Cockermouth Swimming Club has supplied numerous top swimmers over the years, including current star Luke Greenbank.
What is it about Cockermouth? Time to find out, so I asked coach Sean Balmer some questions about his popular club.
Thanks for taking part Sean, can you just tell me about your own swimming career and how it all started.
I started swimming before I could remember and won my first event which was 1500m front crawl at the age of nine and was spotted by a coach for my local club.
I completed at a number of national age group event but was never quite good enough and so of 16 turned to coaching swimming, initially under a gentleman called Dave Bance at Stockton Aquatics swimming club.
At the age of 18 I took over Middlesbrough swimming club which at that time had 600 members and trained out of three pools.
You are coaching at the Cockermouth Club, can you tell us a bit about the club and it’s history.
The club was founded in 1978 to coincide with the opening of the towns swimming pool still in use by the club today. Founding members of the club were instrumental in lobbying and raising funds to enable the pool to be built alongside Allerdale BC.
One of those members Eleanor Walsh is still active in the club, coaching and supporting the club’s athletes at the age of 80 having given 44 years of voluntary efforts to the club.
More information about the club can be found at https://www.cockermouthswimclub.co.uk/home
I would stress however that this spotlights the swimmers rather than the volunteers that give so much to the Club.
We believe we have had over one million volunteering hours since the club’s inception in 1978. I personally would like to thank each and every person who has enabled life-changing opportunities for swimmers.
Your club has produced a host of top swimmers over the years, just tell me about some of them.
In recent times I would have to cite Luke Greenbank as a double Olympic medallist, and World Champion, now training with Adam Peaty in Loughborough. Luke broke the World Junior World Record whilst swimming for Cockermouth in 2015, well worth a watch below!
I should also mention Jacob Leach who represented the GB Snr Para Team for a number of World and European events, with both he and Luke being members of the 2018 Commonwealth games team.
Equally I should mention Luke Reeson an injured Army veteran who won multiple Invictus Games medals whilst swimming for the club.
There are almost too many to mention in this section and it feels like I would be doing an injustice to so many amazing swimmers if they didn’t have a mention. The above document lists National medallists and above only but the club is all about inclusivity and everyone being the best person they can be.
Looking at swimming in the county, how strong is it. How much competition is there for you at Cockermouth?
Overall swimming in the county is relatively weak with the county finishing in the bottom quarter of Division 2 of the National County team championships.
The Cockermouth club however has been the dominant force in swimming in the area for many years winning the overall county championships for Seniors and Juniors for most of the last 20 years.
We regularly take 8-12 swimmers to National Championship and bring home multiple medals, Last year despite no swimmers from the club ever competing at a National event (due to Covid) we came back with 10 medals. We also compete in the North West Arena League Premier division against clubs from Manchester, Liverpool, Preston etc
Are there regular swimming galas which count for League points or how does inter-club competition work?
The NW Arena League includes the Top 16 clubs in the NW. Swims equal points and points dictate position in the league. Last year Cockermouth finished 9th overall winning the Premier League B final. There are around 50 clubs in the NW leagues
Have youngsters to be able to swim before you take them into the club and how do they develop through the various age groups?
Yes, it is a competitive swimming club although our youngest swimmers are 6-7 years old. Our criteria is dictated by the available space as we only have a 4 lane 25m swimming pool. Development is via a squad based system.
You have produced a number of internationals. Is there a clear pathway like club, county and country to follow?
For us there is a clear pathway focussing initially on achieving Regional (NW) and National events, followed by a significant number of swimmers who have made International status at Junior and Senior level.
Did the pandemic affect you as a club and are you as strong in numbers now as you were, say five or so years ago?
Yes we lost a significant number of swimmers, some of whom were our next crop of Internationls, but the club has rebuilt and as mentioned previously despite no swimmers ever having swam at a National event in 2022 we took 10 medals at British and English Age Group Championships.
Who has had the biggest influence on you as a club swimmer and then a coach?
My biggest influence for both was “Doc” Gordan Angus the guy who first spotted me at nine. He had such a calm methodical approach to creating excellence on the pool.
That said I have met so many wonderful people throughout my career that I have taken advice and guidance from.
I always finish off with this one. If a generous benefactor left Cockermouth Swimming Club a shedload of money how should it be spent?
I would build / hire the pool at the most appropriate times to enable the swimmers to achieve the very best they could and offer support to families and coaches where needed. Other than that we are all very blessed with what we have.
