38th National Inter-Club Swimming Championship for the President Cup 2019

Quite simply, the most important, much awaited, most popular event in the Malaysian Clubs Swimming Calendar, this event is held in the month of November at a different city and location every year. Pusat Akuatik Darul Ehsan, Shah Alam will be the venue for this year and the big days are the weekend, 22 to 24 November. Being in KL this year, the competition is bound to have a flurry of activities and lots of enthusiasm as the swimming community heads towards Shah Alam for the weekend.

It is going to be special for the young DSAS swimmers as they have DSAS Honorary Member, Dato’ Setia Aubry Mennesson who is a Bronze Level Ironman & Six Star Marathon Major as their mentor to guide and motivate them. Dato’ Setia Aubry Mennesson has this special message to all the swimmers as they prepare to compete in the biggest event of the Calendar this year. All the best Team DSA!

 

 

The ASUM/NSC/Milo Junior Splash Swim 2019 – Leg 2 was held at the Pusat Akuatik Hang Jebat, Melaka on 02-04 November. This was the second Meet of the series, the first leg having been held in early August which had a huge team of 329 swimmers from DSA.  This Meet had 95 swimmers, a lot of them very young swimmers participating and getting their initial competitive exposure. As always it was a great outing for the youngsters travelling to the old city of Melaka and its charms, and the swimmers had a great time at the Meet too. A lot of them improved their personal bests (PBs) and it was an overall good feeling in preparation for the big event coming up, the President Cup later on in the month.

Charmaine Hung Yun Wen did well in her events winning 2 Silvers and a Bronze, while Shahenry Wong Bin Shadzlee won a Sliver and Noah Zameer Lee, a Bronze. Besides these, DSA also won a lot of medals in the Relay events which included 2 Golds, 5 Silvers and 4 Bronzes. A detailed view of the Medals Tally is given below.

 

 

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DSA is honoured to have the special privilege of  welcoming Dato’ Setia Aubry Mennesson, the life partner of Tengku Datin Paduka Setia Zatashah, the second daughter Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, the current and ninth Sultan of Selangor, on board as Honorary Patron of the DSAS Swim Team.

 

Dato’ Setia Aubry Mennesson is an acclaimed sports personality, having the significant merit of being part of an elite group of having earned the Abbot World Marathon Majors’ Six Star Finisher medals.

 

The Abbott World Marathon Majors is a series of the six largest and most renowned marathons of the world, called the Big Six, which includes Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York. Runners who complete the full routes in all these cities qualify for the Six Star Finisher medal. Completing the marathons is no mean feat, and for Mennesson, it was even tougher. He was seriously injured before his venture into this running challenge and had spent an agonizing year barely even able to walk. His determination and training shone through as he completed the marathons to join this selected group of athletes.

 

Dato’ Setia Aubry Mennesson is also an accomplished triathlete, being a Bronze level in 70.3 Ironman All World Athlete Program.

The Bronze level is given to athletes who are in the top ten percent or better in the Ironman races.

Mennesson ‘s love for sports is legendary and he is adding this value to the DSAS Swim team. He believes that DSA is instilling the right mindset and principles to the swimmers for their development in the sport. Mennesson says that besides the young children, the team of parents, coaches and employees also play an important part in the development of swimming in the state of Selangor & Malaysia.

 

As a patron, Mennesson looks forward to share his experience in overcoming the adversities as an athlete to the swimmers.  His presence will be a motivation to the young swimmers to challenge themselves to a higher level. Having the mentorship of such accomplished and world class athletes will add immense value to the training in competitive swimming for the Swim Team.

 

 

Besides this, Mennesson will also be advising and guiding the DSAS Swim Team in developing ideas and strategies to expand the value and importance of swimming to society. Swimming needs to develop a lot more as Malaysia has a large coastline and statistics have shown the large number of fatalities of children through drowning which is preventable by proper swimming and life-saving skills education. In addition to providing many health benefits, swimming as an activity also has many positive impacts on the society as a whole. DSA together with Dato’ Setia Aubry Mennesson is going the distance to bring swimming into the everyday life of Malaysians.

