Wyre Forest Swimming Club celebrated yet another ‘Top Visiting Club’ award, this time at the Crystal Open Meet run by Stourbridge Swimming Club.  The team won an amazing 36 Gold, 22 Silver & 27 Bronze medals and are on top form ahead of a big couple of months in the swimming season which sees them travel to Sheffield, Cyprus and the Regional Championships in Coventry.

Lead Coach for the Meet Dylan Smith was extremely pleased with the attitude and focus of the swimmers who also achieved more regional qualifying times and set lots of new personal best times.

Medal winners were:- Isabella Hoare, Lillie Grover, Alexandra Hayes, Lily Colley, Matilda Calder, Lois Stevens, Ryan Bloomer, Joel Hands, Daniel Hardiman, Chloe Manning, Brecon Westwood, Lauren Stewart, Chloe Lawson, Owen Westwood, Marieke Parker, Mollie Kilgour, Eve Williams, Erin Freer, Charles Brown and Thomas Brown.

The Top Club award final points were:-

1^st Wyre Forest            504

2^nd Northgate               484

3^rd Redditch                 402

A big thank you to Dylan Smith, Rosie Lane and Donna Stevens for all their help and support at the Meet.

WFSC swimmers travelled to Wales over the weekend of 16/17th February for the Swansea Aquatics Spring Long Course Open Meet at the Wales National Pool.

For this meet all swimmers travelled together to Swansea without their parents, which was a new experience for many of our younger swimmers. There was a slight drama when one of the two mini buses carrying the swimmers broke down but again swimmers handled this with great humour and were a credit to the club.

The aim of this meet was not only to give swimmers the experience of swimming in a 50m pool but also to reinforce team spirit and give them a brief independence from their parents, encouraging them to think and plan for themselves in an environment where they could enjoy themselves but also gain valuable experience with their team mates.

Swimmers had the added bonus of watching Commonwealth 1500 medallist Dan JERVIS swim an impressive 3:52 400m freestyle on his own!

Medal winners at Swansea were Ryan Bloomer, Rob Darbyshire, Joel Hands, Lily Colley, Lillie Grover, Tegan Hands, James Green, Owen Westwood, Millie Gardner, Jasmin Yates, Lucy Nicholls, Matilda Calder, Lois Stevens, Brecon Westwood and Alexandra Hayes. Completing the team were: Jeremy Summers, Tyler Elwell, Marieke Parker, Will Guest, Isabella Hoare, Adam Newey, Lucy Connolly, Erin Freer, Lauren Stewart, Lucy Watkiss, Chloe Lawson, Abbie Rowley.

Head Coach Brian McGuinness stated, ‘Overall a great success, lots of experience gained and new friendships bonded. From 9 participating last year to 27 this year, with medals galore won and lots of long course experience gained it was another big success and shows that WFSC is continuing to go from strength to strength.’

Thank you also to Nigel Elwell, Becki Rowley and Donna Stevens for making this such a rewarding experience for our swimmers.

This year’s County Championships were held over three weekends at both Wolverhampton Central Baths and Perdiswell Leisure Centre.  Going into these Championships WF were the second most improved club in the county based on an 84% improvement of number of entries for the Championships from 2018 to 2019.

Races of 200m and above were heat declared wins in each age group, whereas races of 50m & 100m saw swimmers progress to finals consisting of the fastest 8 swimmers in each age group.

WF swimmers won an amazing total of 88 medals across the three weekends, 26 Gold Medals (+ 4 Championship Medals), 31 Silver Medals and 20 Bronze Medals (+7 Championship Medals).

WF also came away with both Senior and Junior County Champion titles.  Jeremy Summers (15) won Gold in both the 800m and the 1500m freestyle making him the Junior County Champion in both events; Robert Darbyshire (16) won Gold in both the 200m and 400m freestyle making him the Senior County Champion in both events (despite actually only being 15 years old on the day but placed into the Senior category) and there was great news for Lillie Grover (12) who amassed 10 Gold Medals and 4 Silver Medals making her the Top Girl across all ages in the 2019 Championships.

Our medal winners were:- Bradley Baddams, Ryan Bloomer, Charlie Brown, Matilda Calder, Nathaniel Crowther, Robert Darbyshire, Tyler Elwell, Millie Gardner, Lillie Grover, Will Guest, Joel Hands, Tegan Hands, Alexandra Hayes, Isabella Hoare, Mollie Kilgour, Lucy Nicholls, Abbie Rowley, Jeremy Summers, Brecon Westwood, Owen Westwood, Jasmin Yates.

