Page 1

Newsletter June 2015

IN THIS ISSUE

Hello Team Warrender!

Our swimmers and coaches have had

a very busy last few months, and it’s

hard to believe we are half way

through the year, already.

At the British Championships in the

Olympic pool, in London - our

swimmers were very successful:

Dan Wallace won Bronze 400

Free, Silver 200 IM and Gold in the

400 IM and has been selected to

represent Great Britain at the World

Championships in Kazan, in Russia

Craig McNally won Bronze in the

100 Back and Gold in the 200 Back

Lewis Smith is an Honorary

Member of Warrender and had a

very successful British too, where

he won Bronze in the 200 Fly and

400 IM

At other top events Warrender

swimmers again excelled:

Scott Quin – Is about to compete

in the IPC World Champs after

becoming British champion and

British record holder in the 100

breaststroke, at the British IPC

Championships in Glasgow.

Keri-anne Payne has been

selected to represent Britain in the

10K Open Water at the World

Championships

I'd like to also congratulate our Head

Coach Laurel Bailey on her selection

to the coaching team for the World

Championships, and Kris Gilchrist for

his selection to the IPC World

Championships team. Please be sure

to read Laurel’s Head Coach Report in

this newsletter for all our recent

swimming achievements and results.

continued on page 2

From the 13-19th July, the IPC World Championships will be taking place at Tollcross International Swim Centre in Glasgow and our very own Scott Quin will be racing! See page 4 for full details.

A Word from the President

@WarrenderBC @WBC_Water_Polo

Scott Quin at IPC World Championships

DIARY DATE!

Warrender Gentlemen’s Dinner

See page 2 for full details

2014 Commonwealth Games

Warrender Water Polo player, Caitlin

McRobbie represented the Senior

Scotland Ladies team at the EU 8 Nations

which were held in Dublin recently. Read

all about the exciting match on page 3.

Club Volunteer Profile

Warrender’s Child Protection Officers

tell you about their important roles on

page 15.

Page 2

continued from page 1

Our Water Polo and Masters teams are

also going from strength to strength

(more about them in this newsletter too).

We congratulate them all on their

amazing swims and team selections

and wish them every success this

summer.

I’d like to thank everyone who attended

or supported our Warrender Spring

Fling Dinner Dance in May @ the

Waldorf Astoria Caledonian Hotel. It

was a fantastic night enjoyed by all and

great to see so many of our swimmers

and coaches also attending. A big thank

you to Jackie Lawrie and Alison Payne

who helped me to deliver this success

fundraiser for the club, with a special

thank you to the Caledonian Hotel and

Dale McPhee for their generous

support.

Our final fundraiser for this first half of

2015 was our Ladies Afternoon Tea on

Sun 7th June @ the Waldorf Astoria

Caledonian Hotel. Where we had a

super array of Raffle prizes and fun

while raising funds for our swimmers

and the club so thank you for joining us,

and a huge thank to Tara Nicolson for

leading this event which was excellent

and a lovely relaxing afternoon.

One last point - please remember to join

our 126 Lotto Club. This is a great

opportunity for you to win some cash

prizes and raise much needed funds to

support our swimmers. There are prizes

every month so please - join the 126

Lotto Club! Form and info is on our

Website.

I wish you a successful summer of

swimming and relaxing holiday time.

Marjory Verth

President

After nearly 20 successful years,

Malcolm Mathieson has decided to step

down, so we have taken on the

responsibility of organising the Dinner

this year.

The format of the Dinner will be slightly

different, but we seek the support of all

gentlemen, whether a swimmer, coach,

father, water polo player, present or

past member.

Please note the date. Put it in your

diary NOW!

Further information will follow in the

September issue of the newsletter.

Grant Cook, Jim Hill, Ken Richards

Warrender Gentlemen’s Dinner

Apex International Hotel, Edinburgh

Friday 20th November

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We would like to create a Junior Players Panel. The idea is to have a

small group (maybe 4 to 6 people) of our junior players who will engage

with the rest of our juniors and come up with ideas about any possible

improvements that could be made within Warrender Water Polo.

We would like a mixed age group, both boys and girls represented and

also players from Wednesday and Friday training sessions on the panel.

Can anyone interested in joining the Junior Players Panel please let

Duncan MacGregor and Neal Rayner know as soon as possible? We

can then decide on a group that represents as much of the junior section

as possible. This is your opportunity to have a say in how Warrender

Water Polo is run!

New Water Polo Junior Players Panel

Warrender player Caitlin McRobbie represented the Senior Scotland

Ladies team at the EU 8 Nations which were held in Dublin recently. In

their last game - the 5th/6th play off - the Scotland team eventually won

in the most exciting match of the tournament.

Scotland lined up against Denmark, and after full time the game was

level. Scotland eventually won after a tense penalty shoot out, slotting

in two more penalties than the Danes. The only downside to this great

result was a dislocated knee suffered by the Scotland captain Gael

Logan, an ex Warrender player. We wish her a speedy recovery.

