JAY COMPETES IN THE BRITISH INTERNATIONAL DISABILITY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Jay McCabe, age 11, took part in the British International Disability Championships for the second time, held in the 50m pool at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.

The Championships were attended by many London 2012 Paralympians including Ellie Simmonds and Josef Craig. Competitors of a wide range of ages travelled to Sheffield from as far away as Germany, Italy, Greece, Hungary, Lebanon, Iceland and Scandinavia to compete. British Swimming was using the event as Trials for the 2013 IPC (International Paralympic Committee) World Championships to be held in Montreal. It was a great experience for Jay to be rubbing shoulders with these world class swimmers and to learn from watching them compete.

Jay took part in 5 events – 50m and 100m Freestyle, 100m Breaststroke, 100m Backstroke and 200m Individual Medley. She once more produced a 100% Long Course PB success rate.

See more details in the gala report.

JADE COOK QUALIFIES FOR NATIONALS

On 11th April 2013 William Smith and Jade Cook competed at the Scottish National Age Group Championships held in the newly refurbished Royal Commonwealth Pool in Edinburgh.

In the heats of 100m Butterfly William Smith (13)  qualified in 8th place for the final with a great PB of 1:08.19, and Jade Cook (13) followed his lead by also producing a great PB of 1:20.15 in her heat, finishing 6th to make the final.

The finals were swum in the evening session in front of a full house at the 50m pool, which was built for the Commonwealth Games of 1970 and will host the diving events of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. William has been struggling to train recently because of a slight issue with his back. Despite this he again swam faster in the final than the heats and produced another PB of 1:07.64 to come 8th.

Jade Cook was hoping to achieve her qualifying time for the National Age Groups in the heats and just missed out by 0.19 and therefore pressure was definitely mounting as the final approached. A fabulous first length of 37.08 and a solid turn enabled Jade to finish 5th with a fabulous time of 1:19.61. This is Jade’s first National Qualifying Time and big congratulations to her from the Head Coach. Glen Fenby is delighted that we now have a second qualifier for the Nationals. It demonstrates that we are definitely continuing to move forward.

RUBBING SHOULDERS WITH
LONDON 2012 PARALYMPIANS

Jay McCabe swam in the inaugural British Gas International Swimming Meet held in Leeds on 7-10 March 2013, and attended by many of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic swimmers. She was thrilled to race in the same event as Paralympian Eleanor Simmonds and to gain experience of competing at such high level.

THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Jay McCabe with coach Jeff Stevenson
Photo: Jill Brewster

Just days before her 11th birthday, DASC swimmer Jay McCabe competed at the National Short Course Junior and Youth Disability Championships at Ponds Forge Pool in Sheffield on 2nd March 2013. She represented the North-East Region and was also accompanied by her DASC Coach, Jeff Stevenson.

Jay competed in the 10-13 agegroup, with results being ranked according to the British Disability Points awarded for each swim, and medals being awarded for each year group.

In one busy day of racing Jay swam in 7 events, recorded 7 PB times and won 7 gold medals. Definitely a magnificent achievement in this prestigious event.

The first race of the morning was the 50m Fly resulting in a 4 second PB time of 45.59. Next up was the 50m Breast, another 4 second PB time of 51.72. 100m Freestyle quickly followed and a 6 second PB time of 1.27.65 resulted. Final race of the morning was the 200m IM. This time a 22 second PB of 3.32.03 was Jay’s reward. 

The afternoon session started with the 50m Back and a 2 second PB of 47.74 resulted. The 100m IM was next and another 4 second PB time of 1.39.31. The final race of the day was the 100m Breast and yet another PB time of 1.54.55 taking 1 second off her previous best. In this event Jay scored the most points of any 10-13 year old swimmer in it.

A2 Squad Coach Jeff said, “Jay has been working hard in training, attending most sessions and at galas, she is putting into practice everything that we have been working on. Her attitude this weekend was excellent, very focused and I could barely fault any of the seven swims. On the Sunday morning she turned out for the Junior League team and swam very well in two relays. In the afternoon she was at the training session.”

