Dear West Coast Swimming Club Members,
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Competitor's Oath “The Country Championships are always a lot of fun. Country clubs look forward The 2013 Country Swimming Championships were hosted by the Gawler Amateur Swimming Club from the 11th - 14th of January with the host club also celebrating its 50th birthday. 24 clubs from around the state fielded teams who were joined by travelling interstate country swimmers. 38 very excited competitors and their families travelled from the West Coast Swimming Club to take part in what is the club's most significant competition of the year. The squad was joined by the Lynch family of Ceduna - who fielded three swimmers for the competition. Friday commenced with the Superfish Session, seeing young swimmers from across the state enjoy a sunny morning of racing. The atmosphere was electrifying with older club members cheering on their upcoming stars and providing them with encouragement and support. First swimmer to hit the water was 8 year old Sophie Traeger completing her 50m freestyle in 47.20. Jasmine Clark set the scene for a flurry of personal best swims, reaching the end of the pool in 41.23 seconds. This was quickly followed up a sensational swim by Harrison Adams smashing his previous best to record a 36.33 (Junior Excellence - Bronze). In the lead up to SAPSASA he will be striving to shave off the .33 of a second to go under a 36 making the first of his Junior Excellence - Silver level times. Kalani Coleman - Smith and Henry Nelligan (40.92 and 38.44 respectively) competed in the same heat also finishing in personal best times, exciting the rest of the team's imagination as to what could be expected over the following 4 days. Ania Constantinopoulos held a very competitive time in her freestyle race of 39.51 whilst team mates Brooklyn George (45.60) and Megan Stephens (45.58) managed to shave around a second of previous bests. All Superfish swimmers are usually yet to achieve Country Qualification Standards and have the chance to compete in each stroke over a distance of 50m. Fantastic improvers in the breastroke were Emma Hamnett (54.77), Henry Nelligan (55.06), Isabella Scott (56.70), Kalani Coleman - Smith (54.65) and Tommy Ford (51.55) - who smashed his previous best by 6 seconds! To finish the session West Coast butterfliers pulled a string of superb times. Congratulations to Sophie Traeger (1.03.51) - 6 second PB, Jasmine Clark (1.00.91) - 11 second PB, Kalani Coleman - Smith (1.03.43) - 4 second PB and Isabella Scott (55.44) - 1 second PB. Racing down the pool like they had a train to catch were the unstoppable Harrison Adams (43.98) - 8 second PB, a very fit Xanthia Clark (42.75) - 8 second PB and the ever determined Kieren Stephens (43.13) - 5 second PB. The excitement continued through the first session of heats and Multiclass finals. First medals of the meet went to Jade Calverley (silver) and Ellie McInerney (bronze) in the 50m Multiclass backstroke with both swimmers looking strong and confident in the water. All swimmers were on deck to witness the opening ceremony with the national anthem sung by local Xavier College student, Alex Rawlings. As always the Club March On was a highlight for many swimmers, with clubs dressing up for the occasion and wearing their team colours with pride. It was an exciting end to the first day, with the first of a never ending stream of medals being awarded to West Coast Swimmers following some breathtaking performances in the finals sessions. The first of an incredible 18 individual medals awarded to Levi Proude was a silver medal swim in the Open 200m Freestyle which he completed in a time of 2.06.25. Luke Andrews placed third in the 14 - 15 200m Freestyle (2.20.99) and Brooke Traeger secured the silver in the 13&U event in 2.27.00. Next on the program was the finals of the 50m backstroke with a number of swimmers medalling in their age group events : Brooke Traeger - silver (37.38), Henry Lambert - silver (33.90), Bri Veldheuyzen - bronze (39.11) and the first gold medal of the event to Luke Andrews who blitzed the backstroke in 32.61 seconds. Day 2 commenced with a significant change in the weather - from 36 degrees on the first day of racing to half an inch of rain to begin the second. Swimmers were not phased and commenced warms ups for the morning's heats at 7.15am. The club didn't have to wait long to add to the 9 medals awarded from day 1 with Jade Calverley leading a confident gold medal victory in the 100m Multiclass breastroke (2.32.21). She followed this with silver in the 50m freestyle (52.04) and 100m backstroke (2.24.90). Ellie McInerney swam beautifully in her 100m backstroke to take the third West Coast gold for the meet in 2.11.60. Heading up the evening's program was the rockstar event - the 200m butterfly which can scare