Waterpolo News Eva Wins First Cap A huge congratulations to Eva Sigurdardottir

who has been selected to play for the Scotland

Academy team (2002+) in the BWMF Cup

which is being held in Lloret de Mar from 29

August to 2 September 2015. Eva is a player

who has come on massively since she started

training with our Seniors. This first cap is

thoroughly deserved.

GB Training Camp

GB Training Camp, Croatia with Jonathon Roberts third from left

Jonathon Roberts has just returned from a

week long training camp with the rest of the

GB Junior Team in Croatia.

BWMF Cup - Lloret De Mar

Congratulations to the following Warrender

players who have been selected for the

Scotland Junior (2000+) team who will be

competing in the BWMF Cup which is being

held in Lloret de Mar from 2nd to 6th

September: Lewis Barrow, Lewis Pritchett,

Jonathon Roberts, Rhuari Stuart & Adam

Heywood. Manager: Nick Barrow

Scotland Boys Training Camp

Well done to the following Warrender players

who have been selected for a training camp in

Eger, Hungary from 25th - 30th June: Jamie

Heywood, Lewis Pritchett, Lewis Barrow

&Adam Heywood

Coaches Pass Test!

Congratulations to Kerr Young & Greig Young

on passing their UKCC Level 1 Water Polo

Coaching Course.

Caitlin pictured (furthest left)

Caitlin Plays for Scotland in EU 8 Nations

Page 4

Elite Squad

Update

From the 13-19th July, the IPC

World Championships will be taking

place at Tollcross International

Swim Centre in Glasgow. Our very

own Scott Quin will be racing in his

favoured event, the S14 100m

Breaststroke which takes place on

the first day of the competition, the

13th July.

He would love your support, and

tickets can be purchased from

Ticketmaster for the event

(ticketmaster.co.uk).

Quin will also compete in the S14

200 Individual Medley.

IPC World Championships

2015 British

Championships

Nine Warrender swimmers took part in the

2015 British Championships at the London

Aquatic Centre in April. The meet was a

selection meet for the World Championships

which take place this summer in Kazan,

Russia.

Dan Wallace, who trains at the University of

Florida, cemented his place on the World

Championship team when he won the 400

Individual Medley. He also finished second in

the 200 Individual Medley and third in the

400 Freestyle.

Elite Squad swimmer Craig McNally was

crowned British Champion in his main event,

the 200 Backstroke, unfortunately outside

the qualifying team he needed to make the

National team. He took bronze in his

secondary event, the 100 Backstroke.

15 year old George Clough had a mixed

week, with an outstanding 200 Breaststroke

final on Day 1 unfortunately resulting in a

disqualification after a starting infringement.

Despite the disappointment, Clough rallied

and was able to make it through to the Junior

final in the 200 Individual Medley, 400

Individual Medley and 100 Breaststroke

events, where he finished with personal best

times in all swims.

Taylor Finlayson (National Girls) swam a

superb 200 Butterfly on Day 1 of the

Championships, dropping her best time by

three seconds in her first time swimming at

this level.

Swimmers who took part in the meet:

Craig McNally, George Clough, Megan

Briggs, Katie Stark, Emma Chittleburgh,

Niamh Ritchie, Taylor Finlayson, Dan

Wallace (University of Florida) and Life

Member Lewis Smith (University of Stirling).

Chasing a place on yet another

World Championship team, Olympic

silver medallist Keri-anne Payne

travelled to Mexico at the start of

May to take part in the FINA 10km

World Cup event at Cozumel. This

was the final qualification event for

British swimmers vying for a place

on this summer’s World

Championship team, and Payne did

not disappoint, finishing as the

highest placed Brit in a field of over

70 swimmers to cement her place

on the team. It was an incredibly

tough race, with Payne finishing

19th overall.

The 10km event at the World

Championships will take place on

the 28th July in Kazan, Russia. This

will be the first opportunity for

Payne to qualify for next year’s

Olympic Games in Rio; with the Top

10 finishes in Kazan being given

automatic qualification to compete

in Rio!

FINA World Cup – Mexico

Congratulations to National Elite

Squad swimmer Katie Stark who

achieved two consideration times

for the 2015 Commonwealth Youth

Games.

Stark was inside the consideration

times on the 100m and 200m

Freestyle events, an achievement

that only 12 swimmers in Scotland

managed!

2015 Commonwealth

Youth Games

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This year we have seen the

introduction of a new competitive

structure within British Swimming,

resulting in the inaugural British

Summer Championships taking

place from 28 July – 2 August.

Swimmers have had to achieve a

minimum top 24 ranking in the age

group within the qualification period

(13 March – 30 June).

