Brian DeVal

A new educational resource to help club-level aquatics coaches support athletes who may be struggling with eating disorders is being created by Swim England.

The creation of the resource aligns with National Eating Disorder Awareness Week which takes place from 28 February – 6 March and aims to fight the misunderstandings that surround eating disorders.

The resource will consist of a referral pathway and is being produced by Swim England’s sports science and medicine manager Diane Elliot and performance nutritionist Laura Salmon.

The new pathway will include information on where athletes can get support in their local areas and examples of screening questionnaires for coaches and sports science staff to use to help identify those who need further support.

It will also contain GP referral letter templates to allow athletes to get appropriate support from their GP and gives athletes guidance on how to discuss the matter with medical professionals.

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Swim England has introduced a new coaching policy in 2022 which now focuses on the minimum expectations for clubs in relation to coaching qualifications.

The updated coaching policy is an expansion of the 2018 coaching and teaching guidance which was created as a resource for clubs and members.

This guidance also coincided with the introduction of the Teaching and Coaching register, which is a comprehensive register of coaches and teachers operating within Swim England clubs.

Now in 2022, the guidance has been rewritten to further assist clubs and coaches in understanding how to operate within the scope of their respective certificates.

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Our girls U16yrs team took top spot in the South East Region Inter County Championships held at Whitgift School on 28th November.

The Sussex team were without Henry Broadhurst, Indy Nash, Luke Heaton & first choice goalkeeper Felix Monaghan and Becky Smith and Lillie Standen were only able to play in the last game of the tournament having been in action earlier in the day for Mid Sussex Marlins in the ladies’ national league.

As a result all of the squad had to make significant contributions and we were delighted to secure the win after a very exciting match against Surrey in the final game of the tournament.

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Three swimming coaches have been hailed as ‘lockdown heroes’ for their innovative ideas and achievements to keep people active throughout the coronavirus pandemic.

They were among 25 coaches nationwide honoured at the UK Coaching Hero Awards Ceremony in Leeds.

Will Philpot, Crawley Swim Team, Richard Smith, Marlborough Penguins, and Craig Prime, Wrexham Swimming Club, all received a memento from HRH The Princess Royal to mark the accolade bestowed on them.

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Lisa Mickel (Crawley Swimming Club) has been heavily involved in aquatic sports since the age of 12 when she first joined Crawley SC.

She is a masters swimmer herself and now has two children in the club where she also coaches the post-graduate squad.

She encouraged communication during the pandemic by setting up a WhatsApp group and has worked extremely hard to ensure that members never lost motivation when they couldn’t be in the water.

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Since May 2020, Sport England have been running a successful crowdfunding initiative called Active Together, helping sports clubs and other organisations to set up and run their own crowdfunding campaigns to help sustain themselves through the coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis.

Initially with a £1 million budget from the National Lottery, Active Together was designed to help with the immediate financial impact of coronavirus and in the longer-term, the return to play.

To date, the Sport England has supported campaigns with a financial pledge towards their target fundraising amount, but in addition to this, we’ve been providing:

• free 1-2-1 coaching by experts
• advice and guidance on campaign improvements
• access to free online courses
• free 30-minute webinars, monthly.

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Almost 2,000 swimming pools could be lost forever by the end of the decade unless the Government and local authorities ‘act now’ to replace or refurbish ageing facilities.

Swim England has warned in its new A Decade of Decline: The Future of Swimming Pools in England report that there will be a huge reduction in the amount of water space available by 2030, which could threaten the future of aquatic sports in some areas and leave millions shut out of the activities they love.

The looming shortage is based on pools which were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s and are coming to the end of their lifespan – while not enough new facilities are being built to replace them.

While the coronavirus pandemic has exacerbated the issue, it is not a direct cause for the dire prediction.

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Poolside practical sessions of the Swimming Officials Judge 1 training are being resumed after being put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The move has been described as an ‘important step forward’ for volunteers who are working towards the qualification.

Since the beginning of 2020, the training has included an online theory session followed by practical poolside elements – which trainees had 11 months to complete.

However, the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent pool closures due to the national lockdowns obviously prevented trainees from completing the poolside element.

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