off even the most confident of swimmers. Congratulations to 13 year old Brooke Traeger who placed 4th in the open final (2.48.93). The event was won by an Onkaparinga Swimmer who is an inspiring 48 years young! The entertainment jumped up a notch with Levi and Luke going head to head in the 100m Open Breastroke - Luke(1.13.12) edging out Levi (1.13.82) to take the gold medal. Both swimmers followed this with gold in their age group events. To finish the breastroke, James Andrews earned his first award of the competition with silver in the 12/13 years age group (1.26.15). Fast and furious freestyle over 50 metres was next with Brooke Traeger (30.64) and Natasha Hammond (30.69) slamming into the wall 1,2 in their age event. The open men's saw Levi flanked by the Gawler big guns to be touched out for silver (25.44) with a great swim by Henry Lambert (27.73) who at 14 years held his ground against much older competitors. Henry went on to achieve silver in his age event. Nick Constantinopoulos (13 yrs) swam a sensational race, recording a personal best (30.44) for the bronze and is chipping away at breaking the 30 second barrier. The program continued with the 100m backstroke events with Levi (1.08.14) and Brooke (1.21.63) again adding to their medal tally. Relay events are always a highlight of the meet with plenty of team members on hand to scream and cheer from pool side. The Men's 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay saw a third placing with Gerard Meyer stepping into the team and they went one better in the Medley with the addition of James Andrews to add a silver to the teams tally. The momentum continued to build into the teams third day of racing. Early morning coffee runs by parents were down to a fine art and Team Coach - Carol Veldhuyzen together with Team Manager Damien Lambert continuing to strategise and support swimmers as they entered that point of the meet where stamina and fitness come to the fore. With the medal tally now at 25 individual and 2 teams, swimmers were eager to hit the water. A new Country Allcomers and Country Championship Record was set in the first race from the evenings finals card with Luke Andrews gliding to the gold medal position in a time of 2.42.42 over the 200m breastroke. Brooke Traeger again maintained her status as 50m Butterfly champion for her age group finishing in 33.02 and Levi was awarded medals 7 and 8 for the meet being bronze in the open 50m butterfly event (27.68) and gold in his age group to set a new Championship and Allcomers Country Record. Henry Lambert's fitness showed with a superb 50m fly (31.75) placing in second along with Luke Andrews (30.51) in the 15 year old event. Following the fly was the 200m Individual Medley with Brooke, Levi, Luke all medalling again. Past West Coast Swimmer Bailey Harriden who now swims for Bendigo Hawks in Victoria smashed out a cleverly strategised 200 IM in 2.37.25 to snare the gold medal from two close rivals from the Whyalla Swim Team. To complete day 3 the team were in fine form with parents and friends falling over each other cheering the swimmers on in the 4 x 50m freestyle events. Almost every final on offer had a qualifying West Coast Team with both the Under 14 and Under 16 Freestyle mens teams winning gold in convincing style. Congratulations Nik Constantinopoulos, Tyson Lynch, Coen George, James Andrews, Henry Lambert, Luke Andrews, Gerard Meyer and Levi Proude. With the final day of the Championships to go, the West Coast team now had 39 Individual and 8 Team medals under their belt. Still on a high from the previous days achievements the swimmers pulled themselves together mentally to endure a fourth day of intense competition. Jade Calverley equalled her medal haul from last year's Country Championships with gold in the 50m Multiclass breastroke event (1.07.37) and then went one better to achieve silver in the 100m freestyle (1.58.83). Lily Ness showed her style in the women's 50m breastroke with bronze (43.25) and Luke Andrews was nipped at the wall by his nemesis Sam Stanton (Gawler) in the open 50m breastroke (33.63) followed very closely by Levi (33.75) - both these swimmers were under the previous championship record time. A series of 'doubles' on the podium lifted the team's energy levels with James Andrews and Tyson Lynch medalling in the 13 year event and Luke Andrews and Gerard Meyer in the 15 yr event. More records tumbled with Luke and Levi rewriting the record books for their age group 50m breastroke swims, Luke (33.05) swam faster than the open final and snatched Levi's previous age record set last year in Port Pirie. The tempo continued to build with the 100m freestyle events and the same faces rushed between swims and medal presentations - Congratulations Brooke Traeger (gold - 1.06.76), Levi Proude (double gold - 55.17, 56.33) and Luke Andrews (bronze - 1.00.00). The uphill run to the finish of the carnival was very trying but swimmers continued to give it their all. Brooke Traeger showing her dominance in the butterfly (silver in the open - 1.16.81 and gold in her age 1.13.86), Levi astouded the team with his medal tally (medal 17 - silver in the open 1.03.86, medal 18 - gold in age). 