Well, what can I say…?! It was a fantastic result for Stourbridge ‘B’ on Saturday 8^th April at Wombourne Leisure Centre, in the first round of the Nuneaton Diddy League campaign. 

Our competition on the night was meant to be Hinckley ‘B’, Solihull ‘B’, Market Drayton and Wednesbury.  However, with it being the Easter holidays, Market Drayton Swimming Club were unable to get a team together for the gala, and so did not attend. 

Straight into the events and the first three individual races were all won by Stourbridge ‘B’, with Beth Hendy and Jarryd Aston-Baugh in the 10s 50m freestyle, and Becky Bradley in the 9s 25m breaststroke.  Following their fantastic wins last weekend at Wolverhampton, the elevens girls again won their medley relay, they were; Lauren Evans, Alice Maycock, Kate Fletcher and Jess Hickman, also, eight events later the girls stepped up to take victory in the freestyle relay.  The nine-year-old girls won their medley relay and they were Hannah Irwin, Becky Bradley, Megan Dudley and Molly Whyle.  Other individual wins in the first quarter of the gala came from Steph Piper in the 12s 50m backstroke (with a P.B. well done Steph) and Emily Sheppard in the 10s 50m breaststroke. 

So, fourteen events down and SSC had won eight of them!  Not bad for a largely inexperienced team.  We had one DQ in this first part of the gala, in the boys 9s medley relay, this was due to a faulty take over, so boys, we really need to practice these in training!

Things were looking good so far, and moving into the second quarter of the gala there were more victories to come.  Individual wins came from Emma Rhodes in the 12s 50m butterfly, Kate Fletcher in the 11s 50m backstroke and Dan Sheppard in the 12s 50m breaststroke.  Relay wins came from the ten-year-old boys in their freestyle and medley relays, (Sam Knowles, Jacob Anson, Connor Meehan and Jarryd Aston-Baugh) with Jacob swimming up an age group, and a storming last leg from Jarryd to clinch first place in both races.  The nine’s girls completed the set by winning the freestyle relay, this time with Beth Hickman swimming instead of Megan Dudley. 

There was another DQ in this part of the gala, AGAIN for a faulty take over.  We’ve really got to get these take-overs sorted and we will practice them on Monday nights wherever possible.  It is important that the swimmer swimming into the wall swims fast right into the wall, and keeps the pace up, otherwise you can fool the swimmer diving in and they may go too soon!  We have to work as a team here! 

Half way through the gala now, and time for a points update: Wednesbury had 101 points, Solihull ‘B’ and Hinckley ‘B’ were in joint second place with 106 points each (things were very close between the three other teams) but Stourbridge ‘B’ were winning with 138 points! 

Without getting too complacent, as the lead wasn’t enormous at this point, we headed into the second half of the gala, eager for as many points as possible.  First to get us the full 6 points was Becky Irwin in the 12s 50m freestyle, followed by the girls cannon team, who beat Hinckley into second place by a massive 12 (TWELVE!) seconds.  The team was Beth Hickman, Megan Dudley, Beth Hendy, Emily Sheppard, Jess Hickman, Kate Fletcher, Steph Piper and Becky Irwin – great stuff girls.  Next win of the evening came from the 12-year-old girls in their free relay, the girls won convincingly, and later repeated the feat in their medley relay, well done to Becky Irwin, Emma Rhodes, Phoebe Facer and Steph Piper.  Emily Sheppard completed her own personal set by winning her second individual of the night, the 10s 25m butterfly (well done Emily – and you said you couldn’t swim fly?!). 

Into the last few events of the gala and there were still more wins to come.  Hannah Irwin won the 9s 25m backstroke, and Kate Fletcher her second individual of the evening, the 11s 50m freestyle.

 So we were onto the last event, the mixed cannon!  Tony Seed managed to raise the tension on the poolside before the event was swum, and whoa it was a close one!  Stourbridge ‘B’ finished in second place, only hundredths of a second behind Solihull ‘B’.  However, Solihull ‘B’ had no 9-year-olds so could not legally swim the event, they had therefore swum an over age swimmer and received no points.  This meant the full whack of 6 points to us! 

Final points for the gala were;

 1^st      Stourbridge ‘B’       246 points

2^nd      Hinckley ‘B’            203 points

3^rd      Wednesbury            188 points

4^th      Solihull ‘B’              183 points 

Other members of the team on the night were;

Boys - Robert Chandler, Ryan Sharpe, Tom Warner, Luke Shaw, Sam Donaldson, William Rennicks, Jack Hartshorne, Paul Chandler, Jack Whyle, Scott Janes, Jake Sawyer and Abbygail Byrne.

This is a fantastic result for us, I know I said that it was going to be a tough gala, but we can’t get complacent and we have to keep working at it.  This turned out to be a good draw for us, but there are plenty of stronger teams in our division, so we must treat each round individually. 

Once I hear details of the next round I will get them put on the net, I should have them in about a week’s time.  We do know however that it is on 13^th May.  In the meantime, have a lovely holiday, don’t eat too much chocolate and I will see you all at the next B team training session on the 24^th April, 7:00 – 8:00pm at the Grange. 

Many thanks for all the help received on the evening, from my point of view Heather, Pete, Glyn, Harriet, Toni and Charlotte.  A big thank you must also go to all the other Stourbridge representatives on the night that helped run the gala and make it a success.  I’m sure that Mary would want me to pass on her thanks to you all.

Any questions, get in touch 07841 040788.

Becky Simkins
B Team Manager

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