First time competitive experience for junior swimmers

DSA Swimming Club was part of the 400 swimmers from 12 clubs who participated in the 1st Sarawak Short Course Sprint 2019 Meet organized by the Power Aquatics Swimming Club (PASC) and supported by the Sarawak Sport Corporation (SSC). The two day Meet saw participants from both Sarawak and other states of Malaysia besides having some participants from an Indonesian Swimming Club.

The Meet was aimed at providing opportunity and exposure for young swimmers who are beginners and first time completive swimmers. It also serves as a platform to identify potential talent who can be nurtured.

18 young swimmers from DSA travelled to the Pandelela Rinong Aquatic Centre, Kuching, the venue for the Meet, a first time experience for many of them to actually travel outside of Peninsular Malaysia to participate in a Swim Meet. The young swimmers had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed their taste of competitive swimming action and brought home many medals from the Meet. The winners included Olivia Cheong Kah Yan, Dian Isandra Johan, Rex Foong Jie Yi and Ashley Soh Wern Yi. A detailed view of the medals tally is given below. Congrats to all the swimmers on the trip across Malaysia and we wish them more success in their competitive swimming journey ahead. Onward Team DSA.

Young Swimmers break through to win Overall Championship at Grand Final

Celebrations galore for DSA Swimming Club as they triumphantly brought home their second Championship for the year, winning Top Spot at the Sportexcel Milo/NSC/Asum Junior Swimming Grand Final 2019. Coming into the Meet with the maximum number of qualifiers from the 2 Legs, DSA Swimming Club had all guns blazing from the word go, retaining their lead till the end.   The final tally had 11 Golds and 1 Meet record along with Silvers and Bronzes beating the next best team by over 100 points.

Yap Yong Jie was the Overall Champion in the Boys Group 3 (11-12yrs) with a Meet Record 3 Golds, 1 Silver and 2 Bronzes. Elise Wong Ving Yan won Group 2  (13-14yr) Girls Overall Champion with 4 Golds.  Chong Hiong Kiet also in Boys Group 3 won another 2 Golds in his events, while Chong Xin Lin collected 1 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bornze in the Girls Group 3. Liew Xiao Rou also in Girls Group 3 added a Gold and 2 Bronzes to the tally.

Other medal winners included Darren Lew Chen Jet with 2 Silvers 1 Bronze, Sebastien  Rion Azlir with 2 Silvers, Ng Yean Yu 1 Silver 1 Bronze, Eunice Wong Ee Yin and Lew Zhi Tong with 1 Silver each. Mellissa Nailly Darwin, Jaydrien Ng Shen Khang, Cham Yu Xiang and Shermann Choong Li Sheng all added Bronzes to the Team wins.

Apart from the podium finishes, DSA Swim Club also had a host of points contributed by swimmers whose valuable efforts made the Championship possible. These include Joelle Koo Yu Qing, Lee Zi Xuan, Annis Hiew Xin Ting, Arniesh Chai Sasheedran, Elizabeth Chan Yiwen, Yoong Chang Lin, Ean Chin Tyan Feng, Liew Ze Hou, Alvina Ching Ru En, Hayley Yap Hay Ee, Samantha Yong Scanlan, Lee Tze-Le, Cheong Hoe Hann and Wong Yu Xuan. The detailed list of the Medals tally, Points contribution and the Qualifiers are given below.

After 2 days of hectic action, it was a resounding victory for DSA Swimming Club as they held aloft the Overall Championship Trophy for the Sportexcel Milo/Nsc/Asum Junior Swimming Circuit for the first time at the Kompleks Renang Kuala Lumpur, Bandar Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur.

A huge morale boosting victory for the Club after the stupendous win clinching the Overall Championship at the MILO/PRAKL Age Group 2019 at the start of the year. This will do in good stead for the Club as the latter half of the swimming calendar comes up with the all important Meet of the year, the President Cup scheduled in late November.

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DSA Swimmers win medals at ASEAN School Games 2019

DSA Swimming Club swimmers did the country and their Schools proud once again as  Alma Louise Bendix Dahl and Georgene Wee Ee Jern brought home the medals from the 11th ASEAN School Games held at Semarang, Indonesia between 17-25 July.  DSA Swimmers Alma Louise, Georgene Wee and Koh Teck Chen were the trio selected to represent Malaysia in this year’s Games. Alma Louise did exceedingly well in winning 2 Golds and 3 Bronzes in her events while Georgene  Wee won a Bronze in the Relay. The details of the medal winning performances were as follows-

Alma Louise Bendix Dahl:

•     100m Butterfly – Gold
•     50m Butterfly – Gold
•     200m Individual Medley – Bronze
•     4x200m Freestyle Relay – Bronze
•     4x100m Medley Relay – Bronze

Georgene Wee Ee Jern:

•     4x200m Freestyle Relay – Bronze

Heartiest Congratulations to the swimmers for their remarkable achievements of representing their school and country at international arena at such a young age, and we look forward to hearing more about them in the future. DSA has been the nurturing ground for many champions and as a Club, we are proud to have been a part of the swimmers lives and development as a competitive swimmer. We also congratulate the parents, coach and everyone else who had a big part to play in the long road to success where the swimmers are today.

Thank you swimmers, parents DSA coaches and onward Team DSA and Team Malaysia.

Congratulations to the trio of champions from DSA Swimming Club who will be in Indonesia from the 19th to 22nd July representing Malaysian Schools as part of the 11th ASEAN School Games 2019 held in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia between 17-25 July.

The outstanding trio include Koh Teck Chen, Georgene Wee Ee Jern and Alma Louise Bendix Dahl, all of whom have been in the DSA Swimming Club for many years and have made both the Club and Malaysia proud with their laurels over the years. DSA is elated to have been the platform for champions like them to blossom and we wish them all the very best at the Games. We are sure they will make the Nation, their respective Schools and DSA Swimming Club beam with pride with the achievements. Onward Malaysia, onward Team DSA.

DSA wishes to thank extensively world renowned and former Singapore Strength & Conditioning Coach, Jason Gregory, who was in DSA training the DSA Club swimmers at the National Aquatic Centre Bukit Jalil on 30 June 2019.  Jason along with Rob Greenwood, through a special arrangement with Swim Schooling provided in-depth guidance in land training techniques for the DSA Squad swimmers. The sessions were well attended by the DSA swimmers and they had a lot of knowledge gained about the importance of land training for swimming at competitive levels.

DSA thanks Swim Schooling for giving the opportunity for DSA swimmers to enrich themselves with the experience.

Hearty Congratulations to the DSA swimmers for representing Malaysia at the 43rd SEA Age Group Swimming Championships held on 28- 30 June 2019 in Phonm Penh, Cambodia. It was a great privilege for the Club and an achievement for the swimmers to compete at an international level and also be an inspiration for the other swimmers.

A big round of applause to DSA champs Yap Yong Jie and Darren Lew Chen Jet for their performances and putting Malaysia on the podium. Yap Yong Jie in the Boys 13 years and under category won Bronze in his events which included 100m Backstroke,  50m Backstroke, 200m Freestyle and 200m Butterfly. Darren Lew  won the Bronze in the 50m Freestyle in his group of Boys 14-15 years.

It was indeed a great experience for the group of DSA swimmers to make it to the international stage and we wish them more success in the future.

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Medals Tally

The NSC/Milo/Sport Excel Junior Swimming Circuit for 2019 was held at Pusat Akuatik Tuanku Zara, Ipoh, and provided an opportunity for DSA Swimming Club to have a nice trip to Ipoh. As always the second leg is the opportunity to add up the points to qualify for the Grand Final. For DSA Swimming Club, it was an extraordinary occasion as they moved to the Top Spot in the overall medal count for the Meet with 11 Golds and a total of 33 medals beating the runner-up team by a narrow margin. The Meet had some exciting moments with DSA swimmers pumping up the adrenaline for the team and the viewers by their splendid performances.

The swimmers who were blazing included Liew Xiao Rou who finished with 5 Golds and 1 Silver in the total of 7 events she participated making a significant contribution to the tally. Other Gold winning performances included Elise Wong with 2 Golds, 2 Silvers; Ng Yean Yu with 1 Gold, 1 Silver; and Chong Hiong Kiet with 1 Gold, 1 Bronze.

Outstanding performance also was shown by young and mostly newbie swimmers who added a good share of medals to the tally to help DSA Swim Club take top honours. These included Sebastien Rion Azlir – 1 Gold and 1 Silver, Mellissa Darwin – 1 Gold and 3 Bronzes, Eunice Wong – 2 Silvers, Samantha Yong Scanlan – 1 Silver, Lee Zi Xuan – 2 Bronzes,  Elizabeth Chan – 1 Bronze,  Joelle Koo – 1 Bronze and Lee Tze-Le – 1 Bronze.  A detailed view is given in the Medals Tally below.

The most exciting and much watched and cheered event was the Group 3 Boys 100m Breast Stroke where 3 swimmers from DSA Swimming Club had the distinguished honour of winning all 3 medals for the event. Way to go DSA! The swimmers all had a good amount of points added to their individual tally enabling them to participate in the much awaited Grand Final of the circuit scheduled to be held on 3-4 August 2019. All the best Team DSA and we look forward to taking the top spot at the Meet.

• Full Results

• Medal Count

• Top 24 Winners

Congratulations to the DSA swimmers who will be representing Malaysia in the 43rd SEA Age Groups Swimming Championships to be held on 28- 30 June 2019 in Phonm Penh, Cambodia. The SEA Age Group Championship is an annual Swimming Meet for 18 yrs & under swimmers from all nations of South East Asia Region. The 2018 Meet was held in Laguna by the Phillipine Swimming Inc.

DSA has been proud to have swimmers represent the country at this Meet every year and this year the champions selected for the meet are Georgene Wee Ee Jern, Elise Wong Ving Yan, Koh Teck Chen, Darren Lew Chen Jet and Yap Yong Jie. All the swimmers have been with DSA for many years and it’s a privilege for DSA Swimming Club to have been able to hone these swimmers to international competition levels. We look forward to great results from the Meet and all the very best to the swimmers. Go Team Malaysia, go Team DSA!

The recently concluded 62nd Malaysia Open Swimming Meet 2019 at National Aquatic Centre, KL Sport City on the 25-28 April had 19 swimmers from DSA and DSAS selected to represent their teams of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor respectively. It was indeed a major achievement for these young swimmers to compete at a National level at an Open Swimming Meet.

The team from DSA included Georgene Wee Ee Jern, Alma Louise Dahl, Low Yi Xhin, Lim Qi Feng, Lau Jin Kiat, Rowvan Ganeson, Liam Eu Li-AN, Koh Teck Chen, Yap Yong Jie, Erin Eu Lakshmanan, Liew Xiao Rou, Brian Chung Ze Xuan, Sean Goh Min Chang, Daniel Liew Jia Hau, Adam Jeffrey Dillon, Fatin Amira Bt Ahmad Hadri, Alison Athena Wright, Olivia Cheong Kah Yan and Natalie Cheong Kah Man. Alma Louise Dahl representing KL Team won 3 Golds, 5 Silvers and 1 Bronze in her events while Georgene Wee Ee Jern added 3 Silvers and a Bronze to the KL Team tally too. Koh Teck Chen added a Gold through his Relay event while Daniel Liew also added his Relay Silver to the team tally. A detailed look of the medal tally is given below.

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The 13th and 14th of April were big days for DSA Swimming Club as the team of 208 swimmers filled in the venue at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Shah Alam for the first leg of the prestigious SportExcel/Milo/NSC/ASUM Junior Swimming Circuit 2019. The largest team at the Meet went home with most of the honours as they collected a total of 30 medals, the highest total of the teams but fell short of the Gold medal count to be at the second spot. It was a huge move up from the 7^th spot the previous year and was a big result for the young swimmers as they needed to get maximum points in both legs of the Swimming Circuit to make it to the Grand Final.

The swimmers were all at their best with DSA’s young champion Yap Yong Jie making a clean sweep at almost all his 8 events, winning a total of 7 Golds and 1 Silver. He also recorded the second highest individual points in the Boys Category. Brilliant performances by Liew Xiao Rou and Darren Lew Chen Jet gave them also Gold medals to take home while Chong Xin Lin, Ng Yean Yu and Lew Zhi Tong were among the others who added their contributions to the team tally. It was a great start for the large group of young DSA swimmers who had their taste of competitive swimming and now they have to train hard for the second leg to gather the required points. A detailed view of the medals tally is as follows:

Full Results
Individual Points
Team Medal Tally

A two day Swim Clinic exclusively for DSA Swim Team members was held on 6th-7th April at the National Aquatic Centre, Bukit Jalil, KL Sports City. The Clinic was conducted by International Coach, Rob Greenwood and Olympic Gold Medalist, Joseph Schooling. The sessions on the first day included techniques for Backstroke, turns and getting the finer points of the Butterfly stroke with the 2016 Olympic Champion, Joseph Schooling. The second day’s sessions included bettering the swimming styles of Freestyle, Breaststroke starts and dives.

For the many young swimmers of the DSA Swim Team who had an amazing time attending the Swim Clinic, it was no doubt a great opportunity to witness first hand a world-class swimmer going through the drills and demonstration of the Butterfly stroke. The Q & A sessions which followed gave the swimmers a deeper understanding into the process of development of a world class swimmer and the many aspects that go into it. Joseph Schooling discussed factors like time management, nutrition intake, race mentality and other elements a swimmer has to be aware and focused on when it comes to competing at international levels. The DSA coaches who also attended the Swim Clinic had a great experience learning and understanding better coaching methods and skills and further enhanced their capabilities in these areas through their interactions with Rob Greenwood.

DSA wishes to thank both Rob Greenwood and Joseph Schooling for the tremendous effect they had on the DSA Swim Team members through the Swim Clinic. DSA also thanks all the swimmers and parents who were a part of these amazing and rewarding two day morale booster and look forward to the oncoming Meets during the year.

 
The 4th Selangor Novice Swim Meet 2019 was held on 30-31 March at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Shah Alam.   Being a Selangor State Meet, only DSAS swimming club swimmers participated in the Meet and it was a great experience for the many first-timers at competitive swimming.  Charmaine Hung Yun Wen and Neel Kantha Arjoo Segar led from the front with 3 Golds each for the Club while other swimmers like Kaylee Koh Lee Shen, Yoong Chang Lin,Jason Liew Zhi Khang, Hailey Chong Sue Huey and Tan Qian Yu added to the mdeal count. Besides this, the Girls 11-12yrs Medley Relay Team also broke the Meet record with a fabulous timing of 1:07.95. A detailed view of the medal tally was as follows:

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Download Day 2 Results

The recently concluded inter-school Meet of the Malaysia School Sports Council (MSSM) held on 24-28 March 2019 at Pusat Akuatik Tuanku Zara, Ipoh Perak gave the opportunity for some dazzling performances by DSA and DSAS Club swimmers.

Georgene Wee  Ee Jern, Darren Lew  Chen Jet, Chong Xin Lin and Marcus Woo Yong Hau were some of the top swimmers in their age groups as they competed brilliantly taking home more than 2 Golds each in addition to establishing new Meet records. Besides their individual performances, the DSA club swimmers also contributed significantly in the Relay events and made their home teams proud.

A detailed view of the medal winning performances are given below

Misa Okuzono, Yap Yong Jie were the record breakers for DSA Swimming Club in the recently concluded Malaysia Invitational Age Group Championships held at National Aquatic Centre, KL Sports City, Bukit Jalil on 07-10 March 2019.

The Meet saw a very high level of Competitive Swimming participation as 26 State teams from all over Malaysia. Teams from countries like HongKong, Indonesia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Thailand, Sri Lanka and UAE were also vying for the medals and the glory. WP Kuala Lumpur crested in at the top spot with a tally of 44 Golds and over 107 medals in total. Selangor State was second with 29 Golds and Hong Kong clinched third spot with 24 medals. A good portion of the medals won by Team KL were through some of the champion swimmers of the DSA Swimming Club.

