Lars Humer has been named as the new Assistant Coach to Sean Kelly at the British Gas ITC in Stockport where he will work with the ITC swimmers including Olympic medallists Keri-Anne Payne and Cassie Patten.

Humer has been Head Coach to the British Gas Disability Team since 2002 and in this time he has provided some of the world’s best Paralympians with vital coaching support.

Humer has been involved in aquatic sports since he was a child in New Zealand and his career has also seen him work with some of the world’s best athletes and coaches.

Humer knew that the time was right for him to make a change in his already successful career.

“After Beijing, I came home and re-evaluated my career goals and I realised that I was missing everyday poolside coaching,” Humer said.  “Since then this job with the British Gas ITC came up and I expressed an interest and they took me on. I am looking forward to being back on pool deck on a day-to-day basis and having one-to-one coaching relationships with the athletes.”

“I think I will bring a useful skill set to compliment Sean's coaching and I am looking forward to supporting him and the athletes. I have worked with some of the world's best Olympic and Paralympic athletes and coaches in my career and I am looking forward to bringing that experience to my new role.”

British Swimming National Performance Director Michael Scott said: “Lars [Humer] will be a valuable addition to the British Gas ITC Network coaching staff and the British Gas ITC in Stockport. I know that the team are looking forward to seeing him on the pool deck in Stockport making a positive contribution in the near future.”

On leaving the British Gas Disability Team Humer said: “I believe I am leaving British Disability Swimming in a strong position for moving forward. The belief amongst the team is on the ability and not disability and that swimming is swimming. The team is in a good position and there is also a good amount of lead in time before London 2012.”

-ENDS-

For further details contact British Swimming Media Officer Gemma Field on 01509 632238, 07917 726431 or email gemma.field@swimming.org

About British Swimming
British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain.  It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (ASA), Scotland (Scottish ASA) and Wales. (Welsh ASA)  British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

About British Gas
British Gas is Britain's favourite domestic energy supplier. As well as providing gas and electricity, it also installs and maintains central heating and gas appliances in millions of homes throughout the country. British Gas is very proud to be the principal partner of British Swimming and home countries: The ASA, Scottish Swimming and Swim Wales. British Gas is supporting the team's quest for medals on the world and Olympic stage - and giving as many people as possible the opportunity to learn to swim and use swimming as part of a healthy lifestyle. British Gas wants to ensure local pools remain at the heart of our communities. By using its expertise, it can help them reduce costs by being more energy efficient and safeguard the facilities for this and future generations. For more information visit www.britishgas.co.uk/swimming

About Speedo®
The world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations. Supporting swimming from grass-roots through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps, Speedo® is owned by Speedo Holdings B.V and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, LZR PULSE, SPEEDO ENDURANCE, FLIPTURNS, FASTSKINFSII, SPEEDO BIOFUSE, SWYM and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending.

Cheshire have won this year’s Masters and Senior Inter County Competition by a very close margin of just 4.5 points.

Warwickshire, who have won the title for the last two years, were narrowly beaten into second place with Middlesex claiming third.

This year’s competition took place on Sunday 15th November across five regional meets held in Blackpool (North East and West regions), Enfield (South East region), Bristol (South West region), Newmarket (Newmarket) and Stafford (Midlands, East and West regions). The results from each of the regional meets were consolidated into national results.

Race victories for the Cheshire team came from Judy Brown in the Women’s 45 years+ 50m Backstroke and Neville Barton in the Men’s 55 years+ 50m Freestyle.

Neil McKinnon and Helen Sadler had a successful meet, both notching up two race wins. McKinnon triumphed in the Men’s 65 years+ 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly while Sadler won the Women’s 35 years+ 50m Freestyle and 50m Butterfly.

The star of the meet for Cheshire had to be Rachel Barton who secured three victories in the Women’s 55 years+ age group when winning the 50m Freestyle, 50m Butterfly and 50m Backstroke.

