Barracudas win national award for innovation
Well we are making a splash on the national circuit after beating off competition from thousands of clubs to win a prestigious award.
At the national Swim England awards ceremony which took place virtually on Saturday 9 October recognising the best of the sport up and down the country we were announced as the winners of the national Swim England ‘Engagement Innovation’ award for how we adapted training and communication with all members during the pandemic. It comes as we start to get back into pool competitions giving everyone involved a real boost.
Club Chair, Jon Ward said: “We’re blown away to win this award and it is all down to the fantastic volunteers, coaches and supporters we have at this tremendous club. The pandemic has been really difficult for everyone and we knew how important it was to keep our swimmers and all our members involved as it gave them something to focus on and meant they were supported with their health and wellbeing. We had lots of ideas of how we could adapt training and we had a mix of training videos, virtual challenges and social events.”
We went through to the national finals after winning the regional award and the club also made it onto the national shortlist in the ‘Inspirational Volunteer’ category. Winners came from all corners of the country with Barracudas being the only club in Lancashire to win a national award. “We’ve now been back into normal training for some time and this weekend more than 100 of our swimmers are able to compete in a major swim meet so this award means we can look back on how we helped our community with pride and look forward to a bright future,” said Chair, Jon Ward.
“And I must mention our volunteer coach Cliff Taylor who was shortlisted for the national finals for the work he has done inspiring our next generation of swimmers – it was a brilliant achievement to win the regional award and he is an invaluable member of our team. This has really helped to put the spotlight on our club and while we have record numbers of swimmers at the moment we’re always on the lookout for people who want to learn and compete in a supportive environment.