Testimonials

LEIGHTON Buzzard Swimming club swimmers have been making good use of half-term week by attending swim camps. Twelve swimmers travelled to Eyemouth on the South East Coast of Scotland for an intensive week of swimming tuition that included twice daily technique training sessions in the pool , land training and lectures on setting goals, nutrition and stroke transition. The pool sessions included tuition by Coaches Luke Dormer and Emma Gilbert on all of the strokes and how to perfect dives turns and finishes while achieving the maximum potential for events. Times for each stroke were taken at the beginning of the week and on Friday after noon a gala was held to see how all the tips had improved the times for each swimmer. All managed to improve personal best times in strokes – some in all strokes. Tim Casterton , Vice chair- man of the club said : “We are looking forward to our next gala now to see how much swimmers have improved and we expect some great results.” Swimming, is by nature, not a very social sport and thee week was also used as a bonding session for the squad. Favourite events were body boarding in Coldingham bay (with at least one seal watching!), meals at Chinese and Indian restaurants and a party on Friday night which included great karaoke performances and a disco. Tim added : “It was great to see both younger and older swimmers mixing and getting to know each other on a social basis and having a great time as club members.” Four other Leighton Buzzard swimming club swimmers travelled a little further to a training camp in Malta. They were trained in the 50M National Pool by ASA Coach Laurie Dormer. Other sessions took place in the Millennium Pool. Spare time between the intensive sessions was spent sight seeing and eating around Malta. If you are interested in joining Leighton Buzzard Swimming Club please contact Joanne on 01296 – 688761 or see the website at www.lbsc.org . "

Again many thanks for all your badgering and encouragement on the swim camp. It certainly paid off. My times in Manchester were better than I have done for some time and I now feel empowered for the Europeans in Slovenia. Like many on the camp it was with some trepidation that I faced the prospect of 2 two hour sessions each day for six days. But the sessions were so well structured, the sets so appealing and varied that the time passed quickly. By the end of the week I felt a much stronger swimmer and, more importantly, equipped with the skills and drills to improve my technique on all strokes. Yes, we were thoroughly knackered but it was fun. We managed to see a little bit of Malta and the evening entertainment proved a real tonic for the trials of the day. It was great to meet new friends and to be able to meet up with them at future meets. The camp was an embodiment of the spirit of Masters Swimming enabling swimmers of all ages and ability to meet, train and socialize together. I thoroughly enjoyed my week and would recommend it to any one."

My eleven year old son was very excited when he heard that our head coach was arranging a weeks training camp in Malta during the autumn half term holiday. As he was one of the youngest swimmers in the squad I agreed to accompany the group of twenty children and eight adults. When we arrived in Malta, the sun was shinning and we were met by two mini-buses with very friendly drivers who spoke excellent English. I was a little anxious when all our cases were loaded into a separate transit van and driven away. No worries! When we arrived at the hotel all the luggage was safely waiting for us in the reception area. The hotel was modest but the staff were friendly and helpful and clearly used to having large swimming groups staying with them. As you can imagine twenty energetic, excited youngsters are not the quietest of guests but spirits were high and everyone remained good humoured. Our first swimming session was at eight am the following morning so after rooms had been allocated, bags unpacked and everyone had eaten their evening meal the children reluctantly went off to bed. I suspect that many of them spent a large part of the night chatting and exchanging goodies brought from home. The following morning one by one the sleepy youngsters appeared in the reception area and waited for the transport to take us to the pool. The fifty metre open air pool had an impressive nine lanes. It was the first time that some of the swimmers had been in a fifty metre pool let alone endured a two hour training session in one. As we arrived the dawn was just breaking and the swimmers, although still sleepy in some cases, entered the water with enthusiasm. Meanwhile the parents relaxed on the poolside, chatted, sunbathed or read books. As you can imagine we became a tight knit group by the end of the week, with everyone looking out for each other and numerous head counts to make sure that everyone was on the mini bus when it was time to return to the hotel. Our swimming times varied from day to day either 6-8am or 8-10am and 2-4pm, 4-6pm or 6-8pm to suit the head coach’s training schedule. This meant that we had plenty of time during the day to explore, shop, and generally have a good time. On several days excursions were arranged including a trip to the beach, banana boating and a brilliant day at the Mediterraneo Marine Park where we had the opportunity to swim with dolphins. During the week I never heard any of the swimmers complain about getting up early or being too tired to swim and the atmosphere in the group was incredibly positive. The trip was not only beneficial from the point of view of improving stamina fitness and technique, it was also a wonderful team building exercise with the older swimmers supporting and encouraging the younger ones. From a personal perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience ( a little to my surprise) and would certainly volunteer to escort the swimmers on any future training camps, I felt very proud to be part of such a wonderful sport and such a motivated group of young people. "

