Swimming Development Plans

Twenty-one young British swimmers will now get funding to help with their future swimming thanks to Kellogg’s after their fantastic performances at the British Gas ASA National Age Group Championships.

The first, second and third place BAGCAT winners all received recognition from Kellogg’s for their outstanding achievements in the pool thanks to the Team Kellogg’s Champions of Tomorrow Award.

A group of 10 swimmers from British Gas ITC Bath and British Gas ITC Loughborough will prepare for the Commonwealth Games with a 10-day camp in Cyprus before joining with the rest of the Delhi-bound swimmers in Doha.

Coaches Dave McNulty and Kevin Renshaw will be leading the camp with swimmers including Olympic medallist Jo Jackson, Commonwealth Champion Caitlin McClatchey and Commonwealth Games debutant Roberto Pavoni.

The swimmers are being given the opportunity to acclimatise to the temperatures and outdoor pool before they travel onto Doha and Delhi. The ten days will be used to begin the swimmers' taper and give them the best opportunity to perform well at the Commonwealth Games.

Jim Saulter discusses other sporting activities on offer during the ASA South West Region School of Swimming Development Course 2010 at Bryanston School, Blandford. (59s flashplayer required)

Swim session overview with Peter Wilson-Chalon and Jim Saulter at ASA South West Region School of Swimming Development Course 2010 at Bryanston School, Blandford (1m flashplayer required)

Interview with Sophie White who delivered land training and conditioning sessions on the 2010 course (1m 47s flashplayer required)

Watch out for more videos and interviews from the course.

The Regional camps rely on the support of a large number of volunteers and we would like to thank the team below for their contributions in preparation for and during the 2010 course at Bryanston School:

Course Director & Hon Secretary: Peter Wilson-Chalon
Course Development Officer: Paul Sartain
Welfare Officer: Marion Britton

Retiring Course Director Peter Wilson-Chalon: "We had a great last evening at the staff course dinner. I would like to thank the school and the course staff for their presentations to me. ASA South West Region President John Bird kindly made presentations to Marion Britton and Harold Richards in recognition of their contributions over many years - it was also their final year supporting the course."

Talented teenage swimmer Achieng Ajulu-Bushell will move to London as she works towards her dream of competing at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The 16-year-old breaststroke swimmer, who switched sporting nationality from Kenya to Great Britain earlier this year, will continue her Olympic preparations at Ealing Swimming Club.

Achieng, who makes her senior British Swimming debut next week at the 30th LEN European Championships in Budapest, will move to Ealing SC from Plymouth Leander to be closer to her family when they return to Britain from Kenya to support Achieng as she pursues her Olympic dream.

With the Olympic Games just over two years away, the ambitions of five leading Westcountry sports stars including Liam Tancock have been enhanced by the announcement that Gregory Distribution Limited (GDL) has agreed a sponsorship package with them and they will all be part of Team Gregory.

World record holder Liam Tancock will be joined by Olympic Modern Pentathlon Silver Medallist Heather Fell, World Champion wind-surfer Nick Dempsey, UK 800m Champion Jemma Simpson and the UK Champion pistol shooter Gorgs Geikie to make up Team Gregory. All of the athletes now feature on the sides of some of GDL's massive 44ft trailers which will be seen all over the UK.

Jaz Carlin writes: "I am really excited for Europeans. They are less than a month away so I’m still training hard for a few more weeks. I am having a shorter taper than usual for this competition as the Commonwealth Games are soon after and they are the main focus for me this year, but I still want to swim well in Budapest!

"My taper consists of gradually decreasing my volume and intensity of training to ensure that I am ready to go fast at the competition. It makes sure that I’m not tired for the race but also doing enough to make sure I’m in the best condition.

View video interview (2m 14s flashplayer required) with some of the team of 35 swimmers who have been officially selected to represent Great Britain at thw 2010 European Swimming Championships in Budapest.

As Loughborough ITC swimmers head off to camp in Cyprus, Welsh swimming sensation Jazmin Carlin, in her new regular Taper Time blog, tells us about the difference time at camp makes to a swimmer.