Coach Continuing Professional Development at the CDP
Today at Somerset’s County Development Programme, we were excited to welcome Ash Stoneman, Millfield’s Leading Swimming Athletic Development Coach, to deliver a CPD session for Coaches, with the aim of enabling them to deliver confident and effective Pre-Pool.
Ash demonstrated then enabled all participants to experience ideal movement patterns for swimmers and then supported them in the subsequent delivery of the CDP pre-pool session, thus reinforcing learning.
Following the session, Ash sent everyone actionable resources to enable all them to take their learning and integrate it into weekly training routines, including paper resources and video footage.
“I felt Ash delivered the course extremely well, he is obviously very knowledgeable, but managed to break each exercise down to make it really understandable and explained the purpose and benefits. All good stuff we can pass on to our swimmers! This will be massively beneficial to our club and will enable us to add something more structured into our training.” Chris, Guest Coach, Wells SC
I found it to be very beneficial, with excellent coaching and swim-specific insights for the exercises. I now have a solid foundation to build on and share with the swimmers at my club. Andrew, Guest Coach, Burnham-on-Sea SC
Thanks go to Ash, to all coaches who participated with enthusiasm and to Kelsey for the fantastic photos!
22nd December 2024
Nutrition Workshop for CDP Swimmers
In response to feedback received from our swimmers and parents on last year’s CDP we have an exciting addition to our CDP programme:
Nutrition for Race-Day
6th April 11.15am – 12.15pm
A practical presentation and food sampling workshop looking at preparations for race-day with Millfield’s Youth Development Nutritionist, Dan Alcock.
Daniel Alcock completed both BSc (Hons) and MSc qualifications in Sports Nutrition at Hartpury University and Ulster University respectively. He is now a member of the Sports and Exercise Nutrition Register. Having completed work experience placements at Bath Rugby, London Scottish Rugby, Youth Sports Nutrition and at various other nutrition consultancies and sports clubs, Daniel now works full time at Millfield School in Somerset. Within this role he supports nutrition provision at Millfield School (a leading independent school which has been named number one sports school in the country in ten out of the last eleven years) within the dining hall, boarding houses and when on sports trips. He also delivers 1:1 support to individual students with bespoke needs, runs nutrition workshops with sports and runs pop-ups in the dining hall, using infographics to support the evidence based nutritional messaging.
The training event will take place immediately after our April CDP session with all CDP swimmers and parents invited.
16th December 2024
New CPD Opportunity for All Somerset Coaches
Somerset ASA are delighted to announce an exciting new opportunity for Continuing Professional Development within our coaching community.
In response to feedback from our CDP Assistant and Skills Coaches following our latest session, we are hosting an additional coach training session open not just to our CDP team but to all coaches in Somerset:
“Supporting Somerset’s Swim Coaches”– A morning with Millfield Swimming’s Strength and Conditioning Coach Ash Stoneman to share pre-pool ideas for age group swimmers and experience the ideal movement patterns that our athletes are on the journey to master.Ash Stoneman has worked in both elite performance and some of the best development environments in the country and internationally. Currently the Lead Swimming Athletic Development Coach at Millfield School, he brings experience from 2 years of Strength and Conditioning from Division 1 Schools in the USA, a master’s degree in Sports Psychology, and experience at Bromley Tennis Academy and Millfield School after having graduated from the University of Bath in Sport Science.
Date: Sunday 22nd December
Time: 8.00am – 9.30am
Venue: Millfield Senior School Pool Shelf
Participants will benefit from a 75 minute training session with Ash and then, with Ash’s guidance and support, will deliver pre-pool to our swimmers arriving for their 3rd CDP session. Participants will then be invited to stay poolside to ‘guest’ coach the CDP should they wish.
In Somerset we see the County Development Programme not just as an opportunity for swimmers to develop but also as a vehicle for our coaches to thrive, raising standards across the county. As such, this training session will be free of charge for coaches at Somerset Clubs.
Places are limited so, to apply, please complete the invite response link below as soon as possible and before midnight on Sunday 14th December, as we will operate a first-come-first-served policy:
Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
27th November 2024
Supporting Somerset CDP
The second session of Somerset ASA’s extended CDP pilot was delivered on Sunday 10th November with over 60 swimmers, coaches and volunteers taking part.
