SMNE 13u Speedo Sprints (Heats)

We would like to congratulate Team Abb for such a fantastic swim meet on the 6th of February 2022 at the Sydney Olympic Aquatic Centre (SOPAC) for the SMNE 13u Speedo Sprints.

It was time for our 13 years and under swimmers to challenge themselves. Abbotsleigh had 26 swimmers participating in this meet and each swimmer was keen to carry their energy from Camp ABB to the racing stage.

Our swimmers showed excellent team spirit, supporting each other, and cheering for each other during the races.

Results wise, Abbotsleigh came home with 39 top 10’s. Out of those:

1 swim – 1st place

4 swims – 2nd place

1 swim – 3rd place

Well done to everyone and a special mention to Tinglan Chen, Alice Liu and Marcus Primdal that went through to the finals of the speedo sprints.

GO ABBOTSLEIGH!!

NSW Senior State championships

NSW senior state age was the first major meet after the 2021 lockdown. We had 7 swimmers competing in their individual events with 3 swimmers participating at this level for the first time. This meet is on the calendar to mirror the Australian Age Championships program of a 6 day event and provide swimmers (and parents and coaches) with the experience of heats and finals for each race.

It was important for all swimmers to be focused on their process and be able to do and execute their plans under the shiny lights of Sydney Olympic Park and race against the best senior swimmers in the state. Our sense of community was visible on deck as our experienced swimmers and less experienced swimmers encouraging each other and taking an interest on how each Team Abb member performed.

We had 12 performances make a final with Jensen and Leisel Tan making their first final at this level. They both bought their best to their finals.

Congratulations to our medal winners:

Gold – Shaun Champion 100 butterfly; Leisel Tan 50 backstroke

Bronze – Holly Nelson 100 freestyle and 50 freestyle

We also want to highlight the performance of our relay teams and thank you all the athletes that got selected and were able to join us in these exciting races.

A special mention to our 12-16 4×50 medley relay the girls where they were able to get a 5 second PB overall, moving our ranking from 39th to 22nd, this result once again show the commitment of our athletes to their teammates.

After 6 days of racing there was still smiles in everyone’s faces and also lots of learning, it was a great meet and we cannot wait for next year.

GO ABBOTSLEIGH!!

SMNE Championships

On the 5th and 6th of January the Abbotsleigh swim team went to Sydney Olympic Park aquatic centre for the 2021/22 SMNE LC summer Championships.

Abbotsleigh had a total of 21 swimmers participating on this meet and representing in their best way the team colours. Beside the great energy felt from everyone it was great to see the team getting together and execute the competition routines that we so much prepare in our training sessions. It is great to see that everyone knows what is expected and what they need to focus on independently of where they are.  In the pool the swimmers showed their resilience.

After 6 months away from the pool and competitions it was good to be able to see the athletes race again and do what they do best and what they love.

Results wise, Abbotsleigh came home with 61 top 10’s. Out of those:

6 swims – 1st place 9 swims – 2nd place 4 swims – 3rd place.

In the ranking and out of 12 teams that attended the meet, Abbotsleigh swim club ranked 5th for the girls and 8th for the boys with an overall result of 6th

A good result to where we are in the season and considering how long the athletes have been without swimming, this shows that our foundations have been done well and swimmers are being efficient with their stroke and skills.

Well done to everyone and bring on 2022.

Christmas party – Race League

And just like that another year was gone by, on Tuesday the 14th of December, we organise our Christmas race league, the energy in centre was amazing where our values were upheld to the best standards. We could see the care, the support and mindfulness between teammates. Even though there were two teams competing against each other for the Christmas swim league trophy everyone knew that at the end of the day we are all united in one big team.

 There was some fiery racing and a lot of amazing swims from our junior groups to our senior groups everyone stepped up with the best swim they could. The coaches could not be prouder and happier with so much courage from the swimmers that even under extreme fatigue were still getting up on the blocks and racing to the best of their abilities.

The Lions took the trophy from last year champions and were crowned champions of the 2021 Abbotsleigh Christmas swim league. Well done to everyone that join us and bring it on next year where the Orcas will be fighting to get the trophy back.

A special mention to Alice Liu that was awarded our team abb spirit award for showing and upholding our ABB swimming club Values to the highest level by supporting and cheering every swimmer on both teams.

At the end of this exciting event, all the swimmers were able to enjoy a nice team moment around a big amount of Pizza and good laughter.

Thank you for joining us ?

Presentation Night

It was the 7th of December when we reunited in the Abbotsleigh Sports Hall to share the events of Season 2020/2021.

What an eventful year we had. We had outstanding results throughout our Club. Here is a snap shot of what we celebrated:

  • Christmas Party and Race League in December 2020
  • Abb Camp in January was a great success
  • Abb Meet was jam packed full of fun
  • Our Junior State Team including our finalists, medallist and relay members
  • National performances including finalists and our Australian Champion in 50m Butterfly
  • Olympic Trials swimmers who dared greatly and performed their best
  • We presented Shaun Champion with an award for outstanding swim performance in 100 Butterfly
  • We also connected in zooms, squad zooms and even a zoom pool party
  • We shared the Olympics together and you designed meaningful Olympic Collages
  • And then we had a cooking frenzy!!!

While it’s definitely better to share time in person, we showed how we can keep our Team ABB spirit alive if we can’t be together.

We wrapped all these fun and amazing achievements in a very cool video for Parents and Swimmers to reflect on.

There were smiles and laughter as you were reminded of fun things we did.

