Dear ISSEA Swimmers,

Welcome to Zimbabwe, Harare International School, and the home of the Warthogs! We are delighted to be hosting this year's ISSEA Swimming competition. HIS has not hosted an in-person ISSEA event for several years, so we look forward to having you all on our campus.

I am sure that you and your coaches have been training hard in preparation for this competition and are looking forward to giving it your absolute best in the swimming pool over the three days of the competition. I am sure the competition in the pool will be extremely fierce, but I also know that good fair play and respect for opponents and officials will also be an integral part of the event.

Aside from the competition, ISSEA events provide an opportunity for friendships to develop between students across the different schools. I hope you will cherish this opportunity the ISSEA network provides, as you never know when you will meet up with a fellow ISSEA competitor in the years ahead.

I want to extend my appreciation to all the Athletics/Activities Directors who work extremely hard to make these ISSEA events possible. In particular, I would like to thank Mr. Todd Meyer for all he has done to prepare for this event.

I hope you enjoy your stay in Harare and best of luck with the competition ahead.

Richard Hawkins

Secondary Principal

Mauya to ISSEA Swimming 2023. HIS has the honour to host swimming this year. It is the first ISSEA swim meet since covid, and the first time HIS has hosted ISSEA Swimming. The last face-to-face ISSEA event that HIS hosted was ISSEA Band & Choir in February 2019. Four years later, we are finally welcoming the International Schools of Southern and Eastern Africa (ISSEA) back to Zimbabwe, consisting of 115 swimmers and their coaches. 

Swimming is a tough sport, as you improve the sets get harder and chlorine continues to seep out your pores. The average high school swimmer swims 1 million strokes per season. Think about that for a minute. You don’t even have the time to count to a million, meanwhile, some swimmer is well on his/her way to swimming a million strokes by the end of the season. 

Swimming is a team sport, but it is also very much an individual one. I wish each swimmer and each team the very best. Swim hard! Make every stroke count but most of all have fun, make new friends and memories.

See you on deck!

Mr Meyer