Congratulations to the following

swimmers who have met this

minimum criteria in at least one

event (unofficial as of June 3rd):

Junior National:

Abby Orr

National Boys:

Archie Goodburn, Fraser Allison

National Girls:

Niamh Ritchie, Jess Damen, Katy

Smith, Charlie Cavens, Taylor

Finlayson, Roisin Ramsay, Mhairi

Swanson

National Elite:

Calum Reid, Daniel Lim, Chris Kerr,

Craig McNally, Henry Mackenzie,

George Clough, Scott Quin

Megan Briggs, Emma Chittleburgh,

Katie Stark, Rebecca Smith, Alyshia

McCracken, Kirsty Armstrong

Note from the

Head Coach

With yet another successful season

drawing to a close, I would like to wish

everyone a very happy summer break.

For those of you who are representing

your Club and Country at meets in

Britain and beyond this summer; we

wish you the very best of luck!

The summer schedule will shortly be

circulated, please check your emails

regularly during the summer for any last

minute changes or cancellations.

The normal training schedule for the

2015-16 season will resume from 16th

August, and you will receive any

correspondence during July about

promotions or squad changes (included

confirmation of your coach for the new

season). The final squad reports for this

season will be circulated towards the

end of June.

Laurel Bailey

2015 UK School Games

Congratulations to Mhairi Swanson, Katy Smith,

Kirsty Armstrong, Niamh Ritchie, George

Clough and Jack Harrison, who have all been

selected to represent Scotland East in the 2015 UK

School Games. The Games will take place in

September of this year.

2015 British Summer Championships

2015 Malaysian

Open

National Elite Squad swimmer Daniel

Lim travelled to Kuala Lumpur in April to

race in the 2015 Malaysian Open. After

a long day of travelling and not much

time to recover from the jet lag, Lim was

able to swim personal best times in all

three of the Breaststroke events in which

he took part, cementing himself as the

second fastest breaststroker in the

country!

Page 6

WBC Masters Solid Performance

at Scottish National Masters Six current WBC Masters swimmers

travelled over to Glasgow’s Tollcross

International Swimming Centre to

compete in the Scottish National

Masters event held over 24-25th April

2015 – with a fair success in terms of

medals and also current age group

personal best times.

Alex (“Sandy”) Galletly (WBC Life

Member) led the charge and came back

from a period of illness to compete very

effectively indeed in the 70-74 age

group 200 Free (Gold, 3:22.55 and PB),

200 Back (Gold, 3:53.30 and PB) and

200 Breaststroke (Gold, 4:21.24 and

PB).

Callum McKinlay also won Gold in the

50-54 age group 200m Free on the

Saturday (2:13.74), and came 5th in the

100m Free on the Friday (1:00.12).

Our most prolific commitment was from

Mark Jones (50-54 age group) who saw

an 8th in the 50m Free (28.96), an

8th in the 100m Free (1:04.75), a 4th in

the 200m Free (2:22.51 and PB), a

4th in the 400m Free (5:15.89), a 5th in

the 50m Breaststroke (36.82), and a

7th in the 100m Breaststroke (1:20.95).

Jason Kenney (45-49 age group)

claimed Silver in both his 50m Free

(27:11) and 100m Free events (59:60

and PB).

Phillip Rayson saw the benefit of his

recent training commitment to deliver 35

-39 age group PBs in the 100m IM

(Bronze, 1:10:89 and PB), 100m

Backstroke (Bronze, 1:07:22 and PB)

and 50m Backstroke (Silver, 31.11 and

PB). Phillip also claimed a 7th in the

50m Free (28.12).

Our youngest Master at this event,

Jonathan Borland (25-29yrs), truly

stepped up to claim a Silver in the 50m

Breaststroke (32.68 and PB), Silver in

the 200m Breaststroke (2:54.85 and

PB), a 4th in the 100 IM (1:09.90 and

PB) and a 5th in the 50m Free (26:80

and PB).

Smells Like Team Spirit

There was a sound performance in the

men’s relay events also with Jason,

Jonathan, Phillip and Mark claiming

Silver in the hotly contested X160 age

group Freestyle relay (1:49:56); and

Phillip (Back), Jonathan (Breaststroke),

Mark (Fly) and Jason (Free) narrowly

pushed into Bronze in the X160 age

group IM relay too (2:04:28) despite our

best efforts at sharp takeovers.

Warrender Masters Men’s Relay

Team: L to R: Jonathan

Borland,Jason Kenney, Mark

Jones, Philip Rayson

Page 7

National Girls We are currently at the final stage of

the season with only 8 weeks to go until

the summer meets/holidays! This final

stage is very important as it serves as

the preparation for Scottish Open

Championships at the end of June in

Glasgow and the newly introduced

Scottish and British summer nationals at

the end of July in Edinburgh and

Sheffield respectively.

The good news is that in 4 weeks’ time

we will be training under the sun of

Spain and this will make the hard

training more enjoyable (or less

painful!). Until then, the girls are

required to display their best attitude to

finish off the season successfully.

Finally, we would like to take this

opportunity to thank Niamh Simms for

all her hard work as administrator and

team manager over the past two

seasons. Thanks Niamh, your work is

much appreciated.

Kostas

National Girls having fun… after training hard!

