Latest News

Club Championships 2019 - Entry Forms

Forms are now available from Ian Bowler for Club Championships 2019. 

Forms need to be returned by Friday 25th October at the very latest to avoid disappointment.

This a great event for swimmers to experience how open meets work, but also a good chance to record official times in a familiar environment.  Times are then useful for gala selection and other open meets, and of course for setting benchmarks from which future goals can be set.

Subscriptions Increase

You may not have appreciated, but club subscriptions have not been increased since March 2017. Unfortunately, to make the club financially sustainable, that must change. Market forces, including a recent increase in the cost of pool hire have had a dramatic impact on the financial sustainability of your club.  Your club is community-based; your subscriptions (which go towards pool hire, lifeguards, coaching and teaching) make it work and without them it would not exist. There is no income from any other source. Every penny really does count. The club is committed to keeping the new pricing structure until January 2021. In addition, ASA membership will have to be paid in the New Year.

From 01 January 2020 monthly subscriptions are as follows:

Some current subscriptions are in arrears or being paid at the wrong rate. Can you therefore please ensure that your payments are up to date prior to 31/12/19. The Club does not want to be faced with the embarrassing position of turning swimmers away when subscriptions are in arrears.

You are reminded that the current subscriptions are as follows:

The Committee
1/10/19

Results: 7th MAD Level 3 Open Meet - 29th Sep 2019

Well done to all the Matlock swimmers at this year's MAD Open Meet.  Yet again lots of PBs, so well done everybody.

And many thanks to all the helpers and volunteers for helping the event to run so smoothly.

Here's a link to the results: 7th MAD Open Meet - 29th Sep 2019

Open Meet Report

Just a brief write up of yesterday’s achievements, firstly without the committee and the parents Matlock couldn’t run such a wonderful event so Thank you to all involved in the organising and running of the day. It was great to have more parents helping and great to see the Club captains taking very active roles on the day. Jobe looked great in his high viz.

From the coaching side of things, we had targeted and trained for the open meet, but the amount of seconds swimmers were knocking off their personal best times was even more than we expected so we are super happy. Its early season, and for Club 3 swimmers it was pretty much the first race of the season.

Swimmers swam really well all day and the atmosphere was great to be around. A special well done to Niamh L and Sam H who don’t often race, and both swam really well.

We did have several disqualifications, but we would like to point out this wasn’t just our club, we have spoken as coaches on how we are going to work and develop backstroke turns (as this is the major DQ area). We will implement this in training over the next few weeks. It is really important that when practicing race skills in training we do them at race speed.

Disqualifications will happen, DQ’s are a learning curve and it happens to everyone at some point, they're not something to look negatively at and we as coaches weren’t disappointed by the DQ's we had, we were very proud of some of the younger swimmers taking on more difficult events. They were brave enough to have ago at the distance events and more technical events.

44 Matlock swimmers were involved, which we still feel is a little low and is something we will continue to encourage we need higher participation rates at galas.

In the past it’s sometimes the boys we struggle to get racing but yesterday we had absolutely amazing swims by the boys, it’s safe to say they all were on fire, a special well done to Zac H, his progression over the last year has been incredible. Happy coaches and most importantly happy swimmers, well done all involved.

Gary McCaffery

Introducing the First Fundamental Games

We welcome all swimmers in Matlock swimming club who are under 7 years old and can’t take part in the club championships. The Fundamental Games are an opportunity to enjoy some small fun competitions. These will include small group games, relays and even a few party games.

The aim of this session is to provide an enjoyable competitive atmosphere for the very young end of the club. There are no entry forms, swimming will be organised into teams on the day, all events and games are optional so no one needs to feel any pressure.

All events will run in the small pool, parents can watch from the spectator’s gallery. Club training for the big pool will take place as normal but there will be no TP1 or TP2 lessons. TP3 and TP4 will run as normal if a possible 5min delayed start, for teacher cross over. It might be advisable to bring a towel on to poolside to prevent getting cold between activities. 

If you would like to attend, please add your name to the list on the notice board downstairs at the ARC.

Date – Friday 8th November 2019

Time – 6.00pm – 7.00pm

Small prizes will be awarded on the evening.

ALL 7 TO 8 YEAR OLDS ARE ENCOURAGED TO TAKE PART IN THE CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS.

Athlete / Swimmer Workshop

I will be holding a workshop on a Tuesday evenings from 6;30 to 7;30 in the community room at the Arc leisure centre.

The workshop will consist of various topics from strength and conditioning, mobility, stretching, muscle fascia release, mental race preparation, nutrition and sports specific exercises designed to help you function and perform as an athlete and /or swimmer.

Most of the activities will be body weight exercises but it maybe necessary for your comfort and ongoing practice that you purchase some small items that you can keep in your kit bag.

The workshop at the onset will be open to Club 2 and 3 swimmers and those Masters who are regularly competing and representing the club.

There will be a fee payable of £2.50.

