Congratulations to Ponteland ASC

Ponteland ASC recently submitted their Swim 21 file for Skill Development and as a result have successfully become accredited. Swim 21 is the Amateur Swimming Association’s (ASA) club development model, assisting them to continuously deliver good practice and a high quality service. There are four awards in Swim 21: Teaching, Skill Development, Competitive Development and Performance.

The clubs Swim 21 Coordinator, ‘found the process useful to confirm that Ponteland is a well run club. We were already carrying out most of the criteria, but this process made it necessary to formalise what we do and create evidence that we are a good club….. We are now continuing to add on-going evidence to our file to make the process as pain-free as possible when our Swim 21 needs to be re-assessed.’

All swimming clubs in Northumberland are now Swim 21 accredited as an evidence of the quality service these clubs offer. LiamO’Dea of Blyth Lifeguard and Swimming Club said that Swim 21 can be used to “to drive up standards and modernise systems across the Clubs”. Northumberland is the only county in the region to have all swimming clubs accredited. Swimming is also the only sport to have all clubs accredited in Northumberland. Huge congratulations to all the swimming clubs and everyone involved in the swim 21 process.

The volunteers within each of the clubs have worked incredibly hard to produce these high quality environments and I hope they continue to do so, supporting each other in the process and offering a unique successful service to their current and new members.

Ashington ASC was one the first clubs in the country to gain a Swim 21 accreditation and since then, over the years, all the clubs in Northumberland have worked very hard to ensure they too have a planning tool to deliver high quality Competitive Aquatic activities to the local communities. AdamDuncan, Chair of Alnwick Dolphins, highlighted going through the Swim 21 process ‘always makes you think "Are we doing everything we can and should for our swimmers?".

If you have any queries regarding Swim 21 or swimming in Northumberland, please contact JennyGlossop.