Tuesday Evening Swimming Sessions

Hello Everyone

As most of you will know, Alice Pinney has been coaching the Tuesday evening swimming sessions for the last four months. However, due to work commitments she has decided to stop doing this and next Tuesday, the 28th of January, will be her last coaching session, although she will still be swimming with the club.

I am sure you will all join us in thanking her for the fantastic job she has done. Planning and running swimming coaching sessions is a big commitment and going forward the way the Tuesday sessions are run will change. That said, we think we have come up with a new structure which will work. In this email we outline that new structure and ask you to let us know if you think this will work for you. We would also be interested in finding out if any of you might be interested in getting involved in some aspects of running the Tuesday sessions - more on that later.

Our plan is to have a session leader on poolside for most sessions. Those of you who have been to the Sunday session will be familiar with the people leading as they have kindly offered to do it. Future sessions would be similar to the way they are now and we would aim to retain the structure that Alice has set up, as well as her enthusiasm! That is:

  • Varied warm up
  • The timed pre-set of 4 x 80m / 60m
  • Varied main set

The sessions themselves will be written on the whiteboard and each part of the session will be explained by the person leading the session so everyone is clear on what we are doing and can ask any questions they might have. There may occasionally be sessions led by someone swimming in the pool for part or all of the time. In that case the structure would be the same as sessions led from poolside except that somebody might need to get out to do the timing for the pre-set.

In order for this to approach work we will need some help from those who swim regularly on Tuesdays.

Lifeguards

At the moment the only regular Tuesday evening swimmer who is a lifeguard is Richard P. Andrew has offered to do the lifeguard training. Ideally, there would be a third regular Tuesday swimmer who is qualified as a lifeguard to ensure that we have cover. The club will pay for the course which takes two days and needs to be repeated every two years. Would anyone like to do this who is able to take the time to do the training soon? There is a course running at Dean Close school on the 8th and 9th of April and we are also investigating other courses.

The NARASTC lifeguard course is a great life skill to have, as it not only covers water rescue but CPR and basic first aid too.

Session leads and timekeepers when there is no poolside lead

If there is no poolside lead we may need someone to lead the session from the pool. It does require some planning time in advance of the session but is a great way to learn more about the technical aspects of swimming. Those more experienced in planning sessions will be happy to offer support.

Also during the timed pre-set someone will need to use a stopwatch and set everyone off from poolside as Alice does at the moment. We could all take it in turns doing this. Is everyone ok with this?

So to summarise the feedback we would like:

  • If this new structure is implemented would you continue to attend / start to attend the Tuesday sessions?
  • Are you OK to be a timekeeper for the pre-set every so often?
  • Would you like to train as a lifeguard?
  • Could you lead a session from the pool if required?

Please respond to Mark on email who will collate all responses.

Finally, if you don’t think the new structure will work for you and you joined the club in 2025 specifically for the Tuesday sessions as they are now then we will be happy to refund this year’s membership if you let us know by the 31st January. As Alice’s last session is next week we would be grateful if you could get back to us by 30th January.

Many thanks.

Your committee