Misa Okuzono was undoubtedly at her best again as she cleared out 10 Golds with 5 Meet Records. Yap Yong Jie followed with 5 more Golds and 4 Meet Records in his events while Alma Louise Dahl took home 7 Golds.  Georgene Wee also won a Gold for her 800m Freestyle. Darren Lew Chen Jet and Chong Hiong Kiat won a Gold each in their events to bring WP Luala Lumpur team to the top. Other medal winners included Laim Eu Li-An, Jaydrien Ng Shen Kang and Eunice Wong Ee Yin. It was also highly commendable that both Jaydrein and Eunice Wong won medals on their first ever MIAG Meet. Fatin Amira Bt Ahmad Hadri and Lew Zhi Tong from the DSAS Swimming club made their contributions to bring Selangor State to the runners-up position.

A detailed view of the medals tally is given below:

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Georgene Wee, long time DSA swimming champ emerged as the Top Swimmer in her age group category (16-18 years), winning the most medals with 11 Golds, 2 Silver & Bronzes and 3 Meet records in the MSSWP Swimming Championship 2019 at Cheras pool on 19-20 February, 2019.

Other DSA swimmers who have emerged as Overall Champion of their age group are Lean Yiyi (7 Golds) and Jaydrien Ng (5 Golds) while Liam Eu achieved 1st Runner-up in his age group with 3 Golds and 1 Meet record.

For a detailed report visit the KL Aquatics blogsite at

https://klaquatics.blogspot.com/2019/02/kejohanan-akuatik-msswpkl-2019.html

Pics courtesy: https://klaquatics.blogspot.com

Jack Leetham, a young champion swimmer from DSA won the top spot in the 5km Individual Category at the Oceanman Langkawi 2018 event. The yearly Open water endurance swimming event was held at Tanjung Rhu beach, Langkawi with international participation with swimmers from European nations also assembling at the tourist destination.

As Jack says in his interview after the event, open water swimming calls for a lot of stamina and endurance as the ocean currents are often unpredictable and there needs to be a lot of safety precautions in place for the participants. The event was well organized and he felt safe going out into the open water, though on the return leg, the waters were a bit choppy according to him.

DSA congratulates Jack Leetham on this outstanding achievement and kudos to him for taking swimming to new levels and it all begins with a good learning of swimming skills, something which DSA instills in every young swimmer.

View video of the full program on TV1

DSA Swim Clinic with Peter Bishop draws scores of young swimmers

The Chinese New Year at DSA started with some international visitors much to the delight of the young swimmers who has gathered for the one day Swim Clinic organized by DSA at Bukit Jalil on 9 Feb 2019. The Clinic was conducted by Peter Bishop, 2018 Australian Coach of the Year, together with Kyle Chalmers, 2016 Rio Olympics Gold Medalist (100m Freestyle).

Along with them, other international swimming stars from the South Australian Sports Institute (SASI) also joined in at the Lion Dance Celebration to mark the start of the Chinese New Year.  The swimmers included Brittany Elmslie–Olympics Gold Medalist, 2012 & 2016, Madison Wilson–Commonwealth Games and World Championship medalist, Travis Mahoney and James McKechnie who both competed in Commonwealth Games and World Championships.

About 130 young swimmers from DSA Swimming Team participated in the Clinic which covered topics like the role of proper stroke and technique and the importance of having the right equipment for training. The elite swimmers shared their valuable experience and tips to an enthralled audience as they spoke about their journey to the Olympics, how they prepare themselves for the swim meets, how they manage their emotion and nervousness pre race, what kind of food they eat, what they do for recovery. The swimmers and coaches then moved to the pool for demonstrations and hands-on tips and drills for the DSA swimmers. After a much enjoyed and enlightening session, it was time for photo sessions and selfies as the swimmers gathered around.

DSA extends their immense gratitude to the elite team of coaches and swimmers from Australia who took time out of their schedules to be with the young DSA swimmers for whom they are a source of inspiration and motivation. A big thank you also to all the DSA swimmers, parents and team of DSA coaches who participated and made the event a great success.

Young swimmers score big with nearly 200 Medals, finish as runners-up

DSAS Swimming Club had a great day out at the 29th Selangor Age Group Swimming Championship 2019 held at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Shah Alam on 24-27 January, being the first Swimming Meet for the Club this year. With 67 Golds, DSAS Swimming Club did really well, improving their overall performance from last year with a huge tally of 197 Medals in all. Some of the outstanding performances at the Meet included Ng Gha Yuan with an incredible 10 Golds, a stellar performance among the Novice swimmers group, while Fatin Amira Ahmad Hadri won 4 Golds in the State swimmers group.

Other big winners in the Novices category included Lee Zi Xuan with 8 Golds, Muhammad Zulluqman Razali  and Ethan Chan Zhuo Xi with 5 Golds, Tan Ianna and Trisha Chong Sue Yan – 4 Golds, Lee Ming Zhou – 3 Golds, Elizabeth Chan Yiwen, Liew Ze Hou, Lee Zi Ying and Angus Lim  – 2 Golds each and Ivan Yeoh Sheng Kuan, Chan Al Win, Nigel Leong Zhuoxian, Marcus Woo Yong Hau with 1 Gold each. Other Gold winners in the State swimmers were Daniel Liew Jia Hau with 3 Golds; Adam Jeffrey Dillon and Arniesh Chai Sasheedran with 1 Gold. A good amount of medals also came through the Relay events with 5 of the 22 Medals being Golds. A detailed look at the Medals Tally is given below.

It was a brilliant start for the young club, with all of the swimmers doing their best with good improvements in their PBs. A big round of well-deserved applause goes to the budding champions as we look forward to the remaining Meet coming up quickly all through the year.  Congratulations and a big thank you to all the parents, and DSA coaches for their dedication, support and guidance. Onward Team DSAS, all through 2019.

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DSA Swim Club wins PRAKL Age Group Swimming Championship with a stunning 33 new records and 184 medal haul

DSA Swimmers made their way into the chronicles of Malaysian Swimming at the end of the 3 day MILO/PRAKL Age Group 2019 clinching the Overall Championship of the prestigious Meet held at Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras KL, on 19-21 January, 2019. With the second largest team of 227 swimmers, DSA topped the Medal count in the Meet with a total of 184 medals, 78 of them Gold. This was a significant increase from the previous year tally of 136 medals of which 52 were Gold and also the best ever results by the Club so far.

With this first ever win, DSA swimmers made their mark as they beat the reigning champions by a comfortable margin of over 15 Golds. New Meet records came pouring in with Yap Yong Jie, Misa Okuzono, Darren Lew Chen Jet, Alma Louise Bendix Dahl, Cynthia Khor Wen Qi, Georgene Wee Ee Jern, Tan Yi Qin and Chong Hiong Kiet adding their names into record books multiple times. New records were also made in the Relays and Group Medleys making the Meet one of the most successful participations by DSA Swim Club so far. Besides overwhelming counts of records and medals, 20 DSA swimmers also qualified for the Malaysia Invitational Age Group Championships (MIAG) 2019, which was the cherry on the cake for the Club. The overall performance of the young swimmers were remarkable and many of them like Grace Kim, Chong Xin Lin and Woo Seungmin, who although were at a disadvantage, being drawn with older competitors in the same age group, still managed to contribute medals to the total tally.

Golds were brought home by Yap Yong Jie who won a record breaking 13 Golds, followed by Alma Louise Bendix Dahl with 12 Golds, Misa Okuzono with 11 Golds. Georgene Wee Ee Jern  added 9 Golds and Darren Lew Chen Jet won 8 Golds. Chong Xin Lin took home 4 Golds while Shermann Choong Li Sheng and Liam Eu Li-An won another 3 Golds each. Chong Hiong Kiet also added another 2 Golds to the tally while Eunice Wong Ee Yin, Tan Yi Qin, Koh Teck Chen, Grace Kim, Cynthia Khor Wen Qi and Aishath Sajina added 1 Gold each to the team collection of Golds. The Relay teams also did a magnificent job winning 7 Golds in the Group and Medley events. A detailed look at the Medals tally is given in the table below.

With this, DSA Swim Club has well and truly opened the year’s calendar with a bang, and it is with great happiness and privilege that we thank everyone starting from the young swimmers themselves, the DSA coaches, parents and everyone else who did their bit for this awesome win. We look forward to the Meets coming up all through the year with high expectations of more success, Go Team DSA!

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Zulluqman makes it to the pages of Berita Harian

Malaysian Newspaper Berita Harian in its issue dated January 15, 2019, covered the story of Muhammad Zulluqman Razali, who has been active in swimming from the age of 7 years.

Zulluqman has been a water enthusiast almost from when he could last remember. Starting at the tender age of just 6 years, Zulluqman was swimming and training at the Bukit Jalil National Aquatic Centre with DSA almost every day. By the age of 7, he was already representing DSA Swimming Club and his School at many Swimming Meets including the Selangor Age Group and the inter-school Meets like Majlis Sukan Sekolah Selangor (MSSS). Zulluqman says he is lucky in many aspects as his family fully supports his swimming aspirations and they whole heartedly are behind his efforts and his success.

As a school-going student, just as everyone else of his age, academics can sometimes be a deterrent as most children tend to give up competitive swimming as the rigors of schooling and sport training can be too much. For Zulluqman however, he says it is only a matter of balance and he has been managing to continue his competitive training while maintaining good grades in school. His achievements over the years include

• Selangor Age Group Swimming 2013 (under 8 yr category)
  2 Gold s 2 Silver
• Selangor Age Group Swimming 2015 (under 10 yrs category)
  2 Gold 3 Silver 2 Bronze
• Malaysian Age Group Swimming 2015 (under 10 yrs)
  Represented Selangor State
• Majlis Sukan Sekolah Selangor 2016 (MSSS) (under 12 yrs)
  1 Silver 1 Bronze
• Majlis Sukan Sekolah Malaysia 2016 (MSSM) (under 12 yrs)
  1 Gold
• Majlis Sukan Sekolah Selangor 2017 – Represented School
• Majlis Sukan Sekolah Selangor 2018– Represented School

Zulluqman looks at swimming more as a way to be fit and healthy in addition to giving him a sense of discipline in his lifestyle as competitive swimming requires a very high degree of dedication. Zulluqman also has his mentors and idols, Michael Phelps being his greatest idol for his unsurpassable achievements at the Olympics. Daniel Bego, a Malaysian national swimmer is another of his idols, as he also knows him on a personal level as they had trained together in Bukit Jalil before.

Zulluqman feels that swimming as a sport needs more popularity in Malaysia and especially among Malays where the concept of water safety and swimming has not been reaching. He hopes that since has reached the level of success not common among Malays, it will be an inspiration for others in his community to take up to the water. He feels that if they try and persevere like him, then success is not far and there is no obstacle for someone who desires to achieve success not just in sport but in academics as well, whether it is going to good universities in the country or even studying overseas.

Second DSA Swim Team Camp at Penang draws swimmers from 3 clubs

DSA Swim Club along with Penang Swimming Club and Wahoo Swim Team enjoyed the experience of a lifetime as together the group of over 110 young swimmers, managers and coaches had a great time together at the 2^nd Swim Camp organized by DSA at the Setia Spice Aquatic Centre, Penang.

The 4 days/3 nights included a host of activities like getting an understanding about food and nutrition, how to categorize food based on intake needs like energy creation, pre-race preparation or post race liquid replenishment. Sessions of combined training for a few hours were carried out every day with an assortment of team building activities to generate and heighten team spirit among the swimmers who were split up into 4 teams for the duration of the camp.

The second day saw the entire group trudging along to hike up the Penang Hill, situation at an elevation of 2,733 m which took about 2 hours to summit.  The Habitat, situated on Penang Hill provides the most authentic, diverse and educational Malaysian rainforest experience. The Penang Hill virgin jungle reserve area, on the fringe of which The Habitat sits, is believed to be part of Malaysia’s treasure trove of prehistoric rainforests dating back 130-million years old. Besides its rich biodiversity, it plays an important role as primary water catchment area for Penang Island. It was a great opportunity for everyone to get closer to nature and understand the importance of ecological conservation and protection of rain forests.

After many hours of combined training, team building activities and a farewell dinner, the camp also gave each team an opportunity to showcase their talents through a team performance. It was an exciting finish for the 4 days of training, learning and experiencing the many aspects of competitive swimming. Thanks to the Penang Swimming Club, Wahoo Swim Team and everyone who participated and made this a great way to close off the events for year.

In DSA, we always believe that we teach more than just swimming. We hope all the learning and experiences the swimmers have gone through in this swim camp would help to mould their characters and help them in every aspect of their lives.

Thank you DSA swimmers, coaches and most of all, the parents who have been the support and strength of the Club.

The 7th Selangor Long Distance Swimming Championship 2018 was held on 01-02 December at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Shah Alam. The Meet being a Long Distance leg of the President Cup had the 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m events for all strokes. The swimmers from DSAS swimming club finished with a resounding runners-up position with 554 points from the many events.

With many of the swimmers hitting their PBs at the Meet, there was much reason to celebrate for young Tan Zhi Jian who won 4 Golds and 2 Silvers though being in State division lineup. Tan Zhi Jian won the Top position for the 11-12 yrs state division, while Ethan Chan Zhuo Xi also with 4 Golds won Top position in the novice division. Ng Gha Yuan led her events to win 4 Golds while Lew Zhi Tong bested the State division to win her 4 Golds. Lew Yan Chuan, another young star in the State division won 3 more Golds and 1 Silver for the Club. Adam Jeffery Dillon was another top swimmer in the State division winning 4 Golds in his events. A detailed list of the medals tally is given below.

Being the last event of the year, it was a great sign off for the swimmers and the Club as they look forward to the next Calendar year with the Age Group Championships coming up in January.  Till then, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to all the swimmers, parents, coaches and well-wishers.

• Full Results

• Team Scores

• Top 10 Individual Scores

DSA Swimming Club third overall at Inter Club Meet

The state of Perak played host to the 37th National Inter-Club Swimming Championship for The President Cup and the highly competitive Meet was held at the Pusat Akuatik Tuanku Zara on 23-25 November. As always the Meet had a large number of participants, numbering over 1300, from swim clubs all over Malaysia. Both DSA Club and DSAS Swimming Clubs participated in the Meet as separate teams. The young swimmers did the clubs proud with DSA Swim Club placing third in the overall ranking while the smaller team of DSAS swimmers stood at 9th position.

The highlight and the crowd attraction for DSA Swimming Club was the presence and participation of Malaysia National and Olympic Swimmer, Welson Sim. The Olympians presence was a huge morale boost and a source of motivation for the young swimmers as they looked to follow by example to the reach the heights that Welson Sim has achieved.

Both DSA and DSAS swimmers did well in their events building up very creditable points and medal positions. Some of the top point winners for DSA Club included Chong Xin Lin, with 6 Golds and over 90 points to team tally. Georgene Wee added 3 more Golds followed by Welson Sim and Darren Lew Chen Jet with a Gold each and many more points. Yap Yong Jie, Grace Kim, Austin Gan, Jaydrien Ng, Sean Goh and a host of others; about 22 swimmers from the team made their contributions towards the total points putting the Club in the third place overall. Marcus Woo Yong Hau, a President Cup newbie, astonished the crowd with a Gold medal swim in his Breaststroke event. Heidi Chong Zi Xin brought home a Silver while other swimmers like Adam Jeffery Dillon, Jerriel Lau, Erin Eu Lakshmanan and many others added to the points tally for the DSAS Swim team bringing them within the top 10. A detailed view of the medal winners and points tally is given below.

With the biggest event of the year wrapped up, it’s been a great year for swimming clubs DSA and DSAS with more than 10 swim Meets on the calendar completed. One more Meet remains for closing the year and overall it has been a great year with new champions at every Meet. Undoubtedly, there a lot of sacrifices and motivation provided that is usually unseen by many. The large support system starting with the parents, the DSA swim coaches and all the staff who have been at the forefront always to make these great results happen.

Hats off to the team, thank you Team DSA, One Team, One Dream and looking forward to the year 2019.

RESULTS – Day 1- With Seed Time
RESULTS – Day 2 – With Seed Time
RESULTS – Day 3 – With Seed Time
Team Score

DSA Swimmer Yap Yong Jie interviewed by Chinese newspaper

It was young Yong Jie’s turn to be in the limelight as the champion swimmer was interviewed for an article in the widely circulated Sin Chew newspaper in KL, Malaysia. Yap Yong Jie was chosen for his outstanding performance through the Meets over the year and also to share some of the experiences of his swimming journey.

