August 2010

August 19th

GREAT Britain’s medal chances in the pool at the Commonwealth Games are looking good if last week’s European Swimming Championships are anything to go by.
I was out in Budapest, Hungary for the entire week’s worth of competition, co-commentating on the diving and swimming events for BBC Radio 5Live.
When Hannah Miley beat Hungary’s world champion in her own backyard on day one to claim gold in the 400m medley it really set the tone for the week.
Our female swimmers seem to just keep getting better and better. Fran Halsall’s five medals and the remarkable turnaround by Rebecca Adlington to win 400m freestyle gold stood out, as did the double one-two shared by Lizzie Simmonds and Gemma Spofforth.
This is a massive achievement considering most of our swimmers weren’t fully rested due to the fact they are all building up to the Commonwealth Games, which will be held in Delhi, India in October.
Those from outside of swimming may have heard a lot of our swimmers mentioning ‘a lack of rest’ after races and perhaps thought it a bit of an excuse.
It’s difficult to describe just how important it is for swimmers to completely taper down their training schedule in order to be at 100% for major competitions.
Swimming is very unique in the terms of how demanding training is. The idea is to put 60 to 70 thousands metres in a week to really tire yourself out before tapering that right down as competition approaches. Your recovering body builds up a massive amount of energy in that rest period and the result is that when you come to race it’s like an elastic band snapping.
Indeed, when I was swimming, the GB team directors banned us from taking part in the European Championships in Commonwealth years to enforce that rest period. And it was for the above reasons that Team Ipswich’s Chris Walker-Hebborn chose not to compete last week.
The rest period is different for every swimmer, but typically it is needs to be longer for men and the long distance swimmers.
So while Great Britain’s men didn’t do as well as their female counterparts in Budapest, the above must be kept in mind. And it also makes Liam Tancock’s two medals and Joe Roebuck’s gritty bronze in the 200m medley even more impressive.
 
I’ve been working in the media since I stopped swimming in 2004, but last week was the first time I’ve experienced going off air midway through a broadcast!
Halfway through a race on the first day the ISDN lines went down, cutting every single radio station off instantly. There was absolute chaos as the system didn’t come back on until the session had finished!
Normally 5Live just comes across to us for the odd race, but this year we also broadcast live on 5Live Sports Extra throughout the day. The exception to this was Saturday, but I didn’t mind because it meant I got to listen to Ipswich Town’s draw with Burnley unfolding in between our commentary feeds!
Budapest is an absolutely stunning city with beautiful architecture. The race pool was based on Margaret Island in the middle of the Danube river, halfway between the Buda and Pest regions.
Next to the race pool was the biggest water park I’ve ever seen. There were huge slides, massive fountains and even those inflatable zorb balls on the water.
And although we didn’t get much time off to do all the sight-seeing, it was fun working with old friends Steve Parry (5Live), Mark Foster (Eurosport) and Sharon Davies (BBC television).
 
Get along and support those taking part in the Larking Gowen Ipswich Half Marathon a week on Sunday if you can.
Hundreds have signed up to take part in the race which starts and finishes at Northgate Sports Centre, with the 13.1 mile course going right through the town centre. My car sponsor John Grose have recently announced they will be a partner supporting the event.
Organised by Ipswich Borough Council’s ‘Team Ipswich’ in conjunction with Ipswich JAFFA running club, more information on the event can be found at: www.ipswichhalfmarathon.co.uk

August 8
 
CONGRATULATIONS to Great Britain following their record medal haul at the European Athletics Championships in Barcelona.
I know we weren’t up against the Jamaicans or Americans in the sprints or the African nations in the distance events, but it’s about beating the people in front of you – and Great Britain did that.
It was great seeing the likes of Phillips Idowu and Jessica Ennis winning gold medals, but what pleased me most was how hard some of our athletes fought for other medals too.
Sometimes in athletics you see athletes easing off towards the end of races when they realise they aren’t going to win the gold and they end up losing out on medals that they could and should have got.
Coming from swimming that has always been weird for me to see as I was always taught to always swim hard until you touch into the wall, so it was refreshing seeing the likes of Chris Thompson absolutely busting his gut to get that silver medal behind Mo Farrah in the 10,000 metres.
There has been a lot of talk about GB coach Charles van Commenee this week following the Championships, with some comparing him to Jose Mourinho and others labelling him ‘the scariest coach ever’.
I have met him only briefly a couple of times and I have got to say he was very pleasant. He is obviously very demanding, but there is nothing wrong with that. My old swimming coach Dave Champion demanded a level of professionalism and hard work from me and would never leave any bases uncovered when it came to the little details.
The best coaches know that different athletes are motivated by different things and realise that there is not a one size fits all approach. The main thing is that there is a mutual respect between coach and athlete.
On the subject of athletics, the London Olympics are now less than two years away and I’m incredibly excited. As a member of the London Organising Committee of the Games (LOCOG) I was invited to take a look at how the Olympic site is progressing last week and I’ve got to say it gave me goosebumps.
The opening ceremony is going to be phenomenal because the design of the stadium puts the spectators right up close to the action, while the Aquatics Centre is an incredibly vast and impressive structure.
While I was in Stratford I was asked to take part in a press conference alongside London’s Mayor Boris Johnson regarding the controversial Olympic road networks that are being put in place for the Games. Basically, there will be a network of road lanes in the city which will be reserved specifically for getting athletes and officials to the venues.
London residents have voiced their concerns about the need for this, but I cannot stress how important it is for athletes to plan down to the very minute their journeys on the day of competition. We spend four years training for the Olympic Games in meticulous detail and you can’t just have a rough travel time of give or take an hour.
 
