What a year it has been for the swimmers at Kuwait English School. There have been so many highs, it’s hard to know where to begin. Congratulating all swimmers is in order; they have put a great amount of time and effort into their training this year, making it one of our most successful years.
Girls ISACK Swim Team
Way back in term one, we had the ISACK Swimming Championships, after a tough first competition our three ISACK Girls teams all managed to retain their titles for another year. Well done girls!
(From left to right: Top row – Farida El Howily, Vanessa Al Haddad, Haya Bakdounes, Mila Jones, Lucy Ruehle. Middle Row- Salma Hassanein, Vicky Stergiou, Judy Abu Al Shamlat, Charlotte Thompson, Roenya Boshoff, Front Row-Nehad Akkad, Hala Hassanein, Elisavet Stergiou)
(Missing from the photo; Imogen Lambert, Natasha Buiting, Eleanor Hall, Fatema Salmeen, Amy Park, Sydney Godwin, Tiya Khalil, Lauren Al Haddad)
Boys ISACK Swim Team
Our ISACK boys also competed very well this year against some very tough competition from other schools. Finishing in a very respectable 3rd overall, all boys should be proud of their accomplishments this year. Fantastic work boys!
(From left to right: top row – Alex Isaac, Tadros Khalil, Tor Lambert, Andrew Gray, Ahmed Abdelhamid, Amr Hamza. Middle row- Giorgi Panjakidze, Omar El Geneghy, Adrian Dzido, Jang Min Kim, Omar Ibrahim, Mihir Sawhney, Jad Abo Al Shamlat. Front row- AbdelRahman Ibrahim, Zeyad Lotfy, Adam Hammoud, Ali Ibrahim, Karam Yousfi)
(Missing from the photo; Joshua Buiting, AbdulRahman Al Saqqa, Karim Ahmed, Maged Omran, Tadros Khalil).
Senior Inter-house Swimming Gala
Also in term 1 KES celebrated the Senior Inter-house Swimming Gala where the following records were beaten:
Omar El Genegehy-Year 7 25m Freestyle 15.31
Zeyad Lotfy-Year 7 25m Backstroke 19.81
Imogen Lambert- Year 9 50m Breaststroke 36.38 & Individual Medley 1.12.38
Salma Hassanein-Year 10 50m Backstroke 35.38
Haya Bakdounes- Year 9 25m Freestyle 15.63
Lauren Al Haddad- Year 11 50m Breaststroke 39.13
Vicky Stergiou- Year 8 50m Backstroke 35.88
Lucy Ruehl- Year 10 25m Freestyle 15.87
Vanessa Al Haddad- Year 12/13 25m Butterfly 16.19
Junior KFSAC
KES junior swimmers stole the show in this year’s KFSAC competition. Having placed second behind TES last year our young swimmers were determined to change that result this year. The first Gala took place in November after a long hot day at Junior’s Sports Day. Our swimmers were tired but determined to do their very best. They faced some tough competition from seven other schools in Kuwait, but they rose to the challenge, convincingly beating all other competitors by over eighty points.
(From left to right; Top row- Natasha Buiting, Giorgi Panjakidze, Eleanor Hall, Karam Yousfi, Farida El Howily, Jad Abo Al Shamlat, Fatima Salmeen, AbdelRahman Ibrahim, Elisavet Stergiou. Bottom row- Joshua Buiting, Anastasia Panjakidze, Abelrahman Al Saqqa, Logain El Geneghy, Malek Raafat, Zaina El Towil, Marwan Sheddid, Lamar Abul Burghul, Ahmed Mabrouk)
With plenty of time to practice before the second gala and fire in their bellies, KES Dolphins were unstoppable, winning seven out of eight relays and coming second in one. All of this was too much for the other schools and we ran out convincing winners by 180 points.
A massive congratulations to them and all their hard work as this is the first time in a number of years that KES has won the KFSAC swimming trophy.
BSME Swimming Championships
Our final event of the year was the BSME Swimming Championships. These took place in Dubai at the Hamdan Sports Complex on the 21st of April 2018. This arena has hosted the World Swimming Championships, hence it was an exciting setting for our first BSME Swimming competition. As it was during the school holidays a limited amount of students attended the event, however they represented the school with pride and passion which was wonderful to see.
The event started at 7am and finished at 5.30pm, which was a long day for some of our competitors, the youngest being in year 2. Here again we faced tough competition from across the Middle East, but that did not stop our swimmers from winning medals and ribbons for their efforts.
In the Senior School Omar El Geneghy came second in 50m Butterfly with a time of 33.15. In the Junior School Logain El Geneghy came 5th in 50m Backstroke (46.27), Maged Omran came second in 100m Breaststroke (2.08.06), Marwan Shedid claimed three bronze and a 6th place ribbon (50 Breast 51.36, 50 Free 37.24, 50 Back 44.07, 50 Fly 51.87), while AbdulRahman Al Saqqa claimed three Gold and one Silver medal (50 Breast 48.41, 50 Free 34.90, 50 Back 42.48 and 50 Fly 36.53). He also broke a BSME swimming record in the 50m Butterfly by 5 seconds, and as a result was awarded a trophy for obtaining the second highest points in his age group.
Miss Sinead Hughes, Head of Swimming, stated how ‘extremely proud of everyone who attended the event and represented the school so excellently. It was a pleasure to watch everyone compete on this magnificent occasion. I am also very thankful to all staff and coaches who have helped and contributed towards such a successful Swimming year at KES. I look forward to seeing what next year brings’.
