The weekend saw our swimmers across a couple of pools competing at different events.

Luke Booth swam the 400m Individual Medley (short course) at the Yorkshire Championships in Leeds in a time of 4:31.23, beating a time he had set himself in Stockport last November. He also achieved the silver medal in the process.

Meanwhile, Oscar Gavelle continued his excellent long distance swimming with a record time in the 800m freestyle (short course) adding to the open water junior records he already holds. His time of 8:58.16 was achieved at the Derbyshire ASA distance day which took place at Repton. He beats Matthew Sotheran’s time from 2009.

Well done to both swimmers!

Our swimmers took part in the final round of the Barnsley Minors Sprint League on September 9th and the results for this round are below:

METRO:140
STOCKSBRIDGE:123
ADWICK: 114
SHEFF CITY:107

This represents four wins out of four for Metro this season so again we are league champions.

A big shout out to coach James Guy and all swimmers and volunteers who took part.

Bring on next season!

A few of our swimmers chose to compete at Derby last weekend and there were some excellent performances, most notably from Bow Gomersall and Maddie Johnson.

Bow absolutely smashed the under 15 boys 200m freestyle short course record with a time of 2:00.81. This was almost two seconds faster than the record set in 1999 by Steven Millican.

Maddie went on to beat one of Debbie Cocking’s 2016 records by the narrowest of margins with a time in the open girls 200m butterfly of 2:20.69.

So nice to see both Bow and Maddie adding to their records tally – well done to both!

The last two weeks have seen our swimmers compete at National Championships both in open water and in the pool. A series of club records have been smashed in the process:

Oscar Gavelle now holds both the open and under 15 records for the 3k open water with a time of 36 min and 57 seconds beating the time previously held by Jack Finnie.

However, Jack broke his own record for the 5k open water with a time of 56 minutes and 17 seconds.

In the pool, Mollie Fisher again broke her own record for the 400m freestyle long course with a time of 4:28.59 leaving her with 12 current records as she competes for the final time for Metro.

Maddie Johnson set some great times to add to the 50m fly record she gained a few weeks ago by breaking Debbie Cocking’s 100m fly time twice with 1:03.19 in the heats and 1:02.77 in the final. She then went on to beat Claire Liggins’ 1999 400m IM record with a time of 5:05.00.

Finally, in the under 15s age group, Bow Gomersall achieved a time of 55.59s in the long course 100m freestyle beating Ollie Davis-Tootill’s time only very recently set at this years NERs.

Well down to all our swimmers breaking records and being great ambassadors for Metro.

Oliver Davis-Tootill had an excpetional weekend at Ponds Forge representing the club at our own gala. He made the most of his final opportunity before his 15th birthday to smash a series of of junior short course records. He broke seven in total and here is the list:

50m Butterfly – 26.70

100m Individual Medley – 1:02.39

50m Backstroke – 27.49

100m Freestyle – 54.60

200 Backstroke – 2:12.24

100m Backstroke – 58.57

50m Freestyle – 24.54

Some of these records had previously stood for over 10 or 20 years and in some cases they have been bettered by over 3 seconds, not just small fractions. Well done to Ollie on this great achievement.

Both Jack Finnie and Oscar Gavelle took part in the NW/NE Open Water Championships in Sale, Greater Manchester. Jack swam the 5k and Oscar the 3k both with great swims achieving medals in their respective age groups in the process. Jack’s time for the 5k was 1:09:42 and Oscar’s for the 3k was 45:44 allowing us to add two new rows to the Club Records list.

Let’s also recognise our A2 Coach Joe Gavelle who was invited to support the Regional coaching team for these open water events.

Well done to everyone!

Please see below news from James Guy following Saturday’s swimming at our home round at Maltby:

Hi all,

Just finished Round 2 of Sprint League and all I can say is well done, thank you for representing our club and what a score to post!!!!!

Cannot think of a word that does this performance justice.

METRO:167
STOCKSBRIDGE: 119
SHEFF CITY:107
ADWICK:89

You were all brilliant today and that shows in the number of relays we won.

Thanks to Susan Keens and all of our parents/ volunteers that allowed today to go ahead on the day and also the people that got the  team together.

Let’s go METRO

Oliver Davis-Tootill again broke his own Boys Under 15 Long Course backstroke records at the City of Bradford meet in Leeds last weekend. He is certainly making the most of stamping his name on the record book before he turns 15 very soon.

In the 50m backstroke on Saturday, he achieved a time of 27.96s and on Sunday in the 100m backstroke, he achieved a time of 1:01.83.

Well done to Ollie on these continued fantastic achievements!

Organisation: Rotherham Metro Swimming Club
Contract Type: Self-Employed
Qualifications: Coaching Swimming: Swimming Coach Certificate or Level 2 Award
Working Hours: Part time
Location: Aston/Maltby
Salary: Negotiable depending on qualifications and experience
Closing Date: 30/06/2023
Rotherham Metro Swimming Club based in Rotherham is recruiting for a highly motivated swimming coach towork primarily Pre County squad but across the whole club.
The candidate will ideally have experience of coaching different age groups of swimmers up to a county level as a minimum. They must be highly motivated and able to work as part as a well-established team. They will be responsible for development of an annual training plan with support from the head coach, populate a competition calendar, be present at competition and be able to adapt where necessary.
Based at Aston/ Maltby Pools:
Tuesday Aston 19.00-21.00
Thursday Aston 19.00-21.00
Saturday Aston 07.20-09.20
Sunday Maltby 07.00-9.00

The Ideal Candidate will be able to demonstrate different communication styles and behaviours to support swimmers to enjoy their sport and reach their potential. The candidate will be able to work with Swimmers, coaches, parents and the committee to provide the best environment for all swimmers.

Skills and Qualifications: 
The Coach will:

1. Hold a current Swim England Coaching Certificate/ASA Level 2 coaching qualification
2. Be self-motivated
3. Have good knowledge and understanding of the discipline of swimming
4. Display excellent interpersonal, organisational and time management skills
5. Have the ability to confidently lead training sessions
6. Have the ability to communicate effectively with swimmers, parents, and Committee
7. Have a good working knowledge of child protection procedures

Those interested should apply directly to the head coach Alan Kirton either in writing to Alankirton44@gmail.com or can call him to discuss the position on 07988 280300.

Maddie Johnson added her name to our list of record breakers on Monday with a time of 28.38s in the heats of the 50m Butterfly at the NER Championships at Ponds Forge. This time beats the previous Open Girls record of 28.59s which had been held by Debbie Cocking since Aug 2016.

She then went on to better that in the final with a time of 28.35s. Many Congratulations to Maddie who was awarded the bronze medal in the process.