Crystal Palace Aquatics Beacon programme goes from strength to strength
Out to develop swimming in the London region, Crystal Palace Aquatics Beacon Programme helped 36 of the region's best young swimmers in this year's ASA National Championships in Sheffield and came home with one gold, four silver and three bronze medals as well as a host of semi-final places.
With the aim of raising standards across the sport, the Beacon programme run by Charitable Social Enterprise GLL and the ASA at Crystal Palace National Sports Centre (CPNSC) is now in its third year and growing with more than 25 clubs supporting the programme.
Offering training opportunities and support mechanisms to 160 swimmers from beginner to international performance level, the Crystal Palace Aquatics Beacon programme is led by Ron Philpot, head of aquatics at CPNSC, who has coached athletes through to Olympic Games and was a member of the Great Britain coaching staff for a number of years.
Explains Philpot, "Giving young swimmers the chance to work alongside expert coaches in a range of aquatic disciplines, the Beacon initiative aims to provide a structured training programme to clubs on a local and regional level - using pool facilities and sports science in a single location. Here at Crystal Palace we are different, we are not a swimming club and draw from a wider catchment area, offering a much bigger programme and additional opportunities to talented young swimmers."
Youngsters joining the scheme can simply learn to swim or have the chance to train to international level in swimming; water polo; masters swimming; competitive disability swimming; triathlon and modern pentathlon. Crystal Palace Aquatics currently train 17 swimmers on the performance programme. A recent success story is Susie Rodgers, a 27-year-old paralympic swimmer from London who trains at CPNSC and has competed for the British team. Susie is currently ranked in the top ten swimmers in the world for her S7 category of disability swimming.
Susie, together with other talented swimmers who train on the Beacon programme at CPNSC, is also supported by sporting charity and sponsors of London's Disability Swimming Squad, the GLL Sport Foundation (GSF). The Foundation provides funding and training grants for young athletes who live or train within a London or South East England Borough/District in which GLL or partners manage sport and leisure venues.
Says Susie, "Support from the Foundation helps with buying elite race swimsuits and enables me to compete across the country, helping me towards my ultimate goal: to compete at the 2012 Paralympic Games."
Offering a lasting legacy from the 2012 Olympic Games, Crystal Palace Aquatics aims to have a well established training base in London by 2016.
"Until now, English swimming programmes have varied in standard leading to inconsistencies in opportunities available to young athletes", explains Ron. "Thanks to the Beacon programme, we can offer a real opportunity for potential international swimmers at CPNSC - from 20 plus hours of dedicated pool time training per week in a 50m training pool to tailor made programmes to develop core body strength and cardio options, backed by funding opportunities from the GLL Sport Foundation."
Photograph: Archie Mitchell (right) -Gold in Open Water Championships
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