Category: News

And just like that another year was gone by, on Tuesday the 14^th 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 ?

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It was the 7^th 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:

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.

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 3^rd 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.

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.

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 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!

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 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.

Whether it is your favourite past time or a challenge we certainly had fun deciding which entry was our best bunny.

Thank you to all that participated. Each time you get the opportunity to contribute to an event please delight in it. We are always going to be better when have representation across our community. We love to see your idea of choosing your colours and patterns. As you can see in the photo, the outcome was a visual joy for our eyes and each picture made us feel a sense of happiness. After deciding a winner based on technique, detail and how it made us feel…

Congratulations Ria Kim!

Ria collected her $35 Aqua Shop voucher and we have a participation prize for those who dared greatly 🙂

Three “first timers”represented our club on the Gold Coast during the April school holidays.

The event was long awaited for Jemma Chamberlain, as she has been a qualifier for 3 years. Jemma took her opportunity and swam her season best swims in the 100m and 200m breaststroke. A great effort to do amongst the best in the country. Well done Jemma.

Jensen Goodchild maximized his experience at the meet by qualifying for 5 events spread through the 6 day meet. Jensen learnt something in each race he did and it was good to see him immerse himself in the event.

Jasmin Foster rocketed her way to Age Nationals. As a first timer at State Championships in December and first time finalist at this level, Jazzy’s next stop was Australian Age. Jazzy’s love for swimming shone bright all season as she went from achievement to achievement and it was fitting that she would take this passion to compete against the best in Australia.

Jemma, Jensen and Jazzy bring their experience back to Abbotsleigh and will share this energy and motivation with their Clubmates. They also shared a hug with their parents after each race, to say thank you and grateful for the chance to be there. Thank you swimmers and parents, it is a team effort.

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On the 17^th of April, the Abbotsleigh swimming club joined the Knox Pymble swimming club on their invitational meet, this meet was quite important as some of the swimmers were having their debut in the world of racing. FUN was the word of the day and being able to have a great first experience was the most important part of this meet. The coaches could not be happier seeing the new juniors getting on the blocks ready to go, being brave and accepting the challenge of standing on the blocks and bring their best. Lots of smiles and great performances trough the morning and we all came back home with a positive attitude and understanding of where we are in the season. It was also great to see the more experienced swimmers being mindful and supporting and guiding the newcomers, showing in this way their amazing team spirit.

Go Team ABB!!