Dear Parents and Swimmers

Happy New Year

I am delighted to tell you that Shrewsbury International School have been invited to the first hosting of the Bangkok Prep Puppy Cup Development Swim Meet on Saturday 16th January 8am – 2pm.

This introductory meet has been designed as an ideal first swim meet and therefore is open only to swimmers in:

• Year 2 Swim Team
• Development Squad
• Level 0
• Level 1

Any swimmer in the above groups who represented Shrewsbury at the ISB SwimFest will not be eligible for this event. 

Age groups are:

• 8 years & under
• 9 years
• 10 years
• 11 years

Events:

• 25m Freestyle
• 25m Backstroke
• 25m Breastroke
• 25m Butterfly
• 50m Freestyle’
• 4 x 25m Freestyle Relay

Swimmers will be expected to compete in all individual events and to be available for the relay team, should numbers permit.

Team size had been limited by Bangkok Prep to 30 swimmers per team, and as such will be on a first come first served basis. If you are interested in attending the competition please see Mrs Gill for an entry form. The entry fee is 500thb which must be paid directly to the school accounts department before confirmation of your place can be made. Entries will close at 4pm on Thursday 7th January.

Full meet details from Bangkok Prep can be found below: [pdf-embedder url=”http://blogs.shrewsbury.ac.th/swimming/files/2016/01/Puppy-Cup-Details-2.pdf”]

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Mrs Gill in the Sports and Activities Office.

Best Wishes

Mrs Gill

Dear Parents and Swimmers

Thank you to those who have recently given feedback regarding the current swim team swim wear, in response to this feedback we are currently redesigning the swim team swim wear. Please could you spare 5 minutes of your time to complete the anonymous survey below expressing your interest in the following swim wear items. Should there be enough demand, the items will be available later in 2016.

Swim Team Swim Kit Survey

Many Thanks

Mrs Gill

Dear Parents and Swimmers

Please ensure the following important dates are in your diary for the remaining two weeks of term:

• Saturday 5th December and Monday 7th December : No swim training

Swim event selection for students who wish to represent Shrewsbury at the FOBISIA U13 Games (Hosted by Dulwich Shanghai) will take place during PE lessons:

• Year 7 – Boys and Girls – Day 3 period 6 (Wednesday 2nd December) & Day 7 Period 6 (Tuesday 8th December)
• Year 8 – Boys and Girls – Day 2 Period 6 (Tuesday 1st December) & Day 4 Period 5 (Thursday 3rd December)

Swimmers will swim 2 events on each day.

Junior swimmers who wish to be considered for the Primary FOBISIA Games (year 5 & 6 Hosted by Bangkok Patana), swim trials will take place on

• Tuesday 8th December 2.40 – 4.30pm

Please register your intention to attend these trials here: Primary FOBISIA Games Swim Trial Sign Up

Any student who wishes to be considered for either the U13 or Primary FOBISIA Games (Swimming, Athletics, Football & Teeball/Basketball) will be required to attend the appropriate swim trials session.

• Wednesday 9th December – End of term Christmas Cracker Swim Meet

A fun end of term swim meet will be hosted on Wednesday 9th December 2.40 – 4.30pm, Please register your interest in this swim meet Swim Meet Sign Up

The event is open to all pre-registered students in year 2 upwards: Please sign up here: Swim Meet Sign Up, the meet program will be available on Tuesday 8th December on Meet Mobile and to download from the swimming blog.

• Thursday 10th December – No after school activities

Please kindly note for those swimmers representing Shrewsbury at the FOBISIA Swimming Championships – January 2016 – Hosted by BIS- Phuket, training will continue as normal over the next two weeks with the exception of Thursday 10th December. Swimmers are also welcome to attend the Christmas Cracker Meet.

Have a wonderful week

Mrs Gill

Nutrition after a training session is essential for swimmers to recover and train hard at their next session, particularly if you are training twice a day or when a swimmer has a full day at school.

Swimmers should look to consume around 50g of carbohydrate within the first hour of finishing the training session.

After morning training an ideal takeaway breakfast that can be brought from home are overnight oats – oats soaked in a liquid of your choice – ideally sugar free almond or rice milk together with a fruit for sweetness and flavour. These are made the night before and stored in the fridge, they can be packed before training and brought with you to eat after you leave the pool or finish the fitness session.

Other choices include:

• 2 slices toast/bread with jam or honey or banana topping
• 1 large bowl (2 cups) breakfast cereal with milk
• 200g tub of yoghurt

Successful swimmers refuel after training, they feed their muscles to repair, becoming stronger and faster.

Together with the correct food, it is essential swimmers remain hydrated; performance deteriorates after just a 1% decrease in hydration. Swimmers should always have with them a water bottle and continue to hydrate both throughout the session and also the day ahead. Just because you are in water does not mean you are not sweating.

37 swimmers competed over the weekend at the annual ISB SwimFest, 20 teams with over 1000 swimmers attended the two day event, together with two swimmers who have a wild card entry to the 2016 Rio Olympics, watching them compete was an inspiration to every swimmer there.

