Category: News

On the 27^th and 28^th March, our Junior team and raced at Junior State championships. The weekend was full of good energy and team spirit. Our athletes raised the standard when racing against the best of the state they showed what Team ABB is made of. Our values Kaizen, Dare Greatly, Unity and Fun were present and the smiles in everyone’s face was noticeable.

When it was time to race each swimmer focused on their race specifics and brought their best performance. The Abbotsleigh coaches could not be happier of how Junior State went, not only in the results point of view but also on the growth that the athletes are showing race after race. This growth is part of our Abbotsleigh values (kaizen – Continues improvement) and we love to see our athletes being able to be themselves and progress meet after meet in a safe and inclusive team environment.  

We would like to say thank you to all parents that were able to represent the team and bring the swimmers for the 10×50 girls relay. It was an exciting moment, and it would not have been possible if it were not for all of you working together to get everyone there.

Our boys Medley relay was also an amazing moment where they boys came close to that medal place, finishing an awesome 4^th place with the best fighting attitude throughout the race.

Below you can have a look at some of the awesome photos of the day and our Top ten results, a special mention to Leisel Tan and Marcus Primdal that were able to achieve their first Junior State Championship Medal.

The Abbotsleigh swimming Club had a total of

1. 1 Silver  
2. 1 Bronze
3. A total of 8 top ten finishes

Our relays:

Girls 10-11 4×50 Fs relay – Seed 34 – finishing place 24^th

Girls 10-11 4×50 Medley relay – Seed 26 – finishing place 21^st

Girls 12 4×50 Fs relay – seed 19 – finishing 21^st

Girls 12 4×50 Medley relay – seed 19 – finishing place 18^th

Girls 10×50 Fs relay – finishing place 14^th

Boys 4×50 Medley relay – Seed 5^th – finishing place 4^th

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Jemma Chamberlain, Shaun Champion, Jasmin Foster, Holly Nelson and Emily Washer engaged in the Olympic racing format. This format of afternoon heat sessions and morning finals, will be used in the 2020/1 Olympics. Because of this, there are a number of competition that will follow this process. So by design the meet had a different feel. Our swimmers enjoyed mixing their best along side the majority of high performing Open swimmers across the country. All swimmers predominantly use this meet to check in on things they are working on under racing conditions. Managing energies to perform in heats at 8pm at night and waking up and getting our body and brain ready to perform in morning finals was a different challenge too.

Overall we take learning back to our training pool as we prepare for National Championships in April.

Well done to Shaun and Holly who competed in finals with Shaun securing 2 medals, Silver in 100 Butterfly and Bronze in the 50 Butterfly.

Well done also to Jemma and Jasmin competing in their first Open meet.

Great effort!

After training on Monday we took the opportunity to welcome the new Abbotsleigh members. We also recognised our Junior State athletes and our National Age and Open athletes that will be representing our club against the best in the State and the best in Australia. It was a great end of the day and all swimmers were happy to cheer for their new members and acknowledge the hard work that the State and National level swimmers put in to achieve their goals through their dedication to their training.

Once again, the Abbotsleigh team show their amazing values and commitment by being present and supporting every swimmer in the club. A culture that we love and we will keep on reinforcing. A club where everyone feels safe and happy to take part in.

Abbotsleigh new-Members

Abbotsleigh State rep swimmers

Abbotsleigh National swimmers

On Saturday the 6^th of March, a team of 6 Abbotsleigh swimmers was selected to represent the Metro north east area at the speedo sprints finals. This is a meet where the fastest swimmers in the state get together and race against each other representing their areas . In between swimming carnivals and big weeks of work these athletes prove themselves once again and came back home with amazing results.  Claudia Liu, Freddie O’Hara, Marcus Primdal, Leisel Tan and Lara Valmadre, and a special mention to Grace Black for stepping in for the very first in a meet like this.

We had a total of 8 Top 10 placings, including 6 Top 4 placings:

Claudia Liu – 50 Breast – 4^th Place

Freddie O’Hara – 50 Breast – 2^nd Place

Marcus Primdal- 50 Bk – 2^nd Place  

Leisel Tan – 50 Fs -2^nd Place

Lara Valmadre – 50 Fs and 50 Fly – 4^th Place

Congratulations swimmers, you performed exceptionally throughout the Finals event.

Well done to everyone and parents thank you again for bringing them and spend another Saturday supporting us.

Shaun has taken part in Swimming Australia’s National Event Camp, held on the Gold Coast last week.

