“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.

Event	Swimmer Name	Medal
Group 3 Girls 100m Breaststroke	Georgene Wee Ee Jern	Gold
Group 2 Boys 100m Breaststroke	Sean Goh Min Chang	Gold
Group 3 Girls 100m Freestyle	Chong Kar Hian	Silver
Group 3 Girls 50m Breaststroke	Georgene Wee Ee Jern	Silver
Group 3 Girls 50m Freestyle	Chong Kar Hian	Silver
Group 3 Boys 100m Butterfly	Koh Teck Chen	Silver
Group 4 Boys 100 Backstroke	Wesley Kam Zhuo Wei	Bronze
Group 4 Boys 50m Freestyle	Darren Lew Chen Jet	Bronze
Group 3 Boys 50m Breaststroke	Lee Jia Jing	Bronze
Group 3 Boys 50m Butterfly	Koh Teck Chen	Bronze

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•  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