It was the relay results that really made the difference for Cheshire as they took eight of the relay races on offer. Both the Men’s and Women’s teams took victory in the 4x50m Medley relays in both the 160 years+ and 200 years+ age groups to provide four of their team’s wins.

The Cheshire team also enjoyed success in the 4x50m Freestyle relays when taking the Mixed 240 years+, Women’s 200 years+, Men’s 100 years+ and Senior Men’s races.

For full results click here.

This year’s final placings and points

Position; Team; Points

1	Cheshire	1618.5
2	Warwickshire	1614
3	Middlesex	1419.5
4	Devon	1417.5
5	Yorkshire	1394.5
6	Sussex	1370
7	Berks & S Bucks	1270
8	Hampshire	1233.5
9	Glous	1151.5
10	Dorset	1105
11	Wiltshire	1029
12	Norfolk	1025
13	Lancashire	1015.5
14	Essex	984
15	Herts	966
16	Suffolk	957
17	Kent	951.5
18	N & Durham	919
19	Derbyshire	905.5
20	Oxford& N Bucks	825.5
21	Surrey	797
22	Somerset	792.5
23	Leicestershire	709
24	Cumbria	704
25	Staffordshire	646.5
26	Nottinghamshire	607.5
27	Worcester County	603
28	Northamptonshire	464.5
29	Lincolnshire	400

-ENDS-

For more information contact the ASA Marketing Officer Esther Hope on 01509 632247, 07917 876459 or email esther.hope@swimming.org.

The ASA is the English National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Open Water, and Synchronised Swimming. It organises competition throughout England, establishes the Laws of the Sport and operates comprehensive certification and education programmes for Teachers, Coaches and Officials as well as its renowned Learn To Swim Awards scheme. The ASA supports 1,220 affiliated swimming clubs through a National/Regional/County structure. The ASA aims to ensure everybody has an opportunity to learn to swim.

About British Gas
British Gas is Britain's favourite domestic energy supplier. As well as providing gas and electricity, it also installs and maintains central heating and gas appliances in millions of homes throughout the country. British Gas is very proud to be the principal partner of British Swimming and home countries: The ASA, Scottish Swimming and Swim Wales. British Gas is supporting the team's quest for medals on the world and Olympic stage - and giving as many people as possible the opportunity to learn to swim and use swimming as part of a healthy lifestyle. British Gas wants to ensure local pools remain at the heart of our communities. By using its expertise, it can help them reduce costs by being more energy efficient and safeguard the facilities for this and future generations. For more information visit www.britishgas.co.uk/swimming

About Kellogg’s
The Kellogg Company was founded in 1906 and today produces 40 different cereals including popular brands such as Special K, Cornflakes and Coco Pops, and 56 different snacks including brands such as Nutri-Grain and Special K snacks. Kellogg’s has been a partner of the ASA and British Swimming for 13 years, sponsoring the Kellogg’s ASA Awards and enabling over 50,000 people to take up swimming as part of an active lifestyle.

About Speedo®
The world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations. Supporting swimming from grass-roots through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps, Speedo® is owned by Speedo Holdings B.V and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, LZR PULSE, SPEEDO ENDURANCE, FLIPTURNS, FASTSKINFSII, SPEEDO BIOFUSE, SWYM and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending.

The British Gas Disability Swimming team are finishing off their preparations for the IPC Swimming World Championships (25m) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from the 29th November – 5th December.

The British Gas team, which includes Paralympic Champions Sascha Kindred and Eleanor Simmonds, will be looking to continue the strong form that saw them win 94 medals at the IPC Swimming European Championships in Reykjavik.

The 19-strong team will be looking to continue the success that was enjoyed in Reykjavik into Rio and Head Coach Lars Humer believes they have the strength to challenge for medals.

“We had Europeans just five weeks ago and our athletes came home and had to deal with the challenge of preparing for their next big international competition,” Humer said. 

