20 Dec 2024

Sharks Christmas newsletter

Plenty to celebrate ahead of Christmas after a busy few weeks of galas. We hope you enjoy this final newsletter of the year. Well done to all our swimmers, including those who didn’t win medals, and thank you to all the volunteers who keep the Sharks going!

Arena League Round 2

Round 2 of the Arena League saw Sharks going into battle at Pingles Nuneaton.

This was a very tough draw against 3 of the league’s top 6 teams and the rest being fairly closely matched. Going in we were a couple of team members down and during the competition a few swimmers were sidelined with illness. Combined with handful of DQ's we were really up against it.

Jacob S and Martha both enjoyed wins, picking up max points for the 100 breast and fly respectively.

It was very close between the bottom 8 teams in this gala with only a handful of points separating us all and Sharks unfortunately finishing 8th. This left us 20th out of 24 going into the last event (the bottom 4 teams go down) but we finished with a decent points total so there was everything was to play for going into the final round….

Arena League final Gala

Round 3 saw Sharks at Rugby in a relegation dogfight with the other bottom 8 teams in a straight shoot out on who stays up. With the stakes high and everything on the line it was time for coach Jake's annual appearance to show us how to swim 100 fly. The team were amazing and finished narrowly second with a massive 270 points.
We had 13 wins across the gala with individual wins for:-

Jacob S (Boys 13 100 back, 100 fly),
Harry C (100 breast),
Martha B (Girls 15, 100 fly),
Arabella (girls 13 100 fly),
Annabel (girls 15 100 breast)

and a dominant display in the relays winning almost half of the events (7/16)

Boys 13 Medley relay,
Boys 13 Freestyle Relay,
Girls 11 medley relay,
Girls 13 Medley relay,
Girls 13 Freestyle relay,
Girls 15 free relay,
Girls 15 Medley Relay,

Oh and Jake…he was 3 seconds faster than last year and only 1 second off his lifetime best.

This fantastic result pulled Sharks clear of relegation danger finishing the league 18th out of 24. Well done to everyone who took part, it truly was a team effort.

Terry Freeman Open Meet

We took a fairly small number of swimmers to Nuneaton to compete in Nuneaton and Bedworths Terry Freeman open meet at the end of November. There were several last-minute issues - thanks to everyone who stepped up to help out on poolside duties, it was much appreciated!

Congratulations to the following medal-winners:

Alexa W(1st 200IM and 3rd 100 back)
Grace M(1st 100 free,200 free, 50 fly, 50 breast)
Mya T(3rd 100 free)
Harry C (1st 200 breast, 100m breast)
Paige (2nd, 50 fly)
Alex Scott (1st 100 back, 3rd 50 fly)
Arabella (50,100,200 fly, 200,400IM, 200 breast, 50 free)

City of Coventry Winter Open

50 Sharks took part during this 2 day meet, getting some great times and plenty of PBs.

The following went home with medals:

Medals were for:-

Jacob S (100 breast, 200 breast, 200IM, 50 free, 400IM)
Grace M (50 fly, 50 back)
Adam N (400 free)
Eve E (50 back,100 breast,50 free)
Mya T (200 free)
Toby S(200m breast)
henry SF(50 breast)
Immy H(200 breast)

The most important award was for Oli S who not only broke the 1 minute barrier for 100m free he also won the clubs only duck at this event.

Masters News

Well done to Becca, competing in her first masters gala picking up 2 medals for 100 back and 100m free at the East Midlands masters Champs.

Ali was back in action having been picked by the Warwickshire team for the inter counties masters gala at Sandwell Aquatics, Ali placed 3rd out of all the other midlands counties in 50 breast.

Coaching News

Sharks welcome onboard another new coach, Stuart Crichton. Stuart is a teacher at the leisure centre and used to be a competitive swimmer for City of Coventry.

Upcoming galas

• C&D team relays 4th Jan (invites have all gone out)
• County Champs (everyone who has qualified has been contacted)
• The JIM (invites out to academy- this is an ideal first event!)
• John Hughes Coventry (invites sent)
• Rugby Open (invites sent)

Please refer to the competition calendar which contains almost every event for next year, including a link to the organisers pages for more details if you need to plan ahead. You will only receive invitations to galas you are eligible for.

https://www.stratfordsharksasc.co.uk/page/competition-planner/72906

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