News Archives 2007

28th Nov 2007 - Presentation of Awards Celebration evening - Press Release

The Daventry Dolphins held the Presentation of Awards Celebration evening at the Daventry Leisure Centre Pool on Monday 26th November 2007.

The main awards were for the Annual Age Group Championships and all entrants received a Certificate of Participation which gives details of the events, placings and times achieved. The event winners received perpetual trophies and the overall age group winners received trophies which they keep forever. The Winners Trophies and Certificates were presented by Mr Kevin White, Jo, Councillor Alan Hills of the Rotary Club of Daventry, together with Mr Martin Walters of Soll Leisure.

Overall winners

Special Awards

The Rachel Parkin Memorial Cup was awarded to Joseph Iacovides 8yrs, who was the swimmer in the 12/u age group who achieved the most improved personal best time for his 25m butterfly, an overall improvement of 29%.

The Ken Blogg Rose Bowl was awarded to Elizabeth Street. In the opinion of the Coaches, she was recognised as the swimmer most deserving, for being the most improved in terms of effort and determination.

The Boys Team Managers shield was awarded to Jack Bond 9yrs and the Girls Team Managers shield was awarded to Emma Bond 9yrs. This was in recognition of their efforts and performances in the junior competitions, and always encouraging their team mates. Sibling rivalry brought out the best in them, as they tried to out do each other.

The Boys style trophy was awarded to Joseph Iacovides for the 25m back stroke. In the opinion of the judges he swam his race very positively and aggressively.

The Girls style salver was awarded to Amy Roberts for the 100m butterfly. In the opinion of the judges her technique was effortless and very rhythmic.

Club records were presented to Joseph Iacovides, George Barnes, Carey Davis and Daniel Osborn.

A Certificate of Achievement was presented to Daniel Middleton 18yrs, to acknowledge his efforts for the club. He has now decided to quit swimming to concentrate on his career as a trainee chef.

Club President Lesley Sharp who helped to present the awards told the recipients that they should be very proud of all their efforts so far but they need to continue to work hard in practice in order to make further progress. She also explained to the audience the importance of having sponsors, because although the Dolphins are an amateur Club, the poolside and backroom have to attend professional mandatory courses to become trained and qualified.

The Club would like to publicly thank Mr Mick Dicks of Tablesport (Long Buckby) for supplying the Overall winners trophies. Sponsorship and fundraising efforts have meant that the cost of purchasing the Trophies and Certificates has been covered. The Rotary Club of Daventry donated the perpetual Overall winners Trophies as well as for the Top 3 swimmers trophies in each of the 5 age groups. Many thanks also go to Martin Walters and the Soll Leisure management who have kindly donated 4 free competition nights of pool hire to Club.

20th Nov 2007 - Annual Club Championship Results 2007 - Press Release

The 2007 Daventry Dolphins Swimming Club Age Group Championships were held at the Daventry Leisure Centre Pool last weekend, which is the highlight of the Club Year.

Swimmers were swimming to win event points, 6 points for 1st place down to 1point for 6th place, with the swimmer who won the most points in each age group being the Overall Age group Champion. In the event of a tie on points, the number of higher placings are considered.

The spectators were treated to some very fine performances from these swimmers and during the evening they witnessed 124 personal best times out of 215 swims being bettered, 1 Club record broken and 31 new or improved 2008 County qualifying times attained. Swimmers achieving County Qualifying times were:

George Barnes (3) / Emma Bond (2) / Sophie Iacovides (3) / Rawnie Parsons –Lock (1) / Carey Davis (4) / Joseph Coleman (2) / Daniel Osborn (3) / Jack Bond (2) / Saffa Dehghani (3) / Joshua Sullivan (2) / Poppy Roberts (2) / James Smith (1) / Molly-May Allinson (1) / Mark Tanton (1) / Joshua Holman (1)

The results were as follows:

8/ under Boys

Joseph smashed the previous record set by Saffa Dehghani 6 years ago by 1.78 seconds.