“The DSE Championships were a good hit out for the swimmers and they could see where their preparations have taken them. We did a lot of fitness testing after the Europeans and a lot of our athletes have maintained their aerobic fitness which is promising.

“Our selection policy was quite tough for this competition and on that basis our athletes have the potential to be aiming for gold medals. The qualifying standard was set high on purpose to give our athletes a good chance of winning their events.

“We go into all international competitions wanting our athletes to achieve personal bests and, although Rio is different to any of the other competitions the swimmers have been to recently, we are still looking for them to achieve their bests in competition.”

-ENDS-

The IPC Swimming World Championships take place in Rio de Janeiro from the 29th November – 5th December.

The British Gas Team consists of:
David Hill
Sam Hynd
Sascha Kindred
Matthew Walker
Robert Welbourn
Thomas Young

Claire Cashmore
Heather Frederiksen
Kate Grey
Rhiannon Henry
Elizabeth Johnson
Natalie Jones
Stephanie Millward
Eleanor Simmonds
Louise Watkin

In addition the following athletes have been selected as part of the relay squads.  Selections are relevant to the relay events taking place.
Graham Edmunds
Francesca O’Connor
Elizabeth Simpkin
Lauren Steadman

For further details contact British Swimming Media Officer Gemma Field on 01509 632238, 07917 726431 or email gemma.field@swimming.org

About British Swimming
British Swimming is the National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Synchronised Swimming, Water Polo and Open Water in Great Britain.  It is responsible internationally for the high performance representation of the sport. The members of British Swimming are the three Home Countries national governing bodies of England (ASA), Scotland (Scottish ASA) and Wales. (Welsh ASA)  British Swimming seeks to enable its athletes to achieve gold medal success at the Olympics, Paralympics, World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

About British Gas
British Gas is Britain's favourite domestic energy supplier. As well as providing gas and electricity, it also installs and maintains central heating and gas appliances in millions of homes throughout the country. British Gas is very proud to be the principal partner of British Swimming and home countries: The ASA, Scottish Swimming and Swim Wales. British Gas is supporting the team's quest for medals on the world and Olympic stage - and giving as many people as possible the opportunity to learn to swim and use swimming as part of a healthy lifestyle. British Gas wants to ensure local pools remain at the heart of our communities. By using its expertise, it can help them reduce costs by being more energy efficient and safeguard the facilities for this and future generations. For more information visit www.britishgas.co.uk/swimming

About Speedo®
The world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations. Supporting swimming from grass-roots through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps, Speedo® is owned by Speedo Holdings B.V and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, LZR PULSE, SPEEDO ENDURANCE, FLIPTURNS, FASTSKINFSII, SPEEDO BIOFUSE, SWYM and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending.

Thirteen world, twenty two European and numerous British records* fell at the Nationwide Swimming Championships (25m) organised by Disability Sport Events.

Established Paralympic swimmer Sascha Kindred broke three of those world records. The 31 year old from Hereford proved he is on form prior to the IPC World Short Course Swimming Championships next week.

His records in the SM6 100m (1.15.39) and 200m Individual Medley (2.41.52) and the S6 50m Butterfly (31.80) were enough to earn him the Outstanding Male Swimmer of the championships. He said about his success:

“It’s been a great weekend and shows I’m in good shape before going out to the Worlds. I’m swimming in four races while in Rio and ranked number one in three of the races, so I hope it means coming home with some medals”.

City of Salford’s Heather Frederiksen smashed her own short course world record in the S8 100m Backstroke. Her new time of 1.11.39 knocked seconds off the old record (1.16.60) she set at the same event last year.

The 23 year old also broke the 100m S8 Butterfly in fine style- clocking 1.14.05 and beating the 1.22.93 record set over three years ago by fellow Brit swimmer Rachael Latham.

