IT was an exciting day for Kelly Swimming as the next phase of their development in performing excellence came to fruition with the official opening of the new Swimming Performance Centre by Kelly College headmaster, Dr Graham Hawley and the chairman of governors, David Milford.

Kelly swimmer Cameron Brodie, who has qualified for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi, and European bronze medallist Lauren Steadman, were there to chat to the Kelly College governors. Both were delighted with the new facilities and felt that the new SPC would improve their chances of success in their preparations for the London Olympics and Paralympic Games in 2012.

Kelly Swimming has had some great success stories over the summer. Representing Great Britain, Louise Watkin won gold, silver and bronze medals in the IPC World Swimming Championships in Eindhoven, beating world record holder Natalie du Toit in the 50m freestyle. Mark Sammut represented Malta in the Youth Olympics in Singapore, setting a new Maltese age group record in the 100m backstroke.

Director of swimming, Robin Brew, demonstrated to the governors the state of the art performance analysis software, Dartfish, which allows coaches to analyse swimmers' performance in great detail and model excellent performance using the 'ghosting', tracking and strobing features. With the new coaching programme in place, swimmers can meet at the SPC to receive feedback from their coaches, watch videos of their swim technique, view training videos, etc. There are two study areas where swimmers can plug in laptops to download their swimming data and performance statistics. SPC gives swimmers easy access to coaches, sports nutrition products and information, and acts as an education and mentoring focal point.

To enhance the SPC as an inviting space for swimmers, sixth form Kelly College artists have painted a 'splash' mural, in keeping with the swimming theme.

For more information about the college or Kelly Swimming, contact Candace Greensted on 01822 813100 or email [email protected]">[email protected]