Dear club members and players.

Message from David Newton Chairman

In January 2025 the player age groups move up a year. This means many players will change eligibility for which age group they are able to compete in. As this time approaches, coaches meet to ensure all players, particularly the junior/intermediates, are in the correct sessions so their training is most effective. We will be making changes to player sessions which will be outlined later in this message.

We have also taken this opportunity to review the club’s charges to ensure we have the right income level to sustain the club.

Our largest cost as a club is pool hire and after 2 years of price increases from the Meres and a further rise in April expected we are now having to make an increase on the monthly subs. It was unanimously agreed at the AGM to increase the standard club subs to £40 per month (the beginner subs will remain at £20 for 1 hour). This is still a lot lower than other clubs like GSC and still represents fantastic value for the training on offer. Also remember that all coaches and helpers are volunteers, which helps us to keep the costs low.

This will be in place from 1st January 2025. If anyone has any hardship and would like to discuss it with the club please contact either Simon Walker or me and one of us will be happy to discuss further. As part of this we are looking to add more to the membership including a monthly club night on a Saturday with more information to follow.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Fina for her work over the years as both Head Coach and Chair. She has now stepped down from Head Coach but will continue to coach the U16s.

Finally, I would like to say a big welcome and thank you to Gareth Chen-Rees who has stepped up to be Head Coach for the club going forward.

David Newton, Chairman

Message from Gareth Chen-Rees, Head Coach

As previously mentioned In January the player age groups move up a year. This means many players will change eligibility for which age group they are able to compete in. As this time approaches, coaches meet to ensure all players, particularly the junior/intermediates, are in the correct sessions so their training is most effective. To this end we will be making changes to player sessions.

Throughout 2024 we have come to realise that our club faces a challenge in flowthrough of the various sessions as children grow older. Although it is a challenge, our club is blessed with having so many players every year that it can create a blockage in the upper age groups. No other club to our knowledge has this problem, many struggle for numbers. The club made an especially large recruitment drive for players after COVID and these players are now reaching the blockage point in the club, i.e. intermediates into seniors.

Overlaying this with what coaches are available to continue supporting the club in their volunteer capacity from January onwards, considering their regular commitment availability, we are proposing changes to how sessions are structured, as follows:

In January the lead coaches for each age group will be as follows:
• Beginners/U14 - Gareth Chen-Rees
• U16 - Fina Martinez-Perez
• Women - Lauren Fisher
• Men - Simon Walker

Further supported in training and games by: Dave Lord, Adam Found and Alex Bellamy. There are a few other seniors who have moved back to the area who are showing an interest in helping the club, providing more info on their role in due course.

Coaches will continue to dip in and out of the various sessions to cover for each other, so we do not have to cancel sessions.

New Session Structure
Our Aim for the session changes are:
• Fully utilize the training time we have: (Friday 17.30-18.30 underutilized)
• Ensure that all players are working with players of similar or potential abilities
• Maintain even group sizes, for manageable sessions
• To allow Teams (Seniors, u16, u14) to be able to work together to develop team structure
• To allow all players to retain 2hrs training (except beginners)
• To ensure Senior sessions are not always impacted by games.

We are aiming to book 1 Saturday a month 16.30-18.30 to provide game opportunities for league fixtures, club game days, inter-regional training sessions too.

Beginners (2013 +) This will be for players new to the club. Aimed at school years 5&6. These players will only be offered 1 hour a week until they have achieved competence in basic skills.

U14 players (2011 & 2012). Training Monday AM and Friday 17:30

U16 players (2009 & 2010) Training Monday PM and Friday AM

Seniors & Women Training Monday PM and Thursday PM

Senior matches are scheduled for Thursday nights so U16s do not lose out on training sessions

Competitions
U14 - Wakefield and district league & Northern league
U16 - Wakefield and district league & Northern league
Women - Northern League
Men – Notts league

Additional comments
This proposal means children now only need to attend one morning session, thus one bus fee, and one early morning for all.

It will not be feasible to make exceptions to training plans on the basis of players wanting to train with their friends, clashing with other clubs or for easier logistics. If exceptions to the above plan must be made, this will be done purely to balance a player’s ability to ensure the delivery of safe and productive training.

Wednesday swimming fitness session has space for another 6-8 swimmers. I urge uptake of this and coaches will discuss this with players they think could benefit from this session. This will continue to be charged at £8pm.

We will write to each parent to notify them on what session their players will be training in.
All players in teams U14 and above will be required to purchase Swim England Club Compete membership in January. Beginners will only require Club Train. Nonpayment of this annual registration will prevent players from competing in matches. Our club does not charge a markup on this fee as other clubs do; it goes straight to Swim England to cover regional events & insurance.

Most importantly – We need parents’ support in relaying this message to players positively. Moving from two mornings, to one morning and a Friday pm is not to be seen as ‘moving backwards’, similarly moving from two evening sessions to one, should not be considered moving backwards. We are recalibrating to ensure we have a long-term flowthrough system and to make sure that teams are training regularly together to help us compete in competitions.

We will make adjustments to the WhatsApp community too ensuring all parents are in the correct group in the New Year.
Gareth Chen-Rees Head Coach