The crowds were pleased to see their very own City of Sheffield star James Crisp was back to his best, breaking a world record in the S9 400m Freestyle. Crisp missed out on the Beijing Paralympics after a reoccurrence of a shoulder problem and a second operation did not give him enough time to recover. The 27 year old was pleased to clock 4.18.38- knocking more than two seconds off the old record.

Swimmer Natalie Massey from Manchester won the Outstanding Female Swimmer after a series of top performances; including a new world record in the S14 100m Individual Medley (1.11.41). Her North West team took the Regional Team Trophy.

Other world record breakers included Liz Johnson, Matt Walker, Ben Procter and Sam Hynd.

Over 200 swimmers competed at Ponds Forge. The British Gas team travels to Rio de Janeiro this week for the IPC World Short Course Championships- being held from 29 November to the 5 December.

There was a new face poolside when actor Ralf Little showed his support for volunteering in sport. He donated a day of his time to the event and joined the many volunteers, who give up their weekends for Disability Sport Events annually.

The Royle Family star was worn out following his first experience, but loved the opportunity. He said:

“It's been incredible. At first the swimmers were thinking I was a lookalike! I mean- why would anyone want to be a Ralf Little lookalike?! After a while they started to realise it was actually me. It's been so much fun and there’s been a lot of banter. There are some great characters out there and I've been delighted to watch them do their thing.'

Other partners assisting the championships are British Swimming, Water Direct, Ponds Forge and the Sheffield City Council's Major Sports Events Unit.

Further information about DSE and the results from this event are available through www.disabilitysport.org.uk

-ends-

Media information:
Please contact:
Sarah Marl, Disability Sport Events, sarah@dse.org.uk, 0161 953 2438 and 07764 291671

Notes to editors:
* All records are subject to ratification

Worlds
Liz Johnson                  S6 50m Breaststroke                    46.01secs
Heather Frederiksen S8 100m Backstroke                      1.11.39
                                       S8 100m Butterfly                          1.14.05
Sascha Kindred           SM6 100m Individual Medley        1.15.39
                                      SM6 200m Individual Medley        2.41.52
                                      S6 50m Butterfly                             31.80secs
Matt Walker                 SM7 100m Individual Medley        1.16.89
Sam Hynd                     SM8 100m Individual Medley        1.07.89
Natalie Massey            S14 100m Individual Medley         1.11.41
James Crisp                 S9 400m Freestyle                         4.18.38
Jonathan Fox               S7 50m Backstroke                        33.73secs
                                      S7 100m Backstroke                       1:10.96
Charlotte Henshaw    100m Breaststroke                            1:41.15
Ben Procter                 SM14 200m Individual Medley      2.17.48

Fran Halsall just missed the 100m Freestyle short course world record by 0.18 seconds after a strong swim that saw her win the gold medal on the last day of competition at the FINA World Cup in Singapore.

Halsall, who won silver in the 100m Freestyle at the World Championships, has continued to prove her development into one of Britain’s strongest sprint Freestylers.

The British Gas ITC Loughborough swimmer won her gold in a time of 51.19 to lower the European record. The silver medal was won by Inge Dekker (Holland) in 52.11 and bronze was claimed by Daniela Schreiber (Germany) in 53.18.

Elizabeth Simmonds won silver in the women’s 100m Backstroke after winning the gold in the 200m Backstroke on the first day of competition.

Simmonds (British Gas ITC Loughborough) touched in a time of 57.10 behind Marieke Guehrer (Australia) who won gold in 56.97. The bronze went to Emily Seebohm (Australia) in 57.67.

Halsall completed her intensive competition programme in the women’s 100m Individual Medley where she won bronze and broke the British record.

Halsall, who has competed in 22 races in under two weeks, looked strong and touched in 58.55 which was just 0.05 seconds away from second place.

Gold was won by Hinkelein Schreuder (Holland) in 58.32 and silver went to Emily Seebohm in 58.50.

Ross Davenport (British Gas ITC Loughborough) went into the final of the 200m Freestyle ranked in fifth place and stepped up to win bronze with an excellent swim.