Page 7

Selfie of the Month! National Girls’

Jess Damen and friends

Page 8

Since the previous newsletter that

rounded up the success from Scottish

Age Groups, the squad took a few days

away from the pool to rejuvenate and

get some much needed rest after a long

4 days in Aberdeen. From then, the

competition front has been slightly

quieter, with a small group travelling to

Leeds to experience a new

environment and try to achieve swims

that will put them in the position to

qualify for Summer Nationals.

With an intense schedule that didn’t

allow much time in between swims the

boys produced positive swims coming

away with several top-place finishes.

On the same weekend another small

group took themselves to Bathgate to

swim in the Swim West Lothian Tough

IM meet where again, the swimming on

show was of a high standard with some

setting the benchmark for gaining DRP

times. With the Summer National’s

window approaching quickly, the squad

swam at the East District Grand Prix

where several secured their top place

finishes with some challenging swims,

working on a variety of skills and tactics

that had been developed in training.

Congratulations to all those that have

made qualification for Summer

Nationals.

Looking forward, the squad will have a

quiet June, with competition opportunity

coming at the end of June at the

Scottish Open and then shortly after

travelling to Calella, Spain for our

training camp with the girls. More

information regarding camp

arrangements will be distributed shortly!

As it’s the final newsletter for the

season, can I just take this opportunity

to thank all the swimmers and parents

for their time and effort this season! It’s

been a very welcoming and enjoyable

year with many positives and areas to

keep improving on!

Lana

National Boys Squad with Coach Lana

National Boys

Page 9

Junior Age Group Squad

Well, this has been an incredibly busy,

even hectic few weeks both in and out

of the pool since we started back after

the Easter break. Lots of the Squad

have had a range of other activities from

School and Scout Camps, Dance

Shows, Aqua-thons and a host of

Birthdays to celebrate, including mine –

thanks for the cards and other goodies

by the way! There has of course also

been a load of swimming to deal with as

well, in terms of both Training and

Competition.

Because of the inevitable variation in

attendance over this Cycle, I will not

report in the usual detail on that other

than to say well done to those who have

made all the sessions they could and to

remind everybody that the first and most

important factor in bringing about

improvement is the combination of

Regularity and Frequency of

Attendance. There will be a number of

things which will unavoidably “get in the

way” of that which is why it is so vital to

make sure you are there every time you

possibly can be. That will apply also to

the upcoming Holiday Programme as

well, details of which will be distributed

in the very near future. Please check

this out and let us know when you will

be away so that we can know when to

expect you.

TRAINING & COMPETITION As explained previously, we, the Squad

Coaching Staff decided that because

the Scottish National Age Group

Championships are held every Easter, it

is important that we base our year’s

training Plan starting in May and going

right through until the following March/

April time. We therefore have been

focussing on building more distance into

the training schedules and of course

also in the competitive events we have

been tackling. I know some of you

regard anything over 100 as a

“distance” and are rather reluctant to

“have a go” at these longer swims.

I hope that your recent performances at

the IM Tough and the INCAS Distance

Meets will have helped to change the

way you view these swims. I think you

would all agree that the swims of Finlay

(800 & 1500), Natalie (800 & 400IM)

and Alexandra (800) in particular are

worthy of a special mention in this

regard but really everybody taking part

in these Meets did very well and we

hope you will now take that more

positive attitude back into the next

phase of training. I was quite delighted

when one swimmer came up to me after

one of these weekend Meets and asked

if they could please be entered into the

next available 400 IM event.

At this point, I want to make a very

special mention of Kotryna and Laura

and to thank them both on yours and on

my behalf for their fantastic contribution

to JAG Squad all season of course but

in particular during this latest Cycle

when they have taken on the major

responsibility for setting and delivering

the sessions. In all the many years I

have been involved in coaching, I have

rarely experienced such a positive,

successful and “cooperative”

arrangement. Their joint efforts will

continue throughout the holiday period

and arrangements for the following

Cycle is being finalised by the Club

Head Coach and will be announced

quite soon. Meanwhile Kotryna has

provided the short contribution below to

this Newsletter.

Hammy

‘Many changes have occurred in JAG

since last August and even more after

SNAGS were over. I believe all these

changes proved to be positive after

some very successful swims in SNAGS

in April and the IM Tough Meet in May.

Not to rest on our laurels, our guys

have been working extra hard to further

develop their skills, aerobic capacity

and speed. Lots of hard work continues

in the pool, on the poolside and behind

the scenes with much more to come

during the summer term.

Non-swimming aims

On this occasion, however, I would like

to highlight another important role we

have undertaken in JAG. In other

words, one of our non-swimming aims

is to help all of you to develop socially

and personally by helping to further

enhance your general life and

interpersonal skills. These skills come

through self-reflection; learning the

importance of feedback and analysis;

engaging in effective time

management; coping with setbacks;

planning for performances, to name but

a few.

Even though all these qualities follow

most athletes throughout their careers,

we have put a very specific focus on

these qualities to help young swimmers

to learn how to train and strive for

excellence by undertaking small but

important steps. I hope these valuable

lessons will be taken away to enhance

your performance in swimming and

also in any other sport as well as in

school and in life outside.’

