Bishop's Stortford Swimming Club

Affiliated to Swim England East Region

Training

Grant money provides equipment boost for swimmers

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Bishop’s Stortford Swimming Club is delighted to announce that the Club has received a £2,000 training equipment grant from Bishop’s Stortford Town Council.

This generous funding has enabled the Club to purchase new dryland training equipment including dumb bells, resistance ropes, skipping ropes and exercise mats.

The new equipment was put through its paces by BSSC’s Age Group Performance squad at this week’s land training session. The Club’s dryland training is delivered by BSSC’s Strength and Conditioning partner, Maddocks Fitness, and is designed to help improve swimmers’ fitness, performance and recovery – in turn, resulting in improved performance, more effective training and reduced chance of injury.

The equipment grant is part of a larger sum awarded by Bishop’s Stortford Town Council that will enable the Club to invest in updated software and AV to run and manage swimming meets, together with pool training equipment such as backstroke ledges, swim bungee cords and bridge buoys.

Paul Davenport, Secretary at BSSC, commented:
“We are incredibly grateful for Bishop’s Stortford Town Council’s commitment to supporting our Club. The new equipment will have a huge positive impact on our swimmers, as we continue to invest in strength and conditioning training to help our swimmers improve their performance. This funding has come at an ideal time for the Club, as our coaching team begin to prepare swimmers for the upcoming national championships later on this summer.”

Maddocks Fitness Talk & training changes: Tuesday 22nd April

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We are extremely excited for Craig Maddocks, owner of Maddocks Fitness and the head S&C coach for land training at BSSC, to deliver his presentation to everyone.

The talk will be held in the FLT building at the College (if you don’t know where this is, meet at the pool and we can guide you). Please arrive at 18.30pm; the talk will begin at 18:45pm and last approximately 90 minutes.

All swimmers and parents are encouraged to attend.

The presentation will provide invaluable insight into:

  • Why the move towards Strength and Conditioning training in Swimming
  • The benefits of incorporating S&C into the training program
  • Importance of warming up and stretching, including techniques
  • Nutrition – what should our swimmers be eating and when

As a result of this presentation the following sessions are cancelled:

  • 18:30 – 20:00 – All Junior Squads and Land Training for AG performance & Senior Performance at the College
  • 19:00 – 20:00 – Age Group Competitive & Senior Competitive at Grange Paddocks

However, following the talk, there will be a session in the pool from 20:30 to 21:30 for the Age Group Performance and Senior Squads.

Please make every effort to attend, it is going to be a great opportunity to learn lots more about how to help our swimmers continue to do amazingly well, injury free.

Butterfly clinic with Laura Stephens

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We’re delighted to announce BSSC’s next stroke clinic – and it’s one you won’t want to miss!

Come and join 2024 World Aquatics Championships 200m Butterfly gold medalist and Olympic swimmer Laura Stephens for our Butterfly Clinic on Saturday 26th April. 

The event will begin with a motivating and inspiring 45-minute talk from Laura about her competitive swimming journey. Swimmers will then move to the pool to work with Laura and the coaches on butterfly skills, drills, starts, and turns. 

Please note that the clinic will focus on the butterfly stroke, so all attendees should be prepared to spend the majority of the session working on this stroke.

Swimmers from other clubs welcome!

Venue: Bishop’s Stortford College Pool
Date: Saturday 26th April
Time: 9.15am to 11.15am
Cost: £45

Email headcoach@bsswimclub.org.uk to book your space. Limited spaces available! 

Half-term Breaststroke Clinic: Monday 17th Feb

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Come and join National-level breaststroke swimmer and BSSC Coach Darren Tucker and National 50m and 100m Breaststroke champion Ella Greatbatch for our next-level breaststroke clinic!

Swimmers will work on breaststroke starts, turns and drills to increase confidence and help perfect their technique.

Where and when?

  • Bishop’s Stortford College Pool
  • Monday 17th February
  • 5pm to 6.15pm
  • £25

The clinic is open to all BSSC squads. Swimmers from other clubs are also welcome to attend.

Email headcoach@bsswimclub.org.uk to book your place.

Maddocks Fitness kick off S&C programme

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We are delighted to welcome Craig Maddocks from Maddocks Fitness to the BSSC team!

Craig will be delivering specialist dryland Strength & Conditioning coaching, starting with the Age Group and Senior Performance squads on Tuesday evenings at the College. 

Maddocks Fitness have a long history of training swimmers, and work with many of the top swimmers and clubs in the South East. Craig’s programme will be focusing on S&C, mindset and nutrition, and over the coming months Craig introduce these new elements to training. This will help improve swimmers’ fitness, performance and recovery, as well as their general health and wellbeing – which in turn will result in improved performance, more effective training and reduced chance of injury. 

Craig delivered a fantastic first session on Tuesday 7th January, with plenty of hard work, enthusiasm and positive feedback from the swimmers. Welcome to the BSSC team, Craig!