THE development and delivery of aquatics across Aberdeen/Aberdeenshire is in safe hands with over 500 places on over 40 courses and workshops filled during Scottish Swimming’s Regional Training Week held in partnership with Aberdeen Sports Village from 19th to 27th April.
The purpose of the week was to provide opportunities for everyone involved in aquatics to gain additional knowledge, skills and qualifications, support the development of stronger, sustainable clubs and ultimately build a quality workforce of teachers and coaches ready for capacity building that the legacy from the forthcoming Commonwealth Games will inevitably leave, and according to Sean Dawson, Scottish Swimming regional swimming development manager for the region, the outcomes were achieved.
Sean said: “It has been a fantastic week. Feedback from the tutors and participants has been excellent and I am confident that new knowledge and skills learned over the course of the week will be shared within the large network of clubs as well as Learn to Swim schemes all across Aberdeenshire.
“There’s a renewed buzz amongst the aquatics community up here and the fantastic facilities at the new Aquatics Centre has played a significant part in that.
“The last few weeks has seen a hugely successful Commonwealth Water Polo Championships and a Scottish Masters Championships at the venue and this training week has been organised at the right time, just ahead of the public opening and facilitated by a great team of people.”
With the centre boasting of a 25m pool with full floating floor and full diving facilities including springboards and platforms up to 10m as well as a 50m ten-lane pool, this sentiment was echoed by one of the participants, Rosie Hardwick, who attended a UKCC Level 1 Coaching Diving course.
She said: “The facilities are fantastic and I’m looking forward to passing on my new diving knowledge to youngsters across Aberdeen who until now have not had the opportunity to learn to dive because of the lack of facilities.
“I really enjoyed the mix of classroom based and practical pool based learning and thought Vicki [course tutor] was very engaging and her delivery of the course first class.”
Orla Adams, who swims with local here Hannah Miley at Garioch, and is now working at the Aquatics Centre was very enthusiastic about what she had learned, and said: “It has been great and I’ve learned so much. While I have some knowledge from swimming, being trained in how to teach has really opened my eyes to so much more.
“I’ve just attended a course on teaching adults how to swim and things I may have taken for granted in terms of getting in the water, I now realise are a real issue to people, such as overcoming fear. I’m really looking forward to taking this further.”
The Regional Training Week in Aberdeen was the first in a series to be run across the country, and details of other Regional Training Weeks will be announced shortly.
To find out more about Scottish Swimming, please go to the Scottish Swimming website: http://www.scottishswimming.com/
To find out more the North Regional Training Week in Aberdeen go to: http://www.scottishswimming.com/news-events/events/2014/north-regional-training-week.aspx
To view pictures from the week, go to Scottish Swimming’s Flickr Album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/scottishswimming/sets/72157644154993674/
To listen to soundcloud interviews from tutors, participants and organisers, go to Scottish Swimming’s Soundcloud Page: https://soundcloud.com/scottishswimming/sets/north-district-regional
ENDS
For more information please contact Kirsten Phillips, marketing communications manager, Scottish Swimming on 07730 661788 or k.phillips@scottishswimming.com
About Scottish Swimming
Scottish Swimming is the national governing body for swimming in Scotland. Scottish Swimming represents our clubs, swim schools, aquatic disciplines, athletes, coaches and thousands of talented and committed volunteers across the entire swimmer pathway. We are focused on delivering in the following key areas to reach our vision to ensure that everyone can swim: learn to swim, participation in aquatic activities, club development, coaching partnerships and performance.
For more information please visit www.scottishswimming.com
About Aberdeen Sports Village
Aberdeen Sports Village is the premier sports facility in the North East of Scotland and home to an array of first class sporting facilities and events. The eagerly anticipated Olympic standard £22 million Aquatics Centre is due to open Spring 2014 and it includes a ten lane 50 metre pool and a 25 metre pool with full elite diving facilities which will be used by both world-class athletes and the local community. ASV aims to deliver high quality sports services and opportunities for all at the home of sport in the North East. The facility, which opened in 2009, is the result of a joint venture by funding partners the University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen City Council and sportscotland.
For more information, please visit www.aberdeensportsvillage.com
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Contact: Markus Stitz
Email: m.stitz@scottishswimming.com
