After months of practice and tireless hard work, our swimming athletes were finally prepared to give it their all at the IASAS Swimming Tournament 2019! This year, the swim team welcomed an abundance of new swimmers while also competing with highly experienced seniors and juniors. This wide variety of skill added even more excitement to the season as a whole, as athletes continued pushing themselves out of their comfort zones and improving tremendously!
Swimming in particular is a sport that requires resilience, dedication, and an abundance of practice in order to show improvement, in fact, the majority of swimmers dedicate all their time to the sport and swim for all three sporting seasons! Chanon Wang (12) mentions, “Swimming is unlike many sports where you have to put extra time into it and also must do extra physical activities that will make yourself optimized for the best you. Although the process may be painful during preparation, the outcome of it is totally worth it!”
Although swimming proves to be a challenging sport, the tremendous health benefits more than make up for it. Swim workouts are phenomenal for the entire body since swimmers work against the resistance of water which keeps their heart rates up as well as improving their endurance, muscle strength, and cardiovascular fitness! Additionally, swimming assists in the maintenance of a healthy heart and lungs, while also toning muscles and working out nearly all muscles in the body.
Of course, much like any other sport, athletes must stay dedicated to the sport in order to truly excel at it. At the peak of the season, Varsity swimmers were putting their bodies to the test as they trained rigorously both in and outside the pool. Chanon Wang (12) reflects, “getting into the rigorous training program as varsity training became progressively intense was extremely challenging! There were morning weight sessions and swim sessions which we had to attend. Getting up at 5 am twice a week was not a fun experience, but it was definitely worth it in the end.”
This year, our swimmers hosted a fantastic exchange here at ISB during November 16th-17th where all the IASAS schools united to compete against other APAC schools! The meet was challenging, and helped our athletes prepare for the IASAS Championships!
In the end, all the lengths swim sets and stressful swim meets paid of, as the boys swim team placed second overall and the girls placed third! Coach Day remarks, “Swimming is a grueling sport and the training is very difficult day in and day out. I am proud of all Varsity swimmers that work so hard each day, but yet come back for more over and over. This year there is an extra sense of pride on the coaching staff, because of the success each and every swimmer experienced this year. Over half the swimmers swam their fastest time ever in each race they competed in; this is very difficult to do.” Congratulations to all our swimming athletes!
Although the season proved challenging at times, there were numerous season highlights that more than made up for this. Imogen Alexander (12) mentions, “the highlight of the whole season was to watch the new swim team members grow though the season, and seeing their faces and their emotions after their first IASAS race, with all that hard work paying off. I was like a happy little mum hehe!” There is no better feeling in the world than completing a race with a personal best time, and realising the immense improvement made in just three months!
Lieve Olufsen (10) shares, “the highlight of this season was definitely IASAS because we were able to see all of our work and hours in the pool that finally paid off. During IASAS we also got to cheer for our teammates, talk to people from other schools, and we also had our traditional pool party at the end of the last day which was so much fun.”
Overall, the season proved to be challenging, but completely worth it! The physically demanding training course which the athletes endured proved extremely beneficial, Coach Day shares, “I believe the sport of swimming really helps to give athletes a sense of dedication and commitment. If you miss training sessions, you can not hide behind a team.” The team’s ambition and dedication made the season all the more better!
Congratulations once again to all our swimming athletes and coaches, good luck to our seniors who will hopefully continue pursuing the sport, as well as the other athletes who plan on competing next year again!
