Swimming in Egypt

Final instructions before the first event

Max and Simon swim on the Qatar Academy Swim Team. Three times a week they are trained by a coach that we all appreciate. Coach Jemma swam competitively for the UK National Swim Team and she is a gifted teacher. Both boys have flourished under her coaching style. Max is also the team captain this year.

Simon competing in 200m Individual Medly

Simon getting tips from his Coach

This past weekend we traveled to Cairo for an International Swim Meet. The QA team of 20 students is young and early on in their training. The program at QA is only 3 years old and the oldest students are in Grade 9. It is hard to attract older students because their time commitment with the IB program makes extra curricular activites difficult to squeeze in.

But despite their lack of experience, the QA Swim Team performed very well! They brought home 53 medals in total!

Max on the starting block for 50m backstroke

Max and his 200m Freestyle Relay Team

Max and Simon each earned 6 medals: a variety of gold, silver, bronze, in both individual and team events. It was such fun to watch and cheer them on. Even though Simon says "we can't hear you cheering mom" it still feels like we make a difference from the sidelines.  Tim went on the trip as a chaperone along with two other coaches. He helps coach the Swim team one day a week. Lisa was able to go because her teaching commitments at the University of Calgary are minimal for these few weeks before Christmas. It was a great time to be together as a family.

Max with members of the Swim team

One of the concerns about this swim meet was, of course, the location. The organizers of the meet said that due to political unrest their school teams have not hosted a competition in any sport for more than 3 years. We saw no protests or cause for worry. We did not go see the pyramids, nor did we venture far from the hotel or the pool. But on our return to Doha we did hear about a group of 10,000 protesters that created a riot while we were there. Thankfully that was news to us!

Coach Jemma surrounded by her team