Swimming Australia annually recognises the achievements of junior swimmers through the Australian Junior Excellence Program (JX). The program rewards and encourages junior swimmers who, through their development of aquatic skills and fitness, achieve a high standard of swimming excellence. Under the program, swimmers aged from 9 to 13 years, who accomplish times set by Swimming Australia, qualify at Gold, Silver, Bronze or Green standard, depending on their best performance/s during the season.
This year 27 West Coast Swimmers were acknowledged as having reached the standard required to receive one of the incentive prize packs provided by Swimming Australia. The depth of talent being cultivated in the club is evident with this number being 4 more than the previous swimming season. Congratulations to multiclass champion Jade Calverley who was the clubs highest achiever at gold standard. Long hours perfecting their stroke technique paid off for Tommy Ford, Harrison Adams, James Andrews, Natasha Hammond, Max Lambert, Ellie, McInerney and Brooke,Traeger who have all recorded times at silver level. Making the cut off at bronze standard were 8 swimmers. Fantastic effort Cameron Akehurst, Jasmin Clark, Kilani Coleman-Smith, Nik Constantinopoulos, Indiana Copeland, Jamie Ford, Brooklyn George and Zac Kenny. The first tier of achievement is at green standard and the following swimmers posted qualification times at that level; Christopher Bawden, Xanthia Clark, Yemaya Coleman-Smith, Kellie Dennis, Emma, Hamnett, Coen George, Tasha, Jordison, Georgia Kenny, Moet McCathie, Isabella Scott and Kieren, Stephens. All of these swimmers will shortly receive a generous prize pack courtesy of Swimming Australia. Inclusive within are signature swimming caps, certificates of achievement, team merchandise featuring members of the Australian Swim Team and a motivational DVD. Swimmers can utilize these standards to establish new goals and in the process chip away at personal best times. Running parallel to Junior Excellence is the Youth Performance Squad tiered qualification standards which are closely linked to the break times published at National Age Level. For the second year running both Luke Andrews and Levi Proude achieved swim times placing them at the blue standard. Swimmers are now hard at work taking the time to perfect competitive technique across all four stokes and mastering efficient starts, turns and finishes. Building a solid aerobic foundation over winter is an essential component to ensure that swimmers remain competitive over the summer racing season. Competitions on the horizon are the State Age Short Course meet and National School Sports Championships. Both of these meets are staged at the SA Aquatic and Leisure Centre at Marion and will have representatives from the club competing. The current competitive swimming season concludes on the 30th of September and the club has planned its annual trophy presentation ceremony featuring the announcement of club champion for the 22nd of September at Boston Bay Wines.
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AUTHORSonia Ford is our publicity officer and would love to hear of noteworthy news items from our swimming community! |