OTTERS ASC 2023 ISSUE
CONTENTS PAGE 3 SWIMMING SCHOOL & WATERPOLO ACADEMY
PAGE 7 OTTERS JUNIORS SEASON 2023 ROUND UP
PAGE 4 COACHING SWIMMING COURSE
PAGE 8 OTTERS SENIORS WATERPOLO SEASON 2023
PAGE 5 SENIORS TRAINING CAMP
PAGE 9 & 10 OTTERS EDUCATIONAL PROJECT
PAGE 6 JUNIOR TEAM ACTIVITIES
PAGE 11 & 12 2023 EVENTS
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Swimming School & Waterpolo Academy Otters ASC organized a highly successful summer swimming school that catered to a diverse group of 149 children. The programme was thoughtfully designed to accommodate swimmers of varying skill levels, ranging from beginners to those already proficient in the sport. This inclusive approach allowed children to find the appropriate course to match their abilities and advance their swimming skills. The school provided a structured and safe environment for young swimmers to learn and improve. Beginners received fundamental training, focusing on water confidence and basic strokes, while the more advanced courses honed the skills of already capable swimmers. The dedicated coaches and instructors ensured that each child received personalized attention and guidance to progress at their own pace. In addition to the swimming courses, Otters ASC also offered a Water Polo Academy, adding another dimension to the summer programme. This initiative encouraged children to explore a different aquatic sport and develop their water polo skills under the guidance of experienced coaches. Overall, Otters ASC's summer swimming school and Water Polo Academy were a remarkable success, promoting water safety and enhancing swimming and water polo abilities for a diverse group of 149 enthusiastic participants.
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Coaching Swimming Course Otters ASC, a swimming club in Gozo, successfully obtained VOPS (Voluntary Organisations Project Scheme) funds and certified their swimming coaches with Swim England, thereby establishing themselves as one of the few clubs in Malta and Gozo with the majority of coaches being certified in coaching swimming. This achievement can be attributed to a wellstructured and proactive approach by the club management who believes in investing in our human resources as well as in the younger generation who are the future of the club. Otters ASC demonstrated a commitment to improving their club's standards and the quality of coaching. They identified the VOPS grant as an opportunity to invest in professional development and coaching certification, as a step in enhancing the club's overall performance. In their bid for funds Otters ASC have demonstrated their commitment by showing the potential for community engagement and positive outcomes for the sport in Malta and Gozo, aligning their project with the goals of the VOPS programme which include inclusivity, involvement of the local community and benefits to the same community. In conclusion, Otters ASC's successful grant application and coaching certification with Swim England were the result of a well-planned proposal that emphasized the benefits for the club, athletes, and the wider community, making them stand out as a trailblazing swimming and water polo club in Gozo. Top of Form This project also highlights the club's dedication to enhancing the quality of coaching and the overall development of young swimmers in Malta and Gozo.
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Junior Team Activities C H R I S T M A S
H I K E
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N I G H T
H I K E
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A morning hike from San Rafflu Lake to Gharb was
A night hike was organised for our juniors team. The
organised for our juniors team during the Christmas
meeting point was at Horizon Restaurant where they
holidays. On their way, they passed by Wardija Punic
first had pizza all together. Then, starting off from
temples, walked down to Dwejra, and hiked up again
Xwejni, they walked past the salt pans, continued to
past Inland Sea to reach Gharb village. There, they all
Wied l-Ghasri valley to end up at Ghasri village
enjoyed a pizza at Gharb Rangers Restaurant.
square.
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Seniors Training Camp Belgrade 2023 Apart from the normal training sessions , the team played friendlies against Stari Grad at the Swimming Pool Milan Gale Muškatirovic and two friendlies against Novi Beograd’s second team.
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Otters Juniors Season 2023 Round Up Despite our limitations, the club still decided to participate in U13 and U15 Age Group Competitions organised by the ASA. A core group of upcoming promising players played in both age group games as we believe that this gives them the perfect platform to keep improving. The competition started in winter where both teams played a total of 16 games. U15s managed to get a single point after drawing their game against Exiles. U13s had better fortunes whereby they won 4 games and lost 5. This meant that in both age groups Otters Juniors Teams were paced in Group B for the Summer Competitions. The performances of the U15s team improved and they managed to get a draw against Exiles in a tightly contested match and were narrowly beaten by Sirens. The U13s followed in the footsteps of the 2019 U13 team and 2022 U15 team where they won Group B winning all their matches bar 2 – one draw and one defeat. This success augurs well for the future and gives us impetus to keep working tirelessly to make our nursery the cornerstone of our club.
