LATEST NEWS

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RWB Otters annual awards

Congratulations to everyone on a very successful annual awards presentation. Our main winners on the night were:

Ace Award – Andy Brown
Male Endeavour – Dom Keogh
Female Endeavour – Emma Cannell and Rachel Knight
Ian Grant young volunteer – Meg Davies
Coaches swimmer – Alex Donofrio
Swimmers swimmers – Alex Donofrio & Charlotte Barrett
Behind the scenes (unsung hero award) – Andrew & Nicki Evans.

North Wilts Primary Schools Gala

3 time Olympian and Olympic bronze medallist Jo Jackson came to see us today at the North Wilts Primary Schools Gala held at Lime Kiln where plenty of Otters were swimming.

Tigersharks 'Last Chance' Open Meet, 1st/2nd Dec 2018

17 Otters swimmers dedicated their weekend to swimming in this competition – the ‘last chance’ to obtain Wiltshire County Qualifying times for the Wiltshire Championship & Age Group Competitions.

Our swimmers put on a performance of strength and determination. Aiming for those targets, some meeting them, some not – but all showing humbling resilience and outstanding support for their team. Lots of medals, County QTs and even a Regional QT! They were an inspiration to watch.

Congratulations to all the swimmers who took part: Eddie, Joshua, James, Callum, Sebby, Joey, Reuben, Adam, Harry, Bria, Abi, Mia, Jessica, Lexie, Emily, Izzy and Grace.

Huge thanks also to all the coaches and parents who supported them in so many ways. We are all now looking forward to Christmas and the County competitions in the New Year.

Otters Club Championships night.

Take a look through the photography at one of our recent Club Championship nights at the Link Centre.

Otters swimmers at ESSA National finals!

The English Schools Swimming Association National Finals took place on Saturday 17th November at the London Aquatics Centre. Three Otters swimmers were part of 2 relay teams who qualified at the Regional competition in September for their secondary school RWBA. The Junior Girls (years 7&8) swam in the freestyle and medley relays and the intermediate girls (years 9&10) in the freestyle relay. It was an incredible opportunity to compete in the Olympic pool. Huge congratulations go to Zara, Bria and Charlotte on brilliant swims on the day and representing themselves and RWBA impeccably.

Success at Marlborough Penguins 60th Anniversary Meet 13th/14th Oct 2018

16 of our swimmers competed last weekend in a joint level 2/3 meet at the Link Centre hosted by the Marlborough Penguins. Each and every one of our swimmers swam fantastically well, with many personal best and county times achieved. The medal haul was amazing with a stonking 24 gold medals, 10 silver medals, 8 bronze medals and 24 speeding tickets between them. The group atmosphere on poolside was lovely and a real team spirit was felt with swimmers cheering each other on.

Well done to Alex, Annelie, Bria, Charlotte, Eddie, Grace, Isaac, Jess, Joshua, Lauren C, Lauren K Leina, Lexie, Niamh, Sebby and Zara.

Annual Rotary Club Challenge - 30th Sept 2018

A team from RWB Otters took part in the Annual Rotary Club Challenge at RWB Academy. Teams competed head to head against other local youth teams in a variety of physical and mental challenges. Each group received a cheque for £50 for taking part, with the winners receiving £500 and £250 for second place.

Congratulations to Adam, Charlotte, Annelie, Isaac, Joey and Izzy who worked brilliantly together and had a great day.

The extensive sweet collection at the tuck shop finished the day off perfectly!

Summer League Final – 15th Sept 2018 in Trowbridge

A huge thank you and well done to all swimmers who took part in all rounds of this year’s Summer League.

This was a tough competition, and we were in division one for the first time – competing against some very competitive squads from across Wiltshire. All our swimmers did amazingly well and we are very proud of each and every one of you.

Otters finished an honourable 5th overall. The final scores after all three rounds were:

Trowbridge 669

Bradford on Avon 566

Chippenham 531

Salisbury 515

RWB Otters 463

Calne 330

Swindon Dolphins End of Season Open Meet 28/29 July 2018

Eleven Otter swimmers from Comp A and Comp B celebrated the start of the summer (and the break in the heatwave!) by swimming their hearts out in a 2-day Open Meet. For some this was their first ever level 3 Meet. They all swam brilliantly turning in PB performances one after the other. 59 swims across all the events from 400m IM to 50m races – and even bringing some medals home despite it being a tough competition.

Congratulations Olli, Sebby, Evan, Alex, Niamh, Bria, Leina, Jessica, Lexie, Lauren and Caitlin – you were awesome!