Kotryna

Lana

JAG

Warrender’s new tattoo as modelled by Smith White’s Milly Milne at the recent JAGS meet

Page 10

Our new members who came after

Easter have settled in very well: Robert

Wright, Magnus Rowley, Ella Bennett

and Rebecca Ivens. We said goodbye

to Callum O´Donnel and a very warm

welcome to James Stark.

With three weeks ahead to finish the

end of the competition period, Age

Group Warriors face this last period

with enthusiasm to end with a good

update of PBs. This week and for the

last two weeks, we have been building

stamina and volume, after a 4 week

period of technique work and stroke

development.

Since Easter, Age Group has attended

three competitions. Just after Easter

and, as a good test, we had a

Development Meet on 26th April and

with some swimmers still on holiday,

the Age Groupers still did their job very

well with 71% of success out of 31

swims.

The following weekend, we had the

second round of the Lothian League,

which each swimmer took part in to get

as many points as possible to their

corresponding teams. And our last

competition so far was the IM Tough

Meet, a competition distinguished by

the high level and the massive number

of entries to this meet this year.

Age Group showed their courage and

everyone had really good results. In

total, 83% of personal best time out of

49 swims, 8 medals (3, Thomas

McSkimming and 5, Calum Robb).

Actually, this competition was in the

middle of our last training period which

showed Age Groupers are in good

shape to deal with the last competitions

and perform at the highest level.

Please keep training for our last two

competitions on June 20th -

Aquanaughts and 21st – the

Development Meet.

Best of luck for all our guys and

Warrender at the Lothian League and I

can´t wait to see all of you performing

these last few weeks.

I wish everyone a good summer!

Dani Villaverde

We have just completed a busy spell of

competitions with swimmers at all

levels in the Development squads

attending various competitions with

great success. Hopefully the coaches

will be highlighting details of these.

June is also quite busy and culminates

with the Development Meet to end the

season on Sunday 21st June which it is

hoped you will all be at.

Shortly the Summer Holiday

Programme will be issued and we hope

that you will aim to keep “ticking over”

by attending sessions when you are at

home in order to maintain some fitness.

Basket Carriers Again!

We are delighted that Scottish

Swimming has once again asked

Warrender to supply the Basket

Carriers for the evening finals of the

Scottish Summer Meet from 24th to

26th July at RCP. As this is during the

holidays, we may decide to extend the

invitations to help beyond the JN and

JAG squads who have done this

previously.

Frances

On Changing Room Patrol!

Development Squads Report

Age Group

Page 11

2015 Lothian League Results The final round of the Lothian Leagues has just taken place on

Saturday 6th June and was as exciting as ever! The points results are

all below.

Well done to everyone who played a part in the three rounds; all your

points contributed to the outcome below.

Have a good summer.

Frances ....

Girls 8/9 1

st Warrender 190 Holly, Imogen, Lucy, Emily

2nd

Tranent 161 3rd Warrender B 152 Katrina, Megan, Elli, Abbie

Boys 8/9 1

st Tranent 139

2nd

Warrender 136 David, Owen, Jack, Patrick 3

rd Inverleith 134

Girls 10/11 1

st Warrender B 210 Emily, Grace, Annabel, Lia

2nd

Warrender A 188 Keira, Jess M, Jess P, Sophie 3

rd Hearts 180

(A Team lost some points previously on a ‘Too Fast’ swim)

Boys 10/11 1

st Warrender Sachin, Ollie, Finn, Sam

2nd

Warrender B 236 Siaran,Jonathan,Gabriel,Archie 3

rd Hearts 225

Girls 12/13

1st Warrender 175 Sally, Emily, Ellie, Aoife

2nd

Haddington 170 3

rd Inverleith 164

Boys 12/13 1

st Livingston 126

2nd Warrender B 118 Neil, Calum Rennie, Robert 3rd Warrender A 113 Magnus, Mark, Charlie, Calum Robb (A Team lost points on a Too Fast swim)

Girls 14+ 1

st Hearts 138

2nd

Livingston 132 3

rd Warrender Yesim, Eilidh, Gemma,

Rebecca

Boys 14+ 1

st Hearts

2nd

Inverleith 3

rd equal Livingston & Warrender Sam C, Thomas, Luke,

Sam B

Lothian Leagues: Most of the Gold and Silver medal

winning 10/11 girls teams (From left to right: Keira

Rennie, Emily McEwen, Lia McDonald, Sophie Hoole,

Grace Robertson, Jessica Murray)

Lothian Leagues: Most of the Gold and Silver medal

winning 10/11 boys teams. From left to right:

Sachin Dhaliwell, Ollie de Beaux, Sam Glass, Archie

Tomlinson, Jonathan Marshal, Finn Bremner plus some

of the girls trying to get in on the act!