Also making finals in their age groups or finishing within the top 8 in the county were:- Tom Brown, Lily Colley, Chloe Lawson, Adam Newey, Lauren Stewart, Emily Watkiss

Completing the 36 qualifying swimmers for these Championships were:- Lucy Connolly, Erin Duffy, Erin Freer, Chloe Manning, Marieke Parker, Shay Parker, Lois Stevens, James Vaux, and Evie Williams.

Fresh from receiving Wyre Forest’s Sports Award for Junior Team of the Year 2018, Wyre Forest swimmers were back in action at Wolverhampton pool this weekend at the Worcester County Distance Championships.

WF had five boys entered into the 1500m freestyle event and all five came away with medals in their age groups – Ryan Bloomer (13) Gold, Joel Hands (14) Silver, Jeremy Summers (15) Gold, Rob Darbyshire (16) Gold and Will Guest (17&O) Bronze.

Will Guest’s swim meant he finished 3rd fastest overall in the county in the Seniors and Jeremy Summers’ swim was the fastest overall in the Juniors, making him Junior County Champion.

The second session of the Distance Championships featured the 800m freestyle which saw WF win another 7 medals. Lillie Grover (12) won Gold and Mollie Kilgour (14) won Silver in their age groups, whilst Emily Watkiss & Isabella Hoare both swam personal best times. All five boys who had previously won medals in the 1500 came away with medals in the 800m – Ryan Bloomer (13) Silver, Joel Hands (14) Silver, Jeremy Summers (15) Gold, Rob Darbyshire (16) Gold and Will Guest (17&O) Bronze.

Rob Darbyshire’s swim meant he finished 3rd fastest overall in the county in the Seniors and Jeremy Summers’ swim was again the fastest overall in the Juniors, making him Junior County Champion in both the 800m and the 1500m events.

Congratulations to all our swimmers who have given us such a storming start to this year’s County Championships!

Wyre Forest Swimming Club are celebrating the massive achievements of two of their swimmers, local Kidderminster boys Nathaniel Crowther and Robert Darbyshire both 15 years old, obtained national swimming qualifying times and represented their club at such a high level.

This year’s National Winter Championships were held at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre, Sheffield, from 14^th to 16^th December 2018. The Championships is the biggest English swimming meet of the winter months, with some of Britain’s top senior swimmers involved including Siobhan-Marie O’Connor, Olympic Silver & Commonwealth Gold medallist; James Guy, Olympic Silver medallist & European Champion; James Wilby, Commonwealth Gold medallist and Sarah Vasey, Commonwealth Gold medallist.

Almost 900 swimmers competed in the competition with all swimming events being streamed live. This was a new, exciting and nerve wracking experience for both boys with Nathaniel qualifying in the 200m backstroke and Rob in the 400m freestyle.  Both boys rose to the occasion, both managing to produce personal best times, Nathaniel 2.12.56 and Rob 4.11.42, meaning it was the fastest they had ever swum their events and the fastest recorded in the West Midlands region for their age group events in 2018!

Congratulations to both boys, all at WF are very proud of you!

WELL DONE WYRE FOREST!! 

Fear Nothing~Fear No-one~Go Forest!

The National Arena League is currently the largest swimming team competition in England, with approximately 400 teams participating across the country.  The country is divided into regions with each region then being divided into divisions.  Wyre Forest fall within the West Midlands region, within which there are three divisions – Premier (24 clubs), Two (24 clubs) and Three (23 clubs).  Wyre Forest is currently in Division Two.

Swimmers are broken into male/female swimmers which contain age groups – 9-11, 13 & under, 15 & under and Open.  Within each age group there are individual races of 50m and 100m in each stroke.  There are also two relays per age group, freestyle and medley with a final very exciting 6 swimmer cannon relay.

Having placed first in their first round and second in their second round, WF swimmers headed to Perdiswell Leisure Centre with high hopes of challenging for another first place finish and a chance of promotion to the Premier League in 2019.

