Strong Start to the Season for King’s Swimming

The first school swimming gala of the year saw 49 King’s pupils competed in the divisional round of the English Schools Swimming Association’s (ESSA) Team Relay Championships.

The annual Championships are open to secondary schools from across England, with schools invited to enter either mixed-gender teams or separate girls’ and boys’ teams in three different age groups: Junior (Lower 4 and Upper 4), Inter (Lower Remove and Upper Remove) and Senior (Fifth and Sixth Form).

Whilst most of the other schools taking part at Malvern entered just one team in an age group, the large number of new Year 7 pupils who have joined King’s with an interest in swimming this September meant that King’s were able to take an impressive 49 pupils to the gala and field no fewer than 12 relay teams!

With the event taking place so early in the autumn term, many of the new Year 7 pupils have had very little opportunity to practise their relay dives and changeovers with their teammates. They therefore found themselves almost literally being thrown in at the deep end! However, there was no sign that this affected the pupils, as they all demonstrated impressive swimming skills, excellent teamwork and great sportsmanship throughout the afternoon.

All the relays were 4 x 50m events, meaning that each swimmer completed a 50m leg – two lengths of a standard 25m pool. Pupils competed in both Freestyle (Front Crawl) and Medley relays, with the Medley requiring swimmers to race Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly and Freestyle.

King’s swimmers competed against teams from eight other Worcestershire schools: Malvern College, RGS Worcester, Pershore High School, Worcester Sixth Form College, The Chantry, Christopher Whitehead Language College, The Downs Malvern and Whitecross School.

There were plenty of excellent results across the two relay disciplines. In the 4 x 50m Freestyle relays, the Junior Girls enjoyed an outstanding set of results, with the A team taking first place, the B team finishing third, the C team fifth and the D team sixth. The Junior Boys’ A team finished second, with the B team fourth and C team sixth. The Inter Girls and Inter Boys both won their respective races, while the Inter Mixed team finished fifth. The Senior Girls finished third, while the Senior Boys also produced a superb performance to take first place.

King’s swimmers were equally impressive in the 4 x 50m Medley relays. The Junior Girls’ A team again took first place, with the B team third, C team fifth and D team sixth. The Junior Boys’ A team finished third, followed by the B team in fourth and C team in seventh. Both the Inter Girls and Inter Boys again secured first place, while the Inter Mixed team finished sixth. The Senior Girls took an excellent second place, with the Senior Boys completing another very successful relay by finishing first.

Although all 12 teams performed extremely well, the swimmers must now wait patiently to discover whether any of them have qualified for the ESSA Team Relay Championships National Finals. The results from this divisional round will be added to a national database alongside the results from divisional galas taking place across the country over the next few weeks. These results will then be used to create a single ‘virtual’ national result for every relay category, with the fastest teams earning a place at the National Finals.

The National Team Relay Championships will take place at the Sandwell Aquatics Centre on Saturday 21st November, in the impressive pool that hosted the 2022 Commonwealth Games. For now, the King’s swimmers can be extremely proud of their performances while they wait to see whether they have done enough to earn a place on the national stage.

A massive well done to all the pupils who represented King’s so impressively:

Junior Girls: Daisy E, Thea H, Elizabeth L-S, Martha N, Millie W, Abigail T, Florrie W, Maysie L, Angela O’C, Ellie R, Pippa P, Thea E, Olivia G, Izzy R, Rosie W and Izzy W.

Junior Boys: Arthur G, Will G, Alex T, Jacob W, James E-R, Otis H, Sam L-C, Austin R, Noah B, James B, Charles C, Alfie E and Noah L.

Inter Girls: Amelia B, Helena C, Fliss T, Shreya V, Lily E, Georgia P and Lucy D.

Inter Boys: Teddy C, Jonas H, Sam M, Matthew P, Rowan T and Charlie M.

Senior Girls: Catherine H, Isabella W, Mia G and Hattie T.

Senior Boys: Joe O’L, Isaac P, James C and Dylan L.

After the gala, Head of Swimming, Chris Jenkinson, said: “It is fantastic to see just how much interest there is in Swimming at King’s, and I’m really pleased that we are able to take so many pupils to take part in one of the most important events in the school swimming calendar this year. I am particularly pleased for all the pupils who have embraced the swimming sessions that the King’s Swimming Academy team provide, as these pupils are now being rewarded for all their hard work and commitment to their swimming, both at King’s and for their respective swimming clubs.”

A huge thank you must also go to Mrs. Monkhouse and Mr. Khan for their invaluable support poolside, as well as to all the parents who came along to watch the pupils and cheer them on.

Whilst we wait for the results from all of the divisional rounds across the country to be compiled and published, the King’s Swimming Academy coaching team are already preparing for the next school swimming event: the first round of the ESSA Swimming Super League, which takes place at Dean Close School on Thursday 8 October.