8/under girls

9/10yrs boys

9/10yrs girls

11/12yrs boys

11/12yrs girls

13/14yrs boys

13/14yrs girls

15&over boys

15&over girls all events uncontested

Open Age Boys 200m Individual medley

Open age Girls 200m Individual medley

Our very grateful thanks go to the Soll Leisure Centre Management for sponsoring the Pool hire costs for this event. We would also like to thank the following local businesses for placing an advertisement in the Championships events programme;

Danetre Stationers / Pearson Engineering / B. W.Male Ltd / Bulls Garage / P.R.S.Property Rental Sevices / Angels Day Care Centre / Northampton College Hair and Beauty Salon / M.J.PARRATT Ltd

The presentation of awards will take place on poolside at 7pm on Monday 26th November 2007 when dignitaries from the Rotary Club of Daventry will be in attendance to present the winners trophies they have so kindly sponsored.

All Championships competitors will receive a Certificate of Participation and the event winners will receive perpetual Stroke trophies. Overall points winners will also receive trophies.

A full round up of other awards will be submitted after the presentation event.

12th Nov 2007 - Daventry District Sports Awards: WE NEED YOUR VOTES

The Club has been shortlisted for the Club of the Year award at the Daventry District Sports Awards to be held at the Daventry Leisure Centre on Thursday 29th November 2007. The decision is based on a public vote.

Please ASK all your friends and family to vote for us.

Voting can be made via the slip in the Daventry Express sports pages or by going on line at:www.daventrytoday.co.uk Click on sports then follow instructions.

11th Nov 2007 - Pontpool Press Release

Swimming news with the Daventry Dolphins Swimming Club by Lesley Sharp

A contingent of 9 Daventry Dolphins swimmers travelled with their parents to Pontypool in South Wales for the Pontypool Age Group Open meet. This was the first weekend / overnight Open meet the swimmers had ever taking part in and not only was it good for their swimming but also for team bonding and social experience too. The reason for going to Wales was because swimmers as young as 7 years old are allowed to compete, unlike England where they have to be 9 years old.

Belinda Smith, the Head coach was absolutely delighted with the performances of all the swimmers. Out of 48 events swum between them, 41 were personal best times. 19 new or improved 2008 County Championship qualifying times were achieved with 5 Club records falling too.The club finished as the 11th best out of all the competing clubs.

Results are listed in alphabetical order, with top 10 placings.

Photograph of Head Coach Belinda Smith with the Pontypool gang !

Photograph of Head Coach Belinda Smith with the Pontypool gang

Back left to right:

Jack Bond / Daniel Osborn / Joshua Sullivan / Carey Davis / Emma Bond

Front left to right: Joseph Iacovides / Rachel Sullivan / Naomi Sutcliffe-Cugini and Sophie Iacovides.

The next event coming up for the aforementioned swimmers and all other club members is the 2007 Daventry Dolphins Club Championships being held at 5pm this Saturday, 17th November 2007, at the Daventry Leisure Centre Pool, where all competitors will be trying to swim their best to win events but most importantly aim for qualification for the 2008 County Championships., which are being held at the Daventry Leisure Centre Pool in March 2008.

5th Nov 2007 - Carey and Daniel break club records

Carey Davis broke the 200 Freestyle 10/u and 200 Backstroke 10/u records, Daniel Osborn the 10/U, 100 Fly record in the heats and again in the final and Joseph Iacovides the 200 Freestyle 8/u record at the Pontypool Gala on 3rd & 4th November

4th Nov 2007 - Clubs Annual General Meeting (AGM) is on 21st November

Please note that the AGM of the club will take place on the 21st November 2007 at the Soll Leisure Centre Daventry at 7.30pm.

Nominations for committee must be made in writing to me the club secretary or the form filled in on the club notice board. Any proposed rule changes must be with me by the 12th November 2007.

