Sir Winston Churchill Swim Team 2019

Another year of amazing racing from the Churchill Swim Team! With over 53 students ranging from
grade 8 to grade 12, Churchill’s Swim Team is certainly one of the more popular clubs in the school.
They welcome anyone with the motivation and passion to practice swimming. Led by head coach Brian
Deng and his coaching staff, swimmers attended morning practices once a week to focus on stamina
improvement and technical issues. This was a great opportunity for students to relieve stress and work on
maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

On October 28th 2019, the Churchill Swim Team competed in the

high school regional championships. This was an amazing
experience as swim teams all around Vancouver gathered in
Watermania, Richmond to compete for selected spots at the
provincial championships. The field of contestants ranged from
swimmers with little knowledge of the sport to athletes
participating at the national level and beyond. The atmosphere was
wild and exhausting as coaches desperately tried to rally their
swimmers for warmups and pep talks. Alexander Kwo gives his
opinions on the swim meet saying: “The meet was especially
enjoyable because it was a great break from school and an amazing
opportunity to watch others swim. It was great to spend time with
other Churchill swim team members.” The coaches: Alexander,
Kelly, Kylie, Brian and Alexinnie did wonderful jobs in advising
nervous first-timers and provided valuable feedback and
encouragement to those swimming. The managers: Lauren and
Alice did exceptionally well in making sure events were signed up
according to the swimmer’s request. After a chaotic nine hours of
overpopulation at Watermania, Churchill had successfully racked up 17 swimmers that made it through
into provincials.

This year’s high school provincial swimming

championship was on the 15th and 16th of November, with
the 15th being preliminaries and the second-day conducting
finals. Provincials were once again held in Watermania,
Richmond. With many schools throughout British
Columbia attending the swim meet, the pool was once
again packed with swimmers. Provincials introduced the
elite swimmers in all of BC, competing for a spot in the top
16 and a potential medal. This competition showed
Churchill swimmers’ experience and dedication to
swimming, with the mindset of racing and winning,
swimmers were filled with determination. Once again, the
coaches did well on assuring swimmers to perform their
best, filling their minds with encouragement.

The swimming provincial championship finals featured the fastest swimmers in all of British Columbia.
In total, Churchill had 8 swimmers advance into the championship finals. Big shoutout to Jason Li,
Kelvin Ho, Jack Wang, Graydon Tai, Kelly Tan, Alexander Kwo, Eleanor Lee and Yoonsoo Ham for
achieving this astonishing goal. The 200m boys' freestyle team finished 6th place and the 200m mixed
medley team ended up ranking 13th in the province. Regarding the individual events, Jason Li came in
11th place in the 100 backstroke, and Kelvin Ho placed 14th place in the 100 breaststrokes.

The head coach of the swim team, Brian Deng, has one last praise for the swim team before his
retirement: “Swimming is as much a mental game as it is a physical one. This season, you guys have
proven not only your physical grit but also your mental toughness. From weekly 6 am practices to the
provincial swim meet, everyone put in their maximum effort. So many people came to practices and there
were never any complaints. That being said, it has been an absolute pleasure coaching this season. We
had an extremely strong showing at the zone meet, with over 15 people making provincials. I could not be
prouder of this talented and hardworking group of swimmers. Let’s keep up the great work, hope to see
you all next season!”

Sir Winston Churchill’s Swim team is an amazing opportunity for students to relax, keep healthy and the
adventurous and energizing feeling of being at a swimming competition. We encourage all students to
sign up next year for a wonderful experience!