Blue Water Training Camps

Blue Water played its own small part in Britain’s swimming success at both the Beijing Olympic and Beijing Paralympics Games.

Blue Water organised the British Olympic girls’ camp who trained in Palma de Mallorca before heading out east for the Games. The girls had a great Olympics with Rebecca Adlington bringing home two golds and Joanne Jackson a well deserved bronze medal. Adlington also smashed the long standing 800m fc record held by the legendary Janet Evans.

Blue Water also organised a camp for a contingent of British Paralympics swimmers, among them David Roberts who came home with a cracking 4 gold medals. Roberts, who broke the 400fc world record, is now joint record holder for Paralympics golds for Britain with 11. Britain’s golden youngster Eleanor Simmonds was also on the camp in Palma and bagged two gold medals in Beijing. The 13 year-old also got a world record in the 400 fc. Meanwhile, Liz Johnson won gold in the 100m breast and Anthony Stevens, Graham Edmunds and Jenny Coughlin all made finals.

The Irish Paralympics team also came out to Palma with Blue Water, helping Darrah McDonald win silver in the 400 fc. Ellen Keane and Jonathan Cummings both made finals also.

Blue Water Training Camps are proud to announce the development of their own training centre in Mallorca.

The Blue Water Elite Swim Training Centre, the BEST Centre, will be a state of the art 10 lane 50m pool located 30 minutes from Palma airport at Colonia Sant Jordi, a small town on the south east of the island.

The BEST Centre will be located a 5 minute walk from some excellent hotels and a 5 minute walk from the best beaches on the island. We believe it will be the best location for a training camp in Europe.

More information will appear here in due course, so please check back regularly. The site is due to open in May 2009 and bookings will begin in September 2008. Please register your interest in a camp at the BEST Centre by emailing us at info@bluewatertrainingcamps.co.uk.

Following the successful British Swimming Olympic camp and disability camp, British Swimming have announced their intention to partner with the BEST Centre as their preferred site for training camps. We look forward to helping British Swimming with their preparation towards the London Olympic Games of 2012.

British Swimming has issued a statement of intent to work with Blue Water Elite Swimming Training (BEST) at a new, purpose built centre in Mallorca, Spain.

Based around a 10-lane, outdoor, 50m pool at Colonia de Sant Jordi on the south coast of the island, the deal will see British Swimming become a priority client in terms of warm weather training camps.

The BEST Centre, founded by former Olympic swimmers, will be available for national team, Intensive Training Centre and other agreed British Swimming camps under the agreement between the parties.

Training groups will be able to use the new pool, gym, dry land area, meeting room and changing facilities while open water swimming will be well served in terms of the near-by coast.

The British Paralympic squad heading for Beijing later this summer recently returned from a training camp in Mallorca organised by Blue Water. Head coach Billy Pye was delighted with the camp and we wish all his swimmers the best of luck in Beijing.

The British girls Olympic squad for Beijing recently arrived in sunny Mallorca for a 6 day camp, taking advantage of the island's excellent facilities. British chief women's coach Ben Titley headed up a top selection of coaches who coached swimming stars such as Mel Marshall, Fran Halsall, Rebecca Adlington, Kirsty Balfour and Hannah Miley. British team manager for the Beijing Games, Dawn Peart, was delighted with the camp, organised by Blue Water. The photo below shows the group meeting British consul for Mallorca Paul Abrey.

CONGRATULATIONS to the both Marc Spackman and Chris Nesbit who were jointly awarded the BSTCA Youth Coach of the Year award sponsored by Blue Water Training Camps. We are pleased the award went to such succesful coaches. Chris is coach at the British Offshort Centre at the Southport School on the gold coast of Australia. Marc, meanwhile, is coach to backstroke ace Lizzy Simmonds at Lincoln. Marc and Lizzy are frequent Blue Water clients having already been on one Blue Water camp this year, and getting ready for a second one this October. Well done Marc and Chris!

BSTCA Coach of the Year award went to Stockport Metro's Sean Kelly and Fred Vergnoux of Edinburgh. Fred and his elite Edinburgh swimmers, including world ranked number three Kris Gilchrist and World championship silver medallist Kirsty Balfour, have just returned from a Blue Water camp in Sierra Nevada in Spain (see our quotes page). Well done Fred and Sean!