Nova Centurion Swimming Club is the competitive outlet of the Nottinghamshire County Swim Squad. The County Swim Squad was one of the first squads to operate in the country and formed a model for many similar type of squads across Britain. There are two main sites, Nottingham, and Mansfield both with qualified coaches, so that no swimmer has to travel too far to get top quality training. In addition there is a Development Squad in Newark & Southwell.
Nova Centurion and Nottingham City Council have a long-standing and successful working relationship that spans over 45 years since the squad was established in 1976 working in partnership with the backing of Nottingham City Council. In the past and to the current day they have provided the programme with the use of top class facilities which in turn helps develop our athletes at all levels ranging from County standard through to International medallists.
The programme first started with Nottingham City Council at Victoria Baths in Sneinton and was then based at Beechdale Baths prior to moving into Harvey Hadden Sports Village in 2015. The Sports Village is the flagship facility of Nottingham City Council. The £16m redevelopment is the home of Nova Centurion where the squad trains, and also hosts all of our competitions throughout the swimming season.
Since 1976 the Squad has also had the backing of the Nottinghamshire County Council who, until April 2012, had the day-to-day running of the Squad. From that time the Squad has been run by Notts ASA. During these years, under the Nova Centurion banner the Squad has become one of the most successful in the country, having won the Great Britain Club Team Championships and been the Top Team at both the National Senior, Youth and Age Group Championships on numerous occasions. Regularly swimmers have been put on National teams with successes culminating in the two Olympic Gold medals won by Rebecca Adlington in 2008 in Beijing with Sam Hynd winning Gold and Bronze in the Paralympics. In the London Olympic Games in 2012 Rebecca won two bronze medals. In the Paralympics Ollie Hynd won Bronze, Silver and Gold and Charlotte Henshaw won a Silver. In the 2016 Paralympics Ollie Hynd won two Gold medals and one Silver, and Charlotte Henshaw won a Bronze. More recently Freya Colbert competed at the 2022 CommonWealth Games winning a bronze in the 4x200m freestyle relay.
Our Aims...
The initial terms of reference were based on the 'Martin' Report of 1969 and the Coventry Scheme 1972-73, and were as follows:
1. To give an appropriate number of selected swimmers opportunity to take part in regular, well-organised coaching sessions in a good coaching environment at suitable times.
2. These swimmers to be able to train for between 12-20 hours per week, depending on their ability.
3. The whole scheme to be under the direction of a full-time, suitably qualified professional coach.
4. The swimmers to pay a realistic fee.
The aim would be by these means to raise the standard of competitive swimming in Nottingham and the county, and thereby increase the prestige of all concerned in the swimming world.
Nova is a SwimMark accredited club.
