Doggy Paddle with Polo Balls? One armed swimming with noodles? The Best Belly flop?

-it can only be Club Night!

On Thursday was the infamous Annual Club Night – guaranteed fun and games - with a hidden work out. This is an ideal chance for the club to come together and have some pre-Christmas fun.

Our MC for the night was the Head Coach himself, Lawrie Thompson, who commanded the races and arranged the Christmas music  - singing along to a few songs now and again on the microphone for all to enjoy…..mmm…...

The squads were put into teams of varying size and squad across six lanes and started with an impromptu race of whatever Lawrie decided at the last minute – causing many groans when the 50fly was announced and dare I say it? Some cheating….! Apparently some teams changed swim order very quickly but our MC was very quick to pick it up and set the 50fly race again with the next team member….ouch!

Unfortunately ‘ cheating ‘ was picked up again with the one-armed noodle race,  swim-a- length without- breathing race and even the most fun looking race with large floating mats! Points were deducted but mainly the rules were abided by and everyone kept their disciplined competitive spirit. But, if you can’t cheat on Club Night, when can you?

The highlight of the night seemed to be the Best Belly Flop competition going by the cheering of the swimmers and parents spectating! The senior boys were host to this with a clear winner by Ed Marshall aka Acrobatic Ed.

We finished the evening with a presentation assembly which had the swimmers changed and ready in seven minutes – how Lawrie managed to get them to do that is beyond us parents, surely 15 minutes minimum is the norm?

The Victor Ludorum Junior Cup was firstly awarded to Emma Shilton and Will Curry who will each hold the cup for 6 months.  The senior Cup was awarded to Ollie Goodhew and Fran Collings. These swimmers have achieved the highest number of points in the Age Group Categories in various events ranging from 100-400m for the juniors and 200-400m for the seniors.

Next, was the presentation of medals for the Club Championship Age Group Winners – gold, silver and bronze were awarded for the top 3 positions:

• Girls 11 & Under - 1st Emma Shilton, 2nd Isobelle Deamer and 3rd Jodhi Gold
• Girls 13 & under - 1st Georgina Gratton, 2nd Sophy Croydon-Kempster and 3rd Brittany Croydon-Kempster
• Girls 15 & under - 1st Naomi Shaw, 2nd Olivia Barker and 3rd Alice Peters
• Girls 16 & Over - 1st Claire Shaw, 2nd Sarah Davidson and 3rd Laura Risby
 
• Boys 11 & Under - 1st Kody Howard, 2nd Oliver Mayhew and 3rd Ben Long
• Boys 13 & under - 1st Ed Entwisle, 2nd Will Curry and 3rd Josh Cowland
• Boys 15 & Under - 1st Ollie Goodhew, joint 2nd Scott Crowhurst & Guy Cooper and 3rd Matt Knox
• Boys 16 & over 1st Matt Gibson, 2nd Chris Coxhill and Sam Wright and 3rd Alex Fraser

New Club Captains were then announced for 2012 – as voted by you the swimmers;

Junior Captains are Georgie Gratton for the girls and Will Curry for the boys. Senior Captains are Claire Shaw for the girls and Matt Gibson for the boys. This will be Matts third year of holding this prestigious title so a special congratulations to him and to the winners and a big Well Done to the other nominees that narrowly missed out.

Next up were certificates for swimmers who have broken club records. First up of course, was Ollie Goodhew, who received no fewer than 13 certificates in various strokes and long course distances making him in Lawries words “ A good all-rounder “ – this just adds to his many recent achievements including two National times At the South East Regional Winter Champs for 100m Backstroke and 200m Backstroke.

Next was Alex Bowen who has smashed five long course records, 50m freestyle, twice no less, for the boys 15&U, twice again for the 50m freestyle mens open 16&U and finally 50m fly for the mens 16&U.

Ben Stevens collected his certificate for the boys 10&U 200m freestyle, Kody Howard for the 200IM boys 9&U, Alex Curry continued his recent successes with the 200m breaststroke for the boys 9&U.

For the girls, Georgina Gratton has the record for 200m Fly womens 12&U, Emma Shilton grabbed two for 100mIM and 200m Breaststroke womens 11&U and Leah Clark twice beat the record in her 50m backstroke for womens 11&U. Finally, Jess Matlock collected a trio of certificates for the 200m backstroke and 200m freestyle girls 10&U and 100m freestyle girls 11&U.

A Fantastic achievement by  one and all.

For those not aware, Emma Croydon-Kempster proudly told us how she had nominated our County Squad Coach, Angela Gibson, for a Top Teachers Award back in November with radio station Bright FM. The evening was at Uckfield Golf Club and attended by Vera Lynn. Ang, supported by her family and looking very glam indeed, was announced Top Teacher – very worthy indeed and thank you Emma.

We ended with one of the most anticipated parts of the evening – Squad Promotions. The coaches were very pleased to announce the following swimmers have achieved this;

Current Mini Squad members to be promoted to County Development Squad;

• Paige Lee
• Ellen Marchant
• Kathy Peters
• Lucy Hopson

 Current County Development Squad members being promoted to Regional Development Squad: 

• Georgie Little
• Neave Scott
• Jodhi Gold
• Annabel Ewen
• Josh Cowland
• Jake Newman
• Elizabeth Ferguson

Good luck to these and keep up the hard work!