Swimmers were able to swim in a maximum of four individual and two relay events over the two day event. Those swimmers who placed in the top 12 scored points towards both their individual and team score. This team score was then divided by the number of swimmers each team had, with Shrewsbury achieving 2nd place behind Thanyapura SilverFinz.

Congratulations to all swimmers who swam this weekend; in total 145 individual swims were completed of which 108 were a new personal best time – this is a 74.5% personal best rate – the highest achieved by Shrewsbury at ISB SwimFest to date.

Full results can be downloaded here > SwimFest 2015 results

Shrewsbury results can be downloaded here > Shrewsbury only results

In the Boys under 8 Championship Pippin (4JO) won all four of his individual events (50m Freestyle, 25m Breaststroke, 25m Butterfly & 100m IM) to score a maximum 64 points. Each swim was a new personal best time. Congratulations to Pippin who won the Boys Under 8 Championship.

Moving into a new age group provides swimmers with a new exciting challenge to embrace. Loogcliun 5SW, wholeheartedly took on board this challenge over the weekend. Swimming in four events in the 9 – 10 year old age group he placed 1st in the 50m Breaststoke, 3rd in the 50m Fly, 5th in the 100m IM and 6th in the 50m Freestyle. All four swims recorded Loogcliun new personal best times. Loogcliun placed 3rd overall in his new age group an outstanding achievement.

Also in the 9-10 year old age group, Prim 5DS fought extremely hard in this very big and competitive age category. Not phased by the number of entrants she swam in the 50m Backstroke (4th), 50m Butterfly (5th), 100m IM (3rd), and 50m Freestyle (2nd) achieving two new personal best times during the event. These outstanding swims in a very tough age group were rewarded with a joint 3rd place together with Jenny (Bangkok Prep) and Nana (NIST). Well done girls.

Win 9MT also moving in a new age group this year (13 -14 years) found himself swimming against swimmers a year older than him, this did not distract him and he rose to the challenge. Swimming in the 200IM, 50m Fly, 50m Freestyle and 100m Freestyle Win won both the 200IM and 50m Fly and achieved four new personal best times. These results placed him in joint 3rd place in his new age group.

In the relay teams the girls 9-10 year old freestyle relay team placed 2nd in a closely fought event.

A huge congratulations to every swimmer who swam exceptionally well this weekend with a special mention to those swimmers who competed in their very first ever competition – Medbua, Sahana and Elijah and a huge thank you to all the parents and supporters who came along to the event.

สู่อนันตกาล : ชีวิตฉัน และสตีเฟ่น ฮอว์กิ้ง

Translated from Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen

By เจน ฮอว์กิ้ง ผู้แปล โคจร สมุทรโชติ

Genre Non-fiction

Reviewed By Ms. Mameaw

Rating 9.5/10

หากให้นั่งจับเข่าคุยกันเรื่องนักวิทยาศาสตร์ที่โด่งดัง นามที่จะผุดขึ้นมาเป็นอันดับต้นๆ เลย นั่นคือ ไอแซค นิวตัน อัลเบิร์ต ไอน์สไตน์ กาลิเลอิ กาลิเลโอ เบนจามิน แฟลงคิน โทมัส เอดิสัน ฯลฯ ซึ่งนักฟิสิกส์ นักเคมี หรือนักวิทยาศาสตร์เหล่านี้มีเพียงผลงานของเขาเท่านั้นที่ยังคงทำให้เราตระหนักถึงการมีชีวิตอยู่เพื่อการค้นพบ

แต่หากเราพูดถึงยุคสมัยที่ทุกอย่างเอื้ออำนวย การทดลองทุกอย่างง่ายต่อการศึกษา ใครจะรู้ว่าในยุคที่เทคโนโลยีกำลังเฟื่องฟู นักฟิสิกส์คนหนึ่งกำลังต่อสู่กับตัวเองเพื่อที่จะไขทฤษฏีและหาคำตอบให้กับทุกอย่างบนโลก

ปฏิเสธไม่ได้เลยว่า Stephen Hawking เป็นนักฟิสิกส์ผู้ยังมีชีวิตที่ถูกพูดถึงมากที่สุดเลยก็ว่าได้ ไม่ใช่เพียงทฤษฏีที่สตีเฟ่นค้นพบเท่านั้น แต่ยังรวมไปถึงชีวิตที่ไร้ขีดจำกัดทางความคิด ถึงแม้ร่างกายของเขาจะพิการก็ตาม (โรค Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) หรือโรคกล้ามเนื้ออ่อนแรงที่เกิดจากการขาดเซลล์ประสาทนำคำสั่งมาควบคุม)