Please make every effort to attend and support the club.

best regards

Richard Hickman, Secretary DDSC

24th Oct 2007 - George goes under 25 seconds

George Barnes of Daventry Dolphins represented the Northamptonshire ASA County Swmming Team at the prestigious Inter-counties gala at Ponds Forge, Sheffield last weekend. He swam the freestyle anchor leg for the 14/15yrs medley relay team and recorded a time of 24.91 seconds which was a personal best time for him, going under the magic 25 seconds for the very first time.

22nd Oct 2007 - Fundraising Chocolate Party

Chocaholics Party Invitation

If you cannot make the event but would still like to order, please ask Lesley for a brochure.

6th Oct 2007 - Daventry Dolphins Swimming Club Development Gala report by Lesley Sharp

102 competitors from Daventry Dolphins, South Northants and Spinney Hill Northampton Swimming Clubs took part in a development gala at the Daventry Leisure Centre on Saturday 6th October 2007. This gala was intended for the participants to better their own best times or to achieve a time in an event that they had not competed in before.

Out of 347 swims, a massive 230 personal best times were achieved.

On the night, the following Dolphins Swimmers achieved qualifying times for the 2008 Northamptonshire County Age Groups Swimming Championships due to be held at Daventry Pool in March 2008. Saffa Dehghani / Katie Holman / Joshua Sullivan / Amy Roberts / Daniel Osborn / Jack Bond / George Barnes / Carey Davis / Sophie Iacovides / Jonathan Partridge.

Record breaker

Record Breaker Joseph Iacovides

Joseph Iacovides aged 7yrs broke the 8/u 50m breaststroke record previously set by Saffa Dehghani in 2001 (55.56) by recording a time of 55.52 seconds. He also swam below the County qualifying time for the 9yrs 50m breast stroke, but he will not be able to take part at a County Age Groups Championships event until March 2009 because you have to be 9yrs old by the Championships date to compete! Joseph was presented with his Record certificate in front of his squad mates

Not only did Joseph Iacovides break a Club record, he also set benchmark times for the 8 / under age group in the 100m Individual Medley:1.51.08 and 200m freestyle:3.51.26. 10yrs olds Daniel Osborn and Carey Davis were also record breakers. Carey set the Girls 10 / under record for the 200m Individual medley in a time of 3.26.00. Daniel set new records in the boys 200m freestyle: 2.53.23 breaking Saffa Dehghanis previous record of 2.55.84 which has stood since April 2003, and the 200m backstroke in a time of 3.19.20, bettering his own record which he set in March 2007 by just over 8 seconds.

Further opportunities for the swimmers to achieve their goals of recording qualifying times in different events are coming up, as the swimmers prepare for Open Meets and Club competitions.

Not only was this a development gala for the swimmers but also for people who are interested in officiating. It was the perfect opportunity for them to practise before they decide whether to go on to take their Amateur Swimming Association Officials examinations.

17th Sep 2007 - 3rd and Final Round of the Milton Keynes Junior League 2007

The Dolphins Junior Team travelled to Leighton Buzzard for the third and final round of the Milton Keynes Junior League 2007. On this occasion they were accompanied by new Head Coach Belinda Smith with Team manager Mel Hickman, who must have been delighted with the improvements of the swimmers times.

Headcoach Belinda and Team Manager Mel

12 individual personal best times (pbs) were achieved which was very pleasing as this was the first competition into the new season following the summer break with most of the swimmers just getting back into the routine of hard training again. Technical improvements had been made since the last round in July, with only 2 disqualifications this time, compared to 7 in the last round. Incredibly 42 events were swum faster than the previous round. Credit goes to all the voluntary Dolphins poolside staff, who during the summer have worked with guest coaches from Northampton Swimming Club working on improving the swimmers stroke technique and other skills such as starts, turns and finishes. The recent work put in by the swimmers have brought about these good results but they will have to continue to work hard as they strive towards their next goal, qualification for the 2008 Northamptonshire County Championships.

Result

1st places:

2nd places:

3rd places:

Team captains were: Adele Jolley and Matthew Coleman

15th Sep 2007 - Sainsburys vouchers - equipment arrived

Just to let you know that today I have received the equipment I ordered from Sainsburys

Thanks to everyone who donated vouchers to the Club. Saving tesco vouchers now!!