Davenport touched home in 1:43.25 to win the bronze medal. Darian Townsend (South Africa) took gold in a time of 1:41.65 and the silver went to Dominick Meichtry (Switzerland) in 1:42.83.

Simmonds finished off her campaign with a fourth place finish in the women’s 400m Freestyle. She finished in a time of 4:06.19.

-ENDS-

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) announce that athletes with intellectual disabilities are to be allowed to compete at the Paralympic Games.

After the Sydney Paralympics, where the Spanish Basketball team were proven not to suffer from intellectual disabilities, the IPC made the decision to ban athletes with intellectual disabilities from competing until there was a robust classification system that could be used.

Swimming was one of the first sports to see the re-inclusion and new testing of S14 athletes when they were permitted to compete at the IPC Swimming European Championships. Seven athletes won 12 medals in Reykjavik and throughout the competition expressed their desire for the decision to go their way.

The decision means that athletes with intellectual disabilities will now be allowed to compete at IPC run competitions which includes the Paralympic Games and athletes will undergo rigorous tests which are to be called ‘sports intelligence’ tests.

On the decision British Swimming Chief Executive David Sparkes commented: “Everyone at British Swimming is very pleased that the decision has been made to include S14 athletes in the Paralympic Games. British Swimming (and the ASA, as the national governing body for swimming in England) welcomes a fair and transparent classification system across all sport-specific classification groups including intellectual disability.

“British Swimming provided technical support to S14 athletes as this issue has been under discussion and has supported both IPC and INAS-FID to accelerate the classification process for S14 swimmers. We will now refocus our efforts on ensuring that all our S14 athletes are fully prepared for London.”

-ENDS-

Presentations from the ASA's First Annual Council Conference are now online for those people who could not get to the event itself in Stratford-upon-Avon.

The ASA held its first Council Conference on October 10th 2009, entitled ‘Facing the Future Together’, to look at the current challenges it faces and to show its members and volunteers how together everyone can drive the organisation’s future development.

For more details or to view the presentations CLICK HERE.

A high level evaluation has shown the ambitious Everyday Swim project – that set out to get more people swimming over the past three years – has succeeded with a gain of over 10,000 adult swimmers across nine pilot schemes.

The report, published by the Sport Industry Research Centre at Sheffield Hallam University on behalf of the ASA and Sport England, presents key findings about how swimming participation rates have changed across the local authorities who each ran projects with a specific focus, dependent upon the needs in the community. 

Everyday Swim was a national pilot project led by the ASA and supported by Sport England and local partners which concluded its first phase at the end of March this year.  The key aim was to get more people swimming and find out ‘what works’ in getting more people into our pools. 

Two of the original Everyday Swim pilot areas were awarded the status of ‘Everyday Swim Good Practice Centres’ for a second phase of the project until March 2010. These centres, in Islington and Suffolk, will continue to build on the great work of Everyday Swim by sharing the common lessons learnt.

Everyday Swim Co-ordinators were set the target of increasing swimming participation rates by 3% in the final 18 months of the project – a very ambitious target not wholly achieved - but overall there have been positive increases in local participation rates and a gain of over 10,000 adult swimmers across the pilots.

The report states that it is clear that the projects have genuinely made a positive difference.  The Everyday Swim authorities as a whole have performed considerably better than the national average, determined by Sport England’s ‘Active People’ surveys (which interview residents in local authorities nationwide).

Of particular note is the Everyday Swim Good Practice Centre at Islington where they have succeeded in finding new ways to build an effective and entertaining pool programme of structured activities away from the traditional lane swimming, including Super Swim – events that take place over the summer holidays and include mini polo, diving, synchronised swimming, snorkelling and lifesaving. 

Islington has achieved an increase in its adult participation rate by taking a community-wide approach of ‘bringing the gym culture to the pool’.  The report states that Everyday Swim Islington has shown it is possible to increase participation in swimming, through paying attention to detail in all aspects of the business, being customer focused and responsive, marketing of the centre externally and having committed and dynamic staff on the ground driving the project forward.

