Swim Team News - ACSIS Swim Championships, Nexus Wave Two Swim Meet, FINA Swim Stars to Nexus, and the FINA World Cup.

The “Festival of Swimming” at Nexus continues with some remarkable achievements by the Team over the last two weeks including, a Top 3 finish by the team at the ACSIS High School Swim Meet; Nexus hosting 300+ swimmers at the Wave 2 Meet, the FINA Star Swimmers Clinic at Nexus; and 3 of our swimmers proudly representing Nexus at the FINA World Cup.

Kicking off with the ACSIS High School Swim Meet. Amazing team spirit and commitment demonstrated in supporting each other. Apart from just training, this included arriving at school at 6am on a Saturday to get the team bus to UWC East for warm-ups and a busy race schedule.

The Swim Team chant was also unveiled at this event, which must have contributed towards Nexus finishing in the Top 3, (girls 3^rd and boys 4^th, overall) behind UWC East and UWC Dover and ahead of traditional rivals Australian International School, Tanglin Trust and Singapore American School. An amazing effort especially given Nexus has one of the youngest squads by age, with Primary learners from the Junior Development Squad also participating.

The Nexus Wave 2 was run on the following Friday with 300+ swimmers attending including many of the younger and first-time swimming kids and families participating and contributing to the atmosphere. In food terms for this event, this translates into ~250 drinks, ~360 sausages, and ~200 snacks being sold and consumed on the day by hungry swimmers and guests.

A huge thank you to the many volunteering parents and teachers who make these events possible. Special mention to Graeme Massey from the Sports department who you will always find perched at the balmy “Eagles Nest” keeping the mood lively whilst calling the races, and also Kevin Feldhausen our resident parent photographer who provides many of the fantastic swimming photos. Just a couple of the many special people and quiet achievers contributing to the Nexus swim community.

With the FINA World Cup “caravan” arriving in Singapore, Coach Ivan was able to arrange for the FINA Star Swimmers Clinic to be run at our very own pool. FINA junior star Michael Andrew from the USA, and Australian Olympic medallists Cate and Bronte Campbell were inspirational, giving insight into their own swimming journeys and followed up with an interactive swim clinic. No doubt, the kids took the pro-tips straight into the Wave 2 Meet held straight after the event and also by Nexus’ 3 very own home-grown World Cup “stars”.

For the grand finale, Nexus had our very own FINA World Cup swimmers in Carmen Weiler-Sastre (13 years), Paloma Canos-Cervera (15 years), and Regina Sanchez-Pulido (13 years), representing us in freestyle, backstroke and butterfly events. Although they were some of the youngest swimmers to participate in this World Cup, each of their performances are to be commended for the commitment and dedication required just to make it to a World Cup.

The three girls each competed in the 100m Freestyle event, but of particular note include a 9th place by Carmen in the 200m Backstroke and an 11th place by Paloma in the 800m freestyle.

The girl’s performances have also not gone unnoticed by the international swimming media. Since attending a range of Spanish National Swimming Events their performances have been followed by the leading Spanish swimming news outlet, Nataccion (www.nataccion.com), which also provided news coverage of their performances at this event as well. See http://www.nataccion.com/michael-andrew-rebaja-su-record-mundial-junior-de-100-estilos-con-51-65/ (Use Google Translate to convert into English)

Follow us and keep up to date with the “Nexus_Swim_Team” on Instagram, or via the Nexus Swim Team Website at https://www.teamunify.com/Home.jsp?_tabid_=0&team=reczzniss

Till next time, happy swimming.

Chris Leung & Sandra van Oord, Swim Parents Liaison - NPG

Parents and Children Netball - Wednesdays 7pm-8pm in Small Gym (Year 5 Upwards)

If you are free on Wednesday evenings from 7pm-8pm (beginning Wednesday 1 November), you are welcome to come along and play some Parent & Children Netball (from Year 5 upwards) in the Nexus Small Gymnasium.

Nexus Parent, Jemma Chapple and Lorna Fleming, have begun this initiative as a means to connect families outside of school hours and improve general fitness and well being whilst having a bit of fun. Please note that this is run by parent volunteers.

