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Andover Swimming and Water Polo club held their annual club championships at the weekend.

A total of 60 swimmers of all ages who are part of the club competed in events that included backstroke, butterfly, freestyle and breaststroke, over either a 50m or 25m distance.

The newest members of the club who are part of the new Development 4 squad took part in 25m events with the youngest competitor being 7 years old. The newly formed squad have been training together since the beginning of the year and took to the pool in a competitive format for the first time.

The young swimmers were eagerly encouraged by the more experienced club members, to ensure their spirits were high during the events.

All other swimmers competed over 50m and saw a large number of PBs achieved for the club and swimmers alike. Amelia Horne who is part of the competitive squad said that “she really enjoyed taking part in the club championships”. She said “it’s an opportunity for the whole club to come together and for us to cheer each other on and better our times for other swim meets later in the year”.

Swimmers are also encouraged to take part in land training once a week to help improve their overall fitness with Leon Wilson, a local PT. Overall strength and fitness is improving for swimmers and this is evident from the number of PBs that the swimmers achieve at events and races.

The championships is a key event for the club as it brings together all the swimmers and also members of their family to help out with time keeping, marshalling and genera running if the event.

The club were pleased to receive a grant from Persimmon Homes community fund which allowed them to purchase a new podium. The swimmers took to the podium at the end of the night to showcase the medals that they had won over the evening.

Andover Swimming and Waterpolo club were also represented at the British Down Syndrome Championships this weekend. Taking place at Crawley, the club had one swimmer Ben, take place in 4 events and managed to place 2nd overall in the 25m Fly and 6th in the 25m freestyle. The club were proud to have Ben take part in this swim meet and are keen to promote the inclusiveness of the club to the local community.

The club is keen to welcome new swimmers of all ages who would like to swim in a competitive environment as well as take on any swimmers who would like to try waterpolo. The club has a successful waterpolo team with members competing both nationally and internationally.

For more information please contact membership.aswpc@gmail.com