Tigersharks Medley Meet – 22/07/18

10 of our Comp A squad participated in what proved to be quite a quiet, but very hot Medley Meet held at the Link Centre. All swimmers aged 11 and under competed in 50m races across all strokes. Those in the 12 and over age range swam 100m’s, with the top 6 swimmers in each age group selected to progress to the finals.

9 of our 10 swimmers made it through to the finals (with Ana only missing out by being placed 7th) which was a fantastic effort all round! The finals were a 100m IM race for 11 and under and a 200m IM for the 12’s and over.

Congratulations to: Naimh (1st overall), Charlotte (3rd overall), Bria (4th overall), Joey (6th overall), Lexie (6th overall), Lauren (3rd overall), Izzy (5th overall), Ana (7th overall), Jonty (2nd overall) and Alex (2nd overall).

We’re proud of you all!

Otters Land Training session – 30th June 2018

Huge thanks to Paul and Annette Luker from RWB TAGB Club for putting on a land training session.

RWBA County swimming championships Year 7/8

Well done to RWBA for winning the Year 7 & 8 County swimming championships!

Kirsty from RWBA said “The reason I am emailing is because I took a lot of Otters swimmers with me and I have to say, wow, what a lovely group of kids. So supportive of each other with their cheering and encouragement, as well as being great little swimmers too”.

Well done to Reuben, Joey, Sam, Charlotte and Bria – pictured here with Stephanie Millward, British paralympic swimmer.

Vacancy - Administration for stage 6 & 7

We have a vacancy within the club for someone to take over the administration duties covering stages 6 and 7. Sarah Stimson has been looking after this role in addition to the administration for Comp B squad, but it has become too much work for one person.

The admin role consists of the following

Creating and maintaining the registers
Participating in the committee meetings
Maintaining the lane sheets for the coaches
Moving swimmers from one stage to the next
Emailing parents with relevant club updates

We cannot effectively run any aspect of the club without the necessary volunteers and this role is essential within the development section.

As the person responsible for this section you would ideally need to be at Lime Kiln on a Sunday from 6.30-7.30pm. If your child/children swim within or around these times, then this role could work perfectly for you – children like nothing more than their parent being involved and on poolside while they are in the pool.

If you would like to consider this role or if you would like further information, please either speak to Sarah or myself, Jo – Otters Chair.

SX3 Development Gala – Link Centre 15th April 2018

25 swimmers from Comp A and Comp B squads, aged 8-13 joined together to compete at this entry-level gala. It was very exciting as for some this was their first-ever licensed all-day swimming event.

The swimmers were on brilliant form, pulling out Personal Best times (PBs) again and again, and were rewarded with lots of PB lollies… too many to eat in one day in fact! In all they swam 121 races across 14 different events. The top 6 in every age group received awards and the children brought home 5 Golds, 7 Silver and 10 Bronze medals, plus 15 x 4th place, 10 x 5th place and 6 x 6th place ribbons.

Huge congratulations go to Joey, Adam, Elliot, Sam, Jacob, Harry, Oliver, George, Leo, Charlotte, Maggie, Bria, Abi, Kiera, Ana, Jessica, Lexie, Amy, Emily, Izzy, Caitlin, Grace, Georgia, Sophie and Tilly – you were all stars and represented the Club superbly.

Calne Alpha Four open meet – 7th & 8th April 2018

In the middle of the Easter holidays, 8 swimmers entered the Calne Open Meet, swimming 32 races between them over two days. Calne meets are always fun and this was no exception. We saw some amazing performances, PBs and medals to bring home. Congratulations to Nick and Eddie who achieved regional entry times in the 50m freestyle and breaststroke respectively. Kudos goes to Jessica for most races swam over the weekend and medals for the tough 100m & 200m fly events. Well done to them and Leina, Lexie, Bria, Harry and Joshua on all their results.

Tigersharks Level 2/3 open meet – 17th & 18th March 2018

Prior to the club presentation evening, 3 of our swimmers braved the arctic temperatures of the Link Centre to swim selected events in the first session of this L2/3 Open Meet. On the Sunday morning we awoke to snow again, and the Sunday sessions were carrying on regardless. 6 swimmers brushed off their disco tiredness and came and swam their chosen events. Once again two days of awesome swims, PBs and with the added bonus of some regional entry times and a few medals too! Well done Eddie, Olli, Alex, Lauren, Niamh and Bria.

Winter League brilliance

Saturday 10th March saw the final of the Division 1 winter league at the Link Centre. It was a very exciting night with Otters finishing in 2nd place behind Tigersharks ‘A’ squad! Competing against strong teams from Tigersharks, Chippenham, Marlborough and Calne.

The final Cannon was absolutely thrilling with Cian ‘the bullet’ Erry bringing home our team in first place.

Well done to all out swimmer taking part.