Aquaterra Leisure is a charitable trust that manages Islington’s public leisure facilities in partnership with Islington Council. 

Their Chief Executive Jonathan Gibbs said: “This has been a great opportunity to develop innovative strategies to change pool culture, and measure the results. We’re excited to be able to continue our successes as a Good Practice Centre.”

The report presents three key themes which have emerged from across all of the pilots and are considered instrumental in helping to encourage more people into the pool;

• Structured sessions – particularly focused on teaching non-swimmers to swim or rebuilding the water confidence of those people who have not been swimming for a number of years.

• Culture change – changes to the way in which pool operators work such as performance management and customer service measures, establishing pool operators groups to share ideas and resources, making sure the workforce is fit for purpose and properly trained, programme analysis including assessments of unused pool time, ‘swim buddy’ schemes to give support to non swimmers and the use of swim diaries to provide feedback from pool users.

• Creative marketing -  including attracting new participants by promoting sessions outside of the leisure centre environment which are audience and context specific.

The results of the Everyday Swim evaluation are underlined by the take up rates of the Government’s Free Swimming initiative which show that more than a thousand local authority pools in England have been offering free swimming to 20 million under 16’s and over 60’s with more than 250 councils backing the scheme, including the Everyday Swim pilot areas.

David Sparkes, Chief Executive of the ASA, commented: “Careful investigation into the pilot projects run in each location, coupled with consultation with stakeholders and the public, has effectively gone a long way to prove the commonly held view that there are no ‘quick fixes’ which will lead to more people swimming. 

“To bring about a culture change in the swimming industry we need to build upon the excellent catalyst provided by the introduction of Free Swimming. We can now also use the valuable lessons learnt in Everyday Swim to release the high levels of latent demand for swimming and work with our stakeholders and partners to bring about a sustainable increase in participation.”

Lisa O'Keefe, Sport England's Director of Sport, said: "Everyday Swim is providing vital insight into what attracts people to swimming and keeps them coming back for more.

"Swimmers and the ASA have a significant contribution to make towards our goal of getting a million more people participating in regular community sport. The lessons learned from Everyday Swim will enable the ASA to focus on the most effective ways of driving up participation and satisfaction levels and ensure we get value for money from our investment."

Duncan Goodhew, Everyday Swim official ambassador, commented: “I am delighted at the continuing success of Everyday Swim and have thoroughly enjoyed my work with the pilot project schemes.  Although the main project has concluded, the Everyday Swim Good Practice Centres will continue to share their learning beyond the project areas and encourage others to emulate their successes.”

This was successfully implemented this month with more than 350 delegates attending one of the ASA’s five free national Everyday Swim Good Practice seminars to find out the lessons learnt from the pilot project.  Goodhew was a motivational and inspirational guest speaker who formed part of the Everyday Swim team who travelled to Manchester, Bristol, London, Newcastle and Birmingham as part of the second phase of the pilot project. 

The seminars were extremely well received by the audience of leisure providers, local authorities and county sport partnerships, with one attendee highlighting “the day was very informative and I found great value in being involved”.  Another stated “…fantastic examples of how we can support our pool operators in helping re-programme their pools, promote adult lessons and engage with their customers on a very real level to help entice new users into their facilities”.

The Everyday Swim Good Practice Centres will continue to build on these events by continuing to share good practice across the industry through other methods, including the offer of bespoke visitor days to the Good Practice Centre areas, Everyday Swim resources and email and phone support services.

The full Everyday Swim evaluation report can be downloaded from www.everydayswim.org or by clicking here.

