Club Information
Introduction
Coleraine Swimming Club was founded in September 1969 by Jim Foote, Helen Birch, Elsa Rowbottom, Eamon O’Hara and others with the aim of promoting the art of swimming. The Clubs objectives are to:
- To respect the rights, dignity and worth of each individual
- To ensure that the health, safety and welfare of each Club member is paramount
- To positively encourage each swimmer to develop their full potential and provide feedback on progress
- To encourage the spirit of fair play and reinforce its principles
- To promote the enjoyment of sport as a priority
- To actively encourage parents/guardians to participate in the development of the Club
The Club has approximately 30-35 volunteer coaches who teach children at various levels of ability from starting to swim to the competitive level and the club membership stands around 250 members.
The Club swimmers are split into 2 groups, the Aquasprint, which is for children up to 10/11 years old, and the Provincial Towns League (PTL) Squad which is for more experienced swimmers who are 8 years and older.
We have had many good swimmers over the past years and some of those have competed at Provincial and National levels. The most prominent have been Emma and Louise Robinson who swam at Olympic and Commonwealth level. Most recently, Jaydee Ferguson attended an Ulster School’s Squad training session in Tenerife in October 2008 and Christopher Coils was selected for the Ulster Squad competing in the Interprovincial Gala at the NAC in Dublin in June 2009.
The Club is administered by the Management Committee which is elected at the AGM.
Membership Information
Entry to the club is as follows;
• Membership applications forms are available online in June/July each year with a closing date attached.
• Should the child meet the criteria, be able to swim 25m and be over the age of 5, then they will be invited to a trial session at the end of August.
• Once the existing members re-apply, early September, we then know what places are available and in what session.
• The top ranked Children who fit into the available sessions are notified and start in the middle of September
• Unsuccessful children are kept on the waiting list and the sessions are reviewed in December and we have another trials night for the next ranking children.
• A new waiting list is complied at the start of each year, and you have to re-apply each year.
• Membership to the club is decided by the committee and not one person to ensure fairness.
Special Awards
These awards are presented annually at the Club Gala.
- Pauline Larssen
- Endeavour
- Most Improved
- Teletots Rosebowl
- Swimmer of the Year
This is awarded the boy and girl with most points in the PTL Galas
Awarded to the Boy and Girl who have consistently put in the effort and work without achieving the success the effort has deserved – Swimmers who are always present/available at training and although not winners, are always willing to support, help the team, help the club, help fellow swimmers, assist poolside and work with younger swimmers.
Given to the boy and girl who have shown the most improvement in times over 5 competitive events, ie 50m BC, 50m BR, 50m FLY, 50m FC and 100m IM. It runs from the start of season to the end of season and from 2nd Year ‘B’ Group (involves mostly 2nd year ‘B’ and both years in ‘C’ Group)
Awarded to the boy and girl Teletot that has contributed most to the teletots, in attitude, morale, dependability, commitment etc, specifically NOT performance based.
To the outstanding boy and girl in the Club. Can be for performance or any other notable contributions to the club. It does not have to performance related or exclusively for performances. It could be an older swimmer who does exceptional work poolside, helping coaches, helping younger swimmers etc.
Performances should preferably be for club representative events, ie PTL, Age Groups, Ulster/Irish Championships, End of Season PTL, rather than Schools related. (Generally Group ‘C’ 2nd year and above)