Colchester Swimming Club out in force at the Essex County Age Group Championships
26 March 2023

A strong team of 54 Colchester swimmers put out excellent performances having qualified for the Essex Age Group Championship.

Weekend 1 of the championship saw each swimmer using their training preparations, seeing Personal Best times rolling in throughout the weekend, many Pennants were collected for the top 8 finishers and medals started coming in for the top 3.

Swimmers bringing home the silver ware over the weekend were; Alfie Dauvergne; Bronze in 50m Butterfly 32.45 seconds, Silver in 100 Freestyle 1:02.60 and Bronze in the 50m Free style in a super-fast time of 28.90 seconds. Charlie Zhao, collect the Gold medal for the 100m Breast stroke with a superb time of 1:12.95. Daryl Rands continued his form in the 100m Breaststroke taking Bronze with 1:06.56. The toughest event in the program the 400 IM saw Molly Grieve take the Silver medal in a time of 5:29.22. Sandijs Cecins collect Bronze in 200m Freestyle 2:01.14 and Silver in the 200m Backstroke 2:10.90. Summer Lewis came in third place picking up the Bronze medal with a time of 36.67 seconds. Sydney Lewis took the Bronze medal in 1:13.08 for the 100m Freestyle.

Colchester’s finalist and Pennant winners over the course of the weekend were; Alfie Dauvergne, Antonio Girolami, Anya Waterman, Charlie Zhao, Daryl Rands, Gabrielle Cornish, Kalaum Corani, Kevin Matthew, Leah Mason, Molly Grieve, Riley Pretorious, Sadie Rowe, Sanijs Cecins, Summer Lewis and Sydney Lewis.

Great performance’s and personal best times over the weekend came from; Louis Kinch, Nikitas Baltsezak, Thomas Berry, Massimo Girolami, Tarek Soliman, Keelan Barnett, Madeline Clancy, Nabiela Van Der Schyff, Izzy Stratton-Thomsett, Carys Westgarth, Connie Ratley, Olivia Moss, Lyla Belshaw, Keziah Cornish, Jessica Ryan, Kallie Weaver, Sophie Knevett, Efa Fuller, Tahir Hendricks, Eesa Parker, Mollie Bird, Amy Johnson, Liepa Sticinskaite, Amalie Bird, Jarad Rowe, Hugo Goddard, Corey Hare, Jesse Osayande, Arlo Waterman, Zachary Minnis, Alexandra Cottrell, Flo Belshaw, Taaliah Hendricks, Sara Kelly, Sophie Cripps, Leyla Corani, Evie Edwardson and Kanzi Soliman.

Head Coach, Michelle Young, was very proud of all the swimmers’ performances over the gruelling long weekend. The swimmers rose to the occasion and demonstrated determination.

Colchester under 14s vs Hitchin under 14s - 15th January 2023
26 January 2023

Colchester welcomed Hitchin under 14s team to Leisureworld on Sunday 15^th January. The game was set up to give Colchester’s new junior players the opportunity of a competitive match against a team of similar age. The game took place in front of the biggest crowd seen at a Colchester game for a long time. There was a buzz of excitement around the pool before the game began.

Colchester fielded their eldest player in goal to give the youngsters game time on pitch with Colchester’s players ranging from 9-13. Hitchin began well and had one player in particular who caused Colchester’s defence problems. He scored all 3 goals as Hitchin went into a 3-0 lead by the end of the third quarter. Despite this Colchester had chances to score, but just could not quite manage the final pass or shot.

The second quarter saw Colchester grow in confidence, James Blacker in goal made a number of good saves. As the defence were able to keep Hitchin at bay, Colchester managed to finally break their duck and get the first goal of the game through Almos Bujtar. A much better performance from Colchester saw the score at 3-1 at half time.

Colchester’s players put a lot of effort into the second quarter, which showed, as Hitchin began the third quarter strongly. Hitchin broke a number of times and showed their experience against the younger players of Colchester. James Blacker, now playing on pitch for Colchester looked dangerous when he received the ball, but Colchester struggled to get the ball through to him. Blacker did manage to get one goal, but Colchester conceded 4 as the third quarter ended 7-2.

The Colchester coaches gave final team talk before the final quarter to try and encourage the youngsters, who all still wanted to get in the pool and compete despite being extremely tired. They showed a great deal of determination and strength to finish the game 11-4 to Hitchin. Blacker scored another 2 goals, but Colchester conceded 4 on the break. It was a fantastic performance by the Colchester team in their first real competitive game against an older and more experienced team. The more games they are able to play the more they will improve, build on their stamina and be more competitive in these games. Thanks to Hitchin, who made the long journey to Colchester on a Sunday night, it was great to see so many cheering both teams on in the spectator area.

Colchester under 18s vs Cambridge under 18s - 11th December 2022
15 December 2022

Colchester welcomed Cambridge under 18s team to Leisureworld for a hard-fought game on Sunday evening. Despite the inclement weather Cambridge turned up with a strong team and both teams put in a huge amount of effort and the result was a very entertaining game.

Colchester began the first half brightly with Alex Wood, two, and Olivia Vinter scoring to see the home team race into a 3-0 lead, however Cambridge fought back well and showed they are no mugs with 2 goals late in the first quarter to see the deficit reduced to 3-2.

The second quarter was again evenly matched. Colchester again increased their lead thanks to a brace for Vinter and further goal for Wood. But again, Cambridge fought back strongly to reduce the arears. Wood managed to score with a long shot in the final second of the quarter to leave Colchester 7-5 up at half time.

The third quarter was full of goals. The game was now end to end and shots being fired in from all angles. Vinter scored a hatrick in the third quarter, Wood a further goal and George Li got on the scoresheet. Cambridge were equal to Colchester who tried to introduce some younger members of the team for an introduction to the game. Cambridge quickly pounced and reduced the lead to 12-11 going into the final quarter.

Colchester went back to first team for the final quarter to secure the victory. Li and Felix Hirst scored 2 each in the final quarter and Vinter scored to finish the game with 7 goals. Cambridge scored 3 goals of their own in the final quarter but were just not strong enough as Colchester ran out 17-14 winners.

Waterpolo is a team game all members contributed to the team. Full team below: Sergio Velcherean, Olivia Vinter, Freya Wood, Daisy Himsworth, George Li, Tilly Bland, Matt Birsan, Almos Bultjar, George Vinter, Felix Hirst, Seth Belshaw and Dan Himsworth

2 Colchester teams travel to Norwich - 12th October 2022
14 October 2022