Lesley Sharp

12th Sep 2007 - Tesco 2007 Sports vouchers promotion

I have had the information pack from Tesco regards the 2007 Sports vouchers promotion which the Club can send off for equipment.

I've had a quick look through the catalogue and there are a few things which will be useful to the Club and swimmers

So the initial target will be to collect 904 vouchers, but we want to collect as many vouchers as we can so we can send off for a larger amount.

Please give any tesco vouchers to your squad coach or committee member to give to Lesley Sharp

Lesley Sharp

8th Sep 2007 - Marvellous Mike

Mike Smallwood at the World Triathlon Championships in Hamburg

Club member, Mike Smallwood represented Great Britain in the 60-64yrs age group category at the World Triathlon Championships in Hamburg, Germany finishing in 5th place overall, but importantly he was the first Brit to complete the course.

Starting early at 8:20am, Mike had a great swim to be in 3rd place in a time of 25 minutes 22 seconds, (transition 1 time: swim to bike 4:30secs). He did the 40km bike ride in a time of 1hours 7 minutes 41 seconds and holding on to 3rd place. (Transition 2 time: 2:54 bike to run). The run was completed to give him an overall time of 2 hours, 27 minutes 11 seconds.

Mike was cheered on by his family, wife Anita, sons Ben 26yrs, Daniel 23yrs and daughter Rebecca 24yrs. All 3 children have represented the Dolphins in the past making it a real family affair.

Mike was pleased with his performance in the swim and bike sections but ever the consummate competitor, he was disappointed with his run and has vowed to practise his running during the winter. Mike has already pre qualified for next years World Championships to be held in Vancouver, Canada.

Well, I hope when he comes to Monday night training, you will all give him a cheer and congratulate him on his achievement.

Lesley Sharp

1st Sep 2007 - DAVENTRY DOLPHINS ANNOUNCE NEW HEAD COACH

It is with great pleasure that the Committee announce the appointment of Miss Belinda Dawn Smith aged 17 ½ yrs as the new Head Coach of DDSC. Whilst young in age, she has been a competitive swimming member of Northampton Swimming Club. She has been a Level 1 Teacher in their Learn to Swim programme since she was 16 and prior to that she was a volunteer helper. She has successfully completed ‘AS’ levels and is about to start her 2nd year of ‘A’ Level study at Northampton Boys School. The committee would ask that all members give their full support in this new appointment of Belinda.

This follows the resignation of Head Teacher, Victoria Khan in the summer. The Daventry Dolphins Swimming Club Committee needed to act quickly to find a replacement Teacher / Coach before the start of the new swimming season which begins in September. Following discussions with Northampton Swimming Club Director of Swimming Mark Perry, it was proposed that Belinda, one of their young coaches be given the opportunity to take on this demanding role. As a result of this, the proposal was put to the Committee and after a lengthy debate it was unanimously voted in favour on taking this young person on.

The Committee invites ALL squad swimmers and parents to attend the Daventry Leisure Centre Pool at 6pm on Sunday 2nd September 2007 to be introduced to her, and have the opportunity to ask questions.

Jacquie Marshall who is the Head Coach at Northampton Swimming Club nominated Belinda for a ‘Believe to Achieve’ scholarship from the Youth Sport Trust (YST) and she is one of only 5 Young people to be the first in the Country to receive this award. She will receive up to £500 to help cover the cost of further coaching qualifications and will be invited onto an Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) mentoring scheme where she will have the opportunity to shadow and take advice from the associations Talent Development Coaches.

The ‘John Beckwith’ award is part of a National Programme of camps and scholarships for gifted young sportsmen and women and was fronted by Olympic medallist Dame Kelly Holmes. The 5 recipients, who all happened to be female, were identified by the ASA and were selected by a National panel which included Dame Kelly and Sir John Beckwith. The group were presented with their Scholarships by England Talent Development Manager Nick Sellwood (former Head coach at Coventry SC) at the National Swimming Championships in Sheffield earlier this month. Sellwood said “This is a marvellous initiative which provides talented young coaches with fast-track experience and opportunities to develop their coaching skills and achieve UKCC qualifications; we are hoping that members of this group will go on to form part of our next generation of performance coaches.”