After pre-pool and a short warm up, all swimmers repeated the underwater kick test sets and results were compared to last month’s scores. Repeating this drill helps focus swimmers to improve their speed, strength and technique in this vital phase of racing – swimmers are at their fastest underwater! – and every session will include this element.
Congratulations to Helena, Jagger, Elena, Maxwell, Erin, Rebecca, Grace, Johnny-Cess, James and Indy who managed to get their feet past the flags for all 12×50 sets and special mention to Charlie who was our most improved swimmer on this demanding set.
Our older swimmers were challenged to swim 10m underwater for their test sets. Congratulations to Oli H and Meghan who managed this on every set with Alex P and Izzy C showing fantastic improvements.
The coaches with the younger group conducted a detailed Freestyle stroke analysis using a RAG (Red, Amber, Green) Rating sheet. Coaches looked at each swimmer’s Body Position, Legs, Arms, Breathing and Timing (referred to as BLABT) breaking each part into 3 separate elements and offering individualised coaching tips to swimmers. Our older swimmers briefly looked at fly technique, then explored how their kick times changed as they tried to raise their effort under increased fatigue.
Our younger swimmers enjoyed a backstroke drill, balancing cups of water on their heads for 50 metres – a fun but effective way of learning about the importance of head position in streamlining. In feedback after the session one swimmer wrote “I learned to keep my head really still when I swim backstroke because when we did the cup drill it fell off so I’d like to practice that more!”
The session ended with the ever popular dive drills. Several of our younger swimmers discussed how they’d learned about the importance of head position in their plenary exercise.
Head Coach Rachel noted: “The athletes responded well to diving cues that were aimed at increasing their velocity during flight and on entry to the water. Videos of other athletes performing dive drills and playing games helped to direct their attention.”
In the Coach Plenary sessions held after the event the coaching teams discussed the differences in athletes behaviours ‘at home’ and on the CDP and explored the reasons why this might occur. Coach Andy identified with his swimmers the effect of “having a different [coach] voice”.
Coach Eva observed: “it is great to see swimmers enjoying their time at the CDP, where they’re honing their skills while having the chance to train alongside athletes from various clubs and learn from some of the best coaches!”
Coach Development and Special Guests
One of our Key Performance Indicators on CDP is to support Coach Development throughout Somerset. We are fortunate enough to have two parents (Kelly R of Street and Paul C from Frome) who not only support the programme as Team Managers but also use the opportunity to Guest Coach too.
TM and Guest Coach Paul C said: “I lead a team of volunteers at my local swimming club to deliver a weekly coaching session to over 40 children aged 8-12 years. The new knowledge and engaging drills that I have got from observing and at times supporting coaches on the Somerset CDP will be well received when I lead CPD sessions at my club – thank you.”
In addition, and in a new initiative for this session, we were also delighted to be joined on poolside by Young Volunteer Harvey who had a taster session, exploring whether he would like to take the first steps to becoming a swim coach.
Finally, Somerset ASA President Paul Chillingworth dropped in to meet swimmers, coaches and parents, observing our programme, guest coaching and answering questions:
It was a pleasure to be invited along to the County development pathway where I was able to watch the swimmers and coaches and talk to parents. The great thing about the session was that whilst the swimmers were really focused on their developing technique (their underwater phase and streamlining), they were also clearly having fun! It is an invaluable opportunity for them to train with swimmers that they often compete against at local meets and to learn together. I could see that they all get on really well and there was a lovely atmosphere.
Parents were all very enthusiastic and spoke of how motivated their swimmers were and how they were going back to their clubs and sharing the ideas that they had learnt with other swimmers. It was very pleasing to see coaches and team managers from across different clubs helping to deliver the programme and we are very grateful to them for giving up their time to run the pathway.
It was great to have Paul’s support as we deliver this unique pilot.
We look forward to delivering our final session of the winter term on the 22nd December. If any Somerset Coach wishes to join us as a Guest Coach please do not hesitate to get in touch.
