Dear Sir!
We always like to hear from you. To make it easier to get in touch we’ve brought some of our popular letters to the editor feature online. Every month we’ll feature one of the letters that appears in Swimming Times magazine online to allow you to have your say and leave comments on issues that relate to you.
If you would like to submit a letter to appear online and in the magazine please email swimmingtimes@swimming.org or send your letter by post to Swimming Times, SportPark, 3 Oakwood Drive, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3QF.
WONDERFUL SPORT
How good to see that Pat Rowley (May letters) is still interested in swimming albeit he now needs stronger glasses! I was pleased also to read his views on Judy Grinham, who was one of the most unassuming people you could know. If anything she seemed too nice to have that killer instinct. She worked extremely hard with her coach – a greatly underrated coach, Reg Laxton – who was one of the best technical coaches that I ever came across.
Judy inspired all who came into contact with her and I was pleased to see that she is still well and seeing two other greats: Julie Hoyle and Margaret Edwards. Judy, if you read this, please give my regards to Julie - with very fond memories at Loughborough way back in the early ’50s.
Much is said about the north/south divide but with swimmers there is no divide. Some years ago (around 2003), I was coaching Basingstoke masters and had a great relationship with Neil Jackson as he had been coached by a dear friend of mine in the ’50s, Haydn Rigby.
Early one Sunday morning when I was taking Neil in the gym, he gave me Haydn's telephone number and without thinking of the time (around 7am) I rang Haydn and we talked – as though the years hadn't passed – for an hour or so.
When we come across our friends in the sport, we are happy and pleased for them. When our ex-swimmers contact us, it brings back a multitude of good or, in some cases, very sad feelings. I have now lost so many good friends: Mike Geer, Graham Sykes, Graham Symonds and many others. But when you hear, as I did some years ago, from your ex-internationals who want you to write a letter to another swimmer who had reached 50, you realise that the swimmers you coach keep their friendships up for years and, in some cases, become successful coaches themselves.
When you read in the press about your friends, as I did about Athol Still, who was a great friend, motivator and has been a huge success in many fields, you find no jealousy or divide - just pleasure in their success. I could write a book about Athol with many of the things that we did in the ’50s. One of the greats in my life was also Ron Roberts, the Flying Policeman. It was Ron who told me when I was 12 that I should join a club. I kept trying to race him at the Walworth Road baths. In the end, I did as he said and it provided me with a lifetime of pleasure and friendships throughout the country.
So to 2012 and our swim team. When Rebecca won her medals last time, I was recovering from surgery. I don't know her but her success lifted my level of motivation and I felt proud to be in the sport. To see the standard that we have now reached in this country says much for all those who put in the work and to quote one of Athol's sayings: ’A quitter never wins: a winner never quits.. There is no doubt that faith, hard work and courage can achieve miracles.
I have been involved in swimming for 60-plus years and I still work at the International Academy at the NPIA, Bramshill, as a specialist PE adviser. If any of my ex-swimmers or friends read this, I say thanks for the memories and to those participating in the Games - you are willed to win by many who you don't know. Aim high and good luck. May your years of hard work be rewarding, and be aware that you will make friends for life by taking part in this wonderful sport.
David Glasenbury
By email
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