 

Leigh Nugent, a well-known legend in Australian Swimming and former Olympic Coach was at the National Aquatic Centre, Bukit Jalil for the DSA Swim Team Clinic on 12th October, 2019. Currently the State Head Coach of Western Australia & South Australia, Leigh had earlier retired from his position as Head Coach of the Australian Swimming Team in 2013. He was the team’s Head Coach at the 2004 Athens Olympics where Australia garnered its second-best swimming medal tally – 7 Gold, 5 Silver and 3 Bronze medals – the best being the 1956 Melbourne Games.

Leigh was recently honoured to have a trophy, the L M Nugent Trophy instituted after him, and awarded to the Champion team at the State Teams Championships at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. Very recently Leigh was also part of the #lookafteryourcoach campaign, an initiative launched by the Brisbane based M5 Management Group.  Leigh along with Kareena Lee, the first swimmer to be named on the 2020 Olympic Team for Australia, joined the push to think about the coaches and consider the sacrifices they make and thank them for their contribution.

The clinic consisted of 3 sessions for the different age groups and open to all the members of the DSA Swimming Club and DSA swimmers.  Focusing on technique and stroke enhancement for better results, the clinic was aimed at improving the performance of budding champions at competitive levels.  A majority of the swimmers who participated in the Clinic were from the DSA Junior Swim Squad aged between 8-12 years old. It was a great step to guide these swimmers at this young age to direct the skills and development in the right direction. Leigh ran a series of swim drills and skill work to improve the stroke techniques and spend time with the DSA coaches also, imparting his extensive knowledge in the field during the sharing sessions that followed. The young swimmers were visibly enthused by the presence and guidance of Leigh and very attentive of the knowledge development. It was greatly satisfying to see results almost immediately with swimmers making visible changes to their performance.

An additional highlight of this clinic was the training camp for seven promising young athletes of the Swimming WA team at the venue. This was part of a new initiative formed by Swimming WA with the assistance from the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries Australia to create a sports development relationship between neighbouring nations. The focus of the training camp was to simulate what athletes would face when qualifying for an Australian Team. Placing the swimmers in a foreign country enabled them to experience and adjust to changes in climate, culture and diet.

DSA extends its thanks and well wishes to Leigh Nugent and the Swimming WA team for being with us on the special occasion. DSA also thanks all the young swimmers of the Junior Squad team and the parents who have participated in the event to make it a great success.

DSA Swimming Club retains the Overall Championship at Mid & Long Distance Meet

 DSA and DSAS Swimming Club had a sweet victory retaining the Overall Championship at the 4th ASUM/NSC/MILO Mid & Long Distance Swimming Championship 2019 held at the National Aquatic Centre, Bukit Jalil on 5th – 6th October. Similar to the previous year’s Meet both the clubs competing together as a single team. One of the largest teams at the Meet with 104 young swimmers, DSA prevailed over the runner-ups with over 13 new Meet records.

Yap Yong Jie, DSA’s champion was at his best again dazzling the Meet with 6 new Meet Records and 6 Golds to go with it. Other Meet Records where from Jerriel Lau with 1 Gold, Silver and Bronze and each with a new Record and Georgene Wee with 2 Sliver and a Bronze also with all new Records. More Golds came from Darwin Mellissa Naily, Hayley Cassandra Yap Hay Ee and the Relay teams in the Girls 11-12yrs, Mixed 11-12yrs and the Mixed 10yrs & under groups. One of DSA Squad Coaches, Anukul Wong won a Bronze in the Boys 18yrs & over group 200M Butterfly event. A detailed view of the Medal tally is given in the table below.

With just a couple of Meets left, the years Swimming Calendar is drawing to a close and all the Clubs and swimmers are gearing up for the penultimate event in the Calendar, the President Cup scheduled for the last weekend of November. It has been a great year for DSA at the Meets with multiple Championships and a whole host of young, talented swimmers getting their initiation in competitive swimming. It is with great pride that we recognize and appreciate the commitment and dedication of the swimmers, parents and the DSA coaches who have been bringing out the best in the swimmers time and again. Cheers Team DSA!

 

Full Results