Portsmouth Northsea Swimming Club


Portsmouth Northsea swimming club was founded in 1927. It began when a group of swimmers met in the ‘Northsea Arms’ at Stamshaw and decided to form a Swimming Club, which they called Northsea SC. The name was then altered to PORTSMOUTH NORTHSEA SWIMMING CLUB some years later.
Since then the Club has gone from a modest start to being one of the top clubs in the country. For the past fifteen years it has been in the top three in the country and many of its members have been selected for international representation at junior and senior level including competing at Olympic Games. In addition, it provides coaching staff and physiotherapists to the Great Britain and England Teams. Notable successes have been the gold medals won by Katy Sexton in the 200 metres backstroke, at the Commonwealth Games in 1998, and more recently the 2003 World Championships, Katy also won a Silver in the 100 metres backstroke.
The Club runs a successful Learn to Swim Programme, taking children from the age of three and teaching them basic water skills and providing the opportunity for these youngsters to move into the competitive side of the Club.
To provide competitions for members, Club Championships are run each year as well as three Open Meet competitions where other clubs will enter. The professionalism and dedication of the Club has seen one of these, the Easter Swim Festival as the premier event for age group swimming in the country.
For the last sixteen years, Portsmouth Northsea has competed in the National Speedo League Final, having won the southern region competition for that period. This is the top competition for club swimmers and in that time the club has won the trophy three times and been runner up on the other occasions.
The Club currently operate 10 squads and is a Regional Beacon Squad for the South East.

Notable athletes