To all the parents and swimmers of Trafford Artistic Swimming Club.
Sadly after 20 years of involvement with the club, starting as Nan on the Balcony → Coach → and the past 15 yrs plus as Head Coach It is now time to hand over the Coomber to someone else. Pete and El have been on this journey with me both financially, and physically undergoing extensive training courses in coaching, judging, safe guarding and team management, and without them and the support of Sale Pool, Trafford could never have continued to exist.
History:
We cannot find out much information but believe the lady who we think originally formed the club approximately 45 years ago was a Mrs Rosie Surch-Williams. Trafford had always been a very highly successful Competitive Artistic Swimming Club competing at all Local, Regional and National events. When my two granddaughters joined the club in 2003 both El and her sister trained with the club and eventually succeeded in training and swimming with the GB squads, this is where I got most of my knowledge just observing and supporting them through their journey. Sarah our Wednesday Coach has also been with the club since she herself was a child and is now our “Leading Light” as she is now one of the main Advisors, Leaders and Trainers for the GB and International Artistic Swimming Communities.
Over a very short period of time Trafford’s Head coach just disappeared, leaving myself as a newly qualified level 1 coach, Pete an unqualified helper on poolside and El a young swimmer. We were now down to 11 swimmers, bills in the thousands, no money or equipment no trust from pool venues, and no format to follow, and the only advice we could get from Swim England was that we would have to manage, keep running the club or go into Liquidation, we had no committee, no accountant (they had not been in existence for a long time) and basically and thank goodness NO IDEA of the true reality! The parents of the girls still turning up to swim set up a small committee, asked if we would keep going and Sale gave us some pool time, I went to Essex to top up my training to make us legal and the club was reborn.
TODAY we have strong club of between 50 to 55 swimmers this is the maximum this club and coaches can really accommodate, our pools Sale and Stockport are not big enough or deep enough but unfortunately this is a common cry around many clubs now. Our girls have and continue to work hard to gain their Grading Skills which can take many years to achieve. These grades are also age relevant and are needed to give us access for entry into competitions at Local, Regional and National levels.
One of our proudest achievements at this club is that we have been able to accommodate swimmers who require extra support and how every member of the club helps them to achieve their best without question. We are not such the competitive team that we cannot give everyone a chance, and I hope we continue as a club known for its friendliness and inclusivity whilst also allowing swimmers of all ages and abilities the opportunities to achieve their own personal bests.
Future.
The new Head Coach taking over the Club will be Mary Victoria Lowe.
Vicky started Artistic Swimming when she was 11 years old at St Helens Synchronized Swimming Club, where she stayed (being a full inclusive member of the club) until she left to go to University. Following University she came back and swam for Preston Synchronised Swimming Club in the Masters Team and following relocation to the East of England for work, Vicky joined Aqualina Masters and stayed with this team for 10 years and it was here she completed all her qualifications for both Coaching and Judging Artistic Swimming. Vicky has recently moved back up North to be with her family and is now a member of our own Masters team. Vicky is hoping to start coaching officially after this summer break.
El is a qualified Primary School Teacher and for the last two years she has been specializing in SEN pupils with very extreme learning and behavioral difficulties, this plus the fact she now lives at the other side of Liverpool (where the school is based) alongside the high work commitment, makes it difficult for her to attend as regularly, so for the foreseeable future she is going to stop training, however she will keep herself up to date, will continue to be a judge and help out if needed. Pete and I (for as long as we physically can and Mr. DVLA will allow) will continue to help Vicky and the team out, coaching skills and judging etc at competition and grading days.
It has taken some time but the club has reached the point where we need and are able to do more in the competitive arena. The older girls have achieved the relevant skills necessary and the younger teams are also at grade levels according to their age groups and we have ensured every girl is a member of a competitive team. Currently we have 5 teams active (and a Senior Tech team resting) Unfortunately 4 of these teams which should have competed this year were unable to. We have Max and Min numbers of swimmers allowed to swim in these competitions and we had a lot of very disappointed swimmers. We can’t foresee emergencies, and Swim England are giving us more insight into the Competitive Calendar, but we would be grateful that if your daughter is in a team it is important that she attends training regularly and doesn’t pull out at the last minute, in order to give Vicky a chance at taking the club forward successfully next year. The season starts in January, so practice will start now.
Pete, El and I have laughed and cried our way through all these years, and although it has been hard work expensive and particularly through Covid a nightmare, with issues we never expected, we have really enjoyed the journey. We have watched the club grow and develop, seen girls grow from new swimmers to competitive swimmers, leave for Universities and start their careers. We have watched girls blossom from shy, very very quiet little people and grow into confident teenagers who will help out whenever and will do whatever is asked of them.
Pete and I do not intend to disappear and initially I think we will continue to cover the Sunday mornings, (which currently Vicky needs to work) leaving the Saturdays for Vicky and the rest of the coaching team to continue working on the Routines. However we are adaptable and will try to support Vicky (and the rest of the training team) as much as possible for as long as we can.
Margaret x
Trafford Artistic Swimming Club 