When the BISP JSA Swim Academy at British International School, Phuket (BISP) first took to the pool in August 2013, the team had five international swimmers on scholarship, four swimmers from the school\u2019s Flying Fish club team and high hopes.<\/p>\n
During the August to December 2014 swim season, the team\u2019s nine swimmers (five girls and four boys) competed in the Thailand Nationals, Hungarian Nationals, World Championships, African Championships, Dubai International, Singapore Nationals and ASEAN School Games and set a total of 18 national and team records.<\/p>\n
Heading into 2015 the team, which has grown in numbers (now nine girls and eight boys), have already racked up new national open and international age-group records and two have qualified for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo far this year we\u2019ve broken 41 national records,\u201d says Head Coach Simon Jones<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe currently have 17 international swimmers in the program, which will grow to 25 in August with new swimmers attracted to the school and commencing in the forthcoming school year.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a very unique situation here. The school supports our athletes\u2019 ambitions both sporting and academic, by offering an environment where students receive a holistic approach to learning and training. <\/p>\n \u201cBISP strives to provide an experience that enables the swimmers to access collegiate opportunities post high school whilst excelling in sports, with assistance in sports nutrition and strength and conditioning as part of the program.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of schools are starting to attempt to combine sporting scholarships with academics, but are not as committed as we are, and that\u2019s all due to the vision and implementation of the academy idea by Headmaster Neil Richards.<\/p>\n \u201cMr Richards strongly believes that sports build character, and the discipline and skills involved in this sporting and academic balance will help our students achieve their goals during their lifetime.\u201d \u201cEing is one of our strongest female swimmers,\u201d Simon says. \u201cShe made the finals in the 200-meter breaststroke at the 2014 Asian Games and has already qualified for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games in the 200m individual medley. She has until next June to qualify and I expect her to qualify in up to five events over the coming 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n The swim team\u2019s other 2016 Olympic swimming qualifier is Malaysian Wong Fukang<\/strong>, 16.<\/p>\n \u201cFukang has qualified in the 100m breaststroke and recently broke the Malaysia record,\u201d Simon explains. \u201cFukang is looking to catapult himself into the upper echelons of world junior swimming over the coming year and it is expected that he will add one more event to his 100m breaststroke qualification in the build up to the Olympics.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are not the only possible qualifiers for next summer\u2019s Olympic showcase. We have a number of other top age group contenders that are knocking on the door of the Olympic \u2018B\u2019 qualifying standard, and with things going our way, we could have up to seven on their respective international teams at the ultimate sporting event. <\/p>\n \u201cOne of the possible qualifiers is Filipino Roxanne Yu<\/strong>, 18, who will be graduating from BISP with an IB Diploma this summer, and has been offered a scholarship in the United States to the University of Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n Roxanne has established several national records in the backstroke events during her time at BISP and has been the team\u2019s senior figure and mentor for younger swimmers joining the program.<\/p>\n With swimmers already qualified and selected to represent their home countries at the World Championships in Kazan, Russia, at the end of July, the World Junior Championships in Singapore in August, and the Commonwealth Youth Games in September, the team certainly has plenty to train for this summer. However all attention is currently focused on the 28th South East Asian (SEA) Games in Singapore, which will be held from June 6-11.<\/p>\n \u201cBISP swimmers qualified for this event are Eing, Fukang, Roxanne, Raine Gavino, representing the Philippines, and Chantal Liew swimming for Singapore,\u201d Simon explains. <\/p>\n \u201cBetween the five of them, they will compete in 15 races, plus the 4x100m medley, 4x100m freestyle and 4x200m freestyle relays. Hopefully, we\u2019ll be in 15 finals with a strong possibility of bagging a bounty of medals.\u201d<\/p>\n For more information on the British International School, Phuket (BISP) JSA Swim Academy, visit: www.bisphuket.ac.th\/bisp-jsa-swim-academy<\/a>, the Facebook page<\/a>, or contact Head Coach Simon Jones: aquatics@bisphuket.ac.th<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When the BISP JSA Swim Academy at British International School, Phuket (BISP) first took to the pool in August 2013, the team had five international swimmers on scholarship, four swimmers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":134747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[51555,51553,51554,142,51556],"class_list":["post-134743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-world","tag-bisp-jsa-swim-academy","tag-british-international-school","tag-simon-jones","tag-swimming","tag-wong-fukang"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n
\nThe BISP JSA Swim Academy team truly reflects the international flavor of the school. Its roster includes student athletes from the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Hungary, the Netherlands, the Seychelles, Namibia, and Phuket\u2019s own 17-year-old Phiangkwan \u2018Eing\u2019 Pawapotako<\/strong>.<\/p>\n