Wednesday, 28th May saw the long-awaited return of the Nottinghamshire County Development Programme. The one-day event was held at Water Meadows Leisure Centre in Mansfield and over 30 swimmers were invited based on their 200IM long or short course time.
The County Development Programme is the first step on the Swim England Talent Pathway, which is implemented and delivered by each home county.
Programme aims to support athletes and the workforce to:
- Develop fundamental movement skills and core aquatic skills to advance physical literacy
- Develop technical skills across all four competitive strokes
- Create awareness of Swim England’s culture and its associated talent programmes
- Develop characteristics in-line with the swimmer’s age and ‘Development’ stage of the Optimal Athlete Development Framework (OADF)
- Increase opportunities for the workforce delivering at this stage of the pathway, to experience and facilitate an integrated and inclusive training environment
Nottinghamshire’s Director of Coaching Joseph Stanford led the day and was supported by the coaching team of Adam McIntyre, Maisie Chung and Paul Imrie.
The day started bright and early with a team talk highlighting what the day would entail, followed by a land training session before hitting the pool for the first swim session of the day. The first pool session the swimmers focused on freestyle and backstroke with the afternoon focus on breaststroke and butterfly.
In addition to the coaching staff, Alice Page and Hannah Page (county swim squad sport interns) were also in attendance to film both under and over water to support the coaching points delivered to the athletes.
Many congratulations to all swimmers who were invited and Nottinghamshire ASA are looking forward to not only following their journey in the pool, but also to see the next set of talented swimmers at the 2026 county day.
