Category: Coach’s Corner

21 of our Abbotsleigh junior swimmers competed at our Invitational Meet. There was positive energy that entertained us all day. The enthusiasm to compete and your wonderful smiling faces showed the wider swimming community what team Abb is all about. Swimmers showed great intent around the race skills they had been working on in training that resulted in fantastic racing. The Abb Sprit was on display during our relays with some amazing efforts from all those that took part.

Coaches would like to the celebrate the efforts of two swimmers:

Lily King
For her competitive spirit throughout the weekend. Application of her skills that she has been working on in training to her racing, and finishing every race strong. She carried her positive frame of mind from race to race that allowed her to perform to a high standard throughout the day. Well done Lily.

Seb King
Seb showed a clinical approach to his racing on Sunday. He showed the benefit of going into a race with a plan and executing. He showed great progress in all four strokes, that lead to a dominant performance in his Individual Medley. Well done Seb.

Congratulations to our 10 medallists:
Lindsey Kim: Gold 50 Brs, 100IM, 50 Fly, 50 Free; Silver 100 Free
Seb King: Gold 50 Back; Silver 50 Breast, 100IM, 50 Fly, Bronze 50 Free
Sam King: Gold 25 Free,25 Kick; Bronze 50 Back, 25 Fly
Lucinda Torrens: Gold 25 Brs; Silver 25 Back, 25 Free
Samantha Cox: Gold 50 Back
Cameron Graham: Silver 50 Back, 50 Brs; Bronze 50 Fly, 50 Free
Lily King: Silver 50 Fly; Bronze 50 Back, 100IM, 50 Free
Levi Strong: Silver 25 Brs, 25 Fly; Bronze 25 Kick, 25 Free
Riley Allsop: Silver 50 Back
Charles Williamson: Silver 50 Fly

Congratulation on our swimmers that also broke meet Records:
Lindsey Kim: 50 Brs, 100IM and 50 Fly
Samantha Cox: 50 Back
Lucinda Torrens: 25 Brs
12&U Medley Relay – Samantha Cox, Cameron Graham, Lindsey Kim and Meredith Wang
12&U Free Relay – Lindsey Kim, Samantha Cox, Meredith Wang, and Felicity Smith

Coaches are looking forward to seeing this Team ABB enthusiasm grow leading into State Championships. Go Team ABB.

Cameron Gledhill
Assistant Coach

We had an exciting weekend at Metro Championships last weekend, watching our 37 swimmers take on their personal challenge and compete against the rest of the state. This meet is a good hit out before State Championships and a great chance to pick a new State time if you are striving for this.

Cam and I enjoyed watching the skills appear in the long course pool. We are strong starters and great underwater. As Club this is very impressive across all levels. Well done ABB swimmers.

Throughout the weekend there were outstanding results. ABB won 18 medals. This is a fantastic effort from our team. Check out our medallists and their event/s:

Natasha Ramsden – Gold 50 free; Gold 100 free; Gold 100 fly; Silver 200 free;
Samantha Cox – Gold 100 back;
Shaun Champion – Silver 200 fly; Silver 50 fly; Silver 100 fly;
Holly Nelson – Silver 100 breast; Bronze 100 back;
Georgia O’Connor – Silver 100 back;
Matt Kelly – Bronze 100 back; Bronze 200 back; Bronze 400 IM;
Annabelle Druce – Bronze 100 back;
Sophie de Salis – Bronze 200 breast;
Geoff Herkes – Bronze 50 Breast;
Emily Ong – Bronze 100 fly;

Congratulations!

The next step is full steam ahead to State Championships. Keep your focus and enjoy the preparation. Have fun and work on what you learnt at the meet and transfer that knowledge into your daily sessions.

Happy Swimming,

Amanda Isaac
Head Coach

On the 26th and 27th of September a number of our Junior Athletes took part in the Abb Juniors Camp held at Abbotsleigh Aquatic Centre.

Swimmers learnt the importance of activation and routine around both training and racing. Had the chance to work on stroke technique and building their stroke around body position in the water. They participated in team building activities and became expert critical thinkers with applying themselves to riddles and problem solving. They then got to see themselves in action each afternoon with filming for each stoke and individual feedback.

On Day 2, the swimmers got the opportunity to spend time with Olympian Travis Mahoney. They were able to hear his story before asking all the important questions, like what his favourite lollies were, or telling him about how they hold all but one of the swimming records at school.

The swimmers finally had the opportunity to test themselves in a different way, at District 3 with Dodgem Cars and Laser Tag.

At the end of the 2 days there were some very tired bodies heading home, with a lot of knowledge to apply to their swimming in the future.

A big thank you to Jacqui for her efforts with lunch on both days.

Congratulations to our 20 athletes who represented Abbotsleigh at the Open Championships.

