Back in September, The Aquinas Foundation launched its GB swimming project as an incentive for children in schools both primary and secondary to aim high and to work harder to achieve their goals within the school. The project included 10 schools from Nottinghamshire which took place on Fri 31st Jan and was a fantastic day proving to be a huge success for all involved.
We wanted this project to focus on aspirations and motivating the children to be the best they can possibly be!
The swimming lesson would be used as a reward for the 2 children who have shown an improvement in the school’s chosen area and for the children who have had a significant turnaround showing a clear focus and determination towards a goal.
Both myself and my colleague Ryan from Aquinas paid visits to some of the schools involved to take part in intervention sessions with targeted groups within the school, we have learned that this has had a very positive effect on the students and has given them a sense of drive and motivation in class.
I would like to thank Sasha Matthews who we are very happy to have on board supporting the Aquinas Foundation and what we stand for. Sasha has been swimming since the age of 7, becoming professional at the age of 13. Amongst many international event successes Sasha is a European junior Gold, silver and bronze medallist and the 2010 commonwealth games Bronze medalist we were very fortunate to have her there to help the children with the lesson.
Thankyou to Jamie Main. Jamie is the GB international coach and has held that title since 2009. He has coached swimmers who competed at the 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 Olympic Games. He is the current Nottingham Swimming Director of Coaching.
It was absolutely fantastic to have both Sasha and Jamie there with Sasha in the pool supporting the children and demonstrating the swimming and Jamie running the session.
One huge success story from our project on Friday was one year 8 student who has been suffering from severe anxiety which has made it almost impossible for them to attend school each day, giving them a very low attendance score. Since the project was launched and myself and Ryan attended the intervention session, the student has improved their attendance and the attendance score has soared to the highest it has been in a long time… this is something that makes us very proud at Aquinas and these are the reasons why we do what we do as a foundation.
By Nottingham Post | Posted: February 01, 2014
By Marcus Boocock
SCHOOLCHILDREN dived in the pool to receive training from Nottingham swimmer Sasha Matthews and British coach Jamie Main.
They gave an hour’s coaching on basic skills for youngsters from five primary schools yesterday.
This was followed by an hour-long session for secondary school students, who were given more challenging training.
The event at the city’s Victoria Leisure Centre was organised by the Aquinas Foundation, which helps young people realise their potential.
Mr Main, who coached British swimmers at the past three Olympic Games, said it was vital children learned basic skills.
He said: “We are teaching the primary schoolchildren some basic tips. It is really important all children have the fundamentals of swimming.
“It is a life-saving skill but they can also build their self-confidence in the pool which can benefit them in other ways as well.”
The foundation was set up in 2012 by former Nottingham Forest footballer Jermaine Jenas and his friend from Clifton, Craig Anderson.
To date, they have run several football sessions for youngsters as a reward for them doing well in school.
Yesterday was the first time they had run a session on a different sport.
They hope to broaden it further with other sports.
Mr Anderson said: “Jermaine and I wanted to do something positive, so we thought why not give youngsters the chance to have a go at sports.
“Originally, Sasha was coming to the swimming session on her own. It is great we have got Jamie to agree to come as well.”
The first session yesterday saw two children go from Riverside Primary in The Meadows, Southwark Primary in Basford, Arnold View Primary, Whitegate Primary in Clifton and Dunkirk Primary.
Mr Main talked to the children about different techniques before Miss Matthews demonstrated it in the water and they had a go themselves.
Leo Albert, eight, of Dunkirk Primary, said: “I’ve done lots of things like front crawl. They are really good teachers.”
Paris Burrell, ten, of Southwark Primary, said: “It is really fun. I like going swimming. It makes it even better to get training off Jamie and Sasha.”
Whitegate Primary pupil Maizie Smith, eight, said: “It is a really good session. They are showing us lots of different things.”
The secondary schools included Carlton le Willows Academy, Holgate Academy in Hucknall and Becket School in Wilford.
We will be catching up with the individual schools so watch this space for more information and follow up stories!
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