Swimming

Resilience, agility, and optimism were the key themes of the 2021 swimming season: • We resiliently continued our work to develop a robust swimming programme with a strong support team that was ready and able to race at only a few days’ notice • We worked with agility, shifting the swimming system online over a weekend, finding new ways to compete, keeping the boys engaged and motivated • We were optimistic, despite the pessimism induced by

Covid-19 over the past year and a half, that we would eventually return to some semblance of normality, and we would be ready once given the opportunity to race

As 2020 ended off on a hopeful note, we had begun a move back to a normal swimming programme and galas were set to resume in 2021. The country, however, was devastated by the second wave of Covid, forcing school sport to be suspended as we moved back to an online environment. Although this was not the ideal situation, it provided us with time and a chance to step back to take a holistic view of our swimming programme and develop a plan that not only supported an online swimming programme, but also a move back onto pool deck.

This included the introduction of squad-based training, grouped according to ability, with team selection used to guide this process. Each squad had a coach appointed, drastically reducing the swimmer-to-coach ratio to drive quality instructing and coaching, with sessions designed to suitably challenge the swimmers. We decided to pool our resources by introducing a swimming Google Classroom (code: kurtacr) and uploaded weekly land and swimming workouts, team selections and other information. We were also able to improve our swimming-wide communication as we introduced Whatsapp groups to support the Google Classroom, therefore swimmers always remained up to date.

Once we were able to return to pool deck for in-person training, we found the transition smooth as the squadbased training immediately yielded improved results, while coaches were also adequately equipped with the resources needed to run the sessions. On this note, I would like to thank Ms Bianca Strydom (A Team coach), Mr Hylton Collinson (B Team coach) and Mr Cameron MacNair and Ms Jessica Nicholas (C Team coaches) – highly skilled coaches with significant swimming expertise, who were invaluable additions to our team.

Although a return to in-person training was possible, we were still unable to race. We all needed that excitement that only competitive racing can bring therefore we decided to launch “A Day at the Races” – a fun, intraschool gala, with five new teams. Swimmers were allocated at random across the five teams, resulting in lots of exciting finishes. Congratulations to the Sharks, coached by Ms Nicholas, for winning the gala. The gala served a dual purpose as it reignited the excitement of racing, providing the first ever taste of it to the Grade 3s, while it provided our coaches with an opportunity to manage a team in a fast-paced, high-pressured scenario, ensuring they were well-prepared for the inevitable return to racing.

We were fortunate enough to be given the go-ahead to return to racing during the latter part of Term 3 and, although this presented us with a challenge to field three full teams after the long absence, our programme stood firm and we were able to run with team selection in only a few days. We performed well at each of the three galas, with our A team narrowly losing to St Benedict’s, while our B and C teams did us proud. A memorable moment was when our B Team Grade 7s, in their final relay for St David’s, managed a come-from-behind win against the The Ridge B to level scores and share the spoils. Another highlight was our Grade 3 A Team winning all their relays in their first ever gala for St David’s – a remarkable achievement and one which bodes well for the future of our swimming programme.

The enthusiastic participation of our Grade 3 swimmers is testament to the impact our Learn-to-Swim programme has had, which we introduced in 2019. This year’s Grade 3s were the first to complete the programme across Grades 1 to 3, and, although we are continuously working to refine the programme, there are clear signs that providing highquality, ability-based instruction in smaller groups early on will have a marked impact on the growth of our aquatics programme in the years ahead.

Despite the hardships 2021 has brought with it, I look back on our swimming season with pride, acknowledging it as a year of laying foundations, upon which the St David’s swimming programme is set to grow from strength to strength. None of our successes this year would be possible without an incredible team of coaches, managers, support staff and volunteers, all passionately working to build a swimming programme of which we can be proud.

A special thank you to Danilo Giuricich for his support as Captain, Ms Strydom, Mr Collinson, Mr MacNair, Ms Nicholas, Ms McKenzie and Ms Ward for all your work with the teams, Mr Whyte for his immense support of the programme and Fourviere facility and Mr Makola for his support of the programme. Most importantly, to Ms Midlane, for her continued commitment and passion to the programme and to the boys, tirelessly working to ensure everyone is prepped and ready for all interschool competitions.

As we sign off for the 2021 swimming season, we acknowledge our successes but look ahead to an exciting 2022, which will see the reignition of our gala programme, including the events to which we look most forward: Senior and Junior inter-house galas, Isasa schools and the inaugural St David’s Grade 6 and 7 Invitiational. We take pride in the gains we have made and acknowledge that we must continue our journey of building an exceptional St David’s swimming programme and team.

Mr J Harris

Whole School Swimming Professional

Ms B Strydom

Ms C Midlane

Mr J Harris

Ms C Midlane

Mrs K McKenzie

Mr J Harris

Ms S Ward

Ms C Midlane

Mr J Harris