As part of this scheme, she will be fast- tracked through the ASA’s new UKCC Level 2 Coaching Qualification, known as the Level 2 Certificate for Coaching in Swimming, with the aim of completing the 5 theory based modules before she reaches the age of 18. Determined to progress quickly, during August Belinda attended Culford School in Suffolk on a 10 day intensive level 2 course and has successfully completed the 5 modules, which included:

  1. Health and Safety
  2. Principles of Teaching / Coaching
  3. Sport Science including Exercise Physiology and the Principles of Training
  4. Techniques – the mechanics of competitive swimming
  5. Training preparation

Module 6 relates to practical skills and she will be assessed by ASA Coach Development Tutors, whilst coaching in the Club environment. She will also have to produce a portfolio of work as evidence. She will also have the full support and backing of both Perry and Marshall who are both highly regarded Coaches for British Swimming.

Last week, Belinda accompanied by Mrs Marshall, met the club’s sub committee charged with finding a replacement. This was to meet Belinda and to finalise her appointment and start date. We also discussed ideas for the forthcoming season and her aims for the future of the club. Belinda stated that she is relishing the challenge and is grateful for this opportunity, and has also said that her long term goal is to become a full time professional swimming coach.

She will start in her new post on, Monday 3rd September and it is anticipated that she will remain in post for a minimum of 2 years.

This appointment is a really positive move and shows a genuine commitment by DDSC to forge links with Northampton Swimming Club, for its swimmers to have the opportunities to progress to higher levels that can not be done at Daventry alone.

During the month of September Belinda will be getting to know all swimmers and teachers. After this period of time, it is expected that changes will be made to squads and swimming times. More information on this will follow.

Melanie Hickman

Chairperson

For and on behalf of

Daventry Dolphins Swimming Club

August News

Miss Victoria Khan resigned her position as Head Teacher in July citing personal and professional reasons for not being able to continue in post. Tor as she is popularly known, will be undertaking a Post Graduate Secondary Teachers Certificate Course starting in September. The Club wished her well in her new chosen career and fully understood the commitment that she will need to make in order for her to be successful. Her replacement to date, has not yet been finalised but the Club will keep everyone informed and will make an announcement in the near future, but it can be reported that new training schedules and squads will be introduced as of September.

Club swimmers Luke Hickman, Naisan Dehghani and Jonathan Partridge all aged 16 years old, have recently completed the Amateur Swimming Association Level 1 Teachers training course. This means that they will be able to assist on Club nights under the guidance of Level 2 qualified staff. Course fees have been subsidised by the Club and the Northamptonshire Amateur Swimming Association.

During the summer school holidays, swimmers who took part in the Schools Swimming Festival in July have taken the opportunity to participate in the 4 x 1 hour free swimming practice sessions with the Dolphins. Lesley Sharp who supervised these sessions, presented the participants with certificates and it is hoped that these swimmers will want to go on to become Club members in the future.

Fords Monetary Donation

Fords Donation Presentation Ceremony Picture kindly donated by Daventry Express

There has been a swimming club in the Daventry and District since 1962.

Originally, in 1962 when the now demolished outdoor pool was opened following the drowning of 5 young Daventry children at Daventry Reservoir, the swimming club was formed and was known as the Daventry and District Swimming Club. In those formative years, the club swimmers were only able to practise during the summer months. In 1981, the Club moved its base to an indoor facility at the then Grange School (now Northampton College Campus) and the swimmers were able for the first time to swim all year round.

On its 30th Anniversary in 1992, the Club changed its name to the Daventry Dolphins Swimming Club, since when, its present logo has continued to be used. In November 1996, following the closure of the indoor pool, the Club moved its base to the present Daventry Leisure Centre where the swimmers practice on Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays. At present there are in excess of 80 swimming members, with the youngest member being 7 years old and the eldest being 60 years old. The Club has an inclusive approach to membership and welcomes swimmers from all backgrounds although they have to undergo a trial before joining.

