On Saturday 21st February 2009 thirty-two Stourbridge swimmers took part in the Boldmere Junior Invitation Meet.  After negotiating the traffic on the M6 and making it to the warm up just in the nick of time, some nervous 8 to 12 year olds set about warming up, for eighteen of the swimmers it was their first ever “open meet” style event.

 

A fantastic atmosphere at the Stechford Cascades venue led to a great day of swimming for all concerned. So many PBs were achieved it would be impossible to mention them all, but these personal bests came from our more experienced competitors as well as those new to this style of competition. The aim of the meet was to provide new and young competitors with an experience, as well as allow coaches and team managers to assess the progress of swimmers as we begin to enter our diddy league season.

 

The meet was a success in particular for Stourbridge competitors, with the results demonstrating the club’s strength in depth and across the board.  We achieved top three placings across all strokes, events and age groups.  The turn out from SSC was even more spectacular considering that both our A and B teams were also out competing in the second round of the Worcester Winter League, in which both teams came away with first place.

 

In the backstroke events Michael Sedgley and Eve Dudley found success with Michael achieving a second place in the 50m event and Eve a 3rd place in her first ever open meet. There was a third place also for Jacob Anson in the 50m breaststroke and Edward Maycock finished in second place in the 25m event in his first ever open meet, echoing his success at our 2008 club championships.  Demonstrating our strength in depth we also achieved top three placings in the butterfly events, with Joe Hamilton (50m) and Jake Buswell (25m) both second in their age groups.  Showing their abilities in all four strokes Aimee Sanders (3rd) and Ashley Smith (2nd) did the club proud in the 100m Individual Medley events. Other swimmers who achieved top 6 placings were Megan Dudley, Jordan Sharples, Olivia Naylor, Shannon O’Brien, Greg Dimmock and Bethan Walters.

 

However, swimmer of the meet has to go to Ellie Childs. In her first ever open meet Ellie made quite an impact on West Midlands swimming with top three placings in every event! Ellie achieved two third places in the 100m Individual Medley and the 25m butterfly, one second place in the 25m backstroke and two first places in the 25m breaststroke and frontcrawl events.  Still not old enough to enter licensed open meets and too young to compete in the 2009 county championships Ellie’s domination of her age group is a testament to her hard work and dedication to the sport. Following this meet and these results we have high hopes for Ellie’s future in swimming.

 

Other swimmers who competed at the Boldmere JIM were Finley Cook, Harry Fletcher, Thomas Martin, Eleanor Asprey, Kelsey Dimmock, Rochelle Edwards, Jessica McEwan, Jessica Scott, Jarred Whitehouse, Grace Fellows, Becky Bradley, Hannah Irwin, James Stevenson, Ellie Green, Sarah Green, Katie White and Edward Povey.

 

As the news filtered through that the A and B teams had both won their league fixtures the day was nicely topped off with Stourbridge SC winning the “Top Visiting Club” award, recognised with a certificate and glass trophy.  The trophy will be displayed in the cabinet at Dudley leisure centre.

 

My thanks go to all the swimmers for their hard work, bravery and excellent behaviour on the day , the parents for their support, the travelling officials Richard Stevenson and Bernard Simkins and finally to John Sanders who has dedicated the majority of his free time in recent months to ensuring that everyone who could compete did compete and got the most out of their experience.

 

See you back in the pool!

 

Becky

SSC Coach and Team Manager