Almost 100 athletes aged 13 years old from across all aquatic disciplines in the North East Region attended online Athlete County Development Workshops over the weekends of 9th and 17th March 2024.

The workshops cover three different subject areas – Nutrition, Managing Your Lifestyle and Goal Setting. All athletes engaged very well throughout the workshops and gave the following feedback:

Overall Workshop ratings were as follows: 62% Excellent, 31% Good, 7% Average, 0% Poor

The athletes said they learnt the following from attending:

To write goals down and do mini goals within them.

How to feel motivated before a race, what to eat before training and how to set reasonable goals.

Having goals, recovery and nutrition.

Working towards my goals, knowing what to eat for morning training and how to control my sleep better.

Drink more at training, eat the right foods at galas and taking time to wind down.

1. Formally plan my week 2. Goal setting 3. Asking teachers to give assignments early when I go on swim camps.

How to set my goals, good energy snacks, how to make myself look confident.

I will have good eating habbits, drink more, good planning and relaxing after training.

In addition, a parent provided the following feedback:

Thanks for organising the workshops. I listened in for the first 10mins or so and was really pleased to hear that it was not just about their swimming but to help them as a person in life. I read through my daughters notes and the content seemed very supportive and will hopefully provide her with knowledge/skills that she can apply to all aspects of her life.

Myself and another parent particularly liked the bit we read about keeping your room tidy although my daughter is adamant that wasn’t that important!! 🙂 Thanks again for a good session, was definitely useful for Jess to attend and miss a gala for!

Well done to everyone who engaged so proactively and to the County Lead Coaches who delivered the informative, engaging sessions. More workshops will be made available at a future date.

In addition, 36 swimmers aged 14 years old from across in the North East Region attended the Swim England Regional Development Programme over 3 days January to March 2024. The programme consisted of pool, land and online workshops which covered – Nutrition, Psychology and Land Self Checks. All swimmers participated very well throughout all 3 sessions doing themselves and their clubs proud. Well done to everyone who engaged so proactively and to the 10 Regional Coaches and Swim England Practitioners who delivered the informative, engaging sessions.