Yap Yong Jie had started learning swimming at the tender age of 3 and half years old and by the time he turned 6, was already representing swim clubs in competitions. At the age of 7yrs, when he was still in primary school in Standard one, SJK at Choong Wen, KL, Yong Jie won a bronze at the State Swimming Meet.  In 2014 when in standard two, he went on to win an outstanding 5 Golds in the Boys 10 years and under age group in the KL Meets and securing the award of the Best Swimmer overall. Between 2016 and 2018, Yong Jie consistently won numerous Golds in many KL Swim Meets and in 2018 March, he represented KL at the Melaka Meets. Here he won a massive 6 Golds and 6 Silvers while also breaking the Meet record in the 200m Individual Medley. He was awarded the distinction of the Best Boy overall at the Meet.

Congratulations to Yap Yong Jie and wish all the more success and a bright future ahead.

DSA/ DSAS young swimmers  Georgene Wee, Koh Teck Chen, Liam Eu and Daniel performed immensely well at the SUKMA XIX 2018, held at  Pusat Akuatik Tuanku Zara Perak Darul Ridzuan, Ipoh from 17-21 September.

Representing the Federal state of Wilayah Persekutuan, KL, Georgene Wee, Teck Chen and Liam Eu had great placings in their events bettering their PBs(personal bests) and also with podium finishes in their Relay events.  Daniel represented the state of Selangor and also improved his PBs in his events.  A detailed view of their events and timings are as follows:

Georgene Wee Ee Jern

• 4th Place, 200m Freestyle, beat personal best(PB) – 2:12.72 (PIAG 2018) = 2:12.44 (final)
• 4th Place, 400m IM, beat PB – 5:24.83 (prelim) = 5:16.95 (final)
• 4th Place, 200m IM, beat PB – 2:31.22 (Splash 2017) = 2:30.08 (final)
• 4th Place, 800m Freestyle, beat PB – 9:29.57 (PIAG 2018) = 9:22.70 (final)
• 2nd Place, 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay
• 3rd Place, 4 x 100m Medley Relay

Koh Teck Chen

• 3rd place, 200m Fly, beat PB – 2:09.31 (PRAKL 2018) = 2:06.06 (final)
• 7th place, 100m Fly, beat PB – 58.46 (Grand Final 2018) = 57.75 (final)
• 2nd place, 4 x 100m Medley Relay

Liam Eu Li-An

• 50m Breast, beat PB – 31.59 (Grand Final 2018) = 31.17 (final)
• 4th place, 200m Breast, beat PB – 2:27.68 (PRAKL 2018) = 2:27.12 (final)

Daniel Liew Jia Hau

• 5th place, 200m fly, beat PB – 2:09.66 (SAG 2018) = 2:09.40 (final)
• 5th place, 400m Freestyle, beat PB – 4:24.13 (SAG 2018) = 4:16.29 (final)

Congratulations to the swimmers for the exemplary performance at the National level Games. Reaching this level of achievement is surely no easy task and it has been a continuous path of dedication and preparation day after day. We thank all the parents, coaches and well wishers who provided the much needed support to enable these young champions to reach where they are today.

Download Full Results

Young swimmers create new records and win maximum Golds

DSAS Swim Club had a huge reason to cheer and make merry as they emerged overall champions at the 3rd Selangor Novice Swim Meet 2018. Held on 1-2 September at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Shah Alam, Selangor, DSAS had a team of 33 swimmers, and won 31 medals which included 18 Golds.

Besides the top scores, they also made new records at the meet. Marcus Woo Yong Hau created a new record in the 25m Breast stroke, while Lee Zi Xuan created her marks in the 50m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle events. A new record in the Girls11-12yrs 25m Medley relay was the cream on the cake and it was victory all the way for DSAS.

Marcus Woo Yong Hau, the little champ was a huge winner with 6 Golds in his events. Lee Zi Xuan, also with 5 Golds and 2 Silvers is another champion in the making. Hailey Chong Sue Huey and Arthur Chong added more Golds to the tally though it was their very first Meet participation.  The other medal winners included Loong Wen Shuen, Tan Yenyi, Lee Zi Ying and Lee Ming Zhou. An additional 4 Golds also came in from the various Relay teams who did a great job in helping the Club win the overall champion position.

Being a Novice Meet, the objective was to provide an opportunity for beginner swimmers aged 12 years old and under to gain competitive exposure at the novice level and to encourage new and young swimmers to participate in competitive swimming. It was a great experience for the upcoming DSAS swimmers who are making great strides in the competition levels. A big round of thanks and hurrahs to the encouragement and support of the parents of the young swimmers and the DSA team coaches cannot be left unsaid. We look for more exciting results and performances in the upcoming grand Meets.

A detailed view of the medals Tally was as follows

>> Download Full Results

Continuing your swim training through high school and university

Children can achieve better academic performance through swimming

Teaching children swimming and swim training is an important priority for most parents around the world and it is no different here in Malaysia. With drowning the leading cause of death in children in the ages 1-4 among preventable injuries, this is an important responsibility.  But, as the child grows older, academics gain importance, and more than often, swim training tends to be on the back burner and usually stops completely.

Researchers have shown that, in general, children who engage in activities like swimming are motivated to do well in academic studies as well.  Studies have shown that children  can achieve better academic performance and are likely to get better grades along with language development, reading and writing. The chance of experiencing success in sports raises the childs’ morale, confidence and self esteem tremendously and they tend to keep that positivity in the academics also as they apply themselves harder.

Main ingredient in making both work is allowing flexibility and support

However, it is important to find the proper balance between pursuing swimming at a higher training level and keeping up the grades in high school and above. Too much time in the pool may cause grades to go down, and missing too many practice sessions may see more missed medals at competitions. The main ingredient in making both work is allowing flexibility and support. Academic individuals who can combine their studies with high training can achieve almost anything. And doing well in competitions can also help them find their way into colleges and higher education with scholarships. Most colleges around the world have flexibility where both training and education can grow in parallel.

Swimmers here in DSA Swim Team also have been able to develop their performance levels with continued training while securing high levels of achievement in the academics.  It is the efficient management and balancing of training times and academics that has helped them reach where they are now.  These swimmers have achieved State level participation and have represented Malaysia on an international level as well.   They are also attending schools/college with admissions through scholarships.

DSA Swimmers are efficiently managing swimming with academics

(left to right) Fatin Amira, Lew Yan Zheng, Nigel Chan, Atticus Ng

Lew Yan Zheng, currently attending Year 11 for IGCSE in British International School, Phuket (BISP) had received scholarship to join BISP.

Atticus Ng, who was awarded the High Performance Swimming Team scholarship at the British International School, Phuket (BISP) is currently attending Year 10.

Nigel Chan Zhe How, who is currently doing International Baccalaureate Program in British International School, Phuket (BISP) had also received scholarship from BISP.

Fatin Amira Bt Ahmad Hadri, who is currently doing A-Levels in Taylor’s College had received 100% scholarship from Taylor’s College.

The achievements by these swimmers have been possible because of their dedication to their training while efficiently managing their time for academics as well. A big part of this was the support and encouragement of not only their parents, but also the DSA team of coaches.  These achievers are the stalwarts who are a demonstration that securing your future through higher education need not come only by stopping all other activities or, that high performance training does not mean giving up or losing on education. They will always be a source of inspiration to upcoming champions and swimmers that anything is possible through hard work, dedication and time management.

DSA Swim Clubs (Selangor & KL) win over 127 Medals with 43 Golds and 4 Meet Records

DSA (Selangor) Swim Club (DSAS)  had a gala time at the 7th Selangor ARENA Short Course Swimming Championship 2018 held from 17-19 August at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Shah Alam. It was nothing short of a massive celebration of sport and swimming as the young swimmers from DSA (Selangor) blazed through their events making a huge haul of medals and breaking records. DSA (KL) Swim Club having been invited as a Guest Club for the Meet had limited opportunities to participate; still there were a whole lot of overall champions and runner-ups in the many groups which made the morale of the swimmers at an all time high.

Alma Dahl (Girls Group 3) from DSA (KL) Swim Club was crowned Girls Overall Champion for her splendid performance winning 11 Golds with 3 Meet Records in her many events. Overall champions of the other groups included Audrey Ng Gha Yuan (Girls Group 2), Fatin Amira (Girls Group 1) and Goh Yue Hong (Boys Open) from DSA (Selangor) Swim Club.

Besides the Champions, the Clubs also had many runner-ups which included Tan Yenyi (Girls Group 4), Lee Zi Xuan (Girls Group 3), Ethan Chan (Boys Group 3), Ianna Tan (Girls Group 2) and Lim Le Kun (Boys Group) all first runner-ups. Yap Yong Jie (Boys Group 3) and Nicholas Chan (Boys Group 2) were second runner-ups in their respective groups. Yap Yong Jie from DSA (KL) Swim Club had also a new Meet Record for his event 100m Backstroke. A big round of applause goes to Tan Yenyi  from DSA (Selangor) Swim Club who was competing for the first time in this Meet won a remarkable 2 Golds and 5 Silvers in her events and ended as first runner-up in her group. Another first timer to win a medal was young Jayden Yap Ee Jen who won a Bronze in his event for DSA (Selangor) Swim Club.

A detailed list of all the medal winners is given below:

RESULTS:

Day 1 Results
Day 2 Results
Day 2 Record breakers
Day 3 Results

Young Swimmers bring medals and experiences from Grand Final at Bukit Jalil

DSA Swim Club finished in the Top 3 falling short of their position last year by just 2 points as Runners Up NSC/Milo/Sport Excel Junior Swimming Circuit – Grand Final held at Bukit Jalil, on 11-12 August, 2018. DSAS Swim Club also did well at the Meet finishing in the Top 8 with a small team of just 17 swimmers.

Among the winners from DSA Swim Club, young Chong Xin Lin blazed through her events in the Girls 10 yrs Group 4 and under, winning an incredible 6 Golds and getting the coveted Best Girl Award of the Group.  Darren Lew Chen Jet brought in another Gold in the Boys 13-14 yrs Group 2. Other winners from DSA Swim Club include Georgene Wee Ee Jern with 3 Sliver, Samantha Yong Scanlan with 2 Silvers and Yap Yong Jie, Nathaniel Inn Tsin Qian, Eyna Arissa Binti Emil Rinaldi with more Silvers and Bronzes adding to the total tally. DSAS Swim Club swimmers Lew Zhi Tong and Adam Jeffery Dillon added 2 Silvers while Lew Yan Zheng and Lew Yan Chuan added 3 Bronzes to the DSAS Swim Club medal tally. Excellent performances were displayed by budding Lew Yan Chuan,  Samantha Yong, Lew Yan Zheng and Austin Gan Ee Kye  who qualified for the finals for the first time. We will surely be hearing more about their performances in the Meets and years to come.

A big round of thanks and applause to the strengths provided by the parents to make their swimmers give their best and also the guidance by the DSA Coaches in showing the youngsters the path to improved performance.  The young swimmers must now prepare for the biggest Meet of the year coming up in 2months time, the President Cup which follows a couple of Meets coming up.

The detailed Medals Tally of the Team was as follows:

Download full results

DSA Swim Team return from PIAG with 66 medals and new Meet Record

The DSA Swim Team had a great exposure at one of their first appearances at the Perak Invitational Age Group Swimming Championship at Ipoh, Perak. Held on 20-22 July, the Meet had over 480 swimmers from 29 swimming clubs across the country.

DSA Swimmers had a superb performance across all the events getting a total of 66  medals, which included 26 Golds and just fell short of few medals from the champions and top spot. Georgene Wee Ee Jern, a long time champion was outstanding with her events collecting 5 Golds and 1 Silver in her individual events and also a New Meet Record in the 800m Freestyle beating her personal best timing also. Misa Okuzono, who is no stranger to podium finishes also racked up another 4 Golds to the DSA tally. Tan Zhi Jian had a collection of 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronzes while Woo Seungmin, Annis Hiew and Arniesh Chai Sashheedran contributed 2 more Golds each. Other impressive performances included Sean Goh Min Chang with 1 Gold, 1 Silver,  Chong Xin Lin with a staggering 9 Silvers, Chung Ze Xuan and Olivia Cheong Kah Yan who won 2 Silvers and a Bronze each. A detailed list of the medals and winners are in the table below.

A high point of the teams’ outstanding spirit and competition was at the Relay events with a podium finish at almost every single Relay event. At the Girls 13-14 yrs 4×100 M Freestyle, swimmer Amira Nur Elyssa who was recovering from a knee injury, still managed to complete her leg of the relay, earlier started by Madeleine Wong Jian Mei and Olivia Cheong Kah Yan. Anchor Georgene Wee pushed her limit to secure the Silver for the team in a dazzling display of team spirit and sportsmanship, no doubt. A big round of applause for all the team members who gave their best at the event, and also to the strong support of the parents and coaches who have brought them this far and going beyond. It is almost the latter half of the swimming calendar with all focus now on the big events coming up at the end of the year. We wish the young swimmers the best of luck and health for the Meet ahead! March on Team DSA!

>>Download Full Results

>> Download Swim Camp Form

Four swimmers from the DSA Swim Team have been selected for the Sukan Malaysia 2018 (SUKMA XIX), scheduled to be held at the Pusat Akuatik Aman Jaya in, Ipoh, Perak, between 14th-22nd September.

Big hearty congratulations to Koh Teck Chen, Georgene Wee Ee Jern, Liam Eu Li-An who will represent Kuala Lumpur and Daniel Liew Jia Hau who will represent Selangor at the Games.

Perak is hosting the Meet after 24 years as it hosted the fifth Sukma in 1994. The Sukma Games is a biannual national multi-sport event involving young athletes from Malaysia’s 13 member states and the Federal territory.

DSA wishes our young champions ALL THE BEST for a great performance!  We are proud of you. Onward Team DSA!

DSA Swim Team had a special occasion on Sunday 1st July, when swimmers and coaches of the Indonesian Swimming Club, Catalina Surabaya trained together at the National Aquatic Stadium, Bukit Jalil.  Catalina Surabaya is a great young club with a lot of promising young swimmers who have been making a name for themselves from 2013 in Indonesia.  It was a great sharing session with swimmers and coaches from both clubs exchanging knowledge, tips and experiences and enriched their training session.

Thank you Catalina Surabaya and we wish you more success in the years ahead.

Glimpses from the happy event:

DSA Swim Club and DSAS Swim Club compete together at NSC/Milo/Sport Excel Junior Swimming Circuit 2nd Leg Meet

The last weekend of June saw the swimmers in the land come together for the second leg of the NSC/Milo/Sport Excel Junior Swimming Circuit for 2018 at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan (PADE), Shah Alam. The DSA Swimming Team competing as 2 teams along with DSAS come together to cheer each other to victory. DSA Swim Club retained its earlier position in the Top 3 Swimming Clubs with a final score of 1,526 points while DSAS Swim Club stood sixth with 1088.50 points.

As always the second leg provides swimmers another chance to build up the points tally to qualify for the Grand Final and for many of the young swimmers it was a great experience learning how to report for events in the proper manner and also achieving new personal bests (PBs).

Outstanding performance by Nathaniel Inn Tsin Qian who clocked 31.43 in the Boys 13-14 50M Breaststroke saw him break the 10 year old Meet Record set way back in 2007 by Lau Zheng Fong. Xin Lin Chong, who looks to be the next champ blasted her way to an incredible 6 Golds and 1 Bronze  while Georgene Wee Ee Jern continued to excel in her events taking 1 Gold 2 Silver and 3 Bronzes.  YiYi Lean also got home 2 Bronzes for the DSA Swim Team.

Winners in the DSAS Swim Club included Lew Zhi Tong with a Gold and a Bronze while Adam Jeffery Dhillon won another Gold to the tally. Arniesh Chai Sasheedran with a Silver and Lew Yan Zheng with a Bronze were the other medal winners for the team. A detailed view of the medal winners are as:

>>Download Full Results

Hearty Congratulations go out to DSA Swimmers Koh Teck Chen and Liam Eu Li-An, who have been selected to represent Malaysian Schools – Majlis Sukan Sekolah Malaysia (MSSM), at the Kejohanan Sekolah ASEAN Kali KE-10 (10th ASG) Swimming Meet. The venue for this Meet will be Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Shah Alam, Selangor (PADE) and is slated to be held between 19 – 27th July 2018. Participating nations this year include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos. Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and other ASEAN nations.

