City of Southampton Swimming Club | |
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Club information | |
Full name | City of Southampton Swimming Club |
Short name | CSSC |
City | Southampton, England |
Founded | 1963 |
Home pool(s) | The Quays Swimming & Diving Complex |
Swimming | |
Head coach | Matt Heathcock |
The City of Southampton Swimming Club is the major swimming club in Southampton, Hampshire in the United Kingdom and is currently based at The Quays Swimming & Diving Complex near Westquay.
The club was founded in 1963 and was one of the earliest members of the UK's National Swimming League. It celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in May 2014. [1]
The club has been National League winner on five occasions and Regional Division winner on fourteen. [2]
As of 2022 [update] the club has approximately 250 members ranging from 5 years to masters, who compete at local, county, regional and national competitions. [3]
Notable former members include: [1]
The current head coach is Matt Heathcock who himself trained at Southampton when his father David Heathcock was the coach.
Current assistant coaches include Gary Abraham (ex Olympian), Paul Dollery, Mark Taylor, Aislinn Murphy and Brooke Wilkinson.
Notable former coaches include: [1]
Anthony Conrad Nesty is a former competition swimmer from Suriname who was an Olympic gold medallist in the 100-metre butterfly event in 1988. He is currently the head coach of the Florida Gators men's and women's swim team at the University of Florida, where he attended school.
David Andrew Wilkie was a Scottish swimmer who was the Olympic 200m breaststroke champion in 1976, the first British swimmer to win an Olympic gold medal since Anita Lonsbrough in 1960. He is the only person to have held British, Commonwealth, European, World and Olympic swimming titles at the same time. Wilkie, a member of the Scottish Sports Hall of Fame and the International Swimming Hall of Fame, has been described as Scotland's greatest and Britain's finest swimmer. Fellow Olympic breaststroke gold medallist Duncan Goodhew considered him an "extraordinary talent" and "one of Britain's greatest ever athletes".
Susan O'Neill, is an Australian former competitive swimmer from Brisbane, Queensland, nicknamed "Madame Butterfly". She achieved eight Olympic Games medals during her swimming career.
Duncan John D'Arcy Armstrong is an Australian former competitive swimmer, Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. Armstrong is best remembered for winning a gold and silver medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics.
Ronald Brian Jacks was a Canadian Olympic and international swimmer in the 1960s and 1970s. He is currently a leading coach for Canadian swimmers such as Richard Weinberger through the Pacific Coast Swimming Club.
John Thomas Devitt, AM was an Australian sprint freestyle swimmer of the 1950s and 1960s, who won a gold medal in the 100-metre freestyle at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome. He won in controversial circumstances, being awarded the gold medal despite the timekeepers recording a slower time than the American silver medallist Lance Larson. He also claimed a gold medal at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay.
Stephen Clarke is a Canadian former competition swimmer and Olympic bronze medallist.
The West London Institute of Higher Education (WLIHE), a two-campus academic establishment, was located in Isleworth and East Twickenham, West London, UK from 1976 until 1995 when it became Brunel University College. In 1997 it was fully integrated into Brunel University London.
Mark Johnston is a former freestyle swimmer from Canada, who competed at two consecutive Summer Olympic Games, in Sydney, Australia in 2000 and Athens, Greece in 2004. Johnston's consecutive 10-year run on the Canadian national team was longer than any other current swimmer at the time. Born and raised in St. Catharines, he was named to the national team in 1996 while swimming for Swim Brock Niagara. He went on to win numerous medals on the world stage throughout his career representing Canada at two Commonwealth Games, five World Championships, the Pan-American Games, three Pan-Pacific Aquatic Championships, and several other major international competitions. He is a 14-time national champion, world championship bronze medallist and his best Olympic result was fifth in the men's 4x200-metre freestyle relay in Athens, Greece. He currently works for RBC as the regional manager of investment and retirement planning and volunteers as an aquatics head coach for BC School Sports.
In 1930 Hamilton, Ontario, Canada was the site of the very first Commonwealth Games, then known as the British Empire Games. The Games came to Hamilton as a result of the efforts of Melville Marks Robinson, and were Canada's first major international athletic event, and bid unsuccessfully for the Commonwealth Games in 2010, losing out to New Delhi in India. On 7 November 2009, in Guadalajara, Mexico it was announced that Toronto will host the 2015 Pan Am Games after beating out two rival South American cities, Lima, Peru and Bogota, Colombia. The city of Hamilton will be co-hosting the Games with Toronto. Hamilton Mayor Fred Eisenberger said "the Pan Am Games will provide a 'unique opportunity for Hamilton to renew major sport facilities giving Hamiltonians a multi-purpose stadium, a 50-metre swimming pool, and an international-calibre velodrome to enjoy for generations to come.'"
Melanie Jayne Marshall is a former British swimmer. She has won numerous medals for her country as well as being a swimming coach of the year for her work with Adam Peaty in Derby and later Loughborough.
Gary Abraham is an English former competitive swimmer.
David Holmes "Dave" Edgar is an American former swimmer, 1972 Olympic champion, and former world record-holder. In a period of seven years, he lost only one 50-yard race, due to a faulty starting block. Excelling in the efficiency of his flip turn technique under the mentorship of Coach Ray Bussard at the University of Tennessee, many consider Edgar one of the greatest short course 50 and 100-yard sprinters of the 1970's.
Trevor Martin Smith is a former English competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in two Olympic Games, FINA world championships (1978) and European championships (1977), and swam for England in the 1978 Commonwealth Games. Smith was an Olympic bronze medallist and won six medals in major international swimming championships as a member of British or English teams. He also played American football - Place Kicker while a student-athlete at the University of Arkansas.
Toomas "Tom" Arusoo was a Canadian competition swimmer who swam for Canada in several international meets including the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
John Martin-Dye was a retired British swimmer.
Thelma Young is a Paralympic swimmer from Great Britain.
Stavros Michaelides is a Cypriot former swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. He is a three-time Olympian, a triple medalist at the Mediterranean Games, and a former Cypriot record holder in the 50 m freestyle. In 2003, Michaelides was selected as one of eight Olympians to be the major pioneers of The Race Club in Islamorada, Florida.
Soichi Sakamoto was a Hall-of-Fame American swimming coach for the Hawaii Swim Club from 1946 through 1981, the University of Hawaii from 1946 through 1961 and the U.S. Olympic team in 1952 and 1956. He pioneered the use of interval and resistance training for competitive swimmers, methods that have now become standard throughout the sport. He coached several national champions and five Olympic medalists that included Bill Woolsey, Thelma Kalama, Evelyn Kawamoto, Bill Smith, and Burwell Jones.