SSA Grand Prix 2nd leg & Age Group Gala 8 5th to 7th February 2016
KZNA will be hosting the 2nd leg of the SSA Grand Prix Series which started in Nelspruit in January and will move onto PE and Cape Town for the last two legs later in the month.
The SSA Grand Prix series is part of SSA long-term development program which will give high-level competition for all locally based swimmers.
These galas will allow senior elite swimmers the opportunity to experience tough racing conditions over two days. As the SSA Grand Prix 2nd leg is set up as Heats in the evening starting at 19H00 and Finals to be swum the next day at 12H00, KZNA has scheduled Age Group Gala 8 to be swum between the Finals and Heats on Saturday and before the finals on Sunday.
KZNA will be hosting the SSA Grand Prix 2nd leg and they would like all KZN registered swimmers that have swum a Youth or National qualifying time to enter the Grand Prix and it will be a great opportunity for all our other swimmers to see KZN based swimmers take on the elite from the other provinces.
AGE GROUP GALA 8
Due to combination of the SSA Grand Prix 2nd leg and Age group 8, KZNA has time constraints, therefore, the Age Group Gala will accommodate only the top 10 entries received in the following age groups: 10 and under, 11 years, 12 years, 13 years, 14 years, 15 and over
Events:
Saturday: 200 Back, 50 Free, 100 Breast, 200 Fly (14 and under and 15 over) 100 Free.
Sunday 200 IM, 100 Back, 200 Free, 100 Fly, 200 Breast
Entering Monica into Age group 8:
In our previous post, we discussed the rules of swimming and our disappointment when our daughter, Monica Botha, cannot swim her favorite 100 and 200-meter Freestyle events at the Provincial championships in February at the age of 8 due to level 2 qualifying times.
As swim mom, I realized that we will run into this a lot more and we now view the news as a positive rather than negative as it will give Monica a chance to focus on the 100-meter Butterfly which will be the last event on day 1 of the swim meet.
Yay’s and nay’s will always be part of her swimming career which is still a long road that lies ahead. With the disappointing news, came some other good news!
We studied Monica’s seeded times and were not sure if she places in the top 10 in the 10 & Under age group. We were also not sure if KZNA would let her swim at this age group gala due to her age (8). Nevertheless, we decided to enter Monica in all 8 events over the two-day period and sent the entries through. Below Monica’s top seasonal times by January 2016.
The last swim meet for level 1 swimmers takes place in November of each year and we never know how many swimmers celebrate their birthdays between November and January when swimming starts again. Many swimmers move on to the next age group during this period of time which means the top 10 times in 10 & Under change as well.
We received the good news that Monica could swim the 8 events, which confirms that she is ranked in the top 10 girls 10 & Under age group in Kwazulu Natal. This is going to make for good swimming on 5-7 February 2016.
So even though Monica cannot swim at some of the development galas, she is able to swim the age group events which gives her an opportunity to improve her times.
Our favorite quote is that of Katy Ledecky:
If you have a lane, you have a chance.
Taken into account Monica’s words to me: Mom, you can enter me for any event and I will swim it, always ring clear in my mind when doing her entries. We need to keep her in the water, get her a lane and let her swim. As parents, we have an agreement with her that we will not do anything to hurt her or expect something from her which we know she is not ready for.
Looking forward to the 2016 Grand Prix and age group gala next week!!