Here are your nominees for the Swim England Sport Innovation Award

The Swim England National Awards 2021 are a chance to recognise and celebrate the incredible spirit of the aquatics community – especially evident during these challenging times.

The awards ceremony will be streamed live on the Swim England Facebook page on Saturday 9 October.

Each day in the run up to the awards, the spotlight will be on the shortlisted nominees for each of the categories.

The nominees for the first award, the Swim England Sport Innovation Award, are:

Elizabeth Fitzgerald/Coaching Team – Denton Artistic Swimming Club (North West Region)

The team from Denton Artistic Swimming Club were quick to adapt to their new training environment at the beginning of the first lockdown in 2020.

They delivered 300 hours of Zoom training over the course of the year, as well as choreographing new routines for two teams and six duets.

Denton also became the first artistic swimming club in the country to deliver Virtual Land Grades.

Lottie Thompson – Cambridge Dive Team (East Region)

Lottie has served the diving community tirelessly at both regional and national level to ensure that the technical side of diving was delivered successfully.

Paying particular attention to detail, showing dedication to the sport and ensuring that training courses were available to potential diving coaches are a selection of the actions taken by Lottie throughout the last 18 months.

Her guidance and motivation have been described as ‘inspirational’.

Alan Thurlow – Wandsworth Swimming Club (London Region)

As chairman of Wandsworth Swimming Club, Alan’s leadership of his club throughout the pandemic has been appreciated by many.

His ongoing commitment to the success of the club and enthusiasm in doing so has led to his nomination for this award.

Electric Eels Swimming & Synchro Club of Windsor (South East Region)

As a club that caters for children and adults with Down Syndrome, Electric Eels saw success during the most difficult of periods.

Swimmers were able to enjoy one-to-one teaching, the club’s membership expanded and beginner swimmers saw steady improvements.

The club, with the help of its volunteers, managed to deliver positive impacts to its members during an extremely difficult time.

Robin Surgeoner – Orion Swimming Club (West Midlands Region)

Robin displayed leadership and dedication to the club and its swimmers in a number of ways throughout the last 18 months.

Zoom fitness classes, land training sessions, quiz nights and an ‘open door’ policy were part of Robin’s approach, which created a supportive and motivating environment within the club.