News/Results

A Great Opportunity for Two of Our Swimmers April 2010

Neilson Varoy and Luke Westgaard (both in back row on the far right in the first photo)

Outward Bound

Philip Rush, Open Water Programme Manager and Outward Bound Team Manager

An exciting new initiative

The Monday after trials, 12 of our youth swimmers headed to an intensive week at Outward Bound. This is a new initiative with performance athletes in the outward bound school. SNZ was fortunate to have the full support of Pelorus Trust for the seven-day programme.

The goals of the week were to:

• learn to work as a team to achieve a common goal
• survive a two-day tramp in the bush in the rain, laden with a full pack
• improve teamwork
• support fellow athletes
• face fears
• achieve common goals
• set future goals

SNZ Outward Bound team

Swimmers spent time on top of the water learning to kayak and sail an old yacht to its full potential.  All athletes that participated in the week’s activities will have achieved new physical and mental goals. They will be stronger in the body and mind and return to the pool with a more disciplined approach to their training.
We hope this will be an annual event with a partnership between SNZ, Outward Bound and the Pelorus Trust.

Swimmers having a ball in their Kayaks

SNZ hope to have all its youth swimmers between 17 and 20 participate in the Outward Bound programme in the years to come and we look forward to selecting future teams to participate in courses of this nature.

Finally, it was great to meet you all and watch you grow as individuals and as a team.  I look forward to watching your progress in the future.
Philip

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Success at Central North Island Championships 2009

Roskill Magic sent 21 swimmers and their families to the 1st away trip since the club restructure in July to the Central North Island Championships held on Labour weekend in Rotorua. The Meet was attended by over 40 swim clubs from all over the North Island.

The team exceeded all expectations that Director of Coaching Paul Kent held for them. He was extremely happy with the weekend “It wasn’t so much that the swimmers stepped up and performed exceedingly well, it was the pride each of us felt being part of the Team that was pleasing to see, the club culture is developing fast. The swimmers were extremely supportive of each other and also the parents added more enthusiasm to help energize the atmosphere for the team.” The team came 5th overall but Kent reckons (with a smile on his face) that there was some dodgy counting going on.

“The Goal for the team was to perform in the heats and progress onto the finals. All the swimmers produced massive improvements to their PB’s and half the team made final” Paul said. The star of the team, in his first serious meet was former under 19 NZ Waterpolo player Luke Westgaard. “Luke has shown he is a potential prospect for NZ Swimming in the future”