Sutton Swimming Club (SSC) has been named Swim England East Midlands Club of the Year — an accolade that takes it forward into contention for the national award.

The success is reward for the hard work put in by the club’s committee, coaches, and volunteers, as well as parents.

Head coach Simon Hill said: “I was delighted to hear that the hard work of everyone at the club had been acknowledged with such an accolade as Swim Club of the Year for the East Midlands.

“The club consistently punches above its weight in terms of swimmer development. There are over a quarter of our swimmers in the county squad, Nova Centurion, and of those old enough to qualify we had over 70% of our swimmers competing at a county level competition last year.

“Over 30% of these went on to compete at regional level, with five representing the club at Nationals.

“Sutton is made great by its many volunteers, whether that be the committee, our team management, officials, or personally the team that I work alongside, the coaching group.

“On a daily basis this team strive to give our swimmers the best opportunity to be the best version of themselves they can be.

“Whilst a large focus of our work is in the pool, completing eight hours a week of poolside coaching, we supplement this with our out-of-pool activities.

“Currently every child in the club gets half an hour of land activity per week. We focus our beginners’ group on core aquatic skills and as they progress into our intermediate and advanced groups, each swimmer works with their coach on their personal development plan in which support is provided to cater for each individual’s needs.”

News of the success came on a ‘MAD’ weekend for the Sutton club, with 45 swimmers representing SSC at the Matlock and District Swimming Club (MAD) autumn open meet in Matlock.

The SSC medal haul was impressive with Amelia Roberts crowned top girl winning all six events she took part in.

Thomas Swales (13) has been chosen to represent the County Performance Squad (Nova Centurion) at the Swim England National County Team Championships 2022 at Ponds Forge, Sheffield.