THE Team Ipswich Sports Awards are coming around again fast so get nominating.
They celebrate sporting achievement from Ipswich-based clubs and individuals across a total of 13 different categories.
Categories include Sports Personality of the Year, Young Sports Personality of the Year, Unsung Hero, Lifetime Achievement, Triumph Over Adversity, Coach of the Year, Contribution to Disability Sport, Young Community Volunteer of the Year, Club of the Year, Senior Team of the Year, Ipswich Junior Team of the Year, Innovative Project of the Year and School of the Year.

Nominations can be made online at:

www.teamipswich.com/sports_clubs/sports_awards

or by contacting Chris Grover on: 01473 324559.

The closing date for nominations is September 1, with winners set to be announced at an awards presentation on September 29.

July 2010

Thursday 22nd

THE handing out of grants to sportsmen and women, of all ages, is to me a very important part of the work of the Team Ipswich Sports Foundation. The latest group received their grants last week at the Team Ipswich Golf Day at Ufford Park, before dinner, so that everyone could see the athletes and find out what difference the money makes to each of them. I interviewed them in turn, asking them what they had achieved in their chosen sport so far, and how the grant would be used. Five of them received their grants in person. The youngest is just 10 - gymnast Janae Duporte-Clarke, who is ranked third in her age group, while towards the other end of the age scale, 36-year-old Zoe Cray is still breaking world masters records in the swimming pool.

The others to receive grants this time around were swimmers Lewis Coleman (aged 18) and Heather Rowell (15), the karate duo of Ryan R Jay (17) and Jack E Somers (16), basketball player Karlynn Edgeller (14) and BMX Racer Ria Goodman (24). These athletes represent Ipswich all over the country and the world, so they are already great ambassadors for the town.  It shows that Team Ipswich is not ageist. If you are performing at or aiming to get to the top level of your sport, and need a grant to help you, then Team Ipswich will do it’s best. The grants go up to £500, and they have been very successful over the last couple of years.

Earlier in the day, I enjoyed playing golf with an all-ladies party for a change. Usually, it's just me playing with a group of men, and so me being the only one playing off the ladies' tee. But this time I was joined by two former Ipswich hockey players, in Shelly Pleasance and Abi Gallagher, plus Linda Harvey-Arnell, and all three play amazing golf with handicaps of 12 or under. At least I was able to get lots of advice off each of them, and it was a real fun day. Archant organised the event, and I must give a special thanks to Donna and Chris, who were the main organisers helping Team Ipswich.
 
I ATTENDED a special dinner to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Steve Cram's record-breaking feat of 1985, when he managed to break three world records in the space of 19 days. The event took place at the Intercontinental Hotel in London, and was called "Back to the Future," because it was an 80s themed evening. There was a Blondie tribute band, plus an 80s band, and even bowls of 80s sweets on the tables! The set was similar to the one on the 1985 BBC Sports Personality of the Year TV show, and they showed clips from this programme, which were very amusing. There were some great hairstyles such as Ian Botham with his familiar mullet haircut and Steve Cram had the sleeves of his suit jacket pulled up like he was on Miami Vice! It was great to see all this old footage of 25 years ago, and what was fashion in those days. Jim Rosenthal hosted the evening, and other guests included Willie Thorne, Lord Seb Coe, Said Aouita, Steve Backley, Daley Thompson, Kelly Holmes, Michael Johnson and Colin Jackson. The money raised went to Steve Cram's COCO charity. Incidently, the three world records that he broke in those 19 days were over 1,500m, 2,000m and the mile.
 
FINALLY, I went for a sneak preview of what the Adidas kit for the London 2012 Olympics will look like. The chosen designer is Stella McCartney, who is Paul McCartney's daughter, and she will be working with Adidas on the competition and village wear. However, I and all the other athletes had to sign her confidentiality agreement to make sure that everything remains under wraps, so I'm afraid I can't reveal any of the designs. But Adidas have been on board for many, many years. They go back a long way with the British Olympic team, and it's a big bonus to have Stella McCartney doing the design work. It was very impressive.

