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Following a review, Swim England’s Swimming Leadership Group have voted to change the qualification period for the 2022 Swim England National Winter Championships.

The decision has been taken after feedback from coaches and swimmers noted that the opportunities to reach the qualification times have been severely restricted by the Covid-19 lockdown period.

There was little swimming in England between March 2020 until the start of the following season in September 2021 meaning there have been a limited number of meets for competitors to set a representative time in.

Having considered the situation, the decision has been made to change the initial qualifying date to 1 November 2019.

The times to enter will still have to be achieved at a Level 2 meet between this date and the closing date of 22 November 2022.

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Congratulations to Crawley SC on winning both the Club Points and Relay Trophies at the Sussex Senior Age Group and Masters Championships in Horsham on Sunday 23 May.

Full results

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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