Koh Teck Chen had earlier represented Malaysia at the 41st SEA Age Group Swimming Championships 2017 held at Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei between 10-12 November 2017, winning a Bronze medal on his debut at International Meets while Liam  Eu Li-An had notched up a Bronze at the recent 54th Malaysia Invitational Age Group Swimming Championship held at the National Aquatic Centre, Kl Sport City Bukit Jalil.

We wish both of them the very best and look forward to sparkling performances at the upcoming Meet.

DSA takes great pride in announcing that two swimmers from the team Yap Yong Jie & Lew Zhi Tong have been selected to represent Malaysia at the 42nd SEA Age Group Championship 2018.

The SEA Age Group Swimming Championships is an annual Swimming Championship for swimmers who are 18 yrs & under from all nations of the South East Asia Region. The event this year is hosted by the Philippine Swimming Inc. and will be held from the 6th – 8th July 2018 at Laguna, Philippines.

DSA wishes the budding champions ALL THE BEST and bring home the laurels! We could not be more proud and ecstatic at the thought of our swimmers taking the world stage. Congratulations and Onward Team DSA!

DSA Swim Team youngsters, first-timers shine through with 8 New Records, over 30 Gold

The young swimmers from DSA Swim Team had a great initiation into competitive swimming at the ASUM/NSC/Milo Junior Splash Swim 2018 – Leg 1 held on 11th-13th May at the National Aquatic Centre. Bukit Jalil. Though not able to repeat the championship performance from the previous year, the team gained a lot of experience on the many aspects of competitive swimming. It was great watching them getting into the midst of it all, right from reporting to the Marshall room, marking the events and lanes on their hands and also beating their personal best timings.

The record breakers included the Okuzono sisters with Misa Okuzono setting 4 new records in her events while elder Yumi Okuzono rewrote 2 records in her name. In addition the Girls Relay also made new records in the 4×100 Medley Relay for the 9-10 yrs and 11-13 yrs age groups. Besides these, there was a host of sterling performers from the many young upcoming champions in the team, like Xin Lin Chong in the  Girls 9-10 yrs group who took home 9 Golds and 1 Silver. Eyna Arissa Emil Rinaldi, Alvina Ching Ru En and Xin Ting Hiew were the other Gold medal winners. It was also a stupendous team effort as the swimmers together won medals in 24 Relay events, possibly first time occurrence.

A detailed list of the new records are as

Misa Okuzono

• Girls 11 – 12 100m Backstroke – 1:31.21
• Girls 11 – 12 50 Backstroke – 32.69
• Girls 11 – 12 100m Fly – 1:06.89
• Girls 11 – 12 50m Free – 28.81

Yumi Okuzono

• Girls 13 – 14 100m Fly – 1:05.14
• Girls 13 – 14 50m Free – 28.73

Relays:

Girls 11-12 4×100 Medley Relay
MEET Rec: 4:57.08L
Misa Okuzono, Eyna Arissa Emil Rinaldi, Bendix Dahl Alma Louise, Yu Xuan Wong

Girls 9-10 4×100 Medley Relay
MEET Rec: 5:29.88L
Samantha Yong Scanlan, Pan Celyn Xiao Ying, Yunie Goh, Hayley Yap Hay Ee

A detailed view of the Medal Tally is given below:

>>Download Full Results

DSA Swim Team girls Yumi, Misa and Georgene made their mark at 61st MILO/PRAM Malaysia Open Swimming Championship which was held recently between 3-6 May 2018 at National Aquatic Centre, KL Sports City, Bukit Jalil. Young Misa Okuzono won her first medal at the Malaysia Open winning the Silver medal in the Women Open 200m Freestyle and Bronze in the 400m IM. Misa was also part of the KL Relay teams along with sister, Yumi Okuzono and Georgene Wee Ee Jern winning 3 Relay events.

Undoubtedly a stellar performance by the young girls reaching this level of competition and competing with the best at national levels, we look forward to even more laurels from them. A special word of thanks goes to the DSA coaches and parents and well-wishers who were the driving force behind the achievements of the young swimmers.

A detailed view of the results with the DSA Swim Team girls were as follows

Women Open 200m Freestyle
Misa Okuzono – 2:09.67 (Silver)

Women Open 400m IM
Misa Okuzono – 5:07.78 (Bronze)

Women Open 4 x 100m Medley Relay
Bronze – WP KUALA LUMPUR MAS – 4:39.17
Nurlatifa Zahra, Bt. Mohd Fuad – Chan, Evon – Okuzono, Yumi  – Okuzuno, Misa

Women Open 4 x 200m Freestyle Relay
Bronze – WP KUALA LUMPUR MAS – 9:02.40
Georgene Wee, Ee Jern –  Okuzono, Yumi – Nurlatifa Zahra, Bt. Mohd Fuad – Okuzuno, Misa

Women Open 4 x 100m Freestyle Relay
Bronze – WP KUALA LUMPUR MAS – 4:06.35
Nurlatifa Zahra, Bt. Mohd Fuad – Angelina Emby –  Chan, Evon – Okuzuno, Misa

>> Download Full Results

The first leg of the NSC/Milo/Sport Excel Junior Swimming Circuit for 2018 was held at Pusat Akuatik Hang Jebat, Melaka on 14-15 April. As with every year, swimmers needed to be in the Top 24 bracket with the highest points to qualify for the Grand Final of the 3 leg Circuit Meet.  This year DSA had the privilege of sending the DSA home team and the DSAS team who competed together under the DSA banner.  The coaches who accompanied the teams, Daniel, Marellyn and Chun Keat, assisted and discussed the pre-race strategies and comments after race to all DSA and DSAS swimmers. Swimmers who made podium finishes included YiYi Lean with 1 Gold and 3 Sliver, Darren Lew Chen Jet with 2 Sliver and 1 Bronze, Yong Jie Yap with 2 Sliver, Samantha Yong Scanlan and Adam Jeffrey Dillon with 1 Silver and Bronze, Eyna Arissa Emil Rinaldi with a Silver and Olivia Cheong Kah Yan with a Bronze. A detailed view of the medal winners are as follows

Young swimmers rake up incredible 136 medal haul and 14 Meet records at MILO/PRAKL Age Group 2018 and over 147 medals at Selangor Age Group 2018

DSA Swimmers made a whooping start at the first swim event of the year at Komplex Renang, Bandar Tun Razak for the 3 day MILO/PRAKL Age Group 2018. Going in with a large team of 193 swimmers, DSA retained the runner-up position in the Meet with a total of 136 medals. New Meet records by the team also was impressive with both Misa and Yumi Okuzono reigning supreme with 7 and 5 new records. Misa continued her sterling track record winning Gold in every event she participated. New records by Nikita Yong Scalan and Koh Tech Chen also gave the team a lot to cheer about.

The cheering by the enthusiastic parents of the DSA Team was a big morale boost and show of strength especially at the relay events and the DSA swimmers coasted to wins in team events. The medal winners included young champ Yap Yong Jie who collected 8 Golds and 4 Silvers for his events. Xin Lin Chong also won 8 Golds along with a Silver in her events topping off the charts with Misa and Yumi. Dahl Alma, Georgene Wee Ee Jern, Darren Lew Chen Jet, Hiong Kiet Chong, David Ong, YiYi Lean and Liam Eu Li-An were among the other Gold winners. The medal winners also included Nikita Yong Scanlan, Jing Yang Jeremy Teow, Austin Gan Ee Kye, Nathaniel Inn Tsin Qian, Chen Hong Tan, Sean Goh Min Chang, Ze Xuan Chung, Xin Ting Hiew, Samantha Yong Scanlan, Wong Yu Xuanm, Eyna Arissa Emil Rinazdi, Dian Isandra Johan, Asley Chow Jia Qian, Erin Lakshmanan, Audrey Wong Mei Yie, Yap Yong Jia, Yi Qin Tan, Zhi Ying Koh and Jia Yi Ng. Spectacular displays by the Relay Teams were another highlight of the Meet as the Girls Teams right from 9-10 yrs to 15-17 yrs all brought home Golds. The Girls also made their wins in the Medley Relay while the Boys Teams had wins of Silver and Bronze for their events. A detailed list of the medal winners is given below.

The Sonic Team made huge wins at the 28th Selangor Age Group Swimming Championship 2018 held between 01-04 February at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Shah Alam. A significant amount of swimmers won Golds which included Grace Kim who swam her way to an astounding 8 Golds and 1 Silver. Lew Zhi Tong with 7 Golds and 3 Silvers, Tan Zhi Jian with 5 Golds, 5 Silvers and 1 Bronze were among the toppers. Other Gold winners included Adam Bin Abdul Karim, Challyse Lim Yong En, Lew Yan Chuan, Kieran Low, Adam Jeffrey Dillon, Lew Yan Zheng, William Hills, Lim Tsiu Thien, Nigel Leong Zhuoxian, Yeap Zheng, Daniel Liew Jia Hau, Arniesh Chai Sasheedran and Tan Ianna. Silvers and Bronzes were also won by Julian Wong Ken Ryung, Isaac Wong Ken Rhee, Alison Wright, Ong Yikai, Ng Gha Yuan, Jerriel Lau, Oscar Tan Hong Ta, Ethan Chan Zhuo Xi, Afieq Azrin, Atticus Ng E Hin, Nigel Chan Zhe How and Olivia Cheong Kah Yan. The Relay Teams also made big wins with the Boys 13-14 winning Gold in the 100mts Freestyle. A detailed list of the medal winners is given below.

No doubt, it’s a great start for the swimming calendar for the year with both DSA Swim Team and Sonic Team bringing in the results. These victories are the outcome of the efforts and dedication to training by the swimmers DSA coaches and outstanding support by the parents who go to great lengths to motivate and nurture their children. We cannot thank them enough for all their hard work for this wonderful result and a great way to start of the Swimming Calendar for the year 2018. Onward Teams, and all the best to the young swimmers for the upcoming Meets!

MILO/PRAKL Age Group 2018 Medal Tally

Selangor Age Group 2018 Medal Tally

DSA rakes in a huge total of 725 points with 12 new records at eventful Meet

The 36th National Inter-Club Swimming Championship for The President Cup was held at the newly renovated National Aquatic Centre, KL Sports City on the 24-26th November, 2017. The Meet had 45 clubs from all over Malaysia taking part in what was as usual, the most hotly contested Meet of the swimming calendar in Malaysia.  The setting was prime with the upgraded facilities at the National Aquatic Centre being par with the best international standards.

Malaysia National and Olympic Swimmer, Welson Sim was part of the DSA team as a guest swimmer this year also, adding a new record in his event at the Meet. Welson’s presence was a huge morale boost and a source of immense inspiration to the young and upcoming swimmers of DSA. The champion had lots of tips to give the youngsters after his brilliant record breaking wins earlier in the same arena for the SEA Games in August.

DSA swimmers notched up a fabulous performance to close the calendar year, almost doubling the points tally of the last President Cup. There were plenty of top placings with Misa Okuzono, Yap Yong Jie and Darren Lew Chen Jet bringing in top honours with more than 15 first placings between them. Misa Okuzono also created 7 new Meet records, while Koh Tech Chen, Yap Yong Jie and Darren Lew Chen Jet added a new Meet record each to the tally. In addition, the 4×100 Relay team in the Boys 5-17 years also set a new time for the event. Great contributions were also made by Liam Eu Li-An, Dian Isandra Johan, Yumi Okuzono, Chong Hiong Kiet and GeorgeneWee Ee Jern for their events. A detailed list of the placings are given below.

With the last event of the year wrapped up, it’s been a great year for DSA with a host of young swimmers stepping up and improving a great deal making their success a source of pride not just for themselves but to the Team as a whole. Undoubtedly, there has been a lot of effort by a large support system starting with the parents, the DSA swim coaches and all the staff involved who have worked tirelessly to achieve this. Thank you Team DSA, One Team, One Dream and looking forward to the year 2018.

>> Download Full Results

DSA Swim Team runners-up at Meet with 11 New Records, 22 Gold

DSA Swim Team gave a sterling performance at the second leg of the ASUM/NSC/Milo Junior Splash Swim 2017, just missing out being the champions, falling short by one Gold.

The young swimmers who took top honours included Darren Lew Chen Jet, Misa Okuzono and Yap Yong Jie who together made quite a few new Meet records. Other splendid performances included the Girls Group 4 and Boys Group 4 relay teams who won Gold in many events. The Meet had a delayed day one with swimmers staying back very late. The remaining days went smoothly and the swimmers had much to celebrate as they relished the success of the Meet. Many thanks goes out to the entire team, the DSA coaches and the support gives by the parents and well-wishers. A detailed highlights of the Team’s performance is as follows:

Boys:
Darren Lew Chen Jet
100m Freestyle Group 3 – 58.62 (Gold) *new meet record
50m Backstroke Group 3 – 29.74 (Gold) *new meet record 
50m Butterfly Group 3 – 28.11 (Gold) *new meet record 
100m Backstroke Group 3 – 1:06.35 (Gold) *new meet record 
50m Freestyle Group 3 – 26.17 (Gold)*new meet record 

Yap Yong Jie
50m Backstroke Group 4 – 33.70 (Gold)*new meet record 

Girls
Misa Okuzono 50m Breaststroke Group 4 – 37.55 (Gold) *new meet record 
100m Backstroke Group 4 – 1:13.84 (Gold) *new meet record 
100m Breaststroke Group 4 – 1:20.87 (Gold)*new meet record 
100m Butterfly Group 4 – 1:07.59 (Gold) *new meet record 
50m Freestyle Group 4 – 29.65 (Gold) *new meet record 

Relay: 9-10 (Girls) Group 4
4x50M Free Relay – Gold
4x50M Medley Relay – Gold
4x100M Free Relay – Gold

Relay: 13-14 (Girls) Group 2
4x50M Free Relay -Silver
4x50M Medley Relay – Silver
4x100M Free Relay – Bronze
4x100M Medley Relay – Bronze

Relay: 9-10 (Boys) Group 4
4x50M Free Relay – Bronze
4x50M Medley Relay – Gold
4x100M Medley Relay – Gold

Relay: 11-12 (Boys) Group 3
4x50M Free Relay – Silver
4x50M Medley Relay – Bronze

• Download Results-All Events-Double

• Download Results-All Event-Points

• Download Medals Tally

Congratulations to the DSA swimmers who participated in the Pesta Renang MBPJ KE-12 2017 and won top honours for the DSA Swim Team.

Download Medal Tally

Moves up to 2^nd spot, just 5 points away from top at MILO/Sport Excel 2017 

DSA Swim Team made a great step forward as the Team finished as the runner-up just 5 points short of beating the champions at the NSC/Milo/Sport Excel Junior Swimming Circuit – Grand Final held at the Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras pool on the 12-13th August.

Yap Yong Jie and Darren Lew Chen Jet led the Team with top honours breaking 5 Meet records between them. They were also the Best Boys in their respective Groups.  Both of them brought back 4 Golds each in their events. Koh Teck Chen won 2 more Golds to add to his collection while 1 Gold each was added to the team by Georgene Wee Ee Jern and Liam Eu Li-An. It was a significant achievement for the Team to reach the second spot of the yearly Circuit Championship and that leaves only a couple of more Meets in the Calendar as the year draws to a close. The Team must not gear up for the most important Meet of the Calendar, The President Cup scheduled for late November.

The Record Breakers and Medals Tally of the Team was as follows:

Yap Yong Jie (Boy 10 & Under Group 4)

• 50m Back 0:32.21 (Gold)*Broke MR (0:32.50) & NAG (0:33.62)
• 100m Freestyle 1:03.35 (Gold)*Broke MR (1:03.79)
• 100m Fly 1:08.76 (Gold)*Broke MR(1:10.27) & NAG (1:10.89)
• 100m Back 1:09.31 (Gold)*Broke MR(1:11.28) & NAG (1:11.69)

Darren Lew Chen Jet (Boy 11-12 Group 3)

• 50m Free 0:25.97 (Gold)*Broke MR (0:26.09) & NAG (0:26.15)

1.  Yap Yong Jie – Best Group 4 Boys
2.  Darren Lew Chen Jet – Best Group 3 Boys

Download Full Results
Download Medals Tally

DSA Swim Team makes mark with new records at overseas Swim Meet

DSA Swim Team participated in the Chinese Swimming Club Super Junior Swimming 2017 Meet held at the Chinese Swimming Club Pool, Singapore on August 5th and 6th. With over 700 swimmers from countries like Philippines, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, it was an international exposure of sorts for the DSA Swim Team members. The small team who made it to the Meet included Chong Jun Ron, Cheong Hoe Hann, Noah Zameer Lee, Mutale Mwamba, Aisha Lee, Misa Okuzono, Yap Yong Jie, Natasha Sophea and Yoong Chang Shen.

