Swim England Artistic Swimming

The home of artistic swimming in England

ASA holds 2016 synchronised swimming conference

Last month, on the 22 May 2016, the ASA held our 2016 synchronised swimming conference at SportPark in Loughborough, the first one in six years.

The Synchronised Swimming Leadership team hosted the Big Synchro Get Together. The event brought together clubs from across the country and provided workshops and seminars covering competition, awards, judges review, talent and club development. There was something for clubs of all sizes to take away.

The day was a great success, with 55 members representing 27 clubs. This is a third of the total clubs in the country.

The conference was led by Maria Ramos (Chair of the Synchronised Swimming Leadership team) who provided updates on the new team and the five-year strategy for Synchro, including the UK Sport Application.

Seminars at the 2016 synchronised swimming conference

There were another three presentations which were delivered by Karen Thorpe (England Programmes Officer), Hannah Secher (Officials Lead) and Sarah Darragh (National Development Officer for Synchro).

Karen gave an overview of the synchro successes over the past 12 months. She shared insight to the potential beacon structure for synchro in the next funding period 2017/21.

Karen completed her presentation with some top tips for clubs in supporting their athletes in and out of the pool.

Hannah provided a comprehensive update on the completed consultation of the current officials pathway.

This included an in-depth view of the proposed new changes, taking the pathway from 12 levels of officials to a more balanced three levels.

Sarah closed the day with the final presentation around regional developments and focus areas, the new Sport England Strategy and the impact to clubs, highlighting potential changes to be made in the next funding cycle.

The Synchronised Swimming Leadership team hope to build on the day’s success and hold a larger two-day conference next year.

The Big Synchro Get Together 2017 will provide some practical sessions for coaches, a chance for committee members to network and updates for officials within the sport.

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