Well, this was my last chance to see who was available before we start the serious stuff (the Diddy League).  What a pleasant surprise.  At the last minute, as you may know, Phoenix Youth and Walsall decided to amalgamate their respective galas as there were not enough teams available to swim in both.  This meant a trip to Cheslyn Hay instead of Walsall and a swim against two of our major competitors in the league. 

Last year, the first round of the Diddly league was at Walsall’s pool - which is 33m I believe - and I am afraid to say we took a bit of a beating, to say the least.  Our younger swimmers were well out of their depth.  This year, however, Stewart and myself arranged two friendlies for our team.  I’m glad to say that it has been well worth it as the Kids have rose to the occasions.  Well done to everyone who has swum and again, as I have said before, if anyone else is interested in taking part in these exciting events please let me know.  We have two teams and will try to let everyone have a chance in the B Team.  The A Team is just about ready and unless Mark or Rebecca have anyone who is making waves with their performances in future galas, that’s it for the time being.    

I was a little worried before the start as I have come up against these teams before.  (NO NEED IT APPEARS)  A very promising result and totally unexpected.  

Here is the team followed by the results: 

9 years: Katie Jones, Emma Pay, Nat, Dingley, Eva Cook, George Hammersley, James Stevenson, Steven Cole, Jacob Anson* and Josh Evans*.
10 years: Kimberley Yates,  Phillipa Watton, Lauren Sanders*, Jake Knight, Tom Pearson and Bradley Windley-Bridgewater.
11 years: Sophie Page, Beth Davis, Kate Fletcher, Pheobe Cook, Tom Asprey, Joe Birnie, Sam Tromans and Elliot Barnbrook.
12 years: Fran Pinchin, Ellie lord, Becky Cole,  Hayley Davis-Moore, Ant Parkes Matt Jones and Jake Seed.   

* Debuts for Stourbridge Swimming Club.  Well done! 

Here is the good bit (Quote from Stew - "back of the net"): 

1st    Phoenix Youth A                      193 points

An excellent performance.  Well done to you all. 

Event 1,  Beth not bad 4th place a little work on that dive and I am sure a better place in future.
Event 2,  Bradley also 4th place.  Again here room for improvement but much better than his first swim.  Well done Brad work hard on those turns. 
Event 3, Nat.   2nd place well done your first individual swim very promising and will make my options much better for Diddys. 
Event 4, Steve 5th place sorry mate this is not your best stroke and will change next time.  Good effort.
Event 5, 11u Girls 4x1 Medley, 2nd place with a regular missing excellent but difficult now for me to pick who will swim. 
Event 6, 11u Boys Medley 2nd place again well done. 
Event 7, Becky 3rd place good effort sure there is more to come. 
Event 8, Ant the birthday boy with another fine win the first of the night. 
Event 9,  Phillipa 3rd place and not feeling well great effort. 
Event 10, Jake 2nd place and a good strong swim well done. 
Event 11, Girls 9Yrs 4x1 Medley, 1st place again for the girls and a fine win too 3 teams D.  Q.  in this one but made no difference anyway they won easily. 
Event 12, Boys 9Yrs 4x1 Medley, Finished 5th but with 3 D.  Q.   again ended up 2nd.  That was nice to see as we were trying out two new lads who swam very well. 
Event 13 and 14 11u 4x1 Freestyle, 1st and 2nd Girls 1.  09.  68 Boys 1.  10.  97 come on lads you can`t allow that.  Well done to both. 
Event 15 and 16, Fran and Ant 2nd and 1st again for birthday boy. 
Event 17 and 18, 10u 4x1 Medley.  Both 2nd place and a promising result with a 9 year old swimming fly for the lads.  Well done all especially George. 
Event 19 and 20 Kate and Elliot both 3rd place and both swimming an event they are not keen on.  Good turns from you both well done.
Event 21 and 22 9Yrs  4x1  Freestyle 1st for the girls again who had to fight for this one to keep their unbeaten record and 2nd for the Lads again with 3 D.Q. again.  Great. 
Event 23 and 24 Ellie 4th place with a fine P.B. and Matt 3rd with another fine performance. 
Event 25 and 26 10u 4x1 Freestyle 3rd for the girls and 1st for the boys.  Well done, would you believe the girls were over 4 seconds faster than the boys that’s amazing. 
Event 27 and 28 Beth and Tom both 2nd place with two fine swims with great technique. 
Event 29 and 30 Katie and George 1st and 2nd Katie with a great time of under 20 seconds for 25m Fly.
Event 31 and 32 Hayley and Jake with 2nd and 5th place.  Good effort. 
Event 33 Girls 8x1 Free Relay.  Two from each age group and a fine 2nd place. 
Event 34 and 35 Tom and Lauren* 3rd and 1st.  Tom hates this one but swam well and Lauren swimming her first individual for the club won by over 5 seconds that’s good enough to earn her place in the A Team.  Excellent. 
Event 36 and 37 James and Emma both 3rd Well done. 
Event 38 and 39 12u 4x1 Freestyle.  3rd for the lads and 2nd for the girls.  I think we can do much better here. 
Event 40 and 41 Joe and Sophie both 2nd in their favorite event.  Great swims. 
Event 42 8 x1 Boys Freestyle Two from each age group again and yes I made a mistake and had to swim 3 nines which cost us 1st place.  Sorry everyone.  Will explain at the end of the report.
Event 43 and 44 Kimberley and Jake 3rd and 2nd.  Good swims from both. 
Event 45 and 46 Eva and George 2nd and 3rd.  Well done and I am sure George was tired as he had swam as a ten.
Event 47 and 48 Phoebe and Sam 3rd and 1st.  Great return for Phoebe and excellent win for SAM.
Event 49 and 50 12u 4x1 Medley 3rd and 1st for the lads with a under age swimmer.  Well done Tom. 
Event 51 The Cannon.   2nd place.  I am sure we can win this one next time.    

Thanks to the helpers on poolside again that’s Mark, Mark, Toni, Sue, Steve, Bridgett and Alex.   

Now back to event 42.  I hope everyone understands who difficult it is to run the team from poolside just imagine what it is like to have 32 kids asking you when they have to swim next, can they have a shower can they go to the toilet and can they go.  Sometimes in the heat of the moment I might say “yes” and really mean “no”, if you know what I mean.  Recently I have had to watch new swimmers and not been able to send swimmers up for their races.  Alex has been a great help and has made it possible for me to watch.  Now this is exactly what happened here with someone asking if they could go.  Luckily Alex noticed and I had to use a 9 year old as a ten this although he swam well, cost us 1st place.  In future I would prefer all swimmers to wait until the end of the galas and all go to the changing rooms together.  After all, I think this is much safer for them all anyway.  However if anyone needs to go early in future, please tell me when you are asked to swim so that I know if you are available for the Cannon!  I QUITE OFTEN CHANGE THE CANNON SWIMMERS DURING THE GALA DEPENDING ON PERFORMANCE (FASTEST SWIMMERS SWIM). 

I am sorry to moan but I am not happy with Gameboys etc. on poolside.  It’s a matter of time before one goes walkies.  Please leave them with your parents before coming poolside.  When you are asked to go up for a race it really is time to go and not when you are finished your game anyway so please take note.   

I look forward to the start of the Diddys but, from now on, Parents are not allowed to come on poolside unless asked by a Coach or a Team Manager.  There have been a couple of complaints from the referees regarding this as we have had a lot recently.