Tuesday 13th

I watched last weekend's World Cup Final and, being half-Dutch (my Mum is Dutch), it was not my hoped-for result, although I think the best team won on the day, with Spain deserving their 1-0 win. The Dutch did not play particularly well. They just seemed to be intent on stifling the Spanish, rather than playing to their own strengths. They played quite a rugged game, and were perhaps lucky not to be down to 10 men early on. I thought that referee Howard Webb did  well officiating what was a pretty difficult game. Some of the Dutch players were pushing their luck at times, but I also thought that some of the Spanish were also a little over-dramatic with some of their dives. That was the annoying part of the World Cup, with players trying to get penalties or free kicks by deceiving the referee. Many footballers seemed to be of the mind-set of just trying to see what they could get away with, and although it's been going on for many, many years, it's more clearly evident now with all the different TV replays. I thought some of the play-acting was an absolute disgrace. It was nothing new, but it was highlighted at the World Cup with so many televised games. That was really brought home to me in the final, which was a shame, because otherwise I enjoyed watching the competition. The TV and radio coverage was good, and South Africa was the ideal setting. The hosts did a wonderful job. It's just a shame about some of the players' attitudes.
 
MY swim-schools (Karen Pickering SWIM) are continuing to do well, and in fact I am looking for new teachers for the Ipswich venues. I have 20 swim schools around the country, and I'm hoping to open a couple more after the summer. The three venues in and around Ipswich - Royal Hospital School (Holbrook), Ipswich High School (Woolverstone) and the Holiday Inn (near Copdock) - are all expanding which is why I need more teachers. It would be great to eventually run some synchronised swimming lessons in Ipswich, which is what has been happening at my swim school in Norwich. I went along to Norwich High School during the week to see the first performance by these synchronised swimmers. There were five of them, with instructor Michelle also joining in. It was a fantastic, considering that all the girls, from the age of nine upwards, had started from scratch. None of them had any background in synchro, but after just two terms of learning, they delivered a good routine. They were watched by their parents and swimmers from other classes, and I hope they have gained confidence from this experience. Of course I need to have specially qualified teachers to hold these lessons. Most of my teachers across the UK have various additional qualifications, such as diving, parent & baby or rookie lifeguard , but it would be great to get synchro into some of my other schools.
 
LAST Saturday evening, I attended the wedding party of Piers Morgan and his new wife Celia, staged at their lovely home in West Sussex. I know the area well, having grown up in Sussex and watched my Dad play cricket at several of the villages that I drove through to get to the party. I had met Piers a few times before, and he knows my boyfriend very well. He can certainly throw an amazing party, complete with a huge marquee, fish & chip van, photo booth, bar and a hog roast!! There were  a mixture of politicians, showbiz celebrities and people from the media, like Christine Blakeley, Alistair Campbell, Amanda Holden and Sarah Brown there and Piers was in excellent form.
 
TEAM Ipswich's annual golf day was held yesterday, at Ufford Park. One of my team pulled out the day before, due to a broken hand, but to see how we got on, you'll have to wait until next week's column. The event was raising money for Team Ipswich's Sports Foundation, with the latest wave of grants to be handed out at dinner after the golf competition. More details next week.

Tuesday 6th

FOR the first time ever, I swam 10 kilometres last weekend, and my arms are still hurting! Simon Rudland, of Team Ipswich, invited me to take part in a 10K swim in the River Deben. It was an event to highlight the excellent work of the Deben Estuary Project, in looking after the river and its banks. He must have caught me on a good day when he asked me to take part because it was eight kilometres more than I have ever raced before. We started at Woodbridge, and went downstream. I was understandably a bit nervous, because I don't really train anymore but fortunately the weather was fantastic on Sunday and the water wasn’t as cold as I expected, about 17 degrees. The event started at 6.30am, to coincide with the tide as the River Deben is actually a fast-moving river. The 25 of us, who were split into four groups, all managed to negotiate the challenge without injury and without colliding with a boat! There were three rendezvous points along the way, for each group to reassemble, and at the half-way point at Waldringfield we had energy drinks.I finished the swim, which was my main objective, in just under 2 hours but it was so hard.

I WAS lucky enough to attend a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace last week. I have been to functions at Buckingham Palace before, to collect my MBE and also for various post Olympic Games receptions, but this was the first time that I had been out the back, into the Queen's back garden! It was very impressive. The grounds are extensive and I was very tempted to take a dip in the lake - I wonder whether any members of the Royal Family ever go for a cheeky swim?  I was invited in my capacity as board member of the British Olympic Association. There were also representatives from the armed forces and various charities and we helped to celebrate Princess Anne's 60th birthday.

BEING half-Dutch, I was naturally delighted to watch Holland get through to the final of the World Cup, with that exciting 3-2 win over Uruguay. I really enjoyed the game, though I had to keep giving text updates to my Mum Deedee, who ironically was swimming in a fitness class at one of my Swim Schools in Brighton.  I thought Holland's first goal, scored by Giovanni van Bronckhorst was brilliant. You don't see goals like that very often, especially in the World Cup. Holland has played really well, right from the early matches. They have not been flash, but have just got on with it, a bit like Germany. Now suddenly they have quietly moved through to the final. In the past, many Dutch sides have been notorious for having problems with players' egos, and with personality clashes, that have tended to hold them back. That's why they are often known as the "best team never to have won the World Cup." But it's very different this year, and it was great to see the scenes of celebration on the TV from Amsterdam.