Yap Yong Jie and Misa Okuzono led the Team on a winning note on the very first event of with Golds. It was a tremendous performance as the swimmers shed a couple of seconds and it was another new record for Misa who was the girls’ (11-year-olds) Most Valuable Swimmer. She set new meet records in all of her wins (50m breast, back, fly, free, 100m fly, free, back and breast, 200m free and medley), except the 200m free. Brilliant performances also by Chong Jun Ron, Cheong Hoe Hann, Noah Zameer Lee, Mutale Mwamba, Aisha Lee, Natasha Sophea and Yoong Chang Shen in smashing their Personal Bests. It was remarkable that all the Team members improved on the Personal Bests despite being their first performance in a foreign pool. It was a sweet payoff for the incredible amount of training the swimmers had been putting in over the months and a big applause to the DSA coaches for their awesome guidance and hard work.

We look forward to more participation from the Team at such international events where the swimmers gain a great amount of experience rubbing shoulders and facing off with swimming clubs from other countries.

The Medals Tally and points contribution by the swimmers were as

• Full Results
• Full Results (with split time)
• Team Scores
• Most Valuable Swimmers

DSA Swim Team breaks 22 records and brings home 50 Golds in a splendid performance

DSA Swim Team had another splendid performance to add to the scoreboard as the team collected over 120 medals at the 6th Selangor ARENA Short Course Sprint Invitational Swimming Championships, 2017. The Meet was held at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Shah Alam between 28- 30 July. Wonder girl Misa Okuzono was at her best, winning all her events in record time while Yap Yong Jie made a clean sweep of his events with 11 Golds and 7 new records. New records were also created by Relay teams, as the boys, girls and mixed relays had winners from DSA Swim Team. Koh Teck Chen won 6 Golds while Cheong Hoe Hann and Dian Isandra Johan collected 4 Golds to bring home. Other winners included Natasha Sophea Mohd Firdaus, Aw Jian Ting, Joshua Liew Zi Xian and Yumi Okuzono with 2 Golds and many Silvers and Bronzes between them. A detailed tally of the Record breakers and Medals tally is given below.

Misa Okuzono (Girls 10 & Under Group 4)

•      200m Free 2:15.62 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(2:22.58)
•      50m Back 0:32.37 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(0:34.34)
•    100m Fly 1:07.61 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(1:11.16)
•    50m Breast 0:37.20 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(0:37.99)
•    100m Free 1:02.29 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(1:05.60)
•    50m Fly 0:30.24 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(0:31.74)
•    100m Back 1:09.79 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(1:13.22)
•    100m IM 1:09.41 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(1:13.83)
•    200m IM 2:28.16 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(2:37.02)
•    100m Breast 1:19.28 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(1:23.72)
•    50m Free 0:28.78 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(0:29.77)

Yap Yong Jie (Boys 10 & Under Group 4)

•    50m Breast 0:37.59 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(0:39.05)
•    100m Freestyle 1:03.66 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(1:05.07)
•    50m Fly 0:31.85 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(0:32.07)
•    100m Back 1:09.13 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(1:15.76)
•    100m IM 1:10.87(Gold)*Broke Meet Record(1:15.14)
•    200m IM 2:31.31 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(2:43.35)
•    50m Free 0:28.85 (Gold)*Broke Meet Record(0:28.94)

Relay (Boys)# Boys 10 & Under 4x25m Free    

• Joshua Liew Zi Xian, Aw Jian Ting, Cheong Hoe Hann, Yap Yong Jie 0:58.18 (Gold) Meet Record: 0:58.36

 Relay (Girls) # Girls 10 & Under 4x25m IM    

• Misa Okuzono, Dian Isandra Johan, Natasha Sophea, Aisha Burley 1:03.51 (Gold) Meet Record: 1:04.75

Relay (Mixed)# Mixed 10 & Under 4x50m Free    

• Misa Okuzono, Dian Isandra Johan, Cheong Hoe Hann, Yap Yong Jie 2:00.56 (Gold) Meet Record: 2:03.87

# Mixed 10 & Under 4x50m IM  

• Misa Okuzono, Dian Isandra Johan, Cheong Hoe Hann, Yap Yong Jie 2:14.63 (Gold) Meet Record: 2:20.88

DOWNLOADS

• Final Results
• Medals Tally
• Team Scores
• Record Breakers
• Individual Scores

DSA Swim Team retains the overall championship with historical 28 New Records, over 60 Gold

DSA Swim Team made history of sorts at the Junior Splash Swim Meets as it made yet another repeat performance, retaining the top spot at the ASUM/NSC/MILO Junior Splash Swim, Leg 1 held recently at Kompleks Renang Kuala Lumpur.

The DSA Swim Team practically ruled the competition, with an incredible number of new records and top spots bringing home more than 60 Gold. The record breaking achievements include

Misa Okuzono (Girl 9-10 Group 4)

• 100m Free 1:03.06 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(1:07.11)
• 50m Back 0:34.84 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(0:35.96)
• 200m IM 2:39.05 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(2:41.76)
• 50m Breast 0:37.76 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(0:40.66)
• 200m Free 2:16.45 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(2:24.83)
• 50m Fly 0:31.13 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(0:33.24)
• 100m Back 1:14.51 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(1:18.57)
• 100m Breast 1:21.60 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(1:26.75)
• 100m Fly 1:08.31 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(1:13.67)
• 50m Free 0:29.69 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(0:31.26)

Yap Yong Jie (Boy 9-10 Group 4)

• 200m IM 2:39.05 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(2:48.87)
• 50m Breast 0:38.93 (Bronze)*Broke Splash Record(0:39.98)
• 200m Free 2:22.76 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(2:27.06)
• 50m Fly 0:32.14 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(0:34.11)
• 100m Back 1:12.27 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(1:17.14)
• 100m Breast 1:25.87(Bronze)*Broke Splash Record(1:27.42)
• 100m Fly 1:11.33 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(1:17.10)
• 50m Free 0:29.47 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(0:30.07)

Chong Hiong Kiet (Boy 9-10 Group 4)

• 50m Breast 0:38.71 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(0:39.98)
• 100m Breast 1:24.06 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(1:27.42)

Darren Lew Chen Jet (Boy 11-12 Group 3)

• 200m Free 2:09.73 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(2:11.06)
• 50m Fly 0:28.29 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(0:29.69)

Zachary Chin Zi Yong (Boy 11-12 Group 3)

• 50m Free 0:27.47 (Gold)*Broke Splash Record(0:27.97)

Relay (Boys)

# Boys 9-10 4x50m Free
Joshua Liew Zi Xian, Cham Yu Xiang, Chong Hiong Kiet, Yap Yong Jie 2:13.23 (Bronze) SPLASH Record: 2:14.00L

# Boys 9-10 4x50m IM
Joshua Liew Zi Xian, Chong Hiong Kiet, Yap Yong Jie, Aw Jian Ting 2:25.37 (Bronze) SPLASH Record: 2:30.67L

# Boys 9-10 4x100m Free
Joshua Liew Zi Xian, Chong Hiong Kiet, Yap Yong Jie, Aw Jian Ting 4:55.02 (Silver) SPLASH Record: 4:59.04L

# Boys 9-10 4x100m IM
Joshua Liew Zi Xian, Cham Yu Xiang, Chong Hiong Kiet, Yap Yong Jie 5:28.91 (Bronze) SPLASH Record: 5:42.16L

Relay (Girls)

# Girls 9-10 4x50m IM
Lean Yiyi, Misa Okuzono, Dian Isandra Johan, Natasha Sophea Mohd Firdaus 2:28.94 (Gold) SPLASH Record: 2:32.45L

# Girls 9-10 4x100m Free
Lean Yiyi, Misa Okuzono, Dian Isandra Johan, Natasha Sophea Mohd Firdaus 4:52.79 (Gold) SPLASH Record: 4:57.73L

# Girls 9-10 4x100m IM 
Lean Yiyi, Misa Okuzono, Dian Isandra Johan, Natasha Sophea Mohd Firdaus 4:52.79 (Gold)  SPLASH Record: 5:36.81L

Brilliance shone as DSA Swim Team swimmers like Misa Okuzono and Yumi Okuzono lead out the field in their events (including relays) winning an astounding 15 Gold and 7 Gold respectively. Koh Teck Chen and Yap Yong Jie added 6 more Gold to their collection, Darren Lew Chen Jet garnered 5 Gold. Lean Yiyi, Lee Jia Jing, Dian Isandra Johan  and Chung Ze Xuan with 4 Gold; Natasha Sophea Mohd Firdaus  with 3 Gold; Zachary Chin Zi Yong, Lim Shun Yuan, Wesley Kam Zhuo Wei and Chong Hiong Kiet with 2 Gold and Elsa Eow Yeng Yii with 1 Gold were the among the medal winners for the team.

A big win indeed for the team of over 100 young swimmers who participated in the Meet, the 2nd leg of which will be held in Pusat Akuatik Hang Jebat, Melaka between 22-24 September. A big round of applause goes to the entire team, the coaches, parents and well-wishers who are the driving force behind the continued success of the swimmers.

Download Full Results
Download Medals Tally

Meet Record and 5 Golds for DSA

The second leg of the NSC/Milo/Sport Excel Junior Swimming Circuit for 2017 was held at Pusat Akuatik Hang Jebat, Melaka on 20-21 May where DSA Swim Team once again retained their position in the Top 3 Swimming Clubs. The Team carried on their outstanding performance from the fist leg  which gave the team a finish at 3rd position in the final team scores with 1,296 points.

Brilliant performances included a record breaking swim byYap Yong Jie in the 100m Back Stroke making a new Meet record with a time of 1.11:28 besides taking the Gold in 50m Butterfly, 100m Freestyle and Butterfly. Dian Isandra Johan brought in the other Gold for the 50m Butterfly in her group, bringing the total Gold to 5 for DSA which was a significant increase from last year’s Meet. Georgene Wee and Koh Teck Chen added 2 more Silvers and few more Bronzes to the tally. The medal winners and those who contributed significantly by reaching the Top 24 in their events are listed below:

Yap Yong Jie (Boy 10 & Under Group 4)

• 50m Back 33.83 (Silver)
• 100m Breast 1.26.47 (Bronze)
• 50m Fly 32.44 (Gold)
• 100m Free 1.05.29 (Gold)
• 100m Fly 1.11.83 (Gold)
• 100m Back 1.11.28 (Gold) *New Meet Record
• 50m Free 30.06 (Silver)

Dian Isandra Johan (Girl 10 & Under Group 4)

• 50m Back 38.25 (Bronze)
• 100m Breast 1.30.83 (Bronze)
• 50m Fly 34.99 (Gold)
• 100m Fly 1.23.70 (Bronze)
• 50m Breast 41.42 (Bronze)
• 100m Back 1.26.11 (Bronze)

Georgene Wee (Girl 13-14 Group 2)

• 100m Breast 1.19.97 (Silver)
• 50m Breast 36.41 (Bronze)

Koh Teck Chen (Boy 13-14 Group 2)

• 100m Fly 1.00.24 (Silver)

Download Full Results
Download Team Scores

DSA swimmer Yumi Okuzono won her first Gold in Malaysia Open Swimming Championships for the 200m Butterfly Women. Representing the KL Team at the Malaysia Open Swimming Championship (MOSC 2017) held at Pusat Akuatik Hang Jebat, Melaka between 4th to 7th May, Yumi struck Gold on Day 4 of the Meet with an improved personal best timing of 2:24.29. It was a great achievement for young Yumi who being just 14 yrs of age, participated in the Women age group for the event. Yumi was also in the final for 50m and 100 m Butterfly, 100m Breast Stroke, and 200m and 400m Individual Medleys. She has been steadily moving up her performance to compete and win at international Meets. We are sure to see more of her in the coming years as she gets faster and stronger.

In addition, other DSA swimmers representing KL Team who sparkled at the Meet were Georgene Wee Ee Jern who was in the final for the 50m Backstroke Women, 200m and 800m Freestyle Women. Koh Tech Chen also made it to the final 8 of the 200m Butterfly Men. Reaching this level and competing with the best nationwide and in the region is no mean feat. and we congratulate all the swimmers, coaches and parents for their dedication and commitment. A great day for the swim team to see more of their swimmers reaching to greater heights and we look forward to even more in the future.

• DSA Squad Time Trial Result – March 2017 (Kampung Pandan)
• DSA Squad Time Trial Result – March 2017 (Panasonic, Shah Alam)
• Squad Time Trial Result – March 2017 (Unregistered Swimmers)

DSA Swim Team moves up at Sport Excel Meet

The first leg of the NSC/Milo/Sport Excel Junior Swimming Circuit for 2017 was held at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Selangor on 22-23 April. Being the first of the 3 series Meet, swimmers needed to be in the Top 24 bracket with the highest points to qualify for the Grand Final held during the latter half of the year.  Weather wise, the 2 day meet had varying conditions which did not pose much difficulty to swimmers and they were able to perform well at their events.

DSA Swim Team had some great performances  which gave the team a stunning finish at 3rd position in the final team scores with 1,751 points. This was an awesome leap from last year when they stood 7th with 842.5 points. This achievement was contributed by many swimmers which included Yap Yong Jie with 6 Gold 1 Bronze;  Darren Lew Chen Jet with 2 Gold, 2 Silver;  Dian Isandra bt. Johan  with 1 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze;  Georgene Wee Ee Jern with 2 Silver; Brian Chung Ze Xuan with 1 Silver and Chong Hiong Kiet with 1 Bronze. In addition a total of 30 swimmers from the various groups also made it into the Top 24 thereby gaining valuable points for the next leg and the Grand Final. They were

Group 4 Girls:

• Dian Isandra bt. Johan (8 events)
• Lean Yi Yi (7 events)
• Natasha Sophea bt Mohd Firdaus (5 events – 50 BR, 50BK, 50FLY, 50 FR, 100FR)
• Samantha Yong Scanlan (1 event – 50 BK)
• Elsa Eow Yeng Yii (4 events – 50BR, 100BR, 50 BK, 100BK)
• Lee Sam Yee (3 events – 50BR, 100BR, 100FLY)
• Eunice Wong Ee Yin (1 event – 100FLY)

Group 4 Boys:

• Yap Yong Jie (8 events)
• Chong Hiong Kiet (8 events)
• Cheong Hoe Hann (5 events – 50BR, 100BR, 50 FR, 100FR, 50 FLY)

Group 3 Girls:

• Nur Afiqah bt Mohd Shahrill (3 events)
• Lana Malika Hussayni (2 events)
• Chan Ying Yi (5 events)

Group 3 Boys:

• Darren Lew Chen Jet (5 events)
• Wesley Kam Zhuo Wei (8 events)
• Hoh Kei Wei (2 events – 50 BR, 100BR)
• Austin Gan Ee Kye (1 event – 100 BR)
• Zachary Chin Zi Yong (2 events – (50FR, 100FR)

Group 2 Boys:

• Lee Jia Jing (8 events)
• Chung Ze Xuan (6 events – 50 BR, 100BR, 50 FR, 100FR, 50BK, 100BK)
• Tan Chen Hong (2 events – 50 BK, 100BK)
• Liam Eu Li-An (5 events – 50BR,100BR, 50 FR, 100FR, 50 BK)
• Tan Shanyong (2 events – 100FL, 100BK)

Group 2 Girls:

• Georgene Wee Ee Jern (8 events)
• Asley Chow Jia Qian (7 events)
• Chong Kar Hian (6 events)
• Alicia Teng Yi Ling (5 events -50BK, 100BK, 50 FR, 100FR, 100FLY)
• Chong Hey Sheen (2 events -100BR, 50FLY )
• Audrey Wong Mei Yie (2 events – 50 BR, 100BR)
• Elle Eow Teen Yii (1 event – 100BR)

Download Full Results
Download Team Scores

Well-known Swim Coach, Olympic Medalist and Former National Coach Sergio Lopez Miro was at DSA Kampung Pandan, with the budding champions of the DSA Swim Team for 2 nights, giving the insights that only a world-class authority can.