After the first very tense 10 events, WF found themselves in an early lead but there was only 1 point dividing the teams placed in 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd places!!  An update from the announcer revealed that we were still in the lead after 26 events, still with only a narrow breathing space of 3 points.  Foresters dug deep, urging each other on and after 34 events we had put our foot down and gained ourselves an 8 point lead over our nearest rivals, Leighton Buzzard.  At 42 events, WF were beginning to believe in themselves and each other, powering their way to a 13 point lead with only 8 events remaining.  With the travelling Forest parents and family roaring them on, WF swimmers refused to ease off  the pressure and stormed the final events to an absolutely amazing 20 point victory!  The final scores, which saw Wyre Forest crowned as Division Two Champions were:- Wyre Forest 208, Leighton Buzzard 188, Ripley Rascals 180, Witney and District 176, Northgate 158 and Halesowen 136.

Head Coach Brian McGuinness stated, ‘Tonight was very special. There are days when a win’s a win but tonight was much more than that!  This was a victory for hard work, dedication to detail and outright competitiveness. No one gave in, no one settled for second best and every single swimmer gave of their very, very best. Tonight was truly superb, better than even I had hoped for & hence I am a very very proud coach tonight. We won because we were the fittest, had the best skills and had more talent than anyone else, and of course, the noisiest supporters in the stands – we were a team above all but above all, we were a team! We are in the Premier League and we progress as Champions!!’

Swimmers to represent WF in the competition were:- Brad Baddams, Ryan Bloomer, Charlie Brown, Thomas Brown, Isabelle Bowers, Matilda Calder, Lily Colley, Nathaniel Crowther, Theo Crowther, Rob Darbyshire, Tyler Elwell, Millie Gardner, Lillie Grover, Will Guest, Colby Hands, Joel Hands, Tegan Hands, Alexandra Hayes, Reegan Hill, Isabella Hoare, Mollie Kilgour, Chloe Lawson, Adam Newey, Lucy Nicholls, Sam Osborne, Shay Parker, Abbie Rowley, Lois Stevens, James Vaux, Emily Watkiss, Jasmin Yates, Brecon Westwood.

See all results @ NASL Arena League Results

WF headed to Hereford for their Winter Open Meet on the 17/18^th November, hoping to defend their Top Visiting Club award won in 2017. WF fielded a large team of swimmers who won an amazing 125 medals across the two day meet – 59 Gold, 31 Silver and 35 Bronze.   Points were awarded for the top six finishes in each race, with the totals being added together at the end of the gala to give us the Top Visiting Club.  In what proved to be an extremely long meet, WFSC successfully defended their title, beating clubs like the City of Birmingham along the way.

Our medal winners were:-

Rob Darbyshire 12 Gold, 1 Silver; Charlie Brown 7 Gold, 2 Silver; Jeremy Summers 7 Gold, 1 Silver; Nathaniel Crowther 6 Gold, 3 Silver, 3 Bronze; Lillie Grover 6 Gold, 2 Bronze; Lucy Nicholls 5 Gold, 1 Silver; Jasmin Yates 2 Gold, 3 Silver, 3 Bronze; Joel Hands 2 Gold, 2 Silver; Lois Stevens 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze;  Ollie Dobbins 2 Gold, 1 Bronze;  Matilda Calder 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Bronze;        Adam Newey 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze; Brecon Westwood 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze; Lily Colley       1 Gold, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze; Thomas Brown 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze; Alexandra Hayes 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 1 Bronze;  Mollie Kilgour 1 Gold, 1 Bronze;  Abbie Rowley 1 Gold, 1 Bronze; Ryan Bloomer     3 Silver, 3 Bronze;  Tegan Hands 1 Silver, 2 Bronze;  Emily Watkiss 1 Silver;  Erin Freer 1 Silver;   Millie Gardner 3 Bronze; Will Guest 2 Bronze; Shay Davies 1 Bronze.

Three of our boys also managed to win ‘Top Boy’ awards in their respective age groups – Jeremy Summers 13 yrs, Rob Darybshire 14 yrs and Nathaniel Crowther 15 yrs.

Completing our team and adding valuable points to our total were:- Sophie Allsop, Lucy Connolly, Iona Denton, Tyler Elwell, James Green, Colby Hands, Daniel Hardiman, Olivia Hill, Reegan Hill, Isabella Hoare, Chloe Lawson, Chloe Manning, Florence Meehan, Marieke Parker, Ella Rowley, Flyn Rushgrove, James Rushton, Holly Tandy-Smith, Eve Williams, James Vaux.

Congratulations everyone!