Introduction
PBSC was formed in 1968 and trains at the Furzefield Centre in Mutton Lane and at The Venue in Borehamwood. The club is a competitive club with around 350 members that caters for swimmers from five years upwards of all abilities, from learn to swim to those competing in national events. The club also merged with Hertsmere Flyers in October 2016 (see link for the History of Herts Flyers).
SwimMark Accreditation
Potters Bar Swimming Club has been awarded the SwimMark accreditation. SwimMark is Swim England benchmark for athlete-centred, safe and effective environments, allowing the swimmers to achieve their full potential within the principles of long term athlete development.
Club Policies
The Club Handbook, Policies and Procedures of Potters Bar Swimming Club can be found in the Club Policies Section
FUNdamentals and SwimSkills
We don't cater for complete beginners, but we offer coaching for children to develop their swimming fundamentals leading to competitive swimming. We expect them to have the basic swimming skills developed from the Swim England Stage 3 (or equivalent), and when they join us the we will coach them to improve their skills, and progress through a series of levels on the Swim England Athlete Development Pathway. Our qualified coaches are assisted by enthusiastic helpers from among our older teenage swimmers and everyone working in the programme is police record-checked, as are all our coaches.
Competitive Squads
Many swimmers join our development squads from the teaching programme, but many come from private swim schools or other clubs. Or you may be new to the area, or swimming locally and want to try your hand at a broader range of events. Our youngest competitors are around nine, and ages in our top squad run from 13 through to university. Progression through the squads is based on careful assessment by the coaching team.
Adult swimming
Our Masters section caters for all abilities, from former swimmers returning to the pool to swim socially to World and National champions.
Pools we use
Furzefield in Potters Bar is our base, and we train additionally at The Venue in Borehamwood. Our top squad have ad-hoc sessions at the London Aquatic Center, home of the 2012 Olympics.
Organisation
The Committee, elected at the AGM every year, manages the organisation and running of the club. The members are: the chair, vice-chair, secretary, membership secretary, treasurer, assistant treasurer, welfare officer, liaison officer, trophies officer, 2 meets coordinators (home and away), Website and communications, medical advisor, sponsorship coordinator, SwimMark coordinator. All the committee members are volunteers. More details here.
Won't it take over my child's life
Only if you want it to - don't believe the nonsense about the club swimming automatically being a pressurised environment! Probably more than most sports, it is true that the more you put in, the more you get out – and if you want to go all the way we can offer you up to 10 sessions a week and competitions at some of the country's top pools – but we understand fully that this isn't for everyone. We take just as much pride in a 10-year-old swimming PBs in his/her first meet as we do in a national champion. Many of our swimmers also take in another sport, or more than one. Many older teenagers maintaining other interests scale down their training stay involved via our Squad, which concentrates on sprint events at 50 and 100 metres.
How about the social side?
Swimming is an unbeatable sport for making friends, and many lifetime friendships start via the pool. It's much more a team sport than you might think from the sidelines, and our swimmers tend to be well-organized, self-motivating kids. Those attending single-sex schools mix with sensible counterparts.
OK, this sounds good, what should I do now?
See for yourself! Check out our membership section.
We look forward to seeing you!
