Rob has been coaching for 10 years at clubs in Nottingham namely, Mansfield, Radford and Nova Centurion. He started coaching in 1995 and worked with the swimmers in the teaching pool at Mansfield S.C. Rob completed his assistant teachers certificate in November 1997 and then moved up to teaching in the widths section of the club. In November 1998 he passed his swimmers teaching certificate and moved onto working with the competitive squads and also deputised for the Head Coach for some 8 months. Rob has worked with a wide range of ability levels from non-swimmers up to national standard with an individual at international level who represented the GB deaf team, winning silver and bronze medals at the world and European championships in 1999.
In January 2000, Rob moved to Radford Swimming Club coaching the junior squad. In late 2001 he successfully passed his club coach certificate and in December 2001 was appointed Head coach at Radford S.C.
Rob brings to the Club a wealth of experience including working with Bill Furniss at Nova Centurion, with the A squad, and time working alongside the coaches at Loughborough University.
First of all thanks for the welcome I have received from you all since joining Arnold Swimming Club, It may take a while to get to know all your names but please be patient I’ll get there soon.
TrainingA number of swimmers and parents have asked me why are we not doing 3000m a session, also why are we being told to swim slowly, All good questions so I will give a brief overview of what training is about and what we are trying to achieve. First of all, Arnold is primarily a competitive club, with this in mind, our aim should be to teach swimmers how to race and improve personal performance, to achieve this we need to work on two things.
1. Technique
2. Strength and Stamina
Speed is approximately 80-85% technique; the remaining 15-20% is strength and stamina.
Good technique is learned by the repartition of correct movements, which is done slowly at first. We then build on this to be able to swim with good technique when we swim fast and are tired. This leads to swimming faster but with less effort.
To improve out stamina we aim to swim at certain speeds to control the heart rate for the specific energy system that is being worked on, hence the different speeds in training.
As you may be aware children develop at different rates even in the same age group. With this in mind we are aiming to base the training program on the ability of swimmers, with certain types of training being completed at certain ages that will fit in with the natural growth of children.
There is more information regarding this on the A. S.A. web site under the title of Long Term Athlete development.
This is just a brief overview of training and how we are looking to develop the club, should you have any further questions regarding training please feel free to speak to me at any time after training.
This is a legal requirement
The healthy membership has had a positive knock-on effect on the training revenue, which averages at £260 a week. The other good news is that 83 members have joined the monthly scheme providing the club with a certain level of “guaranteed” income. The scheme has had the desired effect of increasing the average attendance especially in the 12+ age group. We feel that this is the right way forward for the club taking into account the fact that we are having difficulties in finding new parents prepared to help with swimmers registration for the 7-8 pm Monday and Thursday sessions.
The Annual Galas, Gladys Hull and Jubilee galas have been well attended. These provide additional funds for the club during the year. We have also organised two fund raising activities earlier this year: a sponsored swim and a bag pack at Asda. These have been a great success. Another bag pack will be organised for early December.
All of the above revenue goes towards financing the club’s expenses. As a reminder, the club is a non-profit organisation and the only paid individual is the Head Coach. Everyone else operates on a voluntary basis.
The main expenses are the pool hire (just over £2,000 a month)and the Head Coach fees together with ASA registration, league registration and insurance which account for around £1 500 a year I am glad to say that these and all other costs are well under
Cheryl has been involved with the Club for many years, 11 in total and has worked not only as Fixtures Secretary and Child Welfare Office but also took on the duties of Team Manager for a few years. We wish Cheryl all the best for the future and look forward to seeing her at the Club from time to time.
Claire Harrison (Dominic and Chloe’s mum) has kindly volunteered to take up the position of Child Welfare Officer.
| Rachel Martin | 5th Nov | Kyle Hackett | 3rd Dec |
| Jessica Miller | 7th Nov | Josie Plester | 6th Dec |
| Sophie Wardle | 10th Nov | Neil Clarke | 7th Dec |
| Liam Berber | 13th Nov | Chloe Harrison | 7th Dec |
| Lauren Mason | 15th Nov | Luke Gregory | 9th Dec |
| Ryan Tomlinson | 16th Nov | Claire Redshaw | 15th Dec |
| Elizabeth Farrell | 19th Nov | Jemma Beedon | 16th Dec |
| Eleanor Fox | 21st Nov | Victoria Jackson | 23rd Dec |