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Otters Seniors Waterpolo Season 2023 Season 2023 marked a new chapter for Otters. The squad for the Winter League was composed of twelve home grown players out of a total fourteen players. The other two players were Mark Meli and Andrea Bianchi, two former Malta international players. So coach Anthony Farrugia had the arduous task of building a team made of two seasoned international players, two players in their early thirties, Karl Scicluna and Steve Dimech, twenty four year old David Dimech, twenty two year old captain, goalkeeper Matthew Xerri, six players aged between sixteen and eighteen, Matthew Farrugia, Gianfranco Gatt Ellis, Isaac Azzopardi, Andrew Dimech, Luigi Dimech and Mattia Grech, and fifteen year old Kenneth Micallef and fourteen year old Keran Saliba. The team obtained positive results and placed joint second with Birzebbuga and Ta Xbiex. Come summer, the squad was strengthened by the additions of Georgian National team players Marko Jelaca and Jovan Saric. The former was replaced for the final three games by Israeli International Ronen Grosz. Centre Matthias Bonnici also re joined Otters. The team was coached by Hungarian Robert Munkacsy. The team’s performances in the Summer League were fractionally below par when compared to Winter but this young Otters team fought admirably against more experienced opponents and on numerous occasions refereeing decisions didn’t go their way. Probably, the highlight of the season was the selection of Luigi Dimech and Mattia Grech with the Malta Under 17 team which placed eleventh out of twenty four finalists in the European Championships held in Turkey.
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Otters Educational Project Otters ASC believes that children’s holistic development and growth is crucial. It aims to provide an opportunity for children to learn in-depth swimming and waterpolo knowledge and skills and also to go beyond such knowledge and skills. Why and how does the organisation address its goal? Every parent wants their child to do well in any form of assessment of any discipline, whether it is academic or sportsrelated. Every parent eventually wishes that their child gets a good job. But what is a good job? We need to prepare children for professions that today do not even exist. STEAM education acts as one of the solutions that aid children warm up for the future. STEAM is an acronym that stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts & Mathematics.There is no one common definition of STEAM, however, the majority of literature refers to STEAM as an approach that connects two or more of the disciplines in STEAM subjects together. Through a STEAM approach, different disciplines are put into context, mirroring real-world scenarios. This enables access points for guiding children to inquiry, dialogue and critical thinking. These skills are crucial to prepare children for the aforementioned non-existent jobs.
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Otters Educational Project Connecting STEAM subjects and sports is mutually beneficial. The skills resulting from STEAM activities can be utilized in sports. Learning sports through STEAM provides an opportunity for children to integrate different kinds of knowledge into a unified approach, allowing them to go beyond merely practising the sports. It provides an opportunity for children to think and ask questions related to sports. On the other hand, using sports in STEAM subjects is a great way to get children involved both mentally and physically. Most often the best way to enthuse children’s interest in STEAM subjects is to find what interests them, in this case sports, and meet their interest with STEAM. In view of this rationale, Otters ASC embarked on four different STEAM events so far; one online and three physical. Children with ages 10 to 11 years old, all over Malta and Gozo were invited to participate in an online digital STEAM escape room challenge during the first Otters ASC STEAM event. Both the online and physical events focused on fun and educational experiences. For instance, in one of the events, children seamlessly learned about water polo whilst solving Maths and Science problems through the crack the code game challenge. They also had the opportunity to create hands-on designs and models related to swimming and water polo equipment. Otters ASC looks forward to organise other STEAM and sports popularisation events for the benefit of our children, who the latter, will be tomorrow’s world leaders.
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2023 EVENTS
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2023 EVENTS
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swimming school & waterpolo academy SPONSORED BY BMIT
under 13 & 15 SPONSORED BY MEDIRECT
senior team SPONSORED BY NIVEA