Big Ricks Swim Team – hopefully in just a few days these amazing people will be swimming the Channel – all to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support (day to be confirmed).

To donate – please visit their just giving page – https://www.justgiving.com/teams/bigricks

They have smashed through their target – total currently sits at £7,234.37 🙂

For more information on their journey – including some spectaculr photos from their recent night swim please see their blog –https://bigrickchannelswimteam.blogspot.co.uk/

Swim Coach – Level 2

Organisation                Perry Beeches SSS Swimming Club

Job Type                      Permanent

Working Hours            Part time

Location                      North Birmingham

Closing Date                26^th August 2016

Perry Beeches SSS is an established club with sections ranging from Learn to swim, through Junior League to Seniors and Masters Squads.

We are now looking to appoint a Coach who is passionate about swimming to coach our Senior and Masters Sections.

We are looking for a Level 2 coach who we believe has the right attributes and aspirations. We will encourage such a candidate and support them in their further developments.

We are based at Perry Beeches Leisure Complex and also utilise facilities in Erdington and Handsworth. This vacancy is an opportunity to develop a successful Senior Squad and build on the successes of the Masters Squad

The successful candidate will

• Be qualified to at least UKCC Level 2
• Be passionate, enthusiastic and inspiring to swimmers and parents
• Be a good communicator
• Computer literate with good administration skills
• Hold clean CRB/DBS check through the ASA and hold current Safeguarding Certificate
• Be proactive in personal development and attending CPD courses
• Have the ability to coach swimmers throughout the whole range of their competitive careers

We can offer you

• A role in an ASA affiliated Swim 21 Accredited Club
• A passionate and committed team
• An extensive and oversubscribed learn to swim programme

Big Beeches well done to the small band of Beeches swimmers who took part in this weekend’s Wolverhampton SC Open Meet. It was a well organised meet, but rather warm on poolside for all – the joys of British Summer weather at the side of a pool!

Taking part this weekend were Becky Gulliver, who got a Gold medal in the 50 Backstroke, Bronze medals in the 100 Free, 200 Butterfly and 50 Free, and 4th places in the 200 Free, 50 Butterfly, 200 Backstroke and 100 Backstroke. Lewis Carless, who won a Bronze medal in the 200 Butterfly, and came 4th in the 200 I.M. Ella Payne, who came 4th in the 100 Butterfly; and Daniel Cox, who came 5th in the 100 Breaststroke. Other swimmers over the weekend were Mason Carless and Daniel Job (who managed 3 personal best times on Saturday in his swims!).

 They kept up their spirits at lunchtime with a short trip to the park….!

Congratulations to all who took part.

Olympic and Paralympic swimmers are backing The Food Champions, a new campaign that shares the eating habits and refuelling secrets of leading athletes with fitness enthusiasts, and people who play sports at all levels. For swimmers the recipes are Josef Craig’s tasty Tyneside Taqine, Fran Halsall’s Fuel for the Pool Porridge, Ellie Simmonds’ Mouth watering Mackerel and Beetroot Salad, and Hannah Miley’s Gold Breakfast Bar.

For more info go to: http://www.thefoodchampions.co.uk

In just 14 days time   6 swimmers from  Sutton Coldfield    are taking on the ultimate open water swimming  challenge –

The 6 plan to swim across the most ionic stretch of open water in the world . The  English Channel.

But that’s not all – as well as swimming all the way to France, they will then turn around and swim all the way back England  !  The team are Paul Bates, Ross Emery, Stuart Fuller, Rob Small, Claire Thorn and Charlie Wheadon – collectively known as Big Rick’s Swim Team – and they will be raising money for Macmillan Cancer Support, which is a charity close to their heart.

Just Few TASTY details about the English channel

More people have successfully climbed Mount Everest than have swum the English Channel. It is considered one of the world’s hardest swims, not least because it:

–          Has an average water temperature of 14-16C

–          Has a variety of jellyfish which sting

–          Contains some of the most difficult tides in the world

–          Is 21 miles across at its shortest point, but the team will swim a lot further each way

–          Takes most swimmers 10-20 hours just to complete a single crossing

And to make matters worse, there are strict rules in place which mean that wetsuits are not allowed, so it’s trunks or swimming costumes all the way! And off course with this being a two swim we will have to swim throughout the night to complete it.

The team has spent the last two years preparing for this challenge, taking part in a number of open water swimming and endurance events (including getting into lakes with sub 10 degree water temperatures at 7am on a Saturday morning!).

Our Double Channel window is from 27^th July to 31^st July..we have to be ready and waiting  in Dover, waiting for the call  from our channel pilot Lance Oram to go…we can start almost at any time night or day…the swim itself can take anywhere from 20hrs to 30hrs …all depends on the weather in the channel ..

(with this link you can  live track our swim when we go , our boat for the trip is Sea satin http://cspf.co.uk/tracking )

Should you wish to sponsor Big Rick’s Swim Team on this extremely tough challenge, please visit their sponsorship page and donate what you can: https://www.justgiving.com/teams/bigricks

To see Pictures & Videos of just how hard we have been training check our team  blog page https://bigrickchannelswimteam.blogspot.co.uk/

Kind regards

Paul Bates

Big Ricks Swim Team