Born in Barcelona, Spain, Sergio’s moment of international fame came at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul where he won the Bronze medal in 200m Breast Stroke. He then moved on to coaching and served as the head coach at West Virginia University. In 2007 he became the head swimming coach at The Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida. He has coached several swimmers onto the US national team including Ariana Kukors, Charlie Houchin, Ryan Murphy and later most famously, Joseph Schooling who represented Singapore and made headlines at the 2016 Olympics. After spending the past year and several months coaching Singapore Swimming as High Performance Head Coach, he is moving to Auburn University as Associate Head Coach.

Sergio was on the pool deck for the evening training session at 7.30pm on April 6, where he explained the fundamentals of each stroke, imparting to the young swimmers a lot of knowledge about the basics. Following the swimming drill sessions, Sergio then went on to have a sharing session with the DSA coaches to wrap up the activity for the first night. The second night also included the DSA swimmers’ parents for a Q&A session where the role of a swimmer parent was discussed. Sergio went on to describe how he needed to be a parent for his swimming kids despite being a highly acclaimed swim coach. Further drills and enhancement of diving skills was next and it was late into the night as the enthusiastic swimmers and parents bid adieu to Sergio, enriched by his immense experience and guidance. Selfies, autographs and group photographs galore marked close of the events.

Thank you Sergio for the wonderful time, from everyone at DSA!

DSA contributes a massive 20 Gold, 7 New Records to Kuala Lumpur Team to end Championship drought

DSA swimmers made significant contribution to the Kuala Lumpur Team with over 7 New Records and 20 Gold at the 53rd MILO/PRAM Malaysia Invitational Age Group Swimming Championships held at Pusat Akuatik Hang Jebat, Melaka. It was an astounding performance by the young DSA swimmers as they won event after event, making up half the Kuala Lumpur team’s tally of 40 Gold to make it the Champion at the Meet. This was even more special as the Kuala Lumpur team ended a Championship drought over the last one decade with this win.

The big contributors to the Medal tally and the amazing new records included young Misa Okuzono, who has been unbeatable in the last few Meets, with an amazing 9 Gold of which 5 were new records. This little girl is truly an Olympic champion in the making. Yap Yong Jie, another young sensation won 6 Gold with 2 new records, while Darren Lew Chen Jet won 5 Gold and just narrowly missed out on a new record. Other medals winners were Yumi Okuzono and Koh Tech Chen with 2 Silver each, Chong Hiong Kiet with 1 Silver,  Dian Isandra Bt Johan  with 1 Silver and 1 Bronze and Wesley Kam with 2 Bronze.  4 New records were also made by the Relay Teams which included the DSA swimmers who contributed to the Kuala Lumpur’s collection of 4 Gold with new records at the Relay events. Besides the medal winners, the DSA swimmers also notched up the PBs and did their best for the remarkable and significant, history making win at the Championship.

Hearty Congratulations goes to the all the swimmers of  the Kuala Lumpur team for their exemplary performance and fighting hard to get the Championship this year. They have literally doubled their Gold medal haul from last year, which is a fitting reward for their tireless efforts and also for the support of team managers, coaches, support teams and everyone else who played a part in the great performance.

DSA congratulates the swimmers for their great performance and also the coaches and families for the hard work, dedication and contributions for their support and togetherness with the team. Go DSA,One Team, One Dream!

– Download Full Results
– Download Medals Tally

Congratulations to the following swimmers selected to represent Kuala Lumpur as part of the State Team at the 53rd Malaysia Invitational Age Group Swimming Championship (NAG) to be held at Pusat Akuatik Hang Jebat, Melaka between 9-12 March 2017. It’s been a great effort by the swimmers and coaches on reaching this milestone and we wish them all the best for the Meet.

1. Sean Goh Min Chang
2. Chan Evon
3. Chung Ze Xuan
4. Koh Teck Chen
5. Lee Jia Jing
6. Asley Chow
7. Chong Hey Sheen
8. Georgene Wee Ee Jern
9. Yumi Okuzono
10. Darren Lew Chen Jet
11. Wesley Kam Zhuo Wei
12. Wong Yu Xuan
13. Chong Hiong Kiet
14. Dian Isandra B. Johan
15. Misa Okuzono
16. Yap Yong Jie

DSA wishes you all the best in your events. We are proud of you!

Go DSA! One Team, One Dream!

DSA Swim team makes an incredible 132 medals haul at MILO/PRAKL Age Group 2017

Records galore at Komplex Renang, Bandur Tun Razak as DSA Swimmers made an astounding collection at the 3 day Swimming Championship making it an awesome start for 2017 for the team. With a team of more than 130 swimmers all geared up after some dedicated training, DSA inched closer to the top slot, winning  55 Gold medals, just 3 short of the top. More remarkable was the amazing amount of record breakers, 21 new records, the maximum by any team in the Meet.

The record breakers included Misa Okuzono who not only won Gold in all her events, all 10 of them, but made a new record in each of them as well! We are sure Misa is going to be one big name in international swimming in the coming years for sure. Darren Lew Chen Jet made the team richer with 9 Gold with 2 new records while Yumi Okuzono added 8 more Gold in her events with 2 new records. Yap Yong Jie added to the record haul with 7 Gold and 6 of them in record time. The Girls 13-14 years group Medley Relay team added one more record in their Gold winning performance bringing the total number of new records by DSA Swimming Team to 21. The host of Gold medal winners included Wesley Kam Zhuo Wei with 4 Gold, Koh Teck Chen, Lee Jia Jing, Georgene Wee Ee Jern and Eunice Wong Ee Yin with 2 Gold each. Chan Evon and Wong Yu Xuan added a Gold each to the team tally.

Other medal winners included Sean Goh Min Chang, Tan Rupert, Wong Yu Hao, Tan E-Shawn, Ng Jia Yi, Cynthia Khor Wen Qi, Chung Ze Xuan, Lim Shun Hern, Asley Chow, Chong Kar Hian, Lim Shun Yuan, Teow Jing Yang Jeremy, Zachary Chin Zi Yong, Chan Ying Yi, Nur Afiqah Mohd Shahrill, Lana Malika Hussayni, Aw Jian Ting, Chong Hiong Kiet, Cheong Hoe Hann, Dian Isandra Johan, Lee Sam Yee, Lean Yiyi and Eunice Wong Ee Yin. Download the detailed Medals Tally from the links below.

A significant amount of the swimmers came home with resounding victories, both in medals and points, a result of the efforts and dedication to training by the swimmers DSA coaches and support by the parents. We cannot thank them enough for all their hard work for this wonderful result and a great way to start of the Swimming Calendar for the year 2017. Go Team DSA!

• Download Medals Tally
• Download Full Results

3 days that kindled the spirit of DSA – We are DSA!

The first DSA Swim Team Camp was held at the glamorous d’Tempat Country Club at Sri Sendayan during the last week of 2016. Moving further from the one day Team Camp last year, a 3 day Camp incorporated varied activities with the objective to build and develop team spirit among the DSA swimmers.

Owing to the multiple training locations in Kg. Pandan and Shah Alam, swimmers from different locations do not get to meet each other regularly let alone train, so it became essential for some kind of common activity to be carried out. The prestigious d’Tempat Country Club proved to be an apt location as the lovely pool and facilities kept the swimmers enthralled.

The planning and co-ordination of the entire program had started much earlier as it involved not just regular training, but also team building activities and overnight accommodation.  At the assembly point in Technology Park Malaysia, Bukit Jalil, a group of 87 swimmers arrived, ready to experience the 3 days of team activity. After a group photo session, it was off to the d’Tempat Club and the challenges that were waiting. The swimmers were divided into 4 groups, and the first day activity was team building in Klana Resort, Seremban. The activities were all hosted and facilitated by the Resort and after some initial hesitation, the swimmers gradually got into the thick of it. A bowling match between the teams was the last event of the day, which was wildly cheered by the team members.

The second day included activities which were to develop the team building skills to a deeper level with small projects to be completed by each team. The day started with a sharing session with the speaker, Marellyn Liew, ex-National swimmer, and holder of the current National record for 50m and 100m Butterfly events being the DSA Swim Coach and the Organiser/Team Manager for the Swim Camp as well. The topic for the session was the path Marellyn had taken to reach the National level, training for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the reasons which caused her to miss out on qualifying for the Olympics.  The team building projects conducted later involved the development of the DSA Swim Team T-shirt Design and creation of a Team Cheer. Selection of winners for both the projects concluded the activities for the second day.

The final day had a Water Polo match awaiting, and the hectic event saw the teams fight it out, but it was not enough to quench the energy of the young swimmers who then had a couple of more hours of fun at the water park before it was time to call it a day. The final breakfast session was followed by a prize distribution ceremony and sharing sessions by the coaches and team leaders about the Swim Camp.

The kids were very thrilled with the experience and many did not want to go back home.  They were eagerly looking forward to the next Swim Camp. The overwhelming response was that many of the kids had got to know each other, especially from the other training venues; and the words rang out “We are DSA! not KP or Shah Alam!” This was the main purpose of the Swim Camp, and it was safe to say that the objective was achieved.  Big thanks to all the organisers, the program co-ordinators, coaches, parents and most of all the young participants who gave it their all with their exuberant enthusiasm and team spirit. The next Swim Meet will surely see a lot more fervour and cheering from the galleries. Onward Team DSA!

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 Biggest win for DSA at Sembilian

 DSA Swim Team fashioned another big mark in the swimming annals of Junior Swim Meets as it made a repeat performance, comfortably winning the top spot at the 3rd ASUM/NSC/MILO Junior Splash Swim Negeri Sembilan, 2016.

The Meet was held at Pusat Akuatik Negeri, Paroi, Seremban, Negeri Sembilan on 10-11 December, 2016. The DSA Swim Team youngsters were all keyed up for the Meet, reminiscing their previous victory at the 1st ASUM Junior Splash Swim in March this year. The swimmers performed exceedingly well and DSA beat the next team by well over 300 points, reigning supreme at 962 points. This victory came with 43 Gold, 14 Silver and 13 Bronze, a rich haul of 70 medals from a single Meet! That was no mean feat and a big round of applause to all the medal winners which included Misa Okuzono who won 8 Gold and 2 Silver with elder sister Yumi Okozuno, who collected 8 Gold and 1 Silver in her events. Yap Yong Jie, the young champ did very well and added another 6 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze in the Group 4 Boys events. Lean Yiyi won 4 Gold and 1 Silver for Group 5 Girls and Freestyle expert Darren Lew Chen Jet added 2 Gold and 2 Silver in his group events. Other medal winners included Sew Jia Wei, Chong Hey Sheen, Eunice Wong Ee Yin, Wong Yu Xuan and Wesley Kam. New to the medal tally were Eunice Wong Ee Yin and Elsa Eow Yeng Yii who claimed bronzes in their individual races to complement their first place finishes in their relays. Great performances by all the Relay teams was another bright spot as the teams together won 15 Golds making a significant contribution to the team total.

Besides the medal winners, a host of DSA swimmers finished within the top spots contributing valuable points towards DSA’s huge total. A big hurrah and thank you to all the young swimmers, parents and coaches for yet another grand victory.

A detailed list of the medal winners are below.

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Young DSA swimmer champion in Open Water

Swimmers are often referred to as a unique breed of their own and within them are a group who may to actually not belong to world of dry land like the rest of us. These are the ones who put in more hours a day in the water, the first ones in and the last ones out and usually on a daily basis, without much ado or complaining. We are talking about the long distance swimmers. Sometimes these swimmers are known to have more mileage than their cars and that’s not a joke!

DSA has a few of these exemplary beings on their team too and they have been making heads turn, like Rupert Tan, who has been making quite a mark in many Open Water events this year.

His big win came at the Port Dickson International Swimathon, an international 5 km swim event held at Port Dickson with as many as 500 participants spread over 5 age groups. Rupert placed FIRST in the event, a remarkable achievement, which he followed up with 2 THIRD placings at the Kapas Marang International Swimathon and the Labuan International Cross Channel.

The Kapas Marang International Swimathon is a 6.5 km Open water swim held at Marang, Trengannu,, having 5 age groups and this year had a total of 300 participants while the Labuan International, a 5.4 km open water event in Sabah had 250 participants.

Another event where Rupert Tan made Malaysia and DSA proud was the Swim Expo Asia at Singapore this year. The expo had a total of 5 race events and Rupert amassed 4 GOLD and 1 SILVER. It was a blazing streak for Rupert, who was the Champion in the 3.8km, 1.5km, 750m and 400m, just missing out the Gold, and being the 1st Runner up in the 1.5km race. Boy, this lad can swim!

Rupert has his schedules tight for the year –end with the Thailand International Swimathon, 10 km at Pattaya on 4th Dec, followed by Tanjung Rhu Swimfest 6KM, Langkawi on 10th Dec and the Swimon Port Dickson Open Water Swim, 2KM on 18th Dec. It looks like a great way to get to the New Year and we wish him all success and greater distances. All the best, Rupert!

DSA heroes recognized for their achievements

DSA Sean Goh makes a triple for SEA Age

DSA Swimmer Sean Goh Min Chang was selected for the third consecutive year to compete at the SEA Age Championship Swim Meet to be held at the Assumption University Bangna Campus Bangkok, Thailand. The Meet is scheduled for the 9th-11th December 2016. Sean Goh will be competing in the 50m and 100m Free, 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke events; one additional event from his participation last year. We wish him all success and look forward to his achievements and bringing back more medals.

DSA continues creditable performance with another runners-up position

Swimmers have yet another Meet to add to their swimming calendar and that means another opportunity to experience the competitive edge, and this time; add in heaps of endurance; for this is a first. The 1st ASUM/ NSC/ MILO Mid & Long Distance Swimming Championship was held at the Bandar Tun Razak Pool, Cheras on 16-17 September to start what could be a regular long distance swim Meet in the years to come.

More than 200 swimmers from 22 swimming clubs participated in the Meet, the first time a meet specifically for distances from 200m to 1500m was being added to the swimming calendar. Temperatures saw some highs and lows and the meet started off with some downpour, only to sizzle up in late noon as the mercury shot up to 32 degrees.

Performances were superb as DSA Swimming Club notched up another good win, rallying into Runners-up position overall with 769 points. Top performances by Misa and Yumi Okuzono along with young Yap Yong Jie saw them leading the total points to collect the Best Boy and Best Girls award. Georgene Wee, Lee Jia Jing and Sean Goh were the others in 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions for the awards in their age groups. Other medal winners included Wong Yu Xuan,Wesley Kam, Chung Ze Xuan, Chong Kar Hian, Chong Hiong Kiet, Chong Yong Wai and Rupert Tan. The Relay teams provided additional medals with 3 Golds and 2 Silvers from the various groups. The mixed relay also had winners for DSA as they brought in another Gold and Silver.

A detailed list of the medal winners is as follows:

• Download full results

Sean Goh to represent Malaysia in the 8th ASEAN School Games, Chiang Mai 2016

DSA’s very own Sean Goh Min Chang has been selected to swim at the 8th ASEAN School Games in Chiang Mai, 2016. A Breaststroke specialist, Sean Goh had represented Malaysia earlier at the SEA Age Group in Danang, Vietnam in 2015. He will be looking to build on that with another good showing at this prestigious international event.

The 8th ASEAN School Games will be hosted by Thailand and will be held in Chiang Mai from the 23rd to 31st of July, 2016. The ASEAN School Games (ASG) seeks to promote ASEAN solidarity among the youth through school sports and provide opportunities for school athletes to engage in cultural exchange.

Best wishes from the DSA family!

Over 900 swimmers participated in the Sport Excel Junior Swimming Circuit, Leg 2 held at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Shah Alam. This was the last chance for swimmers to qualify for the Grand Finals and the weather on both days was slightly sunny and warm, ideal conditions for a good performance by all swimmers.

DSA Swimming Club placed 3rd overall with 712 points. The young swimmers had a chip on our shoulders to improve on their 7th place finish at the Sport Excel Junior Swimming Circuit, Leg 1 and improve they did!