Everyone in the Club has an effect on our results. Congratulates for making a positive contribution to our Team.

Shaun Champion – Award for the 100m Butterfly performance

Olympic Trials – June 12-17

Congratulations to Holly and Shaun for there performances in Adelaide at the Olympic Trials. Team ABB showed our support at Club Night and it certainly helped as Holly competed strongly in the 100m Freestyle and 50m Freestyle and Shaun competed in the 200 freestyle and 100 Butterfly. The highlight of the meet was on the last day.

Shaun kept his focus throughout the meet knowing his main race was on the final evening. In the lead up to the final day of competition, Shaun fine tuned his body, mind and spirit each day to ensure he was in the best condition to perform. When the time came to swim the heats of the 100 butterfly, Shaun swam a personal best time clocking 52.15. He won his heat and displayed his strong swimming and skills through out the race.

Next step was to swim down, rest and reset for the final at night.

The final was thrilling!!! After receiving the loudest cheer at the meet, (the commentator said they were yelling “Cody” but they were actually chanting “Shauney”) Shaun put together another personal best swim to smash the 52 second barrier and finish in 3rd place, with a time of 51.93 seconds. It is important to congratulate Matt Temple and David Morgan who were selected on the Olympic Team for this event. There is no doubt that all three athletes got the best out of themselves and pushed each other to all do their personal best performance when it counted. Shaun’s ability to compete in the environment was exceptional. Shaun’s strength of character of being humble, being chilled, and taking things in this stride are all assets to anyone, whether it is sport, or work, or amongst family and friends. These are the attributes that hold firm when you take on a challenge.

As a coach I could not be more pleased to have Team ABB represented by two young people who uphold our values each day.

As a result of Shaun’s performance at Olympic Trials, he has been selected on the Australian Team for the World University Championships. While the event has been cancelled due to COVID-19 there is a training camp and completion planned in the coming weeks and months. Congratulations Shaun, this is a great reward and recognition for your effort.  I have also been selected as a Coach on the Team. I look forward to sharing the experience with Shaun.

Club Night – 8/06/2021

Tuesday night was our 2021 Abbotsleigh swim club club night.

It was great to have swimmers and parents all back in the pool together. We had a big group of swimmers that was racing at club night for the first time. It was great to see their happiness, energy and confidence. The all team was backing up each other and the unity was clear.

Thank you to all parents for timekeeping and help out, without your support we could not run club nights, so we really appreciate it and it is awesome to have you as part of our team.

We also had the opportunity to wish Holly Nelson and Shaun Champion all the best for their Olympic trials and let them know that we will be cheering for them.

SMNE Championships – 29/05 /2021 -30/05/2021

Abbotsleigh SMNE Team

SMNE stands for Sydney Metro North East, this is the Area we are affiliated with. These Short Course Championships were an opportunity to have 25 swimmers from White, Black and Gold Squad swimmers showing their skills in all strokes and distances. The team support that was felt throughout the meet was great and once again TEAM Abbotsleigh showed their spirit in staying together and supporting each teammate. This was very helpful to our White, Black and Gold squads that had never raced at this level before.  The most fun was had in our 7 relays teams, including all the fun moments before the race, the action during the race and the post race chatter with their team and their coaches. Great vibes!

Team Abb had a total of:

  1. 18 Top 5
  2. 32 Top 10
  3. 50 Personal best’s

We would like to give a special mention to all the swimmers that participate on the team relays, it was great to see their amazing team effort into representing our club in the best way they could. Relays are a very important part of swimming; they define the bond between teammates and our club values. – Kaizen, Dare greatly, Unity, Fun. Go team ABB

ABB Meet – Tuesday 18th of May

Abb meet in May was fantastic.

The event was held for our White squad swimmers and our Aquatic Centre community. The races are introductory races for swimmers to learn about competition, to meet and help new people and have a heap of fun in the pool.

75 swimmers participated in the races and our Gold and Black swimmers played a wonderful role running the entire event, and the commentary and poolside interviews were a bonus feature.

Each race was an exhibition of solid foundations of swimming technique learned within our Aquatic centre program.

We thank our community for supporting this fun event and grateful for everyone bringing their energy and enthusiasm.

Swimming is so much fun!

Australian Championships -April 2021

Holly Nelson / Amanda Isaac / Shaun Champion

Shaun Champion and Holly Nelson welcomed the competition at the Open category of the Australian Championships. This was the first major event in the lead up to the Olympic Trials in June.

Shaun and Holly brought their racing mindset and intent to each race. Each week in their preparation they show a dedication to their craft (swimming, technique, skills). It is this consistent discipline and attitude to being their best that prepared them to be present and race in the moment.

Huge congratulations to Shaun who is our Australian Champion. Shaun won the 50m Butterfly in a thrilling race on the final day of the program. Shaun is Abbotsleigh’s first Australian Champion. Woohoo!

Shaun Champion / Amanda Isaac

Shaun had success in the 100 Butterfly too where he won silver, in a time of 52.17, a personal best. Shaun showed his skills in freestyle too, placing in his Age finals.

Holly had a breakout meet, delivering season best performances in all her races. Holly placed 4th in her age group in 50 and 100 free. This was reflection of her resilience, self belief and patience. Well done Holly!

As you can see swimming, sport, competition offers us so much as humans. Whether you achieve your goals or you learn something about yourself, it is the courage to dare and have a go that makes a great person, not just a great swimmer.

Congratulation Team Abb!!!

Everyone should take a deep breath, smile and celebrate being part of something special.