Author: Ben Ramsden

We came, we saw, we got wet. No surprise there then! What goes on tour stays on tour so the official word is that there was lots of fun, smiles, sliding, climbing, eating, singing and chatting!

Awesome result team! Here are Abby and Carolyn after posting big PBs. Full report from Leanne here.

Fresh off the plane from Adelaide, some of our squad headed straight to Homebush. Despite the draw of Taylor Swift in the ANZ Stadium, Abbotsleigh was at Sopac for a diving clinic with Job the NSWIS Biomechanist.

Administrative challenges meant that ‘cards on the concrete’ was incorporated into the dry land program. As soon as the deck of cards was swapped for the pool deck it was time to focus on body angles, dive entry points and distance. All of this was observed, measured and critiqued by Job with his armoury of underwater cameras and microprocessors.

The Australian SC Championships are on at Sopac currently so there was some additional excitement for the squad. ‘Chris the Pres’ challenged Australian Head Coach Jacco Verhaeren, Swimmming Australia Head of High Performance Wayne Lomas, and Australian Olympic Team Chef de Mission Kitty Chiller to a little race. A few eager fans then grabbed Bronte and Cate Campbell for some photos.

Amy and Georgia then headed off to see Taylor Swift, and everyone else returned home to empty their bags and wash their laundry.

When the Pacific School Games kicked off in Adelaide on Saturday Abbotsleigh immediately stamped its authority on the event with gold medals in both the boys and girls events. Continue reading “Black and Gold turn Blue”

“Count every lap, and make every lap count” is a familiar refrain from our awesome coaching team. And if there was a theme for the club year then that would surely qualify.

In the hectic schedule of everyday life and training it can sometimes be difficult to sit back and appreciate the enormity of progress. Our recent annual presentation night provided such an opportunity. And for those disinterested in the significance, there was ample pizza and cake to fuel even the most starving of swimmers. Continue reading “Celebrating a year of commitment”

13th October was a significant day for Geoff, Lexie and Erin because it was their last ever club committee meeting.

Between the 3 of them they have given more than a decade of time to the swim club through their committee work. Amongst many things, Geoff has led the organisation and running of club night in recent times, Lexie has been minute taker and meeting organiser extraordinaire, and Erin has supported club decision making.

Despite their ‘retirement’, Geoff is kindly continuing to organise club night for the rest of this term, and Lexie was seen wielding a pen at the recent AGM. Old habits die hard!

Thank you and well done – your immense contributions will be missed.

Reproduced here courtesy of The Hornsby Advocate.
Leanne’s pictures from Canberra here

The Black and Gold squads took over and ran club night this week. Junior, learn-to-swim and non-club swimmers were invited to come along for a fun evening at the pool. Everybody went home with a participation certificate and lolly bag. Don’t tell Brad Pamp our nutritionist!

Massive thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of this event which is now rumoured to become a termly occurrence.

For no particularly good reason your correspondent has decided to add to the names of the following swimmers: Matt ‘take your marks’ Kelly, Lachy ‘heat 2 lane 5’ Dunlop, Emily ‘have a lolly’ Ong, Zoe ‘come on girls get the spelling right and write neatly’ Lysaght, and Tane ‘my club shirt is still in the wash’ Bidois. Further suggestions are invited.

Ben ‘swims like a floppy octopus’ Ramsden.