Competitions are held within the County, the East Midlands region and Nationally. Some swimmers have gone on to gain International recognition.

Although still classed as an amateur sport for the competitors, the Club is run by volunteers (with the exception of the Head Teacher / Coach). The Club has a professional attitude in maintaining standards and making sure that all swimming coaching and ancillary staff are qualified to Amateur Swimming Association standards, all Club members and officials that have regular contact with the children are checked through the Criminal Records Bureau to make sure that they are suitable for their posts. The Club has strong links with Northampton Swimming Club, local schools and NSport.

When hosting competitions, the Club have to adhere to FINA Rules (World governing body of Swimming) and this includes having certain equipment such as a personal address system to make announcements. During the past year, following fundraising efforts, the Club has purchased its own PA system.

The next item on the ‘shopping list’ was to purchase an electronic beep starting signal system to replace the old fashioned starting pistols. The guns were getting old and unreliable, failing to ‘fire’ on numerous occasions, with the starter having to resort to using a whistle as a starting signal. This new system not only produces an extremely loud beep but also gives a flash of light for swimmers who are deaf or have hearing impairments. The committee decided in 2006 to go ahead and place an order for this new system, and as a result of a contact through Rushden Swimming Club, the system was ordered from the USA and was finally received this month at a cost of £561.00p. By ordering the system from the States direct (thanks to the current excellent sterling / dollar exchange rate), it saved the Club a huge amount of money, over £300 cheaper than if it was purchased in this Country.

Fords have kindly donated £550 to the Club and it is the wish of the Club Committee and its Members that their extremely generous donation be used to pay for the Starting System. This will allow the Club to use the money saved for other uses, such as paying for an extra 2 / 3 nights pool hire when hosting competitions or for funding volunteers to attend training courses.

Flying the Flag for Great Britain

Mike Smallwood (60 years) who is the oldest swimming member of the Daventry Dolphins Swimming Club will be flying the flag for Great Britain at this years Triathlon World Championships to be held in Hamburg, Germany. Not only this, he has already pre-qualified for the World Championships in June 2008 at Vancouver, Canada.

The International Triathlon Union (ITU) host the World Championships each year at different venues around the world. Besides the Championships for the elite athletes, these Championships also incorporate ‘age group’ championships which are competed for on the same day and over the same course. The challenge is to complete the Open water swimming leg over a distance of 1500m, a 40km cycle ride and a 10km run. Mike will be competing in the 60- 64 yrs age group. To qualify, Mike has had to compete in a series of competitions organised by the British Triathlon Association (BTA). In the age group events, the BTA has a maximum of 20 places per age group to allocate and they nominate the 4 events at which the first 4 age group winners get automatic qualification. Those events have been held at Ellesmere, Shropshire / Dambuster at Rutland Water / Wakefield and Pembroke. Qualification for next years World Championships include the events at Ellesmere, Rutland, Northampton and Bala.

Mike had not competed in a triathlon over these distances since 1994, and his primary target was to try and qualify for Hamburg and had no idea where his abilities would place him. Competing at Ellesmere in Shropshire, he finished in 1st place in a time of 2hrs, 25m, 25 secs, almost a minute ahead of his nearest rival. In the next event held at Rutland Water, he had a much better run and finished in 1st place in a time of 2hours, 24 minutes, 42 secs, and almost 2 minutes ahead of the second place competitor, and almost 7 minutes ahead of the third placed competitor who Mike had previosly beat into 2nd place at Ellesmere.

This weekend, Mike is due to compete at Wakefield and this event counts towards the National Rankings Series (NRS). The best 3 results from 5 events are used to calculate the overall position. The last event is in September so it will be a while before the NRS is settled.

Mike regularly trains with the Daventry Dolphins and was pleased that he had completed the 1500m swimming legs in times of around 26 minutes.

The master of understatement, Mike said after his achievements that he ‘was well chuffed’.