Mid Sussex Marlins 'thrilled' to jump back in the pool

The Marlins returned to the pool on Monday following the easing of lockdown restrictions.

The club, who swim at The Dolphin in Haywards Heath and The Triangle in Burgess Hill is made up of 800 members of different abilities, from young people learning to swim to water polo players who compete on the national stage.

And Murphy was delighted to see the Marlins hit the pool again.

He said: “After a third lockdown and another long period out of the pool we are all thrilled to finally be getting back to swimming.

“The sport means so much to so many for different reasons and we are hugely grateful as a club and team that we can start doing what we all love again.

“For many of us, swimming is an important way to de-stress and relax. That hasn’t been an option for much of the past 12 months.”

Murphy admitted that a lack of action had taken a toll on fitness. He added: “Over the past year we’ve missed out on around eight-and-a-half months of swimming; the result has been people falling behind on their lessons and their fitness or losing out on a chance to swim in a competition. Getting back to fitness will be different for different people.

“I’ve no doubt we’ll all be sore for a few days after our first swimming sessions.”

Murphy also revealed that lessons will be a bit different.

He continued: “We’ve had to reduce the number of people swimming in each lane and introduce social distancing even within the pool.

“We have additional volunteers poolside at all times to ensure our new procedures are being adhered to.

“We’re also asking all swimmers to arrive in their costumes so they can get changed poolside rather than in the changing rooms.”

The Marlins are hopeful that competitions will begin at the end of summer, but in the meantime they will compete in Swim England’s nationwide virtual competition Level X.

The club are also very proud to have Sophie Shaw compete in the 100m and 200m British swimming Olympic trials next week.