-ENDS-

For more information contact the ASA PR Officer Claire Freeman on 01509 632265 or email claire.freeman@swimming.org

About the ASA
The ASA is the English National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Open Water and Synchronised Swimming. It organises competition throughout England, establishes the Laws of the Sport and operates comprehensive certification and education programmes for Teachers, Coaches and Officials as well as its renowned Learn to Swim Awards scheme. The ASA supports 1,220 affiliated swimming clubs through a National/Regional/County structure. The ASA aims to ensure everybody has an opportunity to learn to swim.

About Sport England
Sport England invests National Lottery and Exchequer funding in organisations and projects that will grow and sustain participation in grassroots sport and create opportunities for people to excel at their chosen sport.

Sport England is committed to creating a world-leading community sport system, and has set specific and measurable targets to achieve by 2012/13:
*       One million people doing more sport
*       A 25% reduction in the number of 16- to 18-year-olds who drop out of at least five key sports
*       Improved talent development systems in at least 25 sports
*       A measurable increase in people’s satisfaction with their experience of sport
*       A major contribution to the delivery of the five hour sports offer for children and young people.

About Kellogg’s
The Kellogg Company was founded in 1906 and today produces 40 different cereals including popular brands such as Special K, Cornflakes and Coco Pops, and 56 different snacks including brands such as Nutri-Grain and Special K snacks. Kellogg’s has been a partner of the ASA and British Swimming for 13 years, sponsoring the Kellogg’s ASA Awards and enabling over 50,000 people to take up swimming as part of an active lifestyle.

About British Gas
British Gas, the biggest energy supplier in the country, has the lowest carbon intensity of any of the major UK energy suppliers in terms of tonnes of CO2 emitted per megawatt hour of electricity supplied to customers.  The company is one of the biggest investors in renewable power generation, principally offshore wind. Its recently completed Lynn and Inner Dowsing development, off the Lincolnshire coast, is the UK's largest offshore wind development. British Gas is committed to energy efficiency.  Our Energy Savers Report provides free expert advice on how you can cut energy use in the home and, in turn, save money.  So far, the report has shown over 2 million people how they could make an average saving of £175 a year.  To complete a report go to .www.britishgas.co.uk/energy-efficiency/energy-savers-report

About Speedo®
The world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations. Supporting swimming from grass-roots through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps, Speedo® is owned by Speedo Holdings B.V and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, LZR PULSE, SPEEDO ENDURANCE, FLIPTURNS, FASTSKINFSII, SPEEDO BIOFUSE, SWYM and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending.

A development framework to provide a world class coaching environment for England’s teachers and coaches has been launched by the ASA Coaching Systems Team at the ASA Council Conference.  

‘The ASA Development Framework for Teaching and Coaching in England 2009-2013’  will effectively create a new coaching system that delivers the right number of coaching hours, by the right coach, in the appropriate environment to achieve success.

Teachers and coaches across all the disciplines and the wider coaching workforce will benefit from the implementation of the Framework which will operate in all five key environments: beginner, talent development, high performance, participation and potential participants. 

The Framework represents a significant culture shift by delivering much more than just coach education.  Previous systems have had the education and qualification of coaches as their main focus, whereas the new Framework is all about developing the potential of participants (swimmers) by creating teachers and coaches who can promote learning through ownership, awareness and responsibility.

Bill Furniss, Head Coach, Nova Centurion SC believes the ASA’s approach to coach development will create a world class, dynamic coaching system:

“Developing a ‘high performing’ coach takes more than just education.  It involves a wide range of activities that help the coach ‘develop’ and achieve their potential. The approach of the ASA is now focusing on giving coaches ownership of their decisions and the ability to choose what they are going to do.  This will then create greater self-belief, allowing the coach to better understand and manage themselves, which in turn will positively impact upon the participants they work with.”

He added, “the ASA coach development plan will focus on changing their behaviour, as opposed to simply increasing their knowledge.”

Colin Huffen, Coaching Systems Team Manager and National Education Officer for the ASA, is excited about the changes brought about by the new strategy.