A Gold for the team came from a resurging Sean Goh Min Chang in the 100m Breastroke, closely followed by a Silver medal swim by Lee Jia Jing to cap off a 1-2 finish for DSA Swimming Club in the event. Sean Goh added more to his tally with the 50m Breastroke (Silver) and the 100m Freestyle (Bronze). Medal Winners also included Darren Lew (2 Silvers and 1 Bronze), Georgene Wee Ee Jern (1 Silver and 2 Bronze), and Wong Yu Xuan (Silver).

There was a further upwelling in the Group 2 age group as Wong Yu Hao (50 Freestyle), Tan E-Shawn (50 Breastroke), Koh Teck Chen (100 Butterfly) and Chan Evon (50 Backstroke and 50 Freestyle) won Bronze in their respective events. These results could most likely be attributed to the change in dry land training by our dedicated coaches along with the continual commitment and efforts of the swimmers.

It was a positive outing for all DSA Swimmers, and now the swimmers are eagerly waiting for the Grand Finals coming up in around 60 days.

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The much awaited Sport Excel Milo Meet was held on 23-24 April at Pusat Akuatik Hang Jebat, Melaka, and being the first round of the three leg Meet, swimmers look to gain maximum points to qualify for the Grand Final. The temperature was fair on both days and mildly cloudy.

DSA Swimming Club stood 7th in the overall positions with 842.50 points. Medal winners include Wong Yu Xuan for 100m Butterfly (Silver), who improved 2 seconds from his previous meet timing. This was an unexpected medal and Yu Xuan attributes it to his hard work from training. Sean Goh Min Chang brought home 2 medals (Silver and Gold) while Georgene Wee Ee Jern won 3 medals from the Meet. The participation was not much this year and DSA Coaches will be on their best to motivate swimmers to train harder for the 2nd Leg in order to qualify for Grand Final. More participation and medals are expected from the 2nd Leg scheduled to be held on 28-29 May at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Selangor.

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DSA Swimmers Georgene Wee Ee Jern and Phoebe Heather Law selected for SUKMA 2016

Georgene has been a consistent top performer in the PRAKL and Inter Club Meets besides representing the KL Team for National Age Group (NAG) Competitions. This is the first time she will be participating in a National Meet of this high level and standards, not to forget the wide ranging popularity of SUKMA among sport events in Malaysia.

Phoebe had a brilliant start of the 2016 Swim season with the DSA Swim Team with 3 Golds in the MILO/NSC/PRAKL Age Group Swimming Championship in late January. She also qualified to represent the KL Team in the 2016 NAG Competition and will be her second time participating at the SUKMA Games.

Sarawak is playing host to the 2016 SUKMA Games, officially known as the 16th SUKMA Games, and is scheduled to be held between July 22-31, in Kuching and other places in Sarawak. The Aquatic events will be held at the newly constructed Aquatic Centre at the Sarawak Sports Complex. This will be great exposure for the DSA Swimmers competing at this level and we wish them the very best. Credit and thanks goes to the swimmer parents and the DSA Coaches who continue to spur the young swimmers to better achievements and greater heights.

The 12th and 13th March 2016 will go down in history of DSA Swim Club, not just as the hottest competition days, with scorching heat of 36 degrees burning skins, but also as the big day when DSA Swim Club stood FIRST! The Champions! DSA Swim Club emerged Overall Champion at the 1st ASUM/NSC/MILO MADWAVE Junior Splash Swim 2016 with a total of 639 points. Now, that’s a day to remember!

The intense heat did drain out swimmers of their best, there was a lot of emotions running high as personal bests were not beaten; but there was indeed a lot to cheer, with Gold medals galore!

Outstanding performances by the Okuzono sisters blazed the 2 days as Yumi and Misa Okuzono took home the Overall Best Swimmer trophies in the Group 3 and Group 4 categories respectively. Georgene Wee took 2 Gold in 100m Free and 50m Breast while Lean Yi Yi and Rio Shirai added more than 40 points each with their many silver and bronze medals in various events.

The relay teams shone bright with the glitter of gold as 11 Golds were harnessed from the many relay events from various groups. Kudos to the relay swimmers, specially to Group 5 and Group 3 Girls taking the Gold in in 4 X 50m Freestyle, 4 X 100m Freestyle and 4 X 50m Medley Relay.

The new LCD scoreboard got a lot of attention from DSA swimmers as their names shone out brightly. Another feature upgraded in the venue was the new finishing touch pads.

Great performance by the young swimmers of DSA Swim Club and it’s all in the bag and the next big event coming up is the Sport Excel First Leg in Melaka where there would be some stiff competition from other clubs. Keep up the training and wishing DSA Swimmers the best in Melaka.

• Download detailed list of medal winners
• Download full results
• View Photo Gallery

Splendid start for 2016 by DSA Swimming Team

Kompleks Renang, Bandar Tun Rasak was the venue for the MILO / NSC / PRAKL Age Group Swimming Championship 2016. Being the first Meet for the year, DSA Swimming Team gave a remarkable performance, and set a high standard for the rest of the year. The 3 day event was another big step for DSA Swimming Club as they moved to the Second Place overall in the Championship. This is the second Meet they have attained this feat, surely making their positions at the top level swimming clubs in the country.

The team garnered a total of 39 Golds up more than 10 Golds from last year’s count of 27. This included 8 Golds both by Yumi and Misa Okuzono,the sisters who clearly swept the field in every event they participated in. Lean Yiyi with 5 Golds, Darren Lew, Phoebe Heather Law and Sean Goh with 3 Golds, Rio Shirai 2 Golds and Georgene Wee with 1 Gold contributed to the total tally.

The record breaking feats included 3 new records by young Misa Okuzono in 100m Fly (1:15.44), 200m Free (2:29.23) and 50m Fly (34.55) respectively. Elder sister Yumi Okuzono tipped 2 new records in 100m Fly (1:08.77) and 50m Fly (30.68). One more record was made by the Group 3 Girls  4×100 free medley relay team( 5:03.73). Apart from the medal winning performances, many swimmers also set their Personal Bests (PB) in their events.

The detailed medal tally is below:

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What a way to finish the year for the DSA Swim Team!

As always, the months and months of build-up and training had a sweet ending with records, medals and best ever points score at the 34th President Cup, held at Pusat Akuatik Hang Jebat in Malacca on 27-29 November 2015.

Thanks to a stellar performance by the swimmers, DSA Swim Team made great strides in the team standings, coming in third (549 points), a massive move up from sixth (249 points) last year.

Great appreciation goes to the strong support of the parents of the swimmers and the DSA coaches who have seen many a swimmer turn champion under their proficient training. Hats off to the DSA coaches yet again!  Together with the swimmers, the great efforts, hard work and endeavour has brought DSA Swim Team to a position of the Top 3 Swimming Clubs in Malaysia in a short span of less than 4 years.

The message of DSA Swim Team at this swim meet was to “Stand-up for Moderation”, a very relevant message for a multi-cultural society like Malaysia today. Unity is a precious gift which as Malaysians, we must all seek to protect and preserve. DSA hopes that this message of unity can be spread to everyone, making Malaysia a harmonious place to live, learn, work and play.

The atmosphere, team spirit and unity at the Meet was remarkable this year with a lot of cheering from everyone in the team whenever a DSA swimmer was at the starting blocks. The cheering on the last day by the whole team was astounding and will be remembered for some time to come. And, yes, the cheering did have its effects!

Young Darren Lew Chen, the upcoming freestyle champion created a new record in the Group 4 Boys (10 yrs & under) 100m Freestyle with a timing of 1:02.15. He also won a total of 5 Gold at the Meet. We are going to see many more accomplishments from Darren in the coming years for sure!

Other winning performances included Yumi Okozono (2 Gold), Phobe H Law (2 Gold), Koh Tech Chen (1 Gold). Significant contributions were also made by Wesley Kam, Misa Okuzono, Lee Jia Jing, Liong Jee Xerc  and Jack Leetham who together added 165 points to the total tally.

The results show the young swimmers improving greatly, learning with each experience. Timings improved by 5 seconds or more for these younger swimmers and in some cases first timers even, and this accomplishment within a period of 3 months is simply outstanding.  In all, it was a great ending for the years swimming calendar, and the swimmers have the holiday season to have a breather and enjoy some time off. 2016 beckons with PRA-KL on the calendar opening the season at the end of January.

Onward DSA Swim Team, to greater performances ahead!

The DSA Swim Team medals and points tally were as:

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Keeping in track with the National Sports Day on October 10th, the Inaugural Short Course Swimming Competition was hosted by ASUM on 10th and 11th October at the National Aquatic Centre, Bukit Jalil. DSA Swim Team sent its largest contingent to date with 117 swimmers participating in the two day event. With many a first-timer joining in, the home group gave the swimmers a good boost of confidence, resulting in an overall great performance from all the swimmers.

Notable performers included Darren Lew Chen Jet with 4 Gold, Lim Shun Qi with 3 Gold and Sean Goh Min Chang with 2 Gold in the many events. Other Gold winners included Koh Teck Chen, Yumi Okuzono, Lim Zi Win and Grace Gan Qian Huei. There was also a good number of Silver medalists bringing up the total tally of 13 Gold, 19 Silver and 12 Bronze for the two days of competition. A great performance by the team and an enriching experience for the first-timers; the swimmers now have to prepare for the last event of the year coming up next month, The President Cup 2015.

Detailed list of medal winners:

ASUM Hari Sukan Negara 2015 Results

>> VIEW PHOTO GALLERY

The Swimming Calendar for the year 2015 is in its last quarter with the Grand Final of the Sport Excel-Milo NSC ASUM Junior Swimming Circuit being the last Meet before the President Cup slated for the end of November. This year the Grand Final saw a team of 16 swimmers from DSA Swim Team being qualified to participate as against 11 in the previous year. However, the performance of the swimmers this year was outstanding with the points going up almost 4 times, from 44 points last year to 153 points this year. This resulted in a boost in the overall position of DSA Swim Team to THIRD place as compared to 11th place last year. That in itself is a remarkable tribute both to the swimmers and the coaches and all the support that the team received in getting there.

Sterling performers included Darren Lew Chen Jet with 3 Gold, Wesley Kam Zhuo Wei and Sean Goh Min Chang with 1 Gold each. They also received Special awards in their categories for Best performances.

The medal tally for DSA Swim Team was as follows:

Full Results

>> VIEW PHOTO GALLERY

The SPORTEXCEL/MILO/NSC/ASUM Junior Swimming Circuit 2nd Leg 2015, was held at Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Selangor. Being a covered pool, the 2 day event was a pleasant experience with both days events going smoothly. DSA Swim Club made a creditable performance though some of the swimmers who had already gained enough points to qualify for the final, rested for this meet. With a total strength of 54, DSA Swim Club garnered a total of 692.50 points and moving up to 6th position overall.

The medal winners included Lew Chen Jet who beat strong contenders to take the Gold in the 50m Freestyle. He also won Bronze for 50m and 100m Back stroke and also for 100m freestyle. It was a great performance by Lew Chen Jet which boosted the spirits of everyone on the team. Other medal winners included Koh Teck Chen who did well in his favourite events, winning Bronze for both 50m and 100m Butterfly. The swimmers will be training up for the latter part of the swimming calendar year, which will see the Grand Final of the circuit and also the big, all important President Cup in November.

A big thank you to the parents for their constant support of the swimmers and the guidance of DSA coaches as they continue to prep up the swimmers for the next and oncoming meets with their steadfast mentoring and support.

>> VIEW PHOTO GALLERY

•  DSA Swim Club Results
•  Full Results
•  Team Scores

“Swimming is a sport of inches, you have to fight for every single inch to be the best.”  -Bill Kirby.

Bill Kirby is an Olympic Gold Medallist and Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder. Kirby made his debut at the 1993 Pan Pacific Championships before competing at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada and the 1994 World Aquatics Championships in Rome as a butterfly swimmer. Kirby’s last international competition was at the 2001 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, where along with Klim, Hackett and Thorpe, he lowered the 4x200m freestyle relay world record to 7m 4.66s. That record held firm for nearly six years until United States relay team clocked in at 7m 3.24s at the 2007 World Championships in Melbourne, Australia. Bill, now a father of three, and with help of his wife, Saskia, and the rest of the Kirby Swim Team focuses on offering the best swimming education and coaching in Australia.

Bill Kirby’s 2 day swim clinic organised by DSA was held on 4th and 5th June. Bill took time off his schedule to be with the aspiring swimmers not only from the DSA swim Team but also other clubs from Malaysia. There were swimmers from Penang and Johor clubs who came to attend and learn from his expertise.

The Clinic was 2 full days of tightly packed events with both classroom sessions and a lot of pool sessions. Bill first started off with the refining of basic techniques like improving underwater swims, to improving turns and then the starts. During the course of the 2 days, swimmers were put through their paces, improving the little areas to gain that much of an edge. The swim clinic was unique because it not only focused on techniques, but it challenged the swimmers to improve small parts of their swimming skills. The clinic also included a game of water polo to provide an experience of team spirit. DSA coaches also attended the clinic and along with Bill helped the swimmers further refine many finer points.

The class room sessions gave the opportunity for swimmers to learn and understand the amount of training and dedication Bill had to put in to become an Olympian. Experiences were shared also by Bill’s father, Bob, who talked to the swimmers parents about their part in supporting a swimmer to achieve their goals. It was a very jovial atmosphere as Bob had many anecdotes to share about the early days which gave the parents attending a lot of experiences to connect with. As he said, the idea was to always let the children perform their best, and not solely about winning. As long as they did their best and enjoyed what they did, winning was not important. It was a delightful experience in all for the swimmers got to learn from an Olympic Champion and hopefully they will benefit from Bill Kirby’s experience which he shared in these 2 days.

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DSA Swim Team will be featuring in the Good Morning Tai Tai Program on NTV7 on Thursday 28th May 8.00 am. The program will cover interviews with coaches and swimmers, training schedules and also the fun side of being in a swimming club.
Find out more about DSA Swim Team and what keeps them going on your TV channel on Thursday 28th May 8.00 am.

The first leg of the SPORTEXCEL/MILO/NSC/ASUM Junior Swimming Circuit was held at Hang Jebat Aquatic Stadium, Melaka. Being the first outstation Meet this year, anticipation was high and the excitement of two days of competition was brimming. The venue also proved to be a great location, being a fully covered pool, the participants and spectators were protected from the heat during the first day and also the thundering, heavy showers on the second day. Most of the DSA Swim Club arrived at the location on the previous day, and were at the venue on Friday 8th evening for a bit of training and getting a feel of the pool.

Saturday started very early as with all Meets, with DSA coaches prepping up the team before the sun was up. Swimmers were testing out their turns and starts as competition was high with the Meet drawing as many as 37 clubs from all over Malaysia.

DSA Swim Club opened their medal tally with Georgene Wee winning the first GOLD for 100m breaststroke on day one followed by Sean Goh bringing in the next GOLD for his pet event, 100m breaststroke. Georgene also won a Silver for 50m breaststroke. Chong Kar Hian won 2 Silvers, in the 100m and 50m freestyle. Koh Tech Chen, another promising swimmer won another silver for his favourite event, 100m butterfly and a bronze for 50m butterfly. Other medal winners included Wesley Kam, Darren Lew and Lee Jia Jing, who each won a bronze medal in their events.

At the end of the two days of competition DSA Swim Club won a total of 10 medals and an astounding 1235.5 points placing themselves in the overall 4th position as compared to last year, where DSA Swim Club stood 7th overall with 485 points. A big round of appreciation goes to the parents and families of all the swimmers who made time not just to be in Melaka for the Meet, but every night for the training and constant support. A big thank you also to the DSA coaches for their ever present dedication and guidance to all the swimmers in bringing out their talents. It will be back to training and preparation now for the next month and the 2nd leg of the Swimming Circuit. Big cheers to all for a grand performance and all the best for the next leg of the Circuit.

>> VIEW PHOTO GALLERY

•  DSA Swim Club Results
• Full Results
• Medals Tally
• Record Breakers
• Team Scores
• Top 24

The 51st MILO/PRAM Malaysia Invitational Age Group Championship this year saw some great performances from DSA swimmers who participated in the meet representing their respective states. With intense competition from other states and also a top-class team from Hong Kong, the Malaysian teams had a strong fight on their hands during the 3 days of competitions.

