Weekly Round - up

Hi all

Last week was particularly busy in terms of notices and events, so I wanted to take this opportunity to round up the week and have all information easily available in one place.

Thanks

Coach Kris

....

Coach Janice

As some of you may already be aware, Coach Janice (who most of you will recognise from her tireless work in an administrative role), will be leaving the department at the end of this academic year.

Janice has been an integral part of the team for 5 years and will be sorely missed. Her family will be relocating to Bulgaria in August and I'm sure you will join us in wishing her the best in her new adventure. I'm sure we can think of something suitably embarrassing to thank her and wish her well at this year's Club Championships (June 2nd).

I would also like to take this opportunity to personally thank Janice for making my own and Coach Sarah's move to Singapore and UWC so smooth. Janice had an enormous part to play in the hand over and interim period between head coaches, and we are incredibly grateful.

Job advertisement

With this change, we have looked at the structure of the department, and will be advertising for a full-time coach to commence with the team at the start of the next academic year.

Although myself and Coach Henry will be required to take on more administrative tasks, the recruitment of a full-time coach allows us to potentially add squads and improve squad ratios. I will be releasing a document very soon which will highlight the changes for the 2018/19 academic year.

UWC Phoenix Pathway Document 2018/19

We are currently confirming some final details for the set-up and plan for the next academic year and beyond, and hope to release this information next week. This document will include information on squads, pathways, fees and the overall direction of the aquatics department. As this is a school team, we recognise the importance of balancing participation and performance, and we hope that the structure will reflect this.

High School Sports Awards 2018

On Friday last week, the college celebrated the achievements of the 2017/18 High School sports teams at the annual Sports Awards Dinner. In previous years, although the majority of the students present were of High School age, the Swim Team has been represented by several Middle School swimmers (due to the structure of the SEASAC competition). With the change in SEASAC swimming this year resulting in 20 High School students representing UWC Dover, there were no Middle School students present this year. It is now our responsibility to acknowledge the tremendous achievements of these students internally. The evening was great fun, with the majority of the SEASAC team in attendance. It was obviously an emotional affair with our Grade 12 students graduating very soon, as these students have committed an enormous amount of time, energy and love to the UWC Phoenix Swim Team. It is a very small cohort of Grade 12s who will be saying their farewells to the college and Swim Team this year. There are many students who have been part of the team during their time at UWC (too many to name), but we would like to wish this year's Grade 12 swimmers; Josh Beacroft, Emi Cashman, Kathryn Chan and Eve Singer all the best in their future endeavours, and welcome them to train with us any time they are back in Singapore ;)

Waterpolo training at Aquatics Masters

For the first time in UWC history, the Waterpolo Team visited another program for a joint training session and friendly game. Although still fairly recreational, the waterpolo activity has been a great success so far, with the numbers increasing every activity season. Coach Henry has done an amazing job so far, and we are currently looking at ways of promoting this activity further.

            



Junior School ACSIS 2018 - team


Please follow this link to view information and team selection for this competition.






Junior School ACSIS - volunteers

As we are hosting the competition above, we would be extremely grateful for volunteers to help the meet run smoothly (staff, parents, older students).

This is a really fun meet for the younger swimmers, and is a great opportunity for senior swimmers to offer advice and 'connect' with their younger team mates.

As well as this, when the meet runs smoothly, it reflects well on the team and college.

We are hoping to have a few people who are willing to take on the role of announcer for the day. I will start the day (ensuring warm up and coaches meetings run on time), after which we hope that a couple of parents and students will commentate on the racing (this is very basic, and mainly keeping track of heats and any close races).

The competition will start at 8am and usually finishes around 1pm (hopefully with rotations if we have enough volunteers).

The main role required is that of 'time-keeper'. Ideally we would have 16 volunteers for this (and more to allow for rotations)

Please fill out the following Google Form if you are able to help out on the day :)

Ocean Paradise Swim Carnival 2018

We are also hosting the annual Ocean Paradise Swim Carnival, which offers a fun and action packed morning for swimmers who have very little, or no experience of racing. Please see the website for information and sign-up.

Club Championships 2018

This year's Club Championships will take place on June 2nd. We will release sign-up and information soon, but in the meantime, please keep the date free if possible. This is not only a nice racing opportunity, but it is a very social affair, where the older swimmers and younger swimmers can mix and get to know each other better.