Page 12

My newest four members of WR

recently took part in The Minnows Meet

at Prestonpans, where already, big

improvements were made and the three

boys were part of the silver medal finish

in the boys 11/12yrs 200m Freestyle

relay. Well done to James Robb,

Gabriel Quinn and Johnathon Cormack

and to Grace Robertson for her great

performances too!

The weekend before The Minnows

Meet was The SWL IM Tough Meet in

Bathgate which attracted a high level of

entries which resulted in some

oversubscribed swims for WR

swimmers but this didn't put my guys off

putting in some fantastic performances

and smashing their personnel best

times! Another big WELL DONE!

This term, in particular, is going really

well with record attendance figures to

all sessions. In particular I would like to

congratulate Grant Smith as, since he

joined WR last August he has a 100%

attendance, missing no sessions!

I'm coming to the end of my first season

coaching at Warrender with Wilkie Red

so would like to thank all my swimmers,

past and present, for your co-operation,

determination and hard work. It's been

a delight and so much fun working with

you all. I look forward to the new

season!

Maxine McLoughlin

Wilkie Red Coach

Myself and Sharon Sorensen (WR

administrator) accompanied the 35

strong Warrender team travelling by

coach to The Duns 500 Meet on

Saturday 6th June. The team was

made up of SW SR & WR swimmers.

James and Andrew, Smith White and

Smith Red coaches, travelled down to

join us for the afternoon session.

Unfortunately we didn't bring The

Trophy back home with us on this

occasion. With a new age group of 14

years & over added to the programme

this year we had a set back from the

start as we had no swimmers, male or

females, entered in to this age group,

which represented a third of the total

points on offer. So to gain a second

place finish to the hosts Duns was a

fantastic result!

We had an extremely high percentage

of personal best times with all

Warrender swimmers fighting hard to

gain a top sixth finish and achieve

points towards our grand total.

Medallists were:

SILVER

Aimee Derighetti 11yr&U 100

Back & 100 Free

Alexander Marasa 12-13yrs 100

Fly

Joshua Rankin 11yr&U 100 IM

James Robb 11yr&U 100 Back,

50 Fly & 100 Free

BRONZE

Archie Sorensen 11yr&U 100

Back & 100 Free

Alexander Marasa 12-13yrs 100

Back

Joshua Rankin 11yr&U 100 Brst

James Robb 11yr&U 100 IM

Thomas Forster 11yr&U 50 Fly

With many more Warrender Swimmers

narrowly missing a podium finish!

Team support was strong with high

spirits. The three squads mixed so well

at the pool and on the coach. It was a

great fun day with all swimmers,

coaches and team manager enjoying

themselves very much, having fun on

the playing field during the lunch

interval and enjoying the BBQ that

Duns put on to finish the day!

Well Done All!

Maxine

DUNS 500 Meet - Sat 6 June

Wilkie Red

‘On changing room patrol’! Maxine with Wilkie Red’s Lachlan White at Forresters.

Page 13

Firstly, apologies from me that there

was no report for April.

Secondly, on Sunday 19th April we

welcomed five new swimmers to the

squad - namely Cenk Akan, Imogen

Bassett, Simon Khan, Phoebe MacKay

and Amy Thorn. We waved goodbye

and best wishes to even better

swimming in Wilkie Red to the following

- Jonathan Cormack, Gabriel Quinn,

James Robb and Grace Robertson.

In the Development Meet of 26/4/15, we

had about 18 out of 23 swimmers

swimming and everybody swam the 100

Fly and all swimmers showed great

effort despite a few who still lack the

dolphin kick to ride on top of the water.

At the same time it was a debut swim

for nearly half the squad. Rebecca

Shulman deserves a wee mention for 3

PBs in her three swims and

her 1:36 was perhaps still her best swim

to date (and she’ll tell you the amount of

a PB it was).

In competition again we were the only

Warrender Squad to compete in

the Midlothian Minnows in which we

entered 16 swimmers of the present

squad and the above 4 promoted to

Wilkie.

In the morning session we had 4

swimmers - Olivia Mason, Katherine

Cockburn, Evie Wright and Adam

Ritchie. Poor Adam was left mainly on

his own whilst the 3 girls were chatting

away like a house on fire whilst

disappearing off to marshalling every 30

minutes or so. But all 3 girls swam well

on Fly and the other 3 swims were more

of a mix. Adam Ritchie had no doubt

saved his breath and swam a very

steady 54 secs in the 50 Breast to get a

Bronze Medal even though it’s a

certainty to me that he would have

preferred to win a medal in Freestyle.

At the afternoon session of the Minnows

meet, the coach - who has already

owned up to Frances – made the

amateur oversight of not having

poolside help whatsoever for our 16

swimmers. This even number seemed

ideal for 2 relay teams - 8 girls and 8

boys – perfect, you would have thought.

In a nutshell no because Molly

McKernan damaged her shoulder during

the girls warm up and could not

compete. Then Tameem Somalya

arrived just as the warm up began but

with a big strapping on his ankle which

he sprained the day before - so no

Breast and Fly 50 swims for him.

