belief that the grounding that we give all of our swimmers helps them realise their love for the sport and the opportunities we give them helps them spread their wings.”
“Without our teaching, coaching and support team, none of these achievements could ever be accomplished.”
“We have to recognise and thank all of our young volunteers who give up their time to support the Head Coach, with lane coaching of the younger swimmers and also thank each and every one of our teachers and supporters who give up their time weekly to teach the swimmers or support the club at galas.”
“We have 27 Category 3 (non swimming) members of the club who help and support its running, each of them play their part and each one as valued as the others and we thank you all.”
“Finally, our Head Coach Mark Podbury has been selected by Somerset ASA to support the County Pathways programme as an assistant coach alongside five others from around the County, one of those being another Burnham Coach, Nathan Clarke who is an up and coming Coach and Official.”
“They are supporting the younger generation of swimmers in Somerset helping them realise their potential and learning valuable lessons to further progress their talents.”
“Two of our swimmers have been selected for this programme from the top performing 11 year olds in Somerset, Toby Hooper and Isabelle Puddy, who also swims for AST Burnham, are both participating in this programme and thoroughly enjoying the experience.”
“Mark has also been selected from Somerset to support the Somerset ASA County Team as an assistant coach for when they compete in the National County Team Competition in Ponds Forge, Sheffield on the 7th October. Mark’s selection demonstrates the level of his commitment to swimming but also his passion to continue to improve his skills and knowledge to bring back to the club to impart that knowledge and experience on the swimmers, young volunteers, teachers and coaches.”
“For a small community club, Burnham-On-Sea Swimming Club, who swim at Brean Splash, pack a big punch in the local community, County of Somerset and on the National stage.”
“The management committee would like to congratulate our swimmers, past and present. on a great season and encourage them to remain within the sport to fulfill their dreams.”
“We would also like to recognise and thank all the support we receive from our volunteers, teachers, coaches and Young Volunteers.”
“The time will come when the Young Volunteers of today will step into the shoes of the Head Coach and Committee and as a club we are committed to help them develop into these roles. The future is looking bright! Mighty oaks from little acorns grow!”
