In the News for September 2023
Kent Junior League Round 3
On Saturday 24th September we took 32 of our younger swimmers to Crook Log for the final round of the league. In this last round we were swimming against teams who were placed eight to fourteen from the first two rounds. It was a tough night of racing, and we were up against some very good teams, but in the true spirit of Ojays our swimmers gave their absolute all. We had five 1st places and five 2nd places. Notable mentions go to Philip, Lucas, Ellie, the girls 13 years freestyle relay team, the boys 12 years medley relay team who all secured wins for the team and Alex, Isabelle and Isla who joined the team at the last minute and also had some fantastic races. We finished mid table and finished 14th out of the 21 teams participating. Many thanks to all who helped on the night: - coaches Joe and Kirsten, club captain Charlotte with help from Lauren, team managers Caroline, Sheeren and Christine, and our officials Mark, Sophie, Andrea, Andy and Rob.
Commonwealth Life Saving Championships 2023
Ben Langdown competed for Wales at the commonwealth life saving championships in Windsor Canada between 15th – 17th September. He achieved a Bronze medal, made five A-Finals and with three Pbs achieved a 24.9 50m Freestyle Long Course ; his first time sub 25 ever.
A huge well done to Ben in his first international competition. Lifesaving is swimming whilst using different bits of equipment or with twists in how an event works, if any of you tuned in to watch on the live stream it looked like great fun.
Swim England County Pathway 2023
Lucas of Platinum squad has been selected for the county pathway, the first step on the Swim England talent programme, for a second year in a row. This year the pathway is for forty-eight 12-year-olds both male and female and selection was based on the swimmer’s county ranking and includes their 200 IM pb. The pathway consists of two one-day training camps the first of which is on the 29th October. A huge well done to Lucas for his selection again.
Swim England National Age Group Development Programme 2023
Daisy of Top squad has been selected for the Swim England development programme for 2023/24. 192 swimmers both male and female, with a minimum age of 14 are selected for this programme from across England. The country is split into 4 zones and 48 swimmers from each zone are selected based on their Fina points from a long course meet. The camp is made of 4 one-day training camps spread out across the year. Daisy’s first camp is Saturday 28th October – the day she returns from our own winter training camp. A massive well done to Daisy her selection!
New Coaches
Welcome to out new coaches, Kirsten Iddiols-Bunclark who is Bronze and Silver Coach. Su Kidar has joined us as our new Learn2Swim lead and the recently re-introduced Chrome Squad. Tom Barrett has taken on the Youth Development squad, and Vat Swarup is now coaching Tadpoles 1.
Officials & Team Managers
Well done to Caroline on her J1 Official qualification, and Christine and Andre on their Team Manager qualification. We also welcome new trainee officials Andrea, Andy, Kate, Rob and Melanie. If anyone else is interested in joining our team of volunteers please reach out to a member of the committee or Caroline Gibbs, who will be more than happy to explain what each role entails and how to go about signing up.
Finally…
Onto next month where we send 33 swimmers and 4 coaches off on a week’s intensive training camp to Malaga Spain. October also sees the start of the National Arena League, and 2 open galas NUEL at the London Aquatic Centre and the Kent Junior Meet at Gillingham. Swimming just doesn’t stop!
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