FOBISIA Virtual Swimming

FOBISIA VIRTUAL SWIMMING 2022

Richard Thorp

Head of Aquatics and PE Teacher, The British School of Beijing, Shunyi

As the 21-22 season across the FOBISIA Family saw programs and schools returning to the pool at various times, the 2022 Virtual Swim Event took place during March, hosted by The British School of Beijing, Shunyi, with schools from Brunei, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Singapore, S. Korea, Thailand, The Philippines and Vietnam taking part.

A total of forty-eight schools registered for the event, but with local restrictions and lockdowns still in place, thirty-nine schools were able to compete and enter. With no restrictions on entry numbers a total of 1355 athletes took part in an event that was more sprint based with 50m and 100m events swum, and schools able to choose between 100 and 200 relay options that suited all swim programs across the FOBISIA schools.

Overall Bangkok Patana School (BPS) won the Top Team Award with The Alice Smith School, KL (KLASS) second and British School, Jakarta (BSJ) third.

For the Male teams points BPS were first, Dulwich College, Beijing (DCB) was second, BSJ third, British International School KL (BSKL) and Bangkok Prep (BPREP) finished fourth and fifth, respectively. In the Female team points BPS were first, KLASS second and British International School HCMC (BISHM) third. BSJ and BPREP finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

With only the top three individual swimmers from each event, and A team relays only counting for points, the top sixteen places scored points for their school. Thirty-eight schools registered scoring points and for many students, this was their first experience of competing in the FOBISIA swim event since its conception.

Several Aquatic Directors were quoted as saying “We really appreciate the opportunity to compete against other FOBISIA schools” and “It was great to have this opportunity to take part in such an event. It really motivated some of our students to get back in the pool after the long stretch of COVID.”

Whilst FOBISIA are planning a face-to-face swimming event next academic year, it is looking likely that restrictions may still be in place across some schools in Region C. We will be happy to host the Virtual option again should schools wish to participate. There were some excellent swims and many of the results were extremely close in lots of events and age groups. Thanks goes to all the schools, coaches and staff volunteers that were able to run ‘Live” events both with other schools, and swim events in their own pools. Sorry to the few schools unable to take part due to local COVID restrictions in their country or area.

Any school that would like a full set of results for this year can contact the organiser Richard Thorp by emailing Richard. thorp@britishschool.org.cn

The best of luck to all school programmes for the remainder of the 2022 season