“Teachers and coaches face daily challenges and strive to be the best they can be.  The ASA have identified that to reach this goal they not only need the ASA to help them qualify, but also support to help them flourish.

“The participant is clearly the priority for all of us.  We have identified that there needs to be a move from an instructional, autocratic approach to the empowerment of coaches.  This will hone their skills so that they can follow the participants lead and develop them with the knowledge to take ownership of their own development.”

The four Key Objectives of the new Framework are:
1. Recruit: Recruit the appropriate number of coaches into swimming’s delivery system
2. Train: To qualify the appropriate number and level of coaches required
3. Support: Provide appropriate levels of support to the coaching workforce to allow them to achieve their potential in their chosen environments
4. Retain: To provide systems of recognition and reward in order to retain the coaching workforce

For further information on the work of the Coaching Systems Team and for a copy of the Development Framework, please visit CLICK HERE

-ENDS-

For more information contact the ASA PR Officer Claire Freeman on 01509 632265 or email claire.freeman@swimming.org

About the ASA
The ASA is the English National Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Water Polo, Open Water and Synchronised Swimming. It organises competition throughout England, establishes the Laws of the Sport and operates comprehensive certification and education programmes for Teachers, Coaches and Officials as well as its renowned Learn to Swim Awards scheme. The ASA supports 1,220 affiliated swimming clubs through a National/Regional/County structure. The ASA aims to ensure everybody has an opportunity to learn to swim.

In order to comply with national education and training standards it has developed two separate and independent arms – the ASA Awarding Body and the Institute of Swimming (IoS) - which represent the awarding and delivery channels for all ASA qualifications.
ASA Awarding Body
The ASA Awarding Body develops, assesses, awards and quality assures all ASA qualifications. It is the equivalent of other awarding bodies such as City & Guilds and OCR (Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations). The ASA Awarding Body is licensed by British Swimming to award qualifications in England and Wales. It also has the remit for quality assurance of all areas of UKCC standards.

Institute of Swimming (IoS)
The IoS is a licensed training provider, like a school or college. It is one of many ASA Awarding Body Approved Centres.  The IoS is also a membership body for qualified swimming teachers and coaches, providing insurance, advice and learning opportunities to its members.

About Kellogg’s
The Kellogg Company was founded in 1906 and today produces 40 different cereals including popular brands such as Special K, Cornflakes and Coco Pops, and 56 different snacks including brands such as Nutri-Grain and Special K snacks. Kellogg’s has been a partner of the ASA and British Swimming for 13 years, sponsoring the Kellogg’s ASA Awards and enabling over 50,000 people to take up swimming as part of an active lifestyle.

About British Gas
British Gas, the biggest energy supplier in the country, has the lowest carbon intensity of any of the major UK energy suppliers in terms of tonnes of CO2 emitted per megawatt hour of electricity supplied to customers.  The company is one of the biggest investors in renewable power generation, principally offshore wind. Its recently completed Lynn and Inner Dowsing development, off the Lincolnshire coast, is the UK's largest offshore wind development. British Gas is committed to energy efficiency.  Our Energy Savers Report provides free expert advice on how you can cut energy use in the home and, in turn, save money.  So far, the report has shown over 2 million people how they could make an average saving of £175 a year.  To complete a report go to .www.britishgas.co.uk/energy-efficiency/energy-savers-report

About Speedo®
The world’s leading swimwear brand, Speedo® is passionate about life in and around the water, creating revolutionary new technologies, designs and innovations. Supporting swimming from grass-roots through to elite level, including the phenomenal Michael Phelps, Speedo® is owned by Speedo Holdings B.V and distributed in over 170 countries around the world; SPEEDO, the ARROW device, FASTSKIN, LZR PULSE, SPEEDO ENDURANCE, FLIPTURNS, FASTSKINFSII, SPEEDO BIOFUSE, SWYM and LZR RACER are registered trademarks of Speedo Holdings B.V. The LZR RACER suit has worldwide design rights and patents pending.