Academy Novice Team Wins Prestige Gala
ESP recently held its annual Prestige Novice Gala at the Boksburg Indoor Pool. This event began in the
late 90’s.
The ESP series, stages 2 galas during the swim season open to all swim schools on the East Rand. All times are recorded and the top 8 times in each event and age group, qualify to represent their swimming school at Prestige. Medals are awarded to the top 3 podium finishes.
This is an ideal event to introduce children to the sport of swimming. All the little swimmers from all over the East Rand bravely faced the crowds to do their best, in their swim.
This year the Aquatic Academy Novices won first place. They and the instructors are all very proud of their achievements. Chane Van Rooyen won 4 out of our 5 gold medals. Academy swimmers also returned with 6 silver and 5 bronze medals.
Savannah Mitchell and Kyle McKenzie from our own High Performance Group, spent the morning on pool deck, coaching and advising our novice swimmers before each event.
Aquatic Academy Team.
Joan Lourens - senior coach
Jenny Rochat - team manager
Savannah Mitchell and Kyle McKenzie - junior coaches.
Swimmers: Ashley Corns, Morgan Corns, Jody Copeland, Tambai Dutiro, Kyle Ribeiro, Chane Van Rooyen, Jayden Botha, Braedon Ashford, Speddy Gonzales, Kyle North, Tatiana Suhrmuller, and Katya Suhrmuller.Evan SheasbyNicole Sparke, Phoebe Roberts, Erin Paige Longhurst, Wanique Adams, Panash Chawas, Baylee Roberts
With the Olympics ahead, South Africans expect the majority of medals to be won in the pool. South Africans put huge pressure on our swimmers to be up there with the top nations, and “bring home the gold”. However, it is unfortunate that most schools in the Kempton area do not support, acknowledge or encourage swimming. Their own swimmers that achieve provincial recognition are overlooked. Swimming is one of the few sports where selection is purely on ability and qualifying times. It is a hard sport, but very fair.