My trip to Malta was a new experience for me in two ways: Firstly, although I love to swim, I'd never made swimming the central theme of a holiday before (though I had always made it a point to choose a resort with a decent lap pool). Secondly, I'd never taken my trained as a "master" before. On this second point, I remember arriving at the pool for the first session petrified - I knew I was in the company of some excellent Medley swimmers and there I was, Mr. "average" breast stroke and Mr. "reasonable" front crawl. My fears were largely unfounded - admittedly, when it came to back stroke, everyone in my (slow) lane was able to pass me with relative ease but I didn't find it too disheartening - I was there to learn and there was probably no better place to do than in an Olympic standard, open air pool in the warm Maltese sunshine. It was great to finally bring some structure into my training and learn some new skills. What was best about the experience? - Meeting a great bunch of like minded people with a passion for swimming. Within a week of returning back to the UK, I was swimming with two people I met in Malta at my local Lido in London. What was my lasting memory of the trip? Standing on a competitive starting block for the very first time ever looking down on the 50m pool, in the gleaming sunshine, waiting for the instruction to go! Is there anything I would have done differently in hindsight? Yes. I wish I had rested during the afternoon reserved for rest! I instead went swimming with someone else at the camp that I later learnt was a former Olympic competitor. "

We would like to thank Laurie for an extremely hard working fun and exciting week we all enjoyed this half term in Malta 2006. We arrived on Friday evening to a quick check in at the hotel and an evening meal. This gave us plenty of time to get organised for the weeks training which started on Saturday morning. We soon settled in to the hotel and armed with nutrigrains, Lucozade and sun cream we started our first two days of 5 hours a day training with Laurie. Just in the first two days we clocked nearly 20k and we all felt we developed and refined our technique on front crawl and backstroke. Being able to land train on an open air poolside and swim with the sun on our backs is such a great experience we would recommend it to anyone. When the training gets tough you just appreciate where you are training and get on with it. Due to us training well over the first two days we were rewarded with a trip to the Cinema in the local town of Sliema, and we all managed to sneak in some ice cream on return! On Monday we took a trip to Comino, and just participated in morning training. The trip took an hour boat Journey to a beautiful small lagoon, where we lavished more Ice Cream (don’t let Barry or Laurie know). We caught up on some sun, which was still 300 at this time of year (October) and was able to rest to the sound of the sea and prepare for tomorrows training. Over Tuesday and Wednesday we clocked up another 20k and 5 hours a day training and nearly all of us gained pb’s in a 100m, 200m and 400m time trial. Laurie has a great knack of gaining the best from us. His sharp wit broke down every excuse we could conjure and we are amazed that he has more answers than us all put together. The local resort was very friendly and we enjoyed playing water polo in the sea about 100 yards away from the hotel during the day time, whilst we had a bit of a bowling tournament in the evenings. We were on such a high on Wednesday that we begged for extra training on Thursday morning before we flew home. We weren’t mad just absolutely buzzing from the week we were having. Laurie was able to arrange for us to train with Soundwell, which turned out to be a set of 40 x 100’s. We all coped well with the set due to our boost in fitness and can’t thank Eric Henderson enough for taking us under his wing for a session. All in all we could not think of a better way to spend our school holiday. We were all motivated through out the week and amongst the hard work we learned loads and had great fun on Malta as a team! We would like to express our thanks again to Laurie and our coach Barry for organising such an outstanding week! Yours in swimming The Seagulls Team "

I would absolutely fully recommend this week to anyone who wishes to go. Laurie is a master technician with over 50 years of world class experience under his belt who will help your strokes immensely over the week and I guarantee you will learn as much in this week as you would over 6 – 12 months of training once a week! I have been on 4 occasions and have come back feeling great after swimming in an Outdoor Pool all week! Malta is also a great place to go, with plenty of coffee bars, shops, cake stalls (funny how I should find them I know) restaurants and if you work hard even bars you can enjoy a tipple in. If you go as a group I can help you arrange day trips to the capital of Valleta or a boat trip to the blue lagoon at Comino, or a trip around trade markets or swimming with dolphins. So my advice is to go for it , take your swimming forwards and love the Malta experience! "

Dear Laurie Just a few words to thank you for a very enjoyable swim week, it was hard work but I have tried to do the drills that were very different to me especially the Breastroke ones with the hands over the water but with the wider pull. Its much better and I am really practising it. Though I have only swum three times since coming home, my body said no but the mind was willing. It was very nice having a coach to tell me what I was doing wrong as I cant see myself as other see me. I spend my time telling Wincanton Masters what to do, but we had five of us at last years Nationals and came home with five gold medals, one silver and two bronzes (not bad for a little club in the country). I thought the food at the hotel was excellent I am sorry we had to miss the final meal, I will be going to the World Games in Sydney. Once again thank you for all your help. "

Dear Laurie, Thought I would share some good news with you. I swam in a one mile, open air, freestyle race on Wednesday night. It was cold, It was raining and the pool was unheated however, I won the prize for the best improvement over last year's time, almost a minute faster! I attribute it to your coaching in Malta ;-) Roll on Aqua City!"