And to cap it all another young swimmer

appeared on poolside during the warm

up to mutter quietly that dad had got a

bit lost getting to the Meet (Mercat

Centre, Prestonpans).

Alas the 50 Free was probably the best

swim of the day for most. Space here is

limited for all names in the relays. But in

the 4x50 Free Relay the

boys swam 2:28 (2nd out of 3

teams) and the girls swam 2:38(5th out

of 6).

More next month on the swimmer of the

month for both May and June. Also a

wee report on the long day out but very

popular trip to the Duns Meet on 6/6/15.

Oh yes and how we are all going to

perform well in the last Development

Meet on 21/6/15 especially with the

coach’s insistence that everybody’s

capable and thus up for a top 200 Free

Swim.

Yours Aye in Best Swimming and in

getting poolside help next time,

Andrew

It is with a mixture of joy, excitement

and sorrow that I will be leaving

Warrender at the end of the month to

take up a teaching post in Bangkok.

Since the inception of Smith White I

have coached a squad with multiple

personalities, each and every swimmer

brought their bit to the squad. I have

fond memories of Friday Swim Songs,

scrap books with unusual images and

elaborate stories within them, hundreds

of nicknames (for this I must apologise

to many parents - especially those

who’ve acquired custom hoodies), the

chatty squad, the silly squad, the

competitive squad and many variations

in-between.

I would like to say a big thank you to all

the parents that have helped with my

squad over the years - we couldn’t do it

without you. I would also like to thank

the swimmers for turning up to as many

sessions as they could and working

their very hardest.

I hope that all the swimmers that I have

worked with remember my simple rule

to life - whatever you do it should be

fun! It is for this very simple reason

that I have coached with Warrender for

so many years and it is also for this

very reason that I must make the move

abroad for a few years to face new

challenges!

I will deeply miss all of the swimmers

that I have coached over the years. I

will be keeping track of results and will

be keeping in touch to hear of

successes. Maybe one day Warrender

can run an excursion to Bangkok to

compete against my future swimmers.

Best wishes and fond memories,

James

Smith White - Farewell from James

Smith Red

Farewell to James from Smith White!

Page 14

Benson Red

Hi All,

Firstly I want to apologise for not having said anything

in the last newsletter as I was finishing up my Honours

project for University. However now that it is

completed I can now finally update you all.

I would like to give a warm welcome to the new

swimmers in Benson Red: Anna McCallum, Anna B,

Finlay, Zoe, Natasha and Rosie. I hope you all enjoy

Benson Red and look forward to seeing some good

results from you all and good sessions.

I am pleased with the majority of the swimmers in the

squad with attendance and want you all to keep up the

good work. However there are a few swimmers that

aren’t at many sessions and I would like you to

increase this slightly (you know who you are!).

Ryan

What a year it has been for Benson White! All

swimmers should be extremely proud of their

achievements! We have seen consistent

improvements from all swimmers at the Development

Meets and success at the Fauldhouse Meet (2014)

and Hearts Meet (2015).

The squad has a great, positive attitude towards

swimming and I look forward to seeing you all back in

August. Remember to attend as many sessions over

the summer break as possible because this will help

you tremendously when normal training resumes

August. Well done and have a great summer!

Lucy

Benson White

Benson Blue

I can't believe that I am fast approaching the end of my

first season as the coach of Benson Blue. It's been a

fantastic year so far, and I've loved seeing the

improvements that can be made from one competition to

the next (sometimes, from one training session to the

next!).

It's great to see how each new intake of swimmers is

welcomed into the group, and it's been lovely having

Ellie, Darcy, Katie, Sarah, Sophie, Poppy, Abbi, Matthew

and Douglas settle into the group since joining at Easter.

As you can see, Benson Blue welcomed a particularly big

intake for the final term, and the progress made by the

group has been amazing! We have a lot of fun at training

(...sometimes too much!), and it is an absolute pleasure

to be the coach.

This term the swimmers have spent a lot of time and

energy focussing on leg kicking in training. The results

have been visible- especially on breaststroke, and I really

think racing performances will benefit as a result. With

the Lothian League final, and the concluding

Development meet of the season at the end of June, I

cannot wait to see the results of all of the swimmers' hard

work.

During the summer term, the swimmers had the

opportunity to compete in the Hearts Novice meet (in

addition to April's Development meet). This was a

fantastic day for Benson Blue, with countless personal

best times, and another great opportunity to obtain race

experience. A huge congratulations to Jenny, Abbie, and

Isaac who all came away with medals for their

performances, and it was great to see some of the old

Benson Blue swimmers swimming fast too (.. that's you

Emily, Nikita, and Lucy!!).

It's been a fantastic year, and it will be exciting to see

what the next season holds for Benson Blue!

Sarah

Assistance from Ryden Warrender is grateful to Ryden for assisting with the

production of the newsletter.

