Wycombe Long Course Sprint Meet April 2016
Head Coach Martin writes: We took more than 50 swimmers to this meet in Wycombe’s recently opened new 50m pool. The main aim was to take swimmers out of their comfort zone (24 of our swimmers had never competed in a 50m pool before) and to compete outside London in as many events as possible to encourage team spirit and healthy rivalry.
We had so much fun as a team. We saw quality racing, a huge amount of PBs and medals. Quick stats:
- 277 PBs
- 14 Gold medals, 30 Silver and 18 Bronze
- 8 new club records broken
- Leander swimmers were among the top girls: Enerel was 2nd and Lucy A 3rd
- Jacob T came third among boys.
- Leander were Top Visiting Club, ahead of Stratford Sharks and Thame SC
Congratulations to all swimmers! Another step forward for Team Leander in our pursuit of becoming the best competitive swimming club in South West London.
It was great to see all squads represented again from our youngest to most senior swimmers competing together which provided good learning opportunities for our younger/newer swimmers (and parents).
Swimmers gained experience vital gala skills, like how to:
- get up very early and arrive on time
- share lifts and lockers (did you bring your padlock?)
- manage warm ups (3 sessions back to back) and warm downs after each race (not a play time)
- keep your energy levels up all day by eating the right food at the right time
- use unfamilar starting blocks
- get dry lots of times and keep warm (hint: try a “shammy” instead of a towel)
- look after your kit and googles (lucky there was a shop at the pool!)
Thank you for a fantastic job our volunteers and coaches (Lucy, Caroline and Martin) did on the day.
Martin says: If you want to be a team player, cheer on your team mates and learn from better swimmers by watching them and leaving your phones, game consoles or books at home! 