RWB Otters dive clinic

We recently held a successful dive clinic for 42 of our CSB swimmers, with a specific focus on the dive start, streamline glide, transition, start of the stroke phases and breathing. Plus some initial practice on pencil jumps to emphasise the power from the legs.

The behaviour, engagement and the effort the swimmers put in was superb, and great to see the improvement in their diving throughout the session. It was great to see swimmers tackling the blocks for the first time, and those that went from the shallow end too! As a coach, I was left buzzing from the session, which was rounded off with some bombing practice; a vital skills for all pool users!

Keep an eye out for more sessions in the future.
Mark Hopkins

Wroughton Open Meet – 12th November 2017

Following on from a nights racing at the Club Championships, 10 Otters swimmers braved the dual climate of the Link Centre for an all-day open meet. Despite the tropical steam of the pool area and the frozen dance studio/atrium they all produced some strong and courageous performances. The meet consisted of 50m races in all four strokes and a 100m IM which all the swimmers completed. We brought home a fantastic 18 medals – 5 Gold, 9 Silver and 4 Bronze, plus Alex won the age 9 trophy.

Well done Joe, Alex, Jacob, Sam, Elliot, Lauren, Lexie, Ana, Bria and Charlotte – brilliant swimming!

Wiltshire Development Gala. 30 Sept – 1 Oct 2017

This weekend two of our Otters swimmers packed their bags and headed off to Salisbury for the first ever Wiltshire County Development Meet. Both swimmers took part in 6 events each over the two days – achieving a stonking 9 PBs on times they did only 2 months ago! Alex smashed the 9 years age group winning 1 Gold and 5 Silvers, and Lexie improved her times significantly and brought home 2 ribbons for breaststroke. Fantastic swimming both of you.

A great achievement in the Summer League

During the final of the Summer League we had some fantastic races against a very strong team from Calne. The results on the night were Calne 158, Otters 152, Marlborough 107 and Corsham 79. These results were added to the results from the previous three rounds of the Summer League to give the overall final results of Calne 608, Otters 600, Marlborough 424 and Corsham 329.

Next year, the Summer League and Division 1 will consist of 6 teams (instead of 4) which means that both Calne and Otters will be going up into Division 1 next year – well done swimmers, a great achievement for all!

Swindon Dolphins Autumn Meet –23/24 Sept 2017

This weekend 12 of our Otter swimmers packed up their kit bags for a weekend’s racing at the Link Centre. They each competed 5 to 8 times – a total of 79 races in all. It was great to see them competing in a wide variety of events from 50m to 400m – really challenging themselves. We saw some great courage, endurance and spirit and lots of loud team support! Their efforts were rewarded with PBs and a fantastic medal haul of 7 Golds, 13 Silvers and 7 Bronze, plus 11 Speeding Tickets. More Wiltshire County Qualifying times were achieved – by some for the first time. Huge congratulations to all the swimmers who took part: Eddie, Joshua, Oliver, Callum, Joey, Adam, Lauren, Jessica, Niamh, Bria, Charlotte and Izzy.

Swindon Dolphins end of season Open Meet – 29th & 30th July 2017

8 of our Otter swimmers took a break from their summer holidays to swim in this two-day open meet at the Link Centre, swimming 6 to 8 races each. They all performed brilliantly, with more PBs and county qualifying times being achieved. Plus a superb 16 medals – 2 Gold, 10 Silver and 4 Bronze! Well done swimmers.

Tigersharks separated medley meet 23rd July 2017

14 Otter swimmers took part in this exciting start of Summer meet where our under 12s swam 50m races in each stroke, and our age 12+ swam 100m races in each stroke. Braving the freezing air temperature of the Link Centre pool, all of them swam their hardest and achieved some fantastic PBs. Some county times were nailed and four swimmers made it into the top 6 for their age groups – qualifying them to swim the IM finals. Well done everyone.

Summer League 2nd Round – 24th June 2017

Congratulations to everyone in the Comp Squad who swam last night in the Summer League 2nd round, it was a great evening – well done!

Otters finished first last night by 4 points in a closely fought competition with Calne who won the 1st round by 6 points, thus leaving Otters just 2 points behind going into the 3rd round on Saturday 1st July.

Annual General Meeting

Will take place on 19th June at the Cross Keys pub in Royal Wootton Bassett starting at 7.30pm

Club Cannon

Please note the next Club cannon will take place on Friday 20th Jan 2017. Don’t miss it.

Look who we met - May 2006

Max and Thea Hopkins (RWB Otters Training Squad) met the swimming Legend, Mark Foster on their recent holiday to Norway. Watch out as you may be subjected to some of Mark’s ideas for evil front crawl drills!