There is nothing better than seeing our #ragingbulls having a great time out of the pool and building on their team spirit at our Winter Wonderland Awards Night. It was an evening of celebrating the success of all our swimmers and especially those that had entered into our Club Championships 2018 or taken part in National and International Swimming during the 2017/2018 season.
Who were the medallist’s and top girl and boy for each age group?
New medals, recognising those swimmers that have swam at National & International levels.
Announcer (Inter)National Swimmers
Top Junior Boy & Girl Swimmer
The junior girl swimmer of the year.
This swimmer joined us last year and has been very keen and committed in training. She travels from quite a distance to attend training at COSC but still commits to seven sessions per week – more than many swimmers who live in Oxford.
Even though she goes to school 12 miles from Oxford she gets up early in the morning to attend morning training 2 times per week. She has to be very organised in the morning & despite having a long journey to school manages to stay in the pool until 7:20am, getting changed quickly so that she doesn’t miss too much training & eats her breakfast in the car on the way to school. Her attendance at training is always high and very consistent.
She is very honest and self-motivated during training and always pushes herself to her limit in both land and swimming training. She is helpful, polite and not afraid to ask appropriate questions whenever she does not understand.
With all of these aspects, it is a pleasure to coach her because she is always cheerful and has a positive mindset; she always wants to improve herself.
Top junior boy swimmer of the year.
This year’s Junior Boy Swimmer of the Year award goes to a young swimmer who has not only performed well in competitions individually, but has also been a fantastic member of the team. Whether representing Oxford in last year’s Arena League South Final, or attending training, he always arrives with a smile. The smile may disappear once he has seen the hard sets written on the white board, but it always returns.
For the short time Fabian has been coaching him, he has turned up to training with a positive attitude, shown great determination in quality sessions, and been polite and respectful to the coaching staff. Lastly, he is always asking questions on how to improve his overall swimming performance. Fabian is very excited to see what he has in store for the rest of this season.
Anthony Bryan Award for Endeavour
Pauline Bryan presented this award, which was created in memory of her late husband Anthony.
Anthony Bryan always supported and encouraged his children and grandchildren, recognising that it wasn’t so important that they won in their chosen sports but that they tried, were totally committed and enjoyed themselves.
So, it is to swimmers who always give their swimming 100%, putting their club first regardless of any prize or medals that this cup is now presented each year.
Anthony Bryan Award for Endeavour
After challenging times in the first part of the season, this swimmer managed to overcome and improve every aspect of their training leading into the summer, when they performed above their expectations.
Specifically, after regionals last year, they increased their focus in both land and swim training and started to ask questions about how to improve their performance. Their increased attention to detail and improved training meant that this swimmer achieved many personal bests in the later part of the season.
This swimmer has been very honest and very keen in the training sessions and always turns up to the session 10-15 minutes early to be on the poolside on time.
All of these improvements have made this swimmer increasingly coachable and it has been my (and the team’s) pleasure to coach her, as she is always wanting to improve herself.