June 2010

Tuesday 1st

TEAM Ipswich Elite Squad has a third athlete who has successfully qualified for the Commonwealth Games. This year is turning out to be a fantastic season for Nicky Hunt, in compound archery, and it will be capped by an appearance in Delhi alongside fellow Team Ipswich Elite Squad members Helen Decker (marathon) and Chris Walker-Hebborn (swimming).

Nicky, the UK No. 1, has won two silver medals at world cups this year, and is now ranked No. 2 in the world. She has secured her place to represent Team England at the Commonwealth Games in October, where she is aiming for medals in both the team and individual competitions. Nicky is an NHS physiotherapist, and Suffolk Community Healthcare have been fantastic in allowing her unpaid leave to go to the Games and other international events, plus she has been able to reduce her hours in order to train more.
But there are a lot of costs for training such as travel, unpaid leave from work and equipment, so she is looking for looking for a company to sponsor her. In return, Nicky can offer local and national advertising, and a corporate day of archery for the company. Anyone interested in supporting Nicky can contact me at team.ipswich@ipswich.gov.uk

OBVIOUSLY I was as disappointed as everyone else in the country following England's exit from the World Cup last Sunday, after the 4-1 defeat by Germany. But I'm still half-happy, because being half-Dutch, it's been good to see the Netherlands making progress in the competition. However, they will have their work cut out against Brazil in the quarter-finals. I watched the England/Germany game at a house-warming party, and my only regret was that I wasted 90 minutes of sun-tanning time! It felt like some of the players had no fight or drive, which is the worst feeling. I was hoping for more passion. It was all very deflating, but I don't think we should necessarily change the manager. It doesn't do much good to keep changing managers in knee-jerk reactions.
However, with the exception of the football, it's actually been a successful time for British sport.

It was good to see England beat Australia at rugby union, and also at cricket in the current one-day series, and of course Andy Murray has been going well at Wimbledon. I went to Wimbledon on Monday, with my Mum Deedee. It was her first visit to Wimbledon, and we had a brilliant day as hospitality guests of the LTA. We saw Roger Federer, who didn't really need to get out of first gear, but I was impressed with Murray. There hasn't seemed to be as much pressure on him this year, but now that England has been knocked out of the World Cup, all eyes will be on him again.

I HAD an interesting photo-shoot on Saturday, for the charity Fresh2o, which aims to provide money for clean, safe and fresh water in Africa. The photographer, Candice, takes pictures of sports people, actors and celebrities under-water, usually to a set theme and with them fully-clothed. Nick Faldo was photographed under-water taking a golf swing, while actress Keira Knightley was in a gorgeous evening gown. I had two sessions, in a tank at the Clothes Show in Earls Court. I was wearing a ring-master's red jacket in the first, with a red bikini and mad hair extensions while holding five hoops to represent the Olympic Games rings. I was body-painted for the second shoot, in black with the coloured hoops of the Olympics. The idea is to raise the awareness of the charity. You can see the pictures on the website www.fresh2o.org

May 2010

Thursday 20th

 
I attended the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust Golf Day last week and as it was the first time I have picked up my clubs since last summer it wasn’t pretty at times. I had hoped to get to the driving range before the day but didn’t manage so I can’t really be surprised at how rusty I was. The event was held at the London Golf Club and we played the Heritage Course which is renowned for being pretty tough. It was a fun day however and towards the end of the round, my game was starting to come back to me. On the last five holes I think I was playing some of my best golf. And fortunately, I was on a strong team playing alongside 3 guys from Premier Sport, we ended up coming second overall winning a bottle of champagne in the process.

It was very satisfying to relegate sporting legends such as Sir Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and Steve Cram amongst others to the lower places behind us! The golf was followed by dinner and fundraising for Kelly’s charity. They have a number of projects including providing support to elite performers as they develop a new career and offering kids who are struggling in education a route to get coaching qualifications.
 
I was absolutely glued to the Twenty20 World Cup final on Sunday and it was great to see us smash the Australians in the final. It was obviously amazing to win but the fact we beat the Australians so convincingly made it that bit extra special. I enjoy cricket and it’s been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. My dad, Derek, used to play for England Schoolboys and was playing for a local team every weekend as I was growing up. It was always on the television at home and my Dad has been going to one or two days of every Lords test match for probably 40 odd years. I now get to be an “honorary bloke” for the day as he takes me along to Lords with his group of mates which is fun and a bit messy!

Karen Pickering SWIM is starting a new swim school at Chesford Grange Hotel, near Kenilworth. To book or for more details email bookings@karenpickering.co.uk or call 01273 245652

We also started weekly swimming lessons for the Brighton & Hove High School. It is the first time the school has had a swimming club and since I am a former pupil of the school I’m very excited to be running their lessons.

Friday 14th

Team Ipswich Elite Squad member Nicky Hunt has had a brilliant start in the first archery World Cup of the year in Ponec, Croatia. She had to knock out the current world number one on her way to winning a silver medal and her performance should see her move up the world rankings from her current position in fourth. She will attend the second world cup in Turkey in four weeks and if she remains in the top eight for the series she will continue to the third leg. Nicky is someone who has benefited from a Team Ipswich Sports Foundation grant and the deadline for this year’s applications is fast approaching.
Check out www.teamipswich.com for more details.
 