I look forward to seeing as many there as can make it, and providing you with a plethora of new skills and knowledge acquisition.

Gary McCaffery
Sports Performance Coach

Can you help out at the MAD Open Meet

The Club is looking for parents to help out at the upcoming Open Meet on 29th September.  Please speak to Ian Bowler if you can offer your help.  Free entry to the meet and a free lunch on offer!

Raffle Prizes also Needed

The Club would also appreciate any donations of items which could be used as Raffle Prizes at the same meet.

Parents, Your Club Needs You!

Question: How do you make the hours spent at galas fly by?

Answer: Become a timekeeper.

Right now, we’re looking for volunteers to sign up for the next timekeeper course. 

On passing the course you will receive the qualification of J1.

Being a timekeeper means you get to be involved on poolside at galas and open meets (free lunch included at open meets) and those hours spent at galas will no longer be a drag.

We need at least six volunteers before we can organise the course date.

Please get in contact with This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to let him know you’re interested.

Change of training times due to main pool tiles issue

UPDATE: 29th March 2019, 18:00

Training times as normal until further notice.

ASA fees for 2019 due

Please be advised that your ASA fees for 2019 are now due. These fees cover the ASA insurance that the club purchases on your behalf to provide insurance whilst swimming both during lessons and at galas.

The fees for 2019 are as follows:
- Teaching Pool (TP, TP1, TP2, TP3 and TP4) = £20.00 per swimmer
- Main Pool (Dev 1,2,3, Juniors, Club 1,2,3 and Masters) = £35.00 per swimmer

We kindly request that you arrange payment of the ASA fees to MAD  Swimming Club by Saturday 9th February 2019.
Payment should be made by bank transfer to Sort Code 60-01-33, Account No. 80698174 with the reference as follows:
‘[Swimmers initial and surname] ASA’
i.e. ‘A Smith ASA’.

For families with multiple swimmers, we would ask that you reference the surname and initials of all swimmers that the transaction covers.

Should you be unable to arrange payment by bank transfer, please bring cheque or cash to Rachel or Susan Rich who will be in the Blueberry Café on Tuesday and Sunday evenings. Should we not be available and payment is by cheque, you can, should you wish, leave this in the MAD Swimming box at the Arc reception. We would ask that cash is not left in this box.

Please ensure that payment is made by 9th February 2019.

Should you have any queries regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact Susan Rich either by email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Many thanks

Susan

Photos from the Club Champs

You may have spotted Gary taking photos at the Club Champs this year.

Photos can be viewed here:

Club Champs night 1

Club Champs night 2

Club Champs night 3

If you would like to purchase prints to make a gift for Christmas, then please get in contact with Gary before the 12th December 2018 (DATE EXTENDED).

7x 5 print at £4 

9x6 print at £6

12 X 8 print at £10 .. (print only)

or he can do prints for download at £3 per print sent to email.

All images / downloads will have watermarks removed and extra editing to produce the best image.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Pool Party Success

The pool party was a great team event, fantastic to see so many parents and young ones getting involved, we raised £250 for the club, the cakes were very impressive, but alas we all now need to work harder to burn off the calories consumed, a big thanks to David Prior for giving us such a fun evening.

Results: 6th MAD Level 3 Open Meet - 29th Sep 2018

Great performance from the Matlock swimmers at this year's MAD Open Meet.  Lots of PBs, so well done everybody.

And many thanks to all the helpers and volunteers for helping the event to run so smoothly.

Here's a link to the results: 6th MAD Open Meet - 29th Sep 2018

Caroline Swims Channel Challenge for Charity

We'd like to send a big congratulations to Caroline Baldwin, who at the end of June swam the Channel in a team relay.

The swim was to raise money for West Park Hospital Cancer Charity, where she herself was treated for cancer.

She's really close to her target of £540, so if you would like to help her reach her target then please visit the following link:

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/caroline-baldwin3

County Championships 2018 - Reports and Highlights

The last two weekends has been full of outstanding swims from the Matlock Swimmers. I could list the results but Mr Bowler will be very busy with his pink highlighter pen with all the personal best swims, all times and results will be on the notice board very soon. Both myself and Gary were very proud to see the clear improvements in technique and skills, we still have a lot to do but we are so much better than we were this time last year. The swimmer’s dedication this year, has clearly been demonstrated in their performance.  Isabelle Lester gained two Midland and District qualification times, the first official times Matlock have had in two years, a brilliant achievement and definitely down to her own personal dedication hard work and attitude. I think we all had our hearts in our mouth for Miles, impressive and brave and stunning 200m Fly we now have a Derbyshire Champion in the club. Ben and Freya had a brilliant 400m fc with super paced races, gaining themselves a sliver medal. Freya also secured a silver in 200IM. Toby arrived back off holiday late Saturday evening, to swim a text book perfect 200m br gaining a silver medal. Abbie won two bronzes medal. We got numerous 4,5,6 and finalist. Rory Burch was making finals in nearly all his events. I would mention all swimmers but I’m bound to miss someone out. Along with the smooth, came the rough but as normal Matlock do what we do best, we laughed smiled and turned every negative into a positive, when you’re on poolside for 12 hours a day we need a laugh, we now all know how to count to 16, tighten the trunks and stay still on the blocks. Mistakes happen to us however good we are. Being able to get out, smile laugh and still get personal best times is what really makes you all such incredible athletes. Learning is all part of winning. Losing is all part of winning. None can win all the time. 