It was great to see all swimmers engage in the Open competition. Abbotsleigh have a lot to offer this level of competition. I believe everyone is an Open swimmer, there just happens to be events that declare a 14 year old champion, for example.

I enjoyed watching you take on each race with intent to improve things that you acknowledged from Age Championships. It was very impressive to see this from the group. The scoreboard doesn’t show everything, whilst it is important, it’s not the only reference of a good race. Abbotsleigh swimmers where challenging their skills, underwater swimming, turns and starts better than they had at Age Championships. Well done to all who made adjustments to the way they raced. We continue to show strong race skills and willingness to use these skills under pressure.

You bring excitement to each race and it is very enjoyable to watch.

Special mention to Natasha Ramsden who is the State Champion in 50m Freestyle and to Matt Kelly for making progress at this level of competition.

1 Gold
2 Silver
2 Bronze

Congratulations to our Medal winners:

Natasha Ramsden
Gold 50 Freestyle
Silver 100 Freestyle
Bronze 100 Individual Medley

Matt Kelly
Silver 200 Backstroke

Relay Medal winners:
Bronze 4×50 Mixed Freestyle relay (Matt Kelly, Harry Trethowan, Emily Ong, Natasha Ramsden)

2016 NSW AGE SC CHAMPIONSHIPS

Congratulations to our 35 athletes who represented Abbotsleigh over the weekend.
Our swimmers competed strongly throughout the 3 day meet. It was great to watch the courage Abbotsleigh swimmers were willing to show in the pressure of competition. The execution of race skills was entertaining in every race. Well done to our team for pushing themselves to be better.

Cam and I would like to complement Team ABB for the support of each other. Whether it was funky socks or cheering or words of encouragement, you all made positive contributions to the Team.

What a fun weekend. A great team to be a part of.

8 Gold
6 Silver
2 Bronze

Congratulations to our Individual medal winners:

Natasha Ramsden
Gold 15yr 100 Butterfly
Gold 15yr 50 Freestyle
Gold 15yr 100 Freestyle

Shaun Champion
Gold 16yr 100 Butterfly
Silver 16yr 200 Butterfly

Cameron Graham
Gold 10/u 100 Breaststroke
Silver 10/u 50 Breaststroke

Holly Nelson
Gold 13yr 50 Freestyle
Silver 13yr 200 Backstroke

Georgia Peregrina
Silver 14yr 100 Butterfly

Tom Peregrina
Silver 17-18 200 Individual Medley

Annabelle Druce
Bronze 17-18 200 Backstroke

Jaimey Yeats
Bronze 17-18 100 Backstroke

Relay Medal winners
Gold 15/u 4×50 Freestyle relay (Natasha Ramsden, Holly Nelson, Keely Allsop, Arizona Staley)
Gold 18/u 4×50 Freestyle relay (Natasha Ramsden, Amy Nelson, Jaimey Yeats, Jacqui Feurtado)
Silver 15/u 4×50 Medley relay (Arizona Staley, Sophie de Salis, Georgia Peregrina, Natasha Ramsden)

Well done Abbotsleigh – 5th place club in NSW!

Looking forward to Camp ABB and Noosa……

Amanda XOXO

What a great day for Swimming on Day 1 of the Olympics.

All Abbotsleigh swimmers will get their chance to compete this week at Club night on Thursday.
Bring your motivation and inspiration as we watch the best in the world show their talent in Rio.
All Gold, Black, White and Junior Challenge swimmers are expected to compete at Club night this Thursday.
This is a last chance qualifying for NSW Age Championships, it is a great opportunity to practice your main events in preparation for State Age in 3 weeks time and it is also a great chance to test your skills in a competitive environment.

Cam and I look forward to seeing your Abb spirit shine in the pool on Thursday.

Go Aussies! Go Abb!

Amanda Isaac
Head Swimming Coach

The Return of the Golden Flipper

Congratulations to our Junior swimmers who competed at the Abbotsleigh 12/u Development Meet on Sunday. Abbotsleigh swimmers showed their racing skills and competitiveness throughout the day. It was great to be part of the day, watching the competition and seeing so many smiling faces amongst our swimmers, our volunteers and the broader swimming community.
Thank you to all members who made the day successful. An event like this takes a lot of organisation and assistance, and with everyone playing a role on the day and in the lead up, we delivered an outstanding meet. Well done.

The highlight was definitely the Return of the Golden Flipper. Thank you to Kiera Smith, Marcus Walsh, Cammy Graham, Tane Bidois, Sammy Ramsden and our anchor man Coach Cam, who represented the Club with spirit. It was a great way to finish a fun day, with positive atmosphere, great cheering and a great race.

Abbotsleigh Swimming Club is a great Club to be part of.

Happy Swimming

Amanda Isaac