The idea of these camps to bring Australia’s best swimmers together, providing a great training environment.

Swimmers train in stroke groups, working on technique and skills specific to their main stroke. In Shaun’s case, butterfly.

The camp included a Relay Blitz. Every stroke group came together and were thrown into a relay racing situation with limited preparation.

Being “Race Ready” is a useful mindset when competing. All swimmers had something to learn from the experience.

Shaun enjoyed the week, having lots of fun and has arrived back with Team ABB tanned, focused and happy.

Awesome effort Shaun!

On the 14^th of February, the 19 members of Abbotsleigh swim team went to Sydney Olympic Park to race. For some of our swimmers it was their first time not only representing Team ABB, but also racing in a big competition. We could not ask for a better day, the swimmers got to the pool drop their things and went straight into their activation to then start the warmup at 8AM.  The energy that it was possible to feel straight from the start was a set up for what was coming up during the day. Lots of smiles and amazing swims throughout the day and amazing results.

Team ABB had 37 top 10 placings spread across 11 swimmers and in all four strokes. What a great effort. Here is the break down of our placings:

1^st  place – 3 events

2^nd place – 7 events

3^rd place – 8 events

We would like to also congratulate the following swimmers for being selected to represent the area at the Speedo sprints finals on the 6^th of March at Sydney Olympic park aquatic centre.

BLACK, GRACE – 50 Back; 50 Fly

LIU, CLAUDIA – 50 Breast; 50 Fly

O’HARA, FREDDIE – 50 Free; 50 Breast

PRIMDAL, MARCUS – 50 Back; 50 Fly

TAN, LEISEL – 50 Free; 50 Back

VALMADRE, LARA – 50 Free; 50 Back; 50 Fly

Go Team ABB!

Shaun Champion, Holly Nelson and Emily Washer represented Team ABB at the 2020 Virtual Short Course Championships at SOPAC. The event was timed across the country so that the majority of racing was completed at the same time, despite the time zone changes. It was an initiative that connected the best in each State to compete again.

Shaun won 3 events in NSW, 50 butterfly, 100 butterfly and 200 freestyle, placing 8^th in Australia in 100 Butterfly. Holly smashed her personal best time with an outstanding swim in the 200 freestyle and Emily re-entered the competitive environment with a fast 50 Butterfly.

Shaun, Holly and Emily brought positive energy to each of the four sessions and I know all 3 swimmers drew energy from our Junior swimmers who were swimming at the Junior Metro Championships on the same weekend. We all inspired each other to be your best and this is what Team ABB spirit is all about.

Great effort everyone.

Meet report for Junior Metros

Metropolitans championships was success, the goal was to keep the same mind set as SMNE, and once again the swimmers were ready and prepare for the two days of racing. Due to Covid-19 restrictions swimmers had seat in allocated seats away from their parents. Knowing this the team stayed together throughout the meet, showing their Unity to each other. This also gave time for the team to have some fun team activities as some games of UNO in the lunch break,

On a more serious note, out of a total of 18 individual entries we had 15 PB’s, and 4 top ten finishes.

What a great result and congratulation to all athletes. Well done Team ABB!

The 4th of December was a big day for our Abbotsleigh athletes. For the day we had the following:

1- Christmas race league

2- Welcoming the new Abbotsleigh members

3-Presentation of Senior State rep caps

The day started with our Annual Christmas race league, the swimmers came prepared and ready to bring the best of their abilities mixed with the best of their Values and team spirit. There was two teams, Lions and Orcas.

Lions as the ruling champions wanted to keep the trophy with their name on it but it was the Orcas that came trough and were able to bring enough points to became the new champions.

After an exciting race league the next step in the agenda was to welcome our new Abbotsleigh members.

And last but not the least we presented our senior state representatives with their State rep caps and recognize their effort and commitment throughout the year.

Race Night on Tuesday 23^rd November with White Squad went wonderfully well.

Coach Leon encouraged all swimmers to practice what they had been working on in training. This race night provided a great opportunity to see how each swimmers stroke technique and race skills are developing under race conditions. I addressed the group about racing, being part of Team ABB, showing support for each other and having a few nerves was a positive feeling.

What happened next was great fun. Swimmers full of smiles, cheering each other on and challenging themselves to their best. The energy was super. Great effort White Squad and Coach Leon.

I would also like to thank Meredith Wang for compiling the Certificates, so our swimmers could share the joy with their Parents.

Go Team ABB!

Amanda Isaac