The weekly sessions will involve warm up, drills and a match with the aim of being fun, social and open to all abilities. This weekly event is run purely on a voluntary basis and all learners attending must be accompanied by a parent or caregiver.

Mrs. Jemma Chapple & Mrs. Lorna Fleming

10&U Footballers Start ACSIS Season 2 in Style.

Looking to retain the title from last season, this year’s U10 Nexus Football Team is off to an excellent start. Under Head Coach Daniele, Team 2 finished Tuesday’s tournament at GEMS undefeated with 4 wins and 1 draw, followed by a ‘rockin’ bus ride home. It was an outstanding performance by all of the players. They definitely made their presence known on and off the pitch! High praise, such as, “What, a strong team we have!” was flowing from several referees and competing coaches, who enjoyed the fantastic feast of football served up by the U10 Nexus Football Team 2. Well done boys!

Mrs. Yada Mak, 10&U Football Team Manager

CCAs

A reminder that CCAs start on Monday 27 November. This is an 8 week season, due to the early finish on Friday 15 December there will be no CCAs after school on that day.

When you log onto the CCA portal and see ‘waiting list’ it means the activity is full and you have joined the waiting list. Miss Stephanie Hughes will be in contact if a space becomes available. If you wish to withdraw from an approved CCA please let the school know so we can open this space up for another learner.

Please note that all CCA payments should be completed by 8 December 2017 (end of week 2). If your child attends at any point after week two, then you will be billed for the whole season. Payment details can be found on page 5 of the CCA booklet.

Please be reminded that learners may take the late bus home at 4.30pm for an additional charge. As this is a new season, your child’s space on the bus must be requested by contacting the BT&Tan Transport Pte Ltd Office at 6483 7260 / 6506 0140 or emailing ops@btntan.com.

Nexus Has Three Swimmers In FINA World Cup - Singapore Leg

Competing against the world’s best at the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup 2017 was a little dream for our qualifiers Paloma Canos Cervera, Carmen Sastre Weiler and Regina Sanchez Pulido. For an early season meet, there were no expectations to swim Personal Best times or make it to the finals. However, the girls were not only at their Personal Bests but also were to ranked them selfs in Top 10 in several races. The highest rank by Carmen in the 200 Backstroke where she was reserved for the final (9th) and Paloma was 11th in the 800 Freestyle. Great effort!

Day 1 started with training for all participants on Thursday evening. The girls showed up early at the pool together with myself (Coach Bunakov). We all thought that we came on the wrong day as there were no swimmers or coaches were on the pool deck! We started our regular pre-swim yoga based routine and in about half an hour, the world class athletes started to appear. We rushed to commence our pre-competition workout in the pool in order to complete the session early, in order to enjoy the opportunity of talking to and taking pictures with the best swimmers.

Day 2 was the first day of actual competition. It started with a bit of worries as it was daunting to swim with and warm up beside the world class athletes. However, the girls have completed their regular routine in the pool and were happy about their warm up. Right in the first events both Paloma and Carmen went extremely fast in the 100 Freestyle with a cheeky 58...low. Regina swam a dissent time despite her injury. In another hour or so, Carmen produced an amazing time in the 200 Backstroke which ranked her at 9th position (1st reserved to final) and Paloma swam the 800 Freestyle to her new Personal Best.

Day 3 was the second day and seemed to be more relaxed for our young athletes. A big credit to all our Nexus supporters who came along to cheer the girls up. They were much better in terms of performance on the second day which resulted achieving their Personal Best in the women's 50m butterfly, 100 Backstroke and 200 Freestyle. This final session finished with many pictures and signatures from world class athletes such as Katinka Hosszu, Chad Le Clos, Vladimir Morozov, sisters Campbell, Michel Andrew and many others,

This meet was an amazing opportunity for us to unlock Paloma’s true potential. It is exceptional for a school team swimmer to qualify to swim in a world class competition and to set higher standards than we had ever hoped for. Being able to talk to and mingle with the best swimmers was an unforgettable experience which will definitely remain in our memories forever. Thank you to everyone who was there to support and to the school management who have made it possible for us to get here. In the near future, I envisage that Nexus graduates will be seen representing their home countries at the World Level events and even standing on the podium. Go Go Go Nexus Swimming!

Mr. Ivan Bunakov - Head Coach Nexus Swimming