11 year old Tommy Ford showed strength to record personal bests in both his heat and final swim for the 100m butterfly which now stands at 1.45.49. The team events were a great opportunity for the team to pool their talent and the girls 12 and under Medley event saw a bronze for Demi and Adele Lynch (Ceduna), Alleigh Hamnett and Kellie Dennis. One better in silver were the 18 years and under women - and a great celebration was had by the unstoppable Bri Veldhuyzen. Sheridan Howell, Annabel Nelligan and Lily Ness. The Under 14 and 16 boys were on fire after dominating their 4 x 50 freestyle and repeated their wins in the Medley event. A fitting finish to the event was a magnificent win by the Men's 4 x 50m freestyle relay team from Gawler who in the club's 50th year knocked off a championship record which has stood for 10 years with a convincing win from the West Coast team. With youth on our side and only 5 seconds to make up this record could well come home to Port Lincoln at next year's Country Championships to be held in Murray Bridge. The efforts and team spirit of other swimmers who are to be congratulated for making Country Championship finals are : Harrison Adams, Tommy Ford, Xanthia Clark, Yemaya Coleman-Smith and Kendall Howell. All of these finals swims added valuable team points placing the West Coast Swimming Team in third place overall to Onkaparinga and Whyalla (first and second respectively). Last year's medal count was well and truly surpassed with an incredible 58 individual and 12 team awards. On behalf of the swimmers, our gratitude and thanks to all of our coaches, commitee members, parents, friends and sponsors who made these Championships an incredible experience for the children who have chosen swimming as their competitive sport. "Before the (Olympic) trials I was doing a lot of relaxing exercises and visualization. And I think that that helped me to get a feel of what it was gonna be like when I got there. I knew that I had done everything that I could to get ready for that meet, both physically and mentally". The West Coast Swimming Club have now completed final training preparations for the 2013 South Australian Country Championships which will be hosted by the Gawler Swimming Club from the 11th – 14thof January. The club is thrilled to be sending its largest ever team with 38 very excited competitors now making their way to Gawler for the 4 day long event. In total we will be watching 233 individual swims and 27 relay events. While the rest of us have been enjoying the best that Christmas and New Year celebrations have to offer, swimmers have been in the water twice daily for training sessions up to one and a half hours in length. They have spent a considerable amount of time perfecting their starts, turns and finishes and become more fluent with the expectations of competitive swimming at this level. Rule infractions can be a challenging part of championship swimming and all of the swimmers have been encouraged to read all of the FINA expectations. Swimmers were blessed to have Kyle and Jackson Chalmers join the squad for a week of training – both were previous members of the West Coast Swimming Club who are now based in Adelaide at the Norwood Swimming Club –South Australia’s Centre for Excellence in Swimming. Kyle currently holds numerous Australian Age Records and most recently was in the Australian Youth Team which contested the Trans Tasman Series against New Zealand. He holds the fastest ever times clocked for a 13 year old in the 50m freestyle, 100 and 200m freestyle (24.00, 55.93, 1.57.48 respectively), 50 metre backstroke (28.08) and both the 50m and 100m butterfly (25.89 and 55.93) – source Swimming Australia. The squad was also buoyed by the return of Immanuel Boarding Students Levi Proude and Bri Veldhuyzen. Levi is the current holder of both the 50m and 100m Male Country Championship Freestyle records (25.76 and 56.99) and with a similar performance to last year is on target to take out the 16 year old records of 26.03 and 56.46. He could also lift to rewrite the current open records of 24.94 and 55.09. The first of these records has stood since 1993 and the second since 1998. Bri is a Country Championship veteran having attended events since the age of 10 and this year will be competing in the 17 year age group. Also joining the squad for training have been the Harriden family comprising Bailey, Samaiya and Mackai who currently swim with Bendigo Hawkes Aquatic in Victoria. Bailey is currently achieving