Hi all Hope you're all well! There was some talk during Malta about people meeting up again at the Barnet meet this w/end wasn't there? Well, I would've loved to have caught up with you all again, but I'm afraid I can't make it as we've got other things on. But I just wanted to say good luck and I hope you all swim well! And if it helps, here's something to give you confidence about the fitness levels we got to after Malta training - I swam at the GBs in Manchester last month, and not only beat my 200IM PB by 3 seconds (main aim of the year!), but was flabbergasted to do an 18 second PB on the 400IM and win it! (Admittedly I'd only swum it once before, but still!) Was v pleased with the time, which has earned me a number one ranking in the country in my age group, I was chuffed! :) So that's just to illustrate that Malta must've been good for us despite the pain! The unfortunate thing is that I'll now have to swim 400IM again in the future...... Good luck everyone! Maybe see you at Guildford in Sept, or Sheffield in Oct?"

Hi Laurie My daughter is doing some fantastic PB's at the moment in our Club Champs. She is breaking many of the Club Champ records and has broken 2 All Time Club Records as well. I know allot of this will be as a result of work done during the year, but I think your swim week can take some of the credit too. Her brother who was in the development squad has taken five seconds off his 50 M free time also so he is very happy too. Many Thanks N I "

Dear Laurie, I just want to say thank you so much for all you’ve done for me this week. I have learnt so much it would not surprise me if my head exploded, it was hard I ached really badly just after the first day! It wasn’t surprising after having the whole summer off. You have really inspired me to reach new goals and made me more determined. I have really felt huge improvements in all my strokes especially breaststroke, which for me is amazing. I can’t wait to go back and show everyone my stroke and also the drills which I have learnt. I think you are a great coach and it has been a pleasure working as hard as I have for you in the pool. Thanks for recognising my efforts and praising me it’s all it takes to make you work harder in the water. I am already looking forward to next year L G "

Dear Laurie, Just wanted to let you know about our club champs that finished last night B C was thrilled to retain the cups for 100m free and breast, to achieve a long awaited PB in the 200 free, and a county time in the 100 free. She is still trying out the 'new' breaststroke and I can see a difference in all her swimming. A C achieved PB’s in all ten events he entered, some were older times but many were recent. He also picked up some county times taking his total for the 2009 championships to 11 from a possible 12. He is also trying out some new stroke techniques and I can see a real purpose to each swimming action now. If anything, our positive feelings about the course have increased the longer we have been home. Even the notes about preparing for race day and kit packing have been taken on board. I can't help wondering how well they would swim if they were exposed to such coaching on a more regular basis. Best Wishes, S C "

Hi Laurie, I would just like to thank you for the training camp at Poprad Slovakia. I have certainly benefited from it as my times in training are quicker. My Coach noticed so I am happy. I appreciate your technical input! If you run this camp in 2009 I will be up for it. Aquacity is an ideal facility for a swim camp. The pool and accommodation are all in the same complex. You can fall out of bed, walk onto poolside, work hard in the water, and go to breakfast and then straight back to bed. There are seemingly endless relaxation facilities on site. Thermal pools, various saunas, steam rooms, sun beds and massage services. Outside Aquacity, the city of Poprad is a mixture of provincial charm and Soviet era tower blocks. Local people are friendly and used to tourists. For day trippers and skiers a train ride will take you into the Tatras Mountains, overlooking Poprad and Aquacity. I would recommend this camp for anyone who wants to improve their swimming and meet likeminded people. I particularly enjoyed the interesting location. All the best R S "

For 1st timers to a Masters swim camp 'Aquacity' is the perfect choice it’s fully equipped with everything we could want for, with the added luxury of the spa 'Vital Room' and thermal outdoor pools after a hard session to ease those aches and pains away. The full on buffet breakfast and dinner is very good. Mountain views and a scenic village just a walk away. Shopping and skiing all manageable between sessions. Best of all the Training, all round improvements with our fitness and strokes, which we noticed swimming back at our club. Regards S P "

The thought of a swimming 'holiday' was a wise one in early May when training was at its peak. With time and willpower dwindling in the Winter months, the prospect of a full week’s calendar of two-a-day Training seemed daunting. Upon arrival, it was clear the facilities were Excellent, and the organisation of flights and transfers ticked off to a High level of satisfaction. Laurie coaches swimming in an excellent Manner, praising when due and finding a natural charm to let you know You are doing things wrong without sacrificing what little ego you had Left. The structure was highlighted at the start but edited adhoc According to fatigue and general feelings. This allowed for some Pool-side dry technique talks that were extremely beneficial. I came Away feeling much improved and this was reflected well in my pre and Post 200m times. A definite recommendation for hardcore and recreation Swimmers alike, as you'd be surprised how far a little grit and Determination goes. C M "

It was a challenging week (53km!), made easier by the variety of Training sessions, lots of naps, good company, superb location and Plenty of time recovering in thermal pools! I would be happy to Recommend this camp to anyone, from those like me who are looking to get Back into swimming after a 20 year pause, to the more experienced and Fitter individuals looking to improve their times/ endurance. T N "