I had a tour of the Olympic Park with the rest of the LOCOG’s Athlete Commission this week and I was really impressed. We visit the site about every 6 months and things are starting to move along so quickly now. The pool, stadium and velodrome are really taking shape as is the huge temporary basketball venue. And we had our first close up look at the athletes’ accommodation in the Village. Being able to see the main Olympic stadium with the Olympic flame burning plus some of the venues from their apartments will be very inspiring for the athletes. It will be interesting to see what they do to the stadium after the Olympics. I think as long as athletics has priority then I don’t see a problem with a football club using it with West Ham having expressed an interest already. It keeps it as a “living” venue being used regularly rather than having an amazing stadium that only gets used occasionally.
 
Team Ipswich have now launched their monthly I-card package and it’s a great opportunity for people to look and feel their best this summer. The I-card gives people the chance of joining with no fee or annual subscription and if you join by direct debit before June 15 you will get one month free after paying for two months up front. It’s a campaign for all member types including swimming, gym, fitness classes and racket sports while you will not be locked into a contract. It’s a great chance for people to get fit and I hope that many local people take advantage of the scheme. For more information call 08000 371 371.
 
I went to The Bunbury’s Dinner at the Grosvenor Hotel last week which was in honour of Sir Ian Botham to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his incredible charity walks. Nick Hancock hosted a Q&A with Bob Willis, Darren Gough, Sam Torrence, Alan lamb and others which since they were all a little drunk was very funny with plenty of stories and anecdotes. It was a great night and when Status Quo performed for almost an hour at the end they had the whole room rocking.

Wednesday 5th

I gave a motivational talk at a school in Wallingford, Oxfordshire last week as the pupils there, along with many others around the country, approach their GCSEs. It was interesting during a question and answer session to find out what sort of careers these students are looking to pursue and the fact that some were very clear in what they wanted to do while others were not quite so sure.
I know students that don’t know what career they want to can get very anxious but I don’t think they should worry. Not everyone in their teens has already decided what they want to be/do but if you don’t know it is that it is important to keep your options open as much as possible in terms of the subjects that you decide to study.

When I was at school I knew that I wanted to be a swimmer but other than that I had no idea what I would do. I made sure that I got my A Levels so that I could go to university if my swimming career didn’t work out. If you keep your options open then it gives you plenty of time to find out what your passion is and decide what you want to do.
 
I watched the BBC drama called ‘Five Daughters’ recently, which was all about the murders of the five young women in Ipswich.
I thought the 3 part programme was excellent and really tastefully done. I can still remember the events unfolding in the Town so it was moving seeing it played out on TV. It really got across the message from the Evening Star campaign that ran at the time, Somebody’s Daughter, in that these were just vulnerable women, who for one reason or another had travelled down the wrong path.
Only the families and friends will know if the portrayal of the girls was accurate but it was good to see the events from that winter handled so sensitively.
 
I got my registration through for this year’s MoonWalk on May 16th and I’m really looking forward to taking it. Thousands of women take part in the event, which starts at midnight, and you can choose to walk either a half or full marathon around London. All the money raised goes towards fighting breast cancer and I’ll be doing the full 26 miles. I don’t think my “swimmer’s knees” could handle running a marathon anymore but I’m hoping I can walk round pain free. Fingers crossed that the weather holds out for us otherwise it could be a bit of a damp stroll!

And I finally caved and opened a twitter account to provide details of my swim schools, lessons, venues, swimming news, Splash 2010, etc. If you want to follow me my twitter account is @karen_pickering. I’m not a fan of people tweeting things like where they are and what they’re eating so I won’t be doing any of that!

April 2010

Thursday 15th

I’m starting to dust down my golf clubs in preparation for the Team Ipswich Golf Day, in association with the East Anglian Daily Times and the Evening Star on Wednesday, July 14. I have to admit that I am a bit of a fair weather golfer but I’m looking forward to the summer and getting back out on the course, so to warm up I’ll be hitting a few balls at the driving range this week. The TI Golf Day promises to be a great event as there will be some Ipswich Town legends playing including Mick Mills, Bryan Hamilton, Alan Hunter and Simon Milton while as well as some Olympic athletes. I know there are some great prizes to be won and all the profits from the day are going to the Team Ipswich Sports Foundation, supporting local athletes. Find out more about the event by logging on to www.teamipswich.com
 
A story broke last week about the anti-doping procedures for London 2012 saying that there will be more tests done than ever before which is good news for the games. UK Anti-Doping take care of all the doping tests conducted in the UK but when the Olympics come round it becomes the responsibility of The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG).
A sensible decision has been made that these two organisations will work together during the games so as much is done as possible to ensure that no-one slips through the cracks. Doping tests are obviously quite a complex process so the more experience that is brought in will only help ensure that the London 2012 games are clean. And any athlete competing in The Olympics hopefully will be deterred from cheating by the strict procedures that will be in place.
 