We were delighted to welcome 56 swimmers, 9 Coaches and 5 Team Managers representing 18 clubs from across Somerset to Millfield Senior School on Sunday for the first session of the County Development Programme 2024/25.
Swimmers came prepared with one Process Goal which they shared on the white board before an invigorating Pre Pool!
“Some fantastic process goals focussed on the underwater phase – love it” Coach Pat
The session plan included test sets looking at underwater work and stroke counts and was a chance for everyone to settle into the new programme and get to know each other better.
Afterwards, swimmers were asked to reflect on one ‘take away’ – a new thing they’d learned to bring back to their home club environment – whilst the two coaching teams had their own plenary and mentoring sessions.
Coach Pat:
“We were so excited to meet our swimmers for 2024/2025 programme. The standard of skills is very high and I can’t wait to work with them to help them be the best they can.
Having reviewed the process goals and reflective learns it is clear this group are focussed on being the best they can be. It is a pleasure to be part of this programme.”
Coach Rachel:
“Great to meet this year’s cohort. It will be interesting to delve into all the different goals.
The new test set showed that there is progress to be made but the swimming during the set looked beautiful.
Reading the takeaways was so heartening – to see… * that messages were heard regarding the necessity for balanced breathing and consistent underwaters, * that new pre-pool ideas were discovered, * that race plans can be designed around physiology and we can stay in control by monitoring rates and counts …showed the value added to athletes due to their attendance.”
The next session is on Sunday 10th November. As always, any coaches across the Somerset Clubs are very welcome to join the coaching team as a guest. Please get in touch if this of interest.
We are excited to announce that this year we are expanding the CDP Pilot to include a group of swimmers aged 13/14 who are committed to their onward swimming journey but who are not picked up by either Regional Pathway. We will also be offering further opportunities for club coach development which we hope will support our wider Somerset swimming community – see below.
Dates:
Sunday 13th October
Sunday 10th November
Sunday 22nd December
Sunday 12th January
Sunday 16th February
Sunday 9th March
Sunday 6th April
Sunday 25th May
Sunday 22nd June
Venue: Millfield Senior School
Time: 9.00am registration – 11.15am pick up.
Staff Recruitment is underway – see below.
Swimmer Selection will take place shortly.
County Coach Development Programme – CDP Recruitment – August 2024
Somerset ASA is committed to supporting Coach Development across the county, and is pleased to announce the creation of eight new coaching roles within the County Development Programme (CDP), offering successful applicants the chance to improve skills, increase confidence, and take the next step up the coaching ladder.
Are you:
A coach/swim teacher looking to develop your skills and experience?
Passionate about offering opportunities to more athletes?
Enthusiastic, energetic and motivated?
A great communicator, with the ability to motivate others?
Excited about changing the future of swimming?
Then you may be interested in applying for a role on our pilot CDP!
We are offering:
Two new assistant coach contracts for all three terms of the CDP
Six new Skills Coach contracts – two for each term of the CDP.
Mentoring and support from experienced Head County Coaches at CDP.
The opportunity to receive outreach mentoring and support at your home club.
For more information about the programme, each role, the dates and details of remuneration, and to apply, contact Isabel Blight at isabelblight@btinternet.com
SASA Development Programme 2024/25 Announcement – July 2024
SASA CDP 2023/24 Completed! – June 2024
Final CDP Session 2023/24
On June 30th we delivered our final CDP session of 2023/24.
This season we have:
Delivered 10 sessions, including 1 LC County Champs preparation session with an informative Q&A;
Supported 50 swimmers from 15 county clubs;
Welcomed 15 guest coaches representing 9 clubs; and
Introduced the Somerset Coaches Network Whatsapp group.
Interim Evaluation results are extremely promising. A Final Evaluation of the programme will be completed and circulated to clubs and all participants by the end of this racing season.
In the meantime, we would like to say a HUGEthank you to everyone who has supported this pilot: the SASA committee (and especially Mike Riggall our treasurer!); our fabulous coaches, guest coaches, Team Managers and administrators; the parents and of course our wonderful swimmers – it’s been hard work but immensely rewarding!
Watch this space for news of our expanded 2024/25 pilot following soon…
