On Saturday 29^th April Stourbridge’s Ross League team travelled to Abertillery for the third round of the competition, and well, what a strange gala! 

Obviously, Abertillery had heard how good we are and decided to throw some unknowns at us to put us off!  No diving in at the shallow end, even though the water depth was 0.9m which is the minimum requirement by A.S.A.  law, and all 25m events starting from the shallow end.  This meant even the 12-year-old swimmers were starting their individuals in the water.   To top it all off, the referee didn’t appear to own a whistle, and instead asked all the swimmers, very politely, to get on the blocks at the start of the race.   Let’s just say there were a lot of confused swimmers for the first part of the gala! 

However, once we had got over all these things, and mastered the art of erm…pushing off, we got into the swimming!  Up against Cheltenham, who I knew would be stiff competition, Abertillery and Wyre Forest, we were fighting for a place in the Ross League Final! 

Things started well for the team with wins from Sarah Pearson, 13/u 50m fly, Tom Green and Becky Irwin in the 12/u 25m backstroke and the 9 years girls breaststroke relay team of Becky Bradley, Beth Hickman, Molly Whyle and Megan Dudley.

The chanting had started on the poolside by now, with a competition going on for the loudest team, Ant Millard successfully leading Stourbridge to victory in the ‘noisiest club’ competition! 

Next win of the afternoon came from Lauren Gwilt in the 13/u 50m backstroke, followed by the 12/u girls medley relay team of Becky Cole (swimming up an age group), Phoebe Facer, Emma Rhodes and Becky Irwin.   Sam Tromans and Becky Cole then did the double both winning the 11/u 25m fly, followed by the 13/u boys in their medley relay, Tim Wooliscroft, Tom Green, Jon Lapka and Jon Lee.

Just before the half way stage now and Emily Tiano sneaked in there with one more win in the girls 10/u 25m freestyle. 

Points at half way were as follows: 

Stourbridge            78 points

Cheltenham           72 points

Abertillery              68 points

Wyre Forest           32 points.

Although we were leading it was still very close, and victory could easily go to any of three teams.   With a bit of motivational talk the swimmers got behind each other and lined the poolside to support their teammates.

Becky Irwin went on to her third win of the gala in the girls 12/u 25m free by over half a second.   The girls’ 11/u-medley relay team won their event by one hundredth of a second, they were Becky Cole, Alice Maycock, Steph Piper and Jess Hickman.   Special mention must go here to Jess who dived in a good metre back on the Cheltenham swimmer but edged past her to victory (I couldn’t watch!). 

Individual wins came from Beth Hendy in the 10/u 25m backstroke (who timed it to perfection, only 6 tenths slower than the cut off time), Jon Lee in the 13/u 50m freestyle and Emma Rhodes in the 12/u 25m fly.

Points at this stage were

Stourbridge            127

Cheltenham             125

Abertillery               112

Wyre Forest              54 

There was still everything to swim for, and even though the support and enthusiasm was there from the S.S.C swimmers, unfortunately the performances weren’t.   With thirteen events left of the gala, Stourbridge saw no more wins, but instead one 4^th place, seven 3^rd places, four 2^nd places and one speeding ticket.

Unfortunately this was our downfall and we really need to sort this out.   Of all the medley relays during the event we won three of them.   However, we won no freestyle relays at all!  Not only that but we swam against the usual Stourbridge grain and took third place in the cannon, 12 seconds behind first place! 

I realise that with people pushing off the wall it is difficult, instead of doing usual diving takeovers, but all the teams were in the same position.   We cannot make excuses and instead must look to improving our freestyle relay performances for the next round, where hopefully we will be allowed to dive in! 

Final points were:

Cheltenham           173 points

Stourbridge            154 points

Abertillery              151 points

Wyre Forest             69 points 

The other members of the team were;

BOYS: James Stevenson, George Hammersley, Stephen Cole, Josh Evans, Luke Shaw, William Rennicks, Callum Faulkner, Jake Sawyer, Jake Knight, Jake Seed, Scott Janes and Jack Whyle.

GIRLS: Emily Sheppard, Lara Tipper and Becky Shaw. 

Next round is at Ludlow on 20^th May, and a coach will be provided.   We need to work extra hard at that gala to ensure our place in the final!  We are swimming against Abertillery again at that round, and please note that they were only three points behind us at Saturday’s gala!  Ludlow are also swimming in the next round and we only beat them by 12 points in the last round.   We are going to have to work very hard at the next gala! 

The swimmers gave it their all on Saturday and once again I was very proud to be part of S.S.C.   They were fantastic at supporting and cheering each other on, lets see it again next time round! 

Big thank you to my helpers on the poolside, Marie Shaw, Toni Vaughan, Neil Stevenson and Club Captains Ant and Charlotte.   Also the officials who represented Stourbridge; Anne Pollard, Sian Hickman, Glyn Dudley, Heather Janes and Richard Stevenson.   Not forgetting the S.S.C supporters club either, thank you to so many parents for coming on one hell of a coach journey, to then get lost, stand up for two hours watching the gala, and see your children push off!  It is a credit to the club that so many parents turn out to support us, and I did notice that Wyre Forest had a 50 seater coach whereas we had a 70 seater!  I’m competitive in all areas!  Many thanks to all.

 Becky Simkins