I went to the FA Cup semi-final between Chelsea and Aston Villa at Wembley and had a great time. I was a guest of National Express, who sponsor the England side, and I got to sign the bus, which is touring around the country’s football grounds, sending messages of good luck to the lads for the summer in South Africa. I’m really looking forward to the World Cup finals and as I’m half Dutch I get to support two teams, although being as patriotic as I am, England naturally come first. I will be going on holiday to South Africa just before they World Cup starts and I’m looking forward to soaking up the atmosphere and the sense of anticipation that surrounds such an event. Hopefully, the optimism surrounding the national side at the moment isn’t misplaced and they can make us all proud in the summer.

Friday 2nd

I've been covering the British Swimming Championships in Sheffield for BBC Radio 5 Live this week. The championships act as trials for both the European Championships and the Commonwealth Games later this year and it’s been exciting to see the talent we’ve got in the pool.

There have been a few nice surprises such as the emergence of 16 year old Achieng Ajullu-Bushell in the breast stroke events and it was also good to see my fellow Mission Sport athletes Jazmin Carlin and Chris Walker-Hebborn making the teams.

I’ve really been enjoying covering the event with Bob Ballard and Steve Parry who has been doing the pool side interviews. The whole evening sessions at the championships have been broadcast on 5 Live Sports Extra so we’ve been able to give listeners a really good picture of what’s going on. Doing the commentary is something I really enjoy and I can’t wait to cover the European Championships in Budapest and the Commonwealths in Delhi later this year. Looking at the swimmers we’ve got making the teams I’m confident there could be a few medals for us to celebrate.

I took my friend’s little boy, Henry, swimming last week which was great fun. He is only 15 weeks old and it was a real pleasure to take him for his first ever swim. The pool was a little bit cold but he was in a baby warmer to help regulate his body temperature and it’s good for the parents to get their baby in the water as soon as they can. We actually run parent & baby classes at my swim schools across the UK and it’s great to show parents how to make their babies feel comfortable and have fun in the pool from an early age so that they can be safe and confident in water as soon as possible. It’s a really lovely experience for the mum and dad and a great way of bonding with their baby - they always really enjoy it.

If you’re interested in going along to a class check out www.karenpickeringswim.com for details of lessons near you.

I got to speak at a GCSE PE Student Revision Conference at Blackfriars last week and it’s so impressive how the sports science side of things has moved on over the years. This conference was held to help the students revise for their exams which are just around the corner.

I did a question and answer session talking about different training methods, over training, diet, drugs in sport, psychology, etc and the talk was at a much higher level than I usually do. They understand the different ways of training and the physiology and I was impressed by their knowledge and the questions they asked. I remember how nerve racking exams can be but my advice is to do the revision and relax as much as possible on the day.  Often they are not as bad as you expect!

March 2010

Thursday 25th

The Winter Olympics Breakfast with Alain Baxter at the Suffolk Ski Centre was a great success. Everyone who attended really enjoyed the Q&A session with Alain and they even got to do a bit of skiing with him. The highlight though was when 25 members of the Suffolk Vikings Ski School came along to get some coaching tips from Britain’s best ever skier.

You could see that they were all just so excited to be coached by a former Olympian. It’s great for children to meet their heroes as it gives them the chance to ask them how they got to the very top of their field and Alain was great with them all. You could also see how thrilled the Vikings coaches were and I’m sure they will all be talking about it for a very long time. I remember doing swim schools with Duncan Goodhew when I was about seven or eight and how excited I was to get advice and tips from him!.
All the proceeds from the event with Alain went to the Team Ipswich Sports Foundation, which supports local athletes who are recognised as athletes of potential.

The Evening Star Golf Day has been arranged for Wednesday, July 14 and it should be another fantastic day. Several Olympians and Ipswich Town legends have already been signed up and we are all really looking forward to it. If you are interested in taking part yourself then log on to www.teamipswich.com for more details.
 
We could not have asked for better weather for the Sport Relief Mile, which took place last Sunday at Christchurch Park, Ipswich
Organisers always look out the window on the morning of such events and pray the sun makes an appearance and we really couldn’t have asked for any more. It really added to what was a brilliant atmosphere amongst all the runners and it also meant people were able to check out the Team Ipswich Sports Arena where we had several different sports clubs putting on demonstrations.

American Football side, the Ipswich Cardinals, put on several drills while Ipswich Jaffa and the Orwell Panthers were also there to lend a hand. I actually took part in one of the races myself alongside Simon Milton and we agreed to run together at the start.
However, that competitive edge came out towards the end and I couldn’t resist making a dash for the finish line but I think I went too early! I certainly paid for it the next day when I woke up extremely stiff!
 
It was great fun doing the commentary for BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast presenter Shelagh Fogarty’s Sport Relief Challenge last week. She faced her fear of swimming by doing a mile in the Serpentine Lake at Hyde Park in London and she did brilliantly raising a lot of money in the process. The temperature of the water was a very chilly four degrees celsius and, while Shelagh had a dry suit on during her challenge, there were several people who were just in trunks going for a morning swim! I’ve got nothing but respect for those people. The 10k open water race and the swimming leg of the triathlon in the 2012 Olympics will take place in the Serpentine Lake and it will be perfect for it.  It is such a stunning location that I’m even thinking about joining the Serpentine Swim Club although I think I might wait for the summer when it gets a bit warmer.

