Swimming

Reflections from Shay Wellman (Captain) and Maïna Dias-Niang

Swimming this year has been different to what we had planned, but that has not stopped us progressing. With Miss Margaroli taking over the swimming programme there were some big changes. We now have three swimming sessions and one land training (multi-fit) session a week. On average 25 students attend each swim session and around 35 students come to the multi-fit session. In each swimming session we focus on a different part of the stroke to make sure that everyone has mastered all the basics. We have had weeks looking at push offs and turns, arm technique, speed work, dives and endurance. One of our major focuses has been to ensure that all our swim squad members have efficient turns on all four strokes. For some this was quite a challenge, but we are very happy to announce that all members can now happily turn in all four strokes. One of the highlights of the year was the House gala in the Michaelmas term. The event happened during our normal swim squad sessions but the atmosphere that the students created was fantastic. Each House was tasked with creating banners, cheering for their teammates and organising who swam in each event. Each House did a fantastic job, and the student leadership on show made the whole experience a joy to be a part of. Unfortunately, this year, our normal competitive galas against other schools could not go ahead so we needed to get creative to make sure we still had competitive swimming opportunities. We hosted the St Dunstan’s Cup, which was an internal gala where all swim squad members could choose from a large array of different disciplines. Stand out performances came from James Sugrue who raced phenomenally well beating students two years above him, and Ava Holohan, who was able to show off all of her hard training during lockdown, focusing on strength, in the pool. This year for the first time ever at St Dunstan’s there were multi-fit training sessions held for swim squad members, which took place on Thursday mornings before school. The strength and conditioning element of swimming training is vital to ensure that students are fast, powerful and injury free when racing. We managed to fit a lot into these important sessions, even though they were only 30 minutes long and started at 0730! The sessions grew in numbers each week and at times we had over 50 attendees taking part. The atmosphere was fun and competitive and created outstanding morale between the whole squad. We feel that as a club we have really developed both in and out of the pool and can’t wait for next year to have some normality back! We would like to finish by saying that all our sessions could not run without the support of Miss Margaroli, Mr Coley and Miss McKayPryce. They are fantastic coaches and we love being a part of the St Dunstan’s swim squad!

I would like to say a huge thank you to Shay and Maïna who have not only written this excellent report but have been true champions of the swimming programme this year. Shay will be leaving us at the end of the year to study Sport and Exercise Science at Loughborough University. He has been an integral part of the swimming programme at St Dunstan’s and he will be greatly missed for his enthusiasm, good humour and of course his fantastic swimming. Maïna has been an inspiration to students in the younger years, especially to the girls. She has volunteered her own time to come and support the swim squad sessions, encouraging and helping swimmers to improve their aquatic skills. I am delighted to announce that Maïna will be our swim squad captain for 2021-22. Well done to all swimmers for sticking at it this year. It has been really challenging at times but you have all been fantastic and should be extremely proud of your efforts.