Victorian State Qualifying Times and will be looking to break the 30 second mark in the 50m freestyle event (current personal best 30.14) as a visiting competitor at the Country Championships. In Port Pirie the team bought home a total of 44 medals and we will be well on track to surpass this incredible achievement in Gawler. There will be many uplifting and memorable performances to come and swimmers will be rewarded with the thought that through determination, dedication and perseverance improvements in performance can be achieved. The event begins with the Superfish competition designed for swimmers who are yet to achieve Country Qualifying Standards. This event is awarded with a certificate achievement and is a perfect stage for swimmers to post new personal best times as they look to secure a swim in the Country Championship Relay Teams later on in the program. Competing at Superfish are; Sophie Traeger (8), Harrison Adams (10), Henry Nelligan (10), Kalani Coleman-Smith(10), Jamie Ford (9), Jasmine Clark (9), Isabella Scott (10), Emma Hamnett (10), Ania Constantinopoulos (11), Alleigh Hamnett (12), Megan Stephens (11), Brooklyn George(11) Kieren Stephens (12), Xanthia Clark (11) and Tommy Ford (11). A great sense of team spirit and camaraderie is developed throughout the competition and swimmers are given the opportunity to understand how important individual performances in supporting a team effort can be. Supporting the achievements of other team members can be just as rewarding as your own wins. Wild cheering from the side lines is energizing and demonstrates the amazing things that can be achieved through positive people banding together. Competing at the Country Championships as individuals are; Nikolas Constantinopoulos (13), Max Lambert (12), Henry Lambert (14), Luke Andrews (15), Gerard Meyer (15), Levi Proude (16), Natasha Hammond(13), Brooke Traeger (13), Briony Veldhuyzen (17), Tommy Ford (11), Kieren Stephens (12), Coen George(12), James Andrews (13), Tyson Lynch – Ceduna (13), Jade Calverley (13), Ellie McInerney (11), Demi Lynch - Ceduna(11), Yemaya Coleman-Smith (11), Adele Lynch – Ceduna (11), Lily Ness (15), Kendall Howell(15), Sheridan Howell (15), Alleigh Hamnett (12), Annabel Nelligan (15), Xanthia Clark (11), Kellie Dennis (11) and Harrison Adams (10). There are a number of highly anticipated performances where we wish swimmers the very best in their attempts to secure new personal best performances, country age group or open records. A repeat of Luke Andrew’s previous personal best swim of 2.40.34 for the 200m breastroke should see him rewrite the current South Australian Open Country Record of 2.43.12. His 50m performance in the same stroke will be exceptionally exciting – and could possibly beat Ryan Mitchell’s (Olympic Breastroker) existing South Australian 15 year old record of 31.29 sec. Henry Lambert has been clocking up plenty of swimming miles in his foray to knock off some of Levi Proude’s existing country freestyle records. He will be looking to have his name added in the 14 year old category with a 50m time better than 27.18 and a 100m time better than 56.99. No pressure, but Jade Calverley will be again looking to break the minute mark in the 50m backstroke as she begins to real in Australian Paraylmpian Tanya Huebner’s time of 53.96. Jade came within three tenths of this mark at 1.00.36 at her most recent competition – the South Australian Multiclass Championships. With a focussed start, clear head and determined finish Jade could really surprise herself and come in on a 58, and with this young lady anything is possible. These are only a few of what promises to be many great chances to demonstrate the depth and strength in the West Coast Swimming Team. Thanks to the dedication of head coach Carol Veldhuyzen and her support network of assistant coaches, volunteer parents and supportive committee who have toiled long and hard in the lead up what promises to be an action packed 4 days. It is essential for young swimmers (indeed any pre and pubescent child/teen) to eat correctly. They cannot recover or function properly without the right kind of fuel and an inadequate diet can depress growth and maturity levels. With morning training or events they need to break their night ‘fast’ and eat before training and after training. Lack of the right kinds and amounts of fuel will affect their growth and development, attention and learning at school and set their bodies up to decrease muscle development and increase fat.
Our bodies depend on carbohydrate and fat for fuel and protein to build and develop muscle. Please review the attached documents which will enable parents to support their swimmers healthy nutritional development. |
AUTHORSonia Ford is our publicity officer and would love to hear of noteworthy news items from our swimming community! |