Thursday 18th

I'm looking forward to the Sport Relief Mile taking place at Christchurch Park, Ipswich on Sunday, March 21. Myself and some of the other Team Ipswich Elite Squad athletes will be running at least one of the races over the weekend and I will be starting one of the waves off too.

The beauty of the Sport Relief Mile is that anyone can do it - you can even walk around if you want. It would just be great to see as many people as possible coming along on the day and doing their bit. There are also three-mile and six-mile events happening if you want to challenge yourself a bit more. I think the best thing about Sport Relief is that not only does it raise money for poorer countries but it also helps people in the UK as well. The Sport Relief Mile is a chance for you to do your part so make your entry online at www.sportrelief.com

I always like to watch any live sport and I was fortunate enough to get tickets for Saturday’s FA Cup tie between Chelsea and Stoke City last weekend. I really enjoyed the game - I expected Chelsea to completely overrun Stoke but they put on a tough display. Stoke are a big side! My abiding memory of the game however will be how cold it was and glancing over to where the Stoke fans were sitting and seeing many of them topless waving their shirts in the air. They must be mad!

I've started a new SWIM Fit & Tech programme at some of my Swim Schools including Ipswich , Brighton & Eastbourne for any swimmers who want to work on their technique and fitness. It is suitable for anyone who can swim about 400m and is also an ideal programme for additional recovery or a cardio work out for those who play other sports. I wrote the programme, which aims to tone your body, improve cardiovascular fitness, increase lung capacity and perfect strokes and skill techniques and so far it is proving very popular.

Anyone interested should take a look at www.karenpickeringswim.com

Wednesday 3rd

The Winter Olympics seemed to really capture the public’s imagination this year. Everyone has been talking about it and it was a fantastic finish to the games for Canada winning the ice hockey in overtime in that dramatic final against USA. I think Britain were hoping for a few more medals but you can’t complain when one of our own comes back as an Olympic champion and I was so pleased for Amy Williams when she won   the gold medal in the women’s bob skeleton.

The events that the public seemed to really latch on to were the thrills and spills of the Ski-Cross and the Snowboard-Cross. The general chaos of these events was fascinating and there can’t be too many more exciting sports to watch on television. We are lucky in Ipswich to have a Ski Centre and I hope that the recent games encourages people to get out on the slopes. I’m planning to ask Alain Baxter whether he fancies having a go at Ski-Cross in the future and, knowing the kind of character he is, I’m willing to bet that he will give it a go if his body is still up to taking the impact. There are still some tickets left for when Alain hosts the Team Ipswich Winter Olympics Breakfast on Monday, March 15 at the Suffolk Ski Centre. It’s a great chance for any budding skiers to have a lesson from Britain’s best ever skier and pick his brains about how he got to the top of his sport. Tickets for the event are £50 per person and you can book them by logging on to www.teamipswich.com
 
I did some filming for the Gadget show on Channel 5 and I realised that I’m definitely not as fit as I once was! They set me a challenge to swim three 50m races against presenter Susie Perry, who had the help of all kinds of gadgets to try and beat me.
It was a real challenge and the programme will be worth watching when it is aired on March 22. The other interesting thing was that we got to film it in the new 50m swimming pool in Guildford, which hasn’t even been opened to the public yet. The university paid for it all themselves - the actual sports centre cost around £36m while just the pool itself cost £9m. It’s an amazing facility and it was great to be one of the first to use it. Hopefully, one day in the future, Ipswich can still get its own Olympic sized pool.

The new swimming lessons at the Holiday Inn, Ipswich are going really well and are proving very popular, especially the parent & baby classes. The warm pools at all of the Spirit venues that I use across the UK are always clean, warm and a great environment for learners of all ages. At a number of my swim schools I have also recently added a course for adults called Karen Pickering SWIM Fit & Tech. It is a programme I have written aimed at swimmers who can swim at least 400m right up to triathletes and open water swimmers. The course improves fitness and technique and is challenging and fun for the swimmers. For more details call KP SWIM on 01273 245652 or email me.

February 2010

British swimming looks in good health. It was interesting to check on the progress of the Great Britain swimmers last weekend when I went to watch their duel meet against Germany in Swansea at the weekend. The trials for the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships are in six weeks time so this was just a preparation for that.

The British swimmers are in the middle of their hard training at the moment and haven’t had the rest they need to perform to their absolute optimum whilst the German swimmers don’t have their trials till June and are still building up to full training so it was an exciting match up. Over the 2 day meet the British women were particularly impressive and over all the British team absolutely thrashed the Germans 207 points to 109.

Team Ipswich’s Chris Walker-Hebborn swam in the backstroke events and did well. He ran out of steam towards the end of the 200m event which wasn’t a big surprise given that he hasn’t rested but he bounced back in the 100m event to come second.