CONGRATULATIONS TO JAY 

THE HEADLINES FROM N&D CHAMPIONSHIPS

Some of DASC's N&D Swimmers 2013
Photo: Jill Brewster

WEEKEND 1 2&3 FEB 2013

MEDALS FOR WILL AND HANNAH


In the BAGCAT events Will Smith (13) convincingly won the 100m Butterfly title.He set a new Long Course PB in the heats and managed to match his time exactly to the hundredth of a second in the final! He finished 8th in 200m IM final in another PB, 10th in 100m Breaststroke, and withdrew from the 200m Freestyle final to conserve his energies for his Fly swim.

Hannah Briggs’s (13) recent impressive improvement on Backstroke earned her a silver medal in 100m just missing out on the gold by 0.03 seconds, but she achieved a fabulous PB time and an NER qualifying time. She also came 9th in 200m Backstroke final with another good PB in the heat swim.

Click here for full gala report

WEEKEND 2 16&17 FEB 2013

5 MEDALS, 10 FINALISTS and 1 NATIONAL QUALIFYING TIME FOR DASC

19 swimmers from DASC travelled to Sunderland for the second weekend of the N&D Championships, hoping to repeat the success of the previous visit. By the end of the weekend they had surpassed it, with three swimmers winning gold, 2 silvers and 2 bronzes between them, 7 swimmers reaching 10 finals between them, and our first National Qualifying time of the 2012-13 season. No wonder Head Coach, Glen Fenby, was grinning widely by the end of it!

Will Smith(13) dominated the 200m Butterfly event with a superb heat swim to achieve a qualifying time for the National Championships with 2 seconds to spare, and a PB, and another great swim to win the final. He also clocked up an excellent time to win a silver in 100m Freestyle event getting ever closer to breaking the one minute barrier with an excellent 1.00.90. He currently lies 4th in the BAGCAT Points Totals with one weekend to go.

After swimming in both the Open Breaststroke events in the first N&D weekend as a practice run, Jade Cook (12) competed in the BAGCAT versions this weekend against some very tough opposition. Jade swam brilliantly over both distances, setting PB times in the heats and going on to swim yet faster in the finals. She came 3rd in the 200m just over a second behind the City of Newcastle winner who recorded a N&D Championship Best Time for the event. In the 100m event Jade swam a hugely determined rest to finish second by less than 0.2 second from her Derwentside rival who also recorded a N&D Championship Best Time. In this event Jade is getting closer to her first National Qualifying time with just 0.68 second still to find.

Click here for full gala report

Weekend 3  9&10 March 2013

AN EXCELLENT DISPLAY OF SPRINTING
EARNS DASC ANOTHER 5 N&D MEDALS

Following on from two very successful weekends at the N&D Championships in Sunderland in February, DASC were out in force for the third and final weekend of the series for the newly introduced 50m events for all ages. 22 of our swimmers took to the water, with several other qualifiers choosing not to enter these events. Given the excellent performances which the team achieved, it was perhaps a gala not to be missed! We finished the weekend with a great haul of 5 medals and 23 finalists. It was smiles all round for the swimmers, parents and Head Coach.

Jade Cook (12) continued to improve her Breaststroke swimming, excelling by winning the gold medal in the 50m Breaststroke event, to complete a hat-trick of medals, one of each colour, in the three Breaststroke events. Not only that, she was also fast enough to qualify for the Women’s Open final, a few races later, finishing in 7th place against swimmers considerably older than she is. Jade also produced PB times in all of the other 50m events and was 7th in the Butterfly final.

Will Smith (13) made finals in all four 50m events, winning another two silver medals in the Freestyle and Butterfly events to add to his previous tally of three medals. He lost out on the gold in the butterfly by only 0.13 seconds but did achieve an Open NER qualifying time in it. He also came 8th in the other two finals.

Chloe Oliver (11) swam very well to win a silver medal in the 50m Butterfly to add to her previous bronze in the 100m Butterfly. Nathan Warwick (10) sprinted to a wonderful silver medal in the 50m Freestyle event and was first reserve for the Backstroke final.

Click here for full gala report.

DASC ACHIEVEMENTS RECOGNISED
AT DARLINGTON SPORTS AWARDS EVENING

                                                    Photo from Northern Echo website

The Grand Final of the 2012/13 Darlington Sports Winners' Scheme was held at Darlington College on 30 January. The Mayor and Mayoress of Darlington attended to present sporting awards in several different categories to  young people and their teachers and coaches.

The Young Sports Achiever Under 13 award went to A2 squad swimmer Jay McCabe, with Emily Bearpark from our diving section as the runner-up in the same catgory. Our 2012 Diddy League team won the Team of the Year 13-19 years.

DASC swimmers were also part of the Hummersknott Cycling team who cycled the length of the British Isles last summer and were awarded the Mulheim Trophy. 

DASC SWIMMERS COMPETE AT REGIONAL LEVEL

l to r: Jade Cook, Adam Howell, Chloe Oliver, Will Smith, Nathan Warwick
Missing from photo: Alana Prior, Hannah Sharp

Photo by Lee Brewster

The North-East Regional Championships were held at Sunderland on 1&2 December, with both the Senior/Junior Championships and the BAGCAT (Age Group) Championships happening simultaneously at opposite ends of the 50m pool. These Short Course Championships attract some of the best swimmers from all over the North-East of England and there was some very fast swimming in many events.

In all, 12 DASC swimmers had achieved NER qualifying times, but because of various other commitments, five of these were unable to attend. However the other seven DASC swimmers represented the club with great determination and produced a wonderful set of results between them.

JAY WINS MEDALS AT NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS

Jay McCabe swimming for the North Eastern Region, competed at the Disability Swimming Events (DSE) National Short Course Championships held at Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield on 24 & 25 November. This event attracted twenty of the Paralympian swimming medallists from London 2012

Medals in these Championships were awarded by Disability Classification Category only, and took no account of the age of the swimmers. Jay, aged 10, was one of the very youngest competitors at the Championships and was swimming against much older swimmers throughout the weekend. So for Jay to take 2 Golds, 2 Silvers and 1 Bronze from six individual events is an excellent performance. Throw in the Gold medal for the team relay and a British Record to boot. Not a bad weekend’s work!

See Gala Reports and Results page for more details.

Photo to follow

PYJAMA SWIM at CLUB NIGHT
for BBC CHILDREN in NEED

Photos: Lee Brewster

DASC swimmers held a Pyjama Swim to raise money for BBC Children In Need.

Alfie Elliott (age 10 in A2 squad) and his sister Maisie (age 12 in A1 squad) came up with the idea, and organised the event with help from their mum Tracey.

Swimmers from all 8 of DASC’s squads took part during their Tuesday Club Night training session at the Dolphin Centre, swimming up to half a mile in their pyjamas. They were invited to donate £1 each for the charity. The total raised was £186.42

There was an amazing assortment of nightwear worn in the pool. The coaches thought the extra drag provided some great endurance training for their squads. Several swimmers were heard to comment on how hard it was, but good fun was had by all while raising a great total.

Well done to Alfie and Maisie.

DASC LAND TRAINING COACH
IN BIG DEMAND

Shane Hassall, who puts our swimmers through a weekly land training session on Sundays at the Dolphin Centre, is now working with Teesside University as a Strength & Conditioning Coach. Through them he is also working with Middlesborough Ladies FC, Grangetown Netball Team (in the Top 5 club teams in England), Teesside University's elite athletes (including GB athletes) and a number of other associated teams.

Shane has  also just been accepted on a  BASES (British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences) Supervised Experience, which will lead to  BASES accreditation.  He will also shortly be sitting his UKSCA (UK Sports and Conditioning Association) exam.

DASC DIDDY LEAGUE TEAM 2012 WIN  DARLINGTON YOUNG SPORTS WINNERS AWARD.

Photo: Lee Brewster


Congratulations to the DASC Diddy League 2012 team for winning The Team/Club Award in the Under 13s category at the Darlington Young Sports Winners’ Awards October Presentation held at Hummersknott Academy.

 The Mayor Of Darlington, Councillor Paul Baldwin, and his wife, Kim, were Guests of Honour at the event and presented the team with a trophy and each member of it with a medal.

Well done for a great turnout by the swimmers, looking very much a team in their DASC gear, and also to their supportive parents. Thank you to Glen for nominating the team for the award and for all the coaches for their part in coaching the team to achieve their Diddy League victory and promotion. It is great to have the success recognised in the town.

Congratulations also to DASC diver Emily Bearpark for winning The Young Sports Achiever Award in the Under 13s category. It was noticeable that there were several DASC swimmers also nominated as members of other teams, notably by Hummersknott Academy and Carmel College .