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| Chrysoula Anastassopoulos represented again this year the Southampton University Lifesaving Club. Chrysoula is well liked by her team and all Athens University athletes. |
In BULSCA 2020, the Southampton University Lifesaving
Club performed exceptionally well and
I managed to break my personal best time
February
2020 was an extremely busy month in terms of lifesaving. There were both the
Warwick and Southampton Lifesaving Competitions, as well as the BULSCA Student
Championships commencing on the 29th February. This meant there was
very little time to prepare for the Championships, however, the University of
Southampton’s Lifesaving Club still managed to enter a team of six.
The 2020
BULSCA Student Championships took place in Bristol at the Hengrove Park Leisure
Centre. It was an early start, but we were all too excited to feel tired as we
unloaded the car; packed full with two manikins, three torps and two sets of
fins. This would all be needed for the races which would unfold throughout the
day.
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L-R: Jenny Ainsworth, Emily Childs, Sarah Jones, Abbie Brown, Chrysoula
Anastassopoulos. Preparation of the team prior the competition.
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4x10m
Line Throw Relay
The first race I competed in was
the 4x10m Line Throw Relay. This involved throwing a rope to a team member 10m
away from the poolside and, on successfully reaching the team member, pulling
them in whilst they helped by kicking. I often found it difficult to throw the
rope far enough so was gladly placed last in our team. Sarah Jones started off
the race with an excellent throw, followed by Madeline Anderson and Emily
Childs, meaning there was still enough time for me to have a go. I managed to
get the rope to Sarah and was so close to pulling her in to the side when the
whistle blew marking the end of the race. It was very frustrating.
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L-R: Abbie Brown, Chrysoula Anastassopoulos, Madeline Anderson, Sarah
Jones, Jenny Ainsworth, Emily Childs. Nice team . big smiles.
|
For the next session I became a
timekeeper for one of the lanes. My responsibility was to time the person who
swam in my lane, using both a stopwatch and the timing pads connected to the
pool. It was fun to get to know fellow competitors by name, along with the
other timekeepers.
I also took part in two other relays: the 4x50m Obstacles
Relay and the 4x50m Rescue Medley Relay. The
first requires the competitor to swim 50m frontcrawl, with the addition of
swimming under two netted gates placed along the length. The other race involves
each member of the team of four to do something different, depending on their
position. I went second in this race, which meant I got to swim 50m with fins.
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| The Southampton University Lifesaving Team proudly poses at the end of the championships. |
200m Super Lifesaver
My individual
race was the 200m Super Lifesaver, consisting of frontcrawl, swimming with fins
and a torp, and both carrying and towing a manikin. I had participated in this
race in last year’s Student Championships so I knew what I was doing, but still
felt nervous as I waited at the starting blocks for the race to begin. While I
was waiting, Stathis Avramidis, coach and member of the Athens Lifesaving Team,
who I had met at Champs 2019 recognised me and came up to say hello. His
friendly manner distracted me from thinking about the race whilst he took
photos with his camera and wished me luck. Despite the lack
of practice, I managed to break my personal best time which I had achieved at Champs
last year.
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| 100m Super Lifesaver. Chrysoula is a few minutes away before the starting of another race, in a diffult event. |
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| 100m Super Lifesaver. Chrysoula carrying the manikin. |
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| 100m Super Lifesaver. Chrysoula towing the manikin. |
Summary
It was a very enjoyable day and
everyone in the Southampton University Lifesaving Club performed exceptionally
well, despite there being some injuries. Unfortunately,
we were not able to compete on the Sunday, however, I look forward to doing so
next year. It was great to see the Athens Team again, which had made incredible
progress over the course of a year and had expanded in size. Stathis Avramidis’
hard work has definitely paid off and has become a valued member of lifesaving.
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| Panoramic view of the championship. Super Lifesaver in progress. |
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| Dr. Stathis Avramidis (coach of Athens University and the Greek Lifesaving Sports Association Squads) with Chrysoula Anastassopoulos (Southampton University). Happy smiles at the end of another succesful participation in the championship. |