From a personal point of view I was working there for BBC Radio 5-Live on my own this time as my colleague, Bob Ballard, is out in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics. It was up to me to do the round-ups and the interviews and it was good to do something a bit different and sharpen those skills. I’m already looking forward to covering how our athletes get on in the trials next month.

I went to watch Sharron Davies perform in ITV’s Dancing on Ice at the weekend and it just enforced what a tough lady she is.

She got knocked out after a skate off but she knew that her time was coming to an end on the show because her shoulder was so bad. She was not able to perform to the piece of music she was supposed to and it became apparent that the judges were not particularly happy with her as a result. I know Emma Bunton felt that as a former athlete that she should have given it a go but actually as an athlete she is used to listening to her body and knowing what it will be capable of doing.  If she was able to do the routine she would have. She is a really tough lady and wouldn’t walk away from a challenge easily. It’s not completely over though, She and her skating partner Pav will have to perform a short routing on the last show.

January 2010

Wednesday 27th

We had a Team Ipswich Foundation board meeting this week, hosted at John Grose, to talk about some of the events we are planning for the year ahead. It’s certainly an exciting time and we can’t wait to get the programme underway. One of the highlights will definitely be former Olympic skier Alain Baxter coming to the Suffolk Leisure Park after the Winter Olympics. He will be holding a business breakfast later this year and people will get the chance to ski with him and ask questions about his life as a top class skier.

Alain is quite a character - people may remember him as the athlete who heartbreakingly had an Olympic bronze medal taken away from him in Salt Lake City after using a US version of a Vicks inhaler which, unlike the British version, had a banned substance in it.
He is actually taking his career in a different direction now and is planning to compete for Scotland at The Commonwealth Games in cycling.

Having competed against him on the TV show Superstars I’ve no doubt he will prove to be a success at this as well as he is obviously a naturally talented sportsman who can turn his hand to any discipline. It will be fascinating for people to get the chance to meet him. We have also got a football lunch in the pipeline along with a golf day and details of all these events will be made available nearer the time.

We are very lucky in this country to have access to some of the best coaches around in the sporting arena. People talk about how important it is to have the right facilities available and, of course, they are right, but it is equally vital to ensure that young sports people are well taught. It was heartening to hear that the head coach of Snow Sport England’s National Alpine Ski Racing Team Mike Barker went to help train the Suffolk Vikings Ski Team this week. While helping to coach the young skiers there, he was also there to offer the coaches advice and it’s vital that this aspect is never overlooked. We must coach the coaches and it is a mantra well worth sticking to.

I filmed an episode of Marco Pierre White’s new TV Show Burnout this week. Three celebrities competed against each other and cooked a 3 course meal for a group of Olympians including myself, Kris Akabusi and Jamie Staff. They worked under the critical eye of Marco at his restaurant, Wheelers in London. It was a lot of fun but I won’t give anything away, it will be on ITV in April.

Tuesday 5th

My annual Splash Awards, which I founded five years ago, were the biggest and most glitzy yet. I initially decided to hold them, because there had never been an award for British swimmer-of-the-year but over the years I have introduced more categories such as Diver, and Synchro Swimmer of the Year. At the black tie dinner held at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower Hotel in Knightsbridge we also added the 'Open Water Swimmer of the Year' category.

The event was hosted by Claire Balding. Sharon Davies, who is preparing to take part in the next "Dancing on Ice" competition, was one of the celebrities in attendance, as was Justin Lee Collins and Jessica Taylor.

Justin won the "Splash Star Award," following previous winners David Walliams (2007) and James Cracknell (2008). He won this for his brave high board diving exploits during a TV series which saw him try lots of difficult new challenges. He tried his hand at ball-room dancing, and also diving under the guidance of former Olympic diver Leon Taylor. Despite being scared of heights he was very impressive, so we decided to honour him with this award. Justin was fantastic. He stayed all night, signed autographs for everyone and was such good fun.

Amongst the other winners were Tom Daley (diver of the year), Liam Tancock (male swimmer of the year), Jo Jackson (female swimmer of the year) and Keri-Anne Payne (open-water swimmer of the year).

I was lucky enough to go skiing over Christmas, in Switzerland, and I had a great new year in Brighton with my family. I also chose just about the worst day possible, weather-wise, to move offices - there was heavy snow and I was indebted to John Grose, who are great supporters of Team Ipswich, for lending me a transit van. I have moved my office from Ipswich to London, simply because so much of my work is now based in the Capital. That's where most of my meetings are held, for the British Olympic Association and the British Athletes Commission, and I also travel a lot with my Swim Schools.

I'm really looking forward to 2010, because it’s a massive year for sport. There's the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and the Winter Olympics. Furthermore, it's also good to see that Ipswich Town have started winning again. They are creeping up the Championship table, which is great news. Ipswich have a lot of up-and-coming athletes, and a lot of established ones, so it will be intriguing to see how many of them manage to qualify for the Commonwealth Games, which are taking place in Delhi, India, in October. That could well be my highlight of the year, to see lots of Ipswich athletes in action.