Ryden is the largest independent commercial property

advisor in the North of the UK with six offices, 35 partners

and around 110 staff. Ryden’s primary business is advising

on commercial and business property, offering a complete

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ryden.co.uk

Page 15

CHILD PROTECTION

Catriona writes “I am the parent of two

swimmers, Benjo, who swims in

National Boys, and Hana who swims in

Elite. We joined Warrender in 2009

having moved to Edinburgh. Little did

we know how involved we would

become in the world of swimming!

I began volunteering with the Club

shortly after we came, initially

timekeeping, and occasionally helping

out with the Club shop. I found I was

not very good at timekeeping, both the

maths and the fact I am very right-

handed caused me some stress! I

opted instead to take on the shop full

time, a role I have now carried for 4

years.

As a Social Worker in my day job, when

the role of Child Protection Officer

became vacant two years ago it

seemed a natural thing to take on this

responsibility. At the time legislative

changes were beginning to impact, the

disclosure system was being replaced

by the ‘PVG’, and there was a

considerable amount of work to be

done to transfer all those with

responsibility for children within the club

to the new system.

We are now towards the end of this

transition, and the Club is in a much

better position with all coaches, office

bearers and most volunteers having

undergone the required checks.

Policies and procedures have also been

updated, and this has been a team

effort, with Jenn McLeod who works in

the office playing a key role in keeping

us all to task.”

Adrian writes: “I became involved with

Warrender seven years ago when my

daughter Megan joined the club and

she currently swims with National Girls.

My wife Jackie and I realised very early

on how critical it is for parents to help

the club and we have both volunteered

over the years - occupying a number of

roles ranging from Swimming Technical

Officials, Jackie as Team Manager and

me as Team Driver.

I was a police officer for 37 years and

retired as a Detective Chief Inspector in

March 2014. Most of my service was

spent in the CID and for the last 15

years I specialised in Child and Adult

Protection and was a member of

several local Child Protection

Committees and Scottish Government

groups.”

As Child Protection Officers Adrian and

Catriona have responsibility to provide

advice and assistance when concerns

are raised. We regularly speak with

Scottish Swimming Child Protection

Lead Officers to ensure that the Club is

fully compliant and up-to-date regarding

our policies and procedures. Keeping

children and young people safe is

everyone’s job and it is a team effort we

all have a part in. Catriona and Adrian

both hope that if any swimmer and/or

their parents have any concerns

regarding the safety or wellbeing of any

child or young person they will get in

touch with us so that we can see if

anything needs to be done.

We also sit on the Management

Committee. We could not do our jobs

without the cooperation of all those

involved in supervising children within

the club. From 1 November 2015 it will

be an offence to use volunteers who

have not completed the relevant

checks.

Club Volunteer Profile Warrender Baths Club has over 350 swimmers, many of whom are under 18 years old. Making sure they are all safe and able to swim in a supportive environment is a priority. Warrender’s Child Protection Officers, Adrian Lawrie and Catriona MacKenzie play a key role in ensuring this is the case.

Warrender’s Child Protection Officer, Adrian Lawrie

How you can help Both Adrian and Catriona have

enjoyed volunteering with

Warrender. It has provided many

opportunities to meet people, learn

a lot more about swimming and

make some good friends. The club

needs volunteers; it could not run

without them. So if you feel like

helping out with the children in the

club, coaching, marshalling, acting

as team manager or any other

similar role please get in touch and

we can begin the relevant checks.

Finally if you do want to contact us

our details are on the Club website,

just click on the banner “about us”

and choose “roles” from the drop

down menu.

Page 16

The happy group to the right are

some of the swimmers of the 50s /

60s decades who have joined the

Warrender Association since it was

formed two years ago and who met

recently for an informal lunch at the

Cafe Royal Circle Bar.

Two of those attending were

Frances Smith (nee Johnston) and

Jim Hill who were Scottish

Internationalists together in 1958-

60, Frances being Scottish Ladies

100yds Backstroke Champion and

Jim, Scottish Mens’ 100yds

Freestyle Champion in 1959.

Frances and Jim

From left to right: Dugald McIntyre, Frances Smith, Stuart Strong, Jim Hill, Flora Speirs, Helen Murray, Norma Paterson,

Grant Cook, Ian Martin Front: Ken Richards, Norma Allan

Warrender Association – A Member for Life

Decades 1950 & 1960

We hope that even more will attend our

next get-together, in the Autumn. Also

that we may hear of news from the

later decades, in the next issue of

Warrender News.

The aim of the Warrender Association,

‘WA’, is to bring together Club

members, past and present, supporters

and friends of the Club wherever they

are in the world, through social media,

e mail, a WA page in the Warrender

Newsletter and through social

gatherings, so that contact can be

renewed, maintained and shared.

Many will remember the 125 Gala

Decade event at the Royal

Commonwealth Pool, followed by the

inaugural get-together when Charlie

Raeburn talked of his vision for The

Association.

If you would like to be kept in touch,

you can join by visiting the Club

website www.swimwarrender.com,

where you will find an immediate link to

the online Warrender Association

application form.

Best wishes

Grant Cook granttcook@aol.com

Dugald McIntyre dugaldmci@aol.com