เกริ่นถึงสตีเฟ่น ฮอว์กิ้งมาถึงขั้นนี้ อาจจะเข้าใจผิดว่าสู่อนันตกาลจะเป็นหนังสือที่กล่าวถึงความสำเร็จของสตีเฟ่น แต่ไม่ใช่เสียทีเดียว เพราะหนังสือเล่มนี้เขียนโดย เจน ฮอว์กิ้ง ผู้หญิงที่เป็นอดีตคนรัก ภรรยา คุณแม่ลูกสาม และผู้ดูแลที่ใกล้ชิดสตีเฟ่นที่สุดในช่วง 30 ปี ตลอด 24 ชั่วโมง ก่อนที่ทั้งคู่จะหย่าร้างกัน

กว่าสามสิบปีที่เธอใช้ชีวิตร่วมกับกับสตีเฟ่น ฮอว์กิ้ง เธอนำพาเรากลับไปยังจุดเริ่มต้นผ่านตัวอักษร กระดาษทุกหน้าของหนังสือ ตั้งแต่ช่วงที่เธอและสตีเฟ่นเป็นเพียงเด็กน้อย ก้าวเข้าสู่วัยแรกรุ่น พบรักกัน ความสำเร็จเมื่อครั้งเรียนอยู่ออกซ์ฟอร์ด จนเข้าสู่จุดเปลี่ยนครั้งยิ่งใหญ่ของสตีเฟ่นที่ชีวิตเขาถูกกัดกินด้วยโรคร้าย แต่ผู้หญิงที่เลือกจะอยู่ข้างเขาคือเจนคนนี้นี่เอง

ถึงชีวิตคู่สตีเฟ่นและเจนจะจบลงไม่สวยงาม แต่การที่เจนได้ใช้ชีวิตกับนักฟิสิกส์อันดับหนึ่งของยุค ทำให้เธอค้นพบหลากหลายมิติมุมมองที่มีต่อสตีเฟ่น นั่นคือสตีเฟ่นเป็นเพียงมนุษย์ธรรมดาทั่วไป ที่ถึงแม้จะเก่ง และมีมันสมองอัจฉริยะมากแค่ไหน แต่อุปสรรคที่มาในรูปแบบโรคภัยที่ใหญ่ยิ่งกว่าเดินขึ้นภูเขานับสิบลูกทำให้เธอรู้ว่า สตีเฟ่นก็สามารถท้อเป็น เหนื่อยเป็น ซึ่งนั่นไม่ใช่ปัญหา เขาสามารถยืนหยัดและลุกขึ้นสู้ใหม่ทุกครั้งถึงแม้จะรู้ว่ามันยากเกินกว่าควาสามารถของเขาก็ตาม นอกจากนั้นเธอยังเขียนถึงความทุกข์ของเธอเองที่ต้องใช้เวลาทั้งชีวิตดูแลสตีเฟ่น ความเครียด ความย่อท้อ แต่สิ่งที่เจนเขียนออกมา ไม่ได้มีความเกลียดชังแฝงอยู่เลยแม้แต่น้อย ซึ่งภาษาของเจนสามารถถ่ายทอดอารมณ์เหล่านั้นออกมาได้เป็นอย่างดี

สัมผัสความหลากหลายในมิติของชีวิต ความรัก ความเศร้า และทุกข์ระหว่างสตีเฟ่น และเจน ฮอว์กิ้ง  เรื่องรางซาบซึ้งสะเทือนใจสู่ภาพยนตร์ยิ่งใหญ่โดยผู้กำกับมือรางวัล

Dear Parents and Swimmers

Please see below for the psych sheet  and parents information from ISB for the upcoming ISB SwimFest this week. I am delighted to see so many of the Shrewsbury swimmers in the point scoring positions in what looks like being a highly competitive and extremely fun event.

Welcome Parents Flyer

SwimFest 2015 Psych Sheet

In line with school policy, all swimmers are required to travel to the meet on the school bus. Please follow the link below to book a seat on the bus.

Seats are available for parents to accompany their swimmers if booked in advance. Swimmers and parents may travel both to and from the meet on the bus, alternatively if you would like to collect your son or daughter directly from the meet this too is possible. Please indicate your intentions on the form below. Swimmers collected directly from the meet will be required to have been signed out with one of the swim coaching team.

ISB have tightened their security measures this year, ID will be required from everyone entering the school grounds. With over 1000 swimmers taking part in the event it is highly likely you may be delayed entering ISB, for this reason we would actively encourage you to travel on the school bus together with your son and daughter, team buses will receive priority entrance.

Bus Booking

Saturday

The Junior bus will leave the flag pole at SHB promptly at 6.00am (first race 7.30am; warm up 6.50am – 7.15am) with the junior swim session planned to finish at 1.15pm, the junior bus will leave ISB at approximately 1.30pm.

The senior bus will leave the flag pole at SHB promptly at 11.30am with the senior swim session planned to finish at 6.30pm, the senior bus will leave ISB at 6.45pm.

Please note there will be an overlap between sessions – the seniors will be warming up in the warm up pool while the juniors are finishing their final few events.

Sunday

The bus (both senior and junior) will leave promptly at 6.15am with the session finishing at 1pm, the bus will leave after the presