Regional Games 2023
Thanks must go to the Regional staffing team who supported our athletes throughout the training programme and at the Regional Games:
Head Coach: Tegan Smith (COB)
Assistant Coach: Izzy Watkins (Walsall)
Team Managers: Lisa Watkins (Walsall), Alison Ravenhall (Rugby)
Our team did fantastically at the recent Games and we are so pleased to share the following report with you:
Land Routine place: 1st (7 points)
Relay place: 1st (7 points)
Figure average place: 1st (7 points)
Region total points: 21/21 (5 points ahead of second place region)
Figure overview:
The top 8 scores for the region (see above) were used to make the average, of which allowed us to score 55.7504, 0.9296 ahead of the second-placed region in the figure competition (London). The competition was for 15-unders, and so even the 12-unders had to compete with 13-15 figures against the best in the country. The girls have been working incredibly hard at regional training and at club on learning and perfecting these new elements throughout the year, and they put in an excellent performance at the games, with the highlight being Imogen Sutton coming second out of the multi-regional swimmers. It was great experience, and everyone gained lots of insight into competing at a national level.
The England Youth team also competed in figures, 3 of which were from the Midlands region: Alyssa Anderson, Tyra Watson, and Lola Huett- all 3 of whom have been in the regional squad before: Alyssa and Lola in 2022, and Tyra in 2021.
Seeing the progression that the regional squad training can allow swimmers to achieve was very inspiring for the 2023 squad members, many of whom are aiming for a place on the national youth team in 2024. This inspiration was added to even more so when the swimmers got to watch the GB youth and senior team perform their routines during the display.
Land Routine: (Imogen R, Keva, Frankie, Judyta):
Doing well in the land routine was a big goal of ours this year, having won the land routine category at the 2022 regional games- we felt the pressure to deliver the winning standard again, and really wanted to retain our title; henceforth, when we were announced as the winners for the second year running, we were ecstatic! We had to film this routine during one of our training sessions at Rugby and submit our entry before the in-person competition. The video was then judged by qualified artistic swimming judges, with the results released at the games. The routine consisted of strength and flexibility moves, along with elements of gymnastics to signify the importance of land training in artistic swimming, and to ready swimmers for the application of their strength and flexibility in the water as well as the newly-introduced acro routine that is now a team category in the junior and senior age groups.
During the training session, Tegan had 7 swimmers learn the land routine, and she interchanged the girls in different positions to ensure that she had chosen the most well-suited athletes- and therefore the best results that she could. It was enjoyable working on the land routine as the girls applied themselves very well and made their own suggestions when it came to the improvised balances sections of the routine. It was a hard session as Tegan made them repeatedly do the routine over and over again to ensure perfect synchronisation, extension, placing, and accuracy, but we can all agree that it was definitely worth it in the end.
Relay: (Order: Imogen R, Keva, Chloe, Imogen S, Lillian, Molly, Sarwin, Elizabeth):
The relay element of the competition was arguably the most stressful part of the day and the week leading up to the games; Frankie Klym was originally meant to swim, but a week before the competition, she broke her ankle, and we had to make a last-minute change to the start list by putting Chloe Bartholomew in. We were saddened by the fact that one of our swimmers was injured and unable to compete, but Chloe stepped up to the plate and was a valued member of the winning relay team.
The order was collectively decided by Izzy and Tegan, and their tactics were to finish with their fastest and oldest swimmer, and to start with their second-fastest older swimmer, and then mix it up in the middle. The 8 chosen to swim were decided by the rules of the games: you needed to show age variation within the team from ages 11-15, with as close to 2 per each age- or as close to, to the best of your ability, and the places were given based off 50m sprint times achieved in squad trials back in January 2023, as well as relay practices and speed swimming training undertaken at regional training days.
When it came to the relay competing, it was so, so exciting for everyone to watch! The Midlands finished their first leg in 3rd place, with all of the teams very close together, and then as the lengths went on, we slowly pulled away, and for the last 4 swimmers we were neck and neck with South-East region. The South-East really pushed us and were great competitors. From the side-lines and the audience, the excitement grew, and we really felt part of a team with great camaraderie, despite us originally being from 3 different home clubs; the South-East put in a great fight at the end, but we managed to pull away into first by Sarwin, and then Elizabeth pulled away that bit more and maintained our lead, giving us an exceptionally strong finish.
Tegan, Izzy, and the rest of the team were so proud watching on, and we all really got caught up in the atmosphere of the relay.
Elizabeth (Walsall), the finishing swimmer of the winning relay, had this to say:
‘As soon as I touched the wall and heard everyone cheering, I knew we’d done it. All the hard work really paid off and it was great to come away with the best possible result. Representing the region and winning was a feeling I’ll never forget.’
Winning overall:
Being crowned the winner of the games was such an amazing achievement and feeling for all of us there- this was strengthened by the fact that the region finished second last year, and so to do one better made us and the swimmers feel really good about themselves as they could see their improvement and knew that all of their hard work had been worth it.
The win was particularly special for coaches Tegan and Izzy as, out of all of the regional coaching teams, they had the youngest age average of 19 and so, to some extent, felt like the underdogs of the competition.
Tegan: ‘I was so proud of all of the girls at the games, they represented the region and themselves with dignity, sportsmanship, and professionalism. To see how far they have come since Izzy and I trialled them for the squad back in January is something really special. I was the assistant coach for the Midlands squad in 2021 and 2022; 2023 was my first year as head coach, and so this group of girls holds such a special place in my heart, and us winning the competition and all of the events was just the cherry on top. I’m really proud of Izzy and I for accomplishing what we have done with the girls this year being so young ourselves, but the girls made it easy for us to do our jobs as they were all a pleasure to coach, and they truly deserve all the results they achieved in Bristol.’
2024:
The Midlands region is excited to return to the games next year and will give it their best shot to re-emulate their 2023 success.
Well done to all who competed and thank you to everyone who volunteered and worked behind the scenes to make the day run so smoothly and for us all to enjoy ourselves.
Athletes taking part:
Imogen Sutton (Figures (2nd), Relay)- COB
Molly Doolin (Figures (4th), Relay)- BSC
Elizabeth Woodward (Figures 5th, Relay)- Walsall
Imogen Ravenhall (Figures (12th), Relay, Land Routine)- Rugby
Chloe Bartholomew (figures (21st), Relay)- Rugby
Olivia Barry (Figures (22nd))- Rugby
Lyla Thomas (Figures (30th))- COB
Lillian Heathfield (Figures (33rd), Relay)- BSC
Judyta Kopia (Figures (39th), Land Routine)- Walsall
Celina Zakhary (Figures (45th))- BSC
Sarwin Sawan (Figures (48th), relay)- COB
Rhiannon Rees-Powell (Figures (50th))- BSC
Isabelle Broomhall (Figures (60th))- Walsall
Keva Ennis (Figures (64th), relay, land routine)- Rugby
Frankie Klym (Land routine)- Rugby