Congratulations to all DSA swimmers who represent their respective states who have performed extremely well in this meet.

Great performances include 7 Golds + 4 Silver for Lim Shun Qi (Selangor Team),
3 Silver + 1 Bronze for Lee Jia Jing (KL Team),
2 Silver + 1 Bronze for  Koh Tech Chen (KL Team),
2 Silver each for Sean Goh (KL Team), Yumi Okozuno (KL Team),
2 Silver  + 1 Bronze for Wesley Kam (KL Team).
1 Silver each for Georgene Wee (KL Team) and Chung Ze Xuan (KL Team).

The Relay teams performances were very creditable with DSA swimmers making good headway into the medal count for their respective states. These include-

Group 4 Girls Selangor Relay & Medley Team which included Lim Shun Qi won Golds in both events.
Group 4 Boys KL Relay & Medley Team with young Wesley Kam won Silvers in both events.
Group 3 Girls KL Relay Team which included Georgene Wee, who were considered by many as the underdog of the group, won a very well-deserved Silver.
Group 3 Boys KL Medley Team which included Lee Jia Jing and Koh Tech Chen picked up another Silver as well as Group 3 Boys KL Freestyle Relay Team with Koh Tech Chen and Chung Ze Xuan picked up a Silver in the event.

Besides the medal winners, DSA swimmers were elated having made new personal bests (PBs) in most of the events.

Way to go DSA swimmers and a hearty round of applause to all of the swimmers and the unending support of the parents for yet another great performance. Thank you to DSA coaches for their dedication and efforts in mentoring the swimmers.

• 51st Malaysia Invitational Age Group Swimming Championships (Closed)- RESULTS
• 51st Malaysia Invitational Age Group Swimming Championships (Open) RESULTS

BRIGHT KIDS, Star Special, Tuesday 7 April 2015

Staying focused
For students pursuing their passion outside of their academic studies, it can be challenging to achieve their peak form while fulfilling their responsibilities as a student.
One such student is Sean Goh, eight grader and 2014 sport scholar. The 14-year-old has swimming practice six times a week for an average of two hours each session.
Despite his vigourous training he still finds time to complete his coursework.
Although Goh has to miss classes during competition season, his teachers remain understanding of his training and clearly communicate their expectations for his coursework. Goh completes his coursework through the school’s online course management software.
The support from the school has allowed him to focus on swimming without having to forsake his education.
As such, he recently won three gold medals and a bronze medal in various categories at the Malaysia School Sports Council 2015 competition.
“I am thankful for my teachers at SIS who understood my needs and made necessary adjustments to my coursework deadlines. They taught me how to balance my swimming activities and schoolwork, making it possible to excel at both.’

Date: 15-19 March 2015
Venue: Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Selangor
Complete Results
New Meet Records

The Malaysia Open 2015 is around the corner and two of DSA Swim Team swimmers, Sean Goh and Yumi Okuzono, have been selected for the Meet. Talking to our young achievers about their reaction on reaching this milestone, here’s what they said…

Sean Goh says he was surprised and happy to be selected, as the Meet has older participants from Malaysia and overseas being the qualifying event for the SEA Games 2015 in Singapore and the World Championship 2015 in Kazan. Sean says his next aim and goal is to represent Malaysia, while he is also open to considering a professional career as a swimmer, should the opportunity arise.

Yumi was just as surprised and happy too, and she also understands it involves older swimmers competing, but she will give it her best. For Yumi, the next milestone she is looking at is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, which she hopes she will be able to participate.

Breast stroke became the natural event for Sean as he has been always doing that style, with his first moment of success being qualifying into the NAG in 2013. Having started competitive swimming only in September 2011, he did not expect to compete at state level in the short time of about a year and a half. For Yumi, her most cherished success was at the 2013 Japan Junior Olympics, where she competed for butterfly, breaststroke and individual medley events and butterfly is her best event.

Sean acknowledges a lot of his success to DSA coaches for their encouragement to never give up, developing his stroke and the many tips and strategies during competitions. As he goes on to compete in more state and national meets, he hopes that he would get the appropriate training by DSA coaches to reach greater heights. Yumi is also very thankful to the encouragement and training provided in DSA and looks to DSA coaches to help her improve her techniques and also develop her leadership qualities.

We wish you all the best Sean and Yumi; we are sure there’s a lot of laurels awaiting you both!

Whew! The President Cup is done. As we heave a sigh of relief and sit back, we realise what an exhilarating weekend it has been. For the 58 swimmers of DSA Swim Club, their families and loved ones, for whom preparation had been on for months and months, it was the yearly ritual coming to an end. Now, they are more relaxed to celebrate the festive season that’s coming along.

The 33rd National Inter-Club Swimming Championship for the President Cup this year was a weekend like no other. A total of 1039 participants from all over the country representing various clubs participated for 3 days of intense competition. After Melaka last year, this year, it was held in the National Aquatic Centre, Bukit Jalil. Did the familiarity of the location improve performance for DSA, yes, it sure did!

The crowds of participants, anxious parents and coaches started pouring in a day earlier itself, when the public recreational pools were closed for allowing practise sessions. On the race-days, the activities started very early, as the first heats of the day started promptly at 8 am. The President Cup remains as the single most awaited event on the swimming club’s meet calendar with young swimmers looking forward to this opportunity to prove themselves. The young lot were really into it, with the under 10 age group of both girls and boys having up to 28 heats for some events. The amount of participation at that level was just mind-blowing. If all of these young boys and girls kept to their training in the years to come, the competitive swimming levels in the state and country has indeed a bright future. The atmosphere in the stadium was really abuzz with the constant flow of swimmers moving between their rest area in the stands and down to the pool; parents moving with food and refreshments making sure their wards are in the best state of mind for the next event and coaches were busy reminding their swimmers of tiny adjustments and techniques that could further enhance performance.

Our team, DSA Swim Club, this year saw more number of participants and the performance of each and every one of them has been heart-warming. The Club’s performance as a whole was commendable, not just with the increase in number of participants, but also in the team rankings at the end of the competition. From the 10th position last year DSA moved up to the 6th position overall, among the 35 clubs that participated, which in itself is a tremendous morale boost.

Some of the sterling performances this year include Yumi Okuzono, a 10 year old Japanese girl, small and diminutive, she captured everyone’s heart and everyone was on their feet cheering the lil’ girl in the yellow swim cap, curious about who she was, and where she came from. Yumi won a total of 4 golds and 4 silvers in this meet. She attributed the reason for her performance to the training and guidance by DSA coaches.

Sean Goh, is known as a calm, steady 13 year old with lengthy limbs, which enhance his superb swimming skills. With a total of 3 golds, 1 silver and 1 bronze this year, he has come way ahead from his last year’s performance of 1 bronze. Sean, to his coaches is someone who has “give it all” attitude in every training session and that to them is the reason for his brilliant achievements last weekend.

Misa Okuzono, is a 8 year old with remarkable swimming skill for her age.  A timing of 34 seconds for her 50m fly event, and 1:19 for 100m fly has made her very happy. Misa’s main aim is to make the Japan Junior Olympics Cup qualifying time.

Georgene Wee is another swimmer who has improved a lot since the last year.  From a timing of 48 seconds in her 50m breaststroke last year, she clocked 39 seconds placing 3rd in the same event this year, which is remarkable and is a reflection of her dedicated training and passion. Georgene too, attributes her performance to training with her team mates and her coaches at DSA.

Chan Evon, a bright and cheerful 13 year old girl joined DSA squad in 2012. She has improved in all her events in this meet, which to her was unexpected. Initially she was very nervous and doubtful about her performance in the 100m free event, however, sound advice from her coach saw her improve from 1:10 to 1:05. This indeed is very laudable, and she is very thankful about that. Evon revealed that her father was the one who inspires her, especially in doing chin ups and inverted kicks in the gym. She aims to qualify for the state team in 2015.

On the whole, the meet brought out the best in everyone on the team not only on the competitive side but also a lot of fun and unforgettable moments to the swimmers. They are looking forward for the upcoming event (Pra-KL) which is scheduled at the end of January 2015. DSA Swim Team’s performance obtained a total of 249 points, with Yumi and Sean Goh gathering 86 and 63 points respectively to be the toppers. Contributions to the total also included Chan Evon with 11 points, Lee Jia Jing with 10 points and Georgene Wee with 9 points. Moving up to 6th position was a great step for the team and this was possible due to the hard work of each and every swimmer who participated, the support of the families and the dedication of the coaches who spared no effort in bringing out the best in everyone.

Hurrah and three cheers to everyone on the team to continue to work harder in training together and achieve more in the coming years!

• The official results with timings and placings can be downloaded here >> DSA Swim Team Result (President Cup 2014)
• The official results and timings of the Meet can be downloaded here >> 2014 President Cup Results

For all competitive swimmers, swim meets presents an opportunity to test their training and put to practise and refine the skills and techniques that they have been learning from their coaches. The main goal of participation in meets, as there may be many meets during the season, is to improve their timings. In Malaysia, there are around 5-6 meets which have participation from swim clubs around the country. One of the biggest and most watched and participated meet is the 33rd National Inter-Club Swimming Championships – President Cup.

With the all-important meet around the corner, we had a conversation with a few swimmers who have shown great commitment in training and also performed consistency throughout the year. They shared their preparation for meets in general, their rituals to stay focussed and their expectations from this meet. By sharing their experience, we look to boost our upcoming swimmers to a higher level confidence, and develop into intelligent, independent swimmers.

Here are 3 swimmers who gave us their view about the oncoming test of their abilities and their dreams and ambitions.

Alyssa Yong is one of our swimmers in Group 2 who has been representing the state of Kuala Lumpur in National Age Group Meet this year. Her preparation for this meet involves eating more food like potatoes, rice and pasta to store carbohydrates in her body so that she could perform well. As for training, she would swim more sessions but with lesser mileage and intensity. For the reason that she would have a better “feel” for the water, which is something all competitive swimmers seek to possess. In addition, she works out at the gym to stay active and alert. Alyssa’s expectation from this meet is improve on her personal best, also being among the top 8 in her age group. On race day, she would try to stay calm and listen to music.

Evon Chan is one of our swimmers in Group 1. As she is facing educational pressures, she has to balance her studies and swimming. Time management is a priority for her these few months and she tries to maintain the commitment to training in order to stay in the race. Her diet for meet preparation includes sweet potatoes as well, to stock up. Fitness-wise she does more stretching to keep her muscles flexible and relaxed all the time. Her expectation from this meet is to improve her personal best. To perform her best, she focuses on the winning feeling, which prompts her to push herself that extra bit.

Branson Wee is one of the most hard-working and dedicated swimmers from Group 1. Hitting the gym regularly is his route to stay in shape to prepare for the coming meet. He gives his maximum at each of the training sessions that he attends as the meet is around the corner. He stays away from unhealthy food like cotton candy, chips, fried chicken, McDonalds, and other fast foods as it contains high sodium and saturated fat. He prefers to eat foods with more carbohydrates like rice, pasta, banana and potatoes to be able to store energy to sustain longer performance levels for his race. Branson expects to improve his timing in this meet, as he aims to qualify as a state swimmer representing Kuala Lumpur by end of the year. Listening to heavy metal music while reading novels is his normal habit to stay focused on race days­­­­.As the team finish up the last few days of training, we are sure the adrenaline in most of them has started pumping already, the build-up is inevitable. As they get ready to stand up on the starting block, every swimmer will get his or her shot at the best performance they can give this year, here’s wishing them the best they can achieve.

33rd National Inter-Club Swimming Championships – President Cup, the biggest swimming event of the year for the swimming clubs all over Malaysia will be held at the National Aquatic Centre, Bukit Jalil this year on the 28th to 30th of November. As always, it’s a much awaited event, with local and outstation swimmers vying for the best timings to go further in their pursuit for state and national team spots. The competition is intense and it’s very essential to stay prepared and focused over the 3 days of competitive stress that is bound to wear down even the strongest.

As someone who has been through it and more, here are some of my handy tips which have helped me along the way.

1. Getting enough rest- You have been training consistently for a few months and when you are preparing for a meet, your coach will lower down the intensity and also the mileage. Your body needs time to adapt with the lower intensity so you need enough rest for the body to get used to the change in the training schedule.
2. Stand less – The legs are very important as it is your motorboat to get you faster to the finish, so it is important that you do not tire up your legs by standing for long. So do get a chair and sit down when you can.
3. Eat wisely and in moderation – You will have the tendency to over-eat during the week before race day because your body starts to feel fresh and you will have a better appetite. On race days in particular, do watch out on what you are taking in, because taking in too much sugar will not be good for your body. You may have a blood sugar rush and after 30 minutes it will drop drastically and it will most probably affect your race. The best way to counter this is to have an intake of slow release carbohydrates like quinoa, oats, sweet potatoes, lentils and muesli. These are effective carbs as they release slow energy which help you sustain your energy longer and thereby perform better.
4. Drink lots of fluids – Dehydration can lead to higher blood pressure and concentration of blood which makes circulation more difficult. A well hydrated body will produce a higher performance level by keeping the blood pressure within limits and having lesser stress on the heart. Therefore drink fluids at timely intervals to stay hydrated.
5. Self-talk and visualize– Talking to yourself may sound crazy and insane, but it is essential to mentally psyche yourself about your performance and talking to yourself is the best way to go about it. During competition times, most swimmers have excessive thinking due to all the excitement and can even have self-doubts. Self-talking and recalling videos of races you have watched earlier on the internet can help you remain calm while helping to push yourself for a better performance.
6. Where to focus – When the intensity and mileage of the training gets lesser, focus more on starting off the blocks, turning from the walls, finishing to the wall, number of strokes from the flag, number of underwater strokes from the start to the flag etc. When race day nears, you have to be sharp about the details as well. Sharpness in the details can improve performance in fractions of second which do matter at that level.
7. Prepare for emergencies – Have additional pair of essentials like goggles, swim cap, swimsuit etc., because you can never say when you might snap a goggle or rip a suit. Being prepared reduces the stress and tension should an emergency happen.
8. Enjoy the day – Last but not least is to enjoy your race! Though you may not know, participating in Meets are the most exciting and fun events to be in! You get to meet new friends from everywhere, get to exchange team shirts, compare training schedules and finer points and you also get to race with faster swimmers! There is absolutely no excuse you should have not enjoy your race-day!

The writer is a National swimming record holder and currently a swim teacher/squad coach at DSA.

The MBPJ Swim Gala organised by the Stingray Swimming Club was held this year on 27th September 2014. Our swimmers performed very well in the events and it was a great experience. Georgene Wee in the Girls(9-10 yrs) group was undoubtedly a champion, winning 4 gold medals. Other gold medals came from Sean Woo Shang Min-Boys(9-10 yrs), Yu Hao Wong-Boys(11-12 yrs), Shen Han Tan-Boys (15-18 yrs) and George Wee-Men (36-55 yrs). The official standing and timings are as follows

We at DSA are overwhelmed by the touching thank you notes, so delectably made out by squad members, for their coaches, in bringing them where they are today. We can only say, “You kids are the best!”

This note by Chan Evon goes as follows….

“Thank you, DSA. I’ve been with DSA for 2 years and 7 months I suppose. DSA is really an amazing club that brings out joy and happiness to others. 2 years ago, I was a fat girl girl who doesn’t know anything about competitive swimming, but after 2 years of joining DSA, I’ve done better than before. I’ve learned bits and crumbs through every training in every training in every single day. There were many ups and downs in each competition but the coaches here never gave us up and yet they still support us till the end. DSA became a part of my life, a home, a family ever since the day I started. People may think that students and coaches are just that but in reality, we’re a little family. I am really grateful to train in DSA, thank you to all coaches that put effort in us. Without you , we won’t be swimming in competitions. we are sorry for disappointing coaches when your high expectations is upon us. we will not repeat the same mistake like before and do better in competitions that are ahead of us. =)”

Chan Evon.

This time round, DSA Swim Team came back stronger with 1 gold and 1 silver medal contributed from Sean Goh Min Chang.

Congratulation once again.

Stay tuned for more update on top 24 qualifier list into Grand Final Milo Excel 2014.

For full result, please click on the link to download.
Full result – Milo Excel 2nd leg 2014
Top 24 swimmer list (Milo Excel 2nd Leg only)
Team Score – Milo Excel 2nd Leg 2014