Aloysiad 15-12 2006.indd - St Aloysius

senior school sport
Swimming/Waterpolo Tour of the
West Coast of the USA 2006
This was a ground-breaking tour, not only for St Aloysius’
College, but also for New South Wales schools, since
we believe that this is the first tour of its kind. It was
brave and adventurous, and it succeeded far beyond our,
probably cautious, expectations.
The programme that we planned was designed to
combine the requirements of all St Aloysius’ tours together
with our own special needs. Therefore we offered a Jesuit
aspect, a cultural aspect, and an educational aspect
together with expert training and competition for our
athletes. I believe that all these needs were addressed,
with the highlight of the Tour being the contact with St
Ignatius College. We were also given expert training and
fierce competition, which together with many sight-seeing
opportunities made for happy but tired tourists!
Overall we are celebrating a great success which
has already manifested itself in the outstanding Water
Polo results since our return and will hopefully deliver us
great success in the CAS swimming competition next year.
However, the fact that it was a complete experience, and
that we have made many new friends as well as blazing a
new trail, is the real success.
Mrs Caroline Linschoten
Tour Convenor
2006 Swim Tour to the USA
The St Aloysius’ College Swimming and Water Polo
Tour of the USA during the October holidays can only
be described as a huge success.
As leader of the swimming contingent, I must compliment
the boys not only on their performances but also their
commitment to training during the long winter months which
allowed us to arrive generally in peak condition.
Overall, we were the match of any of the twenty five to
thirty clubs we encountered along the way.
Mr Zolezzi has reported on the water polo games which
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St Aloysius’ College
A Jesuit School for Boys _ Founded 1879
occupied our first week of competition. The swimmers had
their first taste of competition at the 2006 Columbus Day
Invitational on the week-end of October 7 and 8. This meet
was hosted by the Santa Maria Swim Club (surely the most
wonderful of hosts)
Age groupings at this meet made it difficult to establish
exact placing’s (i.e. thirteen years and over grouped in
heats according to qualifying times.) but it was most evident
that Sam McConnell, Chris Sudarmana and Matthew
Jepson were the outstanding Senior, Intermediate and Junior
swimmers respectively. All the others swam well against some
fifteen strong Clubs from all around the San Francisco area.
Times recorded were difficult to assess and compare
as the Americans race in twenty five yard pools. The
conversion from our fifty metre times to fifty yards and then
to short course yards is indeed difficult and for our purpose
pointless. Despite this all the boys swam very well first-up.
One week later, we had our second swim meet at the
Seal Beach “Monster Splash” at the Joint Forces Reserve
Centre. This military base co-incidentally serves as the
home base to both the USA Women’s and Men’s Water
Polo Teams. By the end of the second week of our tour,
unfortunately a few of us were a little worse for wear with
injuries, chest infections, shoulder injuries etc. Those that
survived injury free, performed extremely well, and we
held our own against slightly stronger competition than the
previous week.
Others will expand on their results and experiences,
but from the swimming perspective I am pleased to report
that the 2006 Tour was a great success, and rest in the
knowledge that our Swim team have never been in better
form or better spirits this early in the season.
Mr Martin Tenisons
MIC Swimming
Water Polo USA Tour Summary
The Water Polo Tour Squad comprised of the following
members who represented the Senior (Varsity) team:
Chris McMahon, Sam Dalton, James Orlov, Luke
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