The team work on poolside and general poolside love has been the best, we have completed a significant amount of physics GCSE homework, Tom kindly explained algebra to the other younger swimmers, we had plenty of maths working out split times. We had some good old fashioned traditional games going on, hangman, squares and some interesting portrait drawing of Freya. Also a team cross word and the ipad and ipod crew.  Alongside the educational activities Matlock proved to be equally as good at dancing as swimming, only thing missing was the two Matthews, Mat Borat twerking and Matthew Williams Choreographing, Eleanor and Lucas lead by example on the YMCA and cha cha slide. Erin excelled in her hairdressing skills, Elisa and Hannah took their first Derbyshire Championships in their strides. To celebrate the finishing of the Derbyshires we walked to McDonalds for a healthy well deserved celebration especially for Abbie and Hannah as this was pretty much a first time experience for them. Obviously we took careful care of the vegetarian requirements, Callum, Toby enjoyed their fish fillets. What did impress us was that there wasn’t a French fry left out of 16 swimmers Matlock swimmers can eat.  We want to thank the parents for their support both on and off poolside. The children have had an absolute ball and reached goals we could only wish for at the beginning of the swimming year. They have excelled. Well done all. On a final note, Gary all 22 swimmers agree with me the Harry Potter glasses are not cool.

Best Girls Performance Derbyshire Champs
Freya Leister – for gaining a personal best time in every event (except one but 50m fly doesn’t count ☺ )

Best Boy Performance Derbyshire Champs
Rory Burch – for transforming into a mini Micheal Phelps .

Well done all
Diane and Gary #proudcoaches

£157 raised for RideforCharlie

After a great evening with the Chimp 4 Charlie we hope you all enjoyed the experience, it was great to do something as a group and be actively involved. I apologise to any parent who would have liked to come, Tim only invited parents 10mins before the start and the space was limited. We had a full room and the children were really engaged. If you take nothing more from the presentation please remember to have fun and work not only hard on the physical aspect of sport but also build the ability to win well and lose well. Charlie Craig had no fear of failure and everything was fun. Be passionate, be focused and talk to your coaches if you need them. We have great kids and talent, however your goals are your own, make them happen. Get yourselves up for morning training, want to be there and SMILE. 

We raised £157.00 any other donations can be added here https://www.rideforcharlie.com/donate/

View photos here.
Photo Credit to Gary McCaffery

Become a spotter and help our swimmers be safe

How would you like to help out when your son/daughter is swimming? You might save a life. Your Life Guard only has 2 eyes and with your help you double his/her vision. How do you do it? Simply, become a Spotter. You will need to attend a short meeting for a briefing on what is expected and you may even get to wear a special T-shirt. If interested please contact Marie Davey via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Gala Information - Derwent League Round 1

After the first round of the Derwert League we want to highlight a few points. The team spirit was great the atmosphere on poolside was a pleasure to be part of with all swimmers encouraging each other. With Lucas Bennett.s energy and dodgey pony tail bouncing around the whole teams mood was on a high.

The swimmers did brilliant with loads of personal best times and some stand out outstanding races. Top 3 swims go to Suzanna Fraiser, 100m fc 1.01 Jamie Everest 1.01 and Finn Everest 100m fc 1.07. We were really pleased with the younger end of the team too, even tho we weren’t winning everything we had a full team and the swimmers gave 100% so Well done everyone. Tom Burch, and Ellen Patton did a sterling job of team captains and kept the younger swimmers in check. The girls prep did involved a lot of hair plating, which I’m sure this made them more hydrodynamic. We came 4^th overall but 3^rd is definitely a goal we need to strive for. If we get 3^rd next time we promise a fun group relay session that you always ask for on a Friday evening.

Areas we can develop as a whole team are

-       Keep the basic rules in mind at ALL times

-       We were DQ for backstroke finishes too often

-       Come with race kit (not baggy training trunks) we don’t expect you to have the latest 300 pound suit, but some well fitted race trunks and costumes are essential. They will make you faster and you will feel faster.

-       Take some spare goggles

-       Wear your club kit

-       Warm up dry side before your race

-       Focus on your changeovers on the relays

-       Go into the race positive

-       Watch the older swimmers, watch other teams

-       Get feedback on your race off the coaches

-       Have a laugh but on the block get serious get focused and concentrate

-       Make sure your attendance at training is high

-       You cant except to perform if you don’t train properly and regularly

-       We all must work harder and be better at dives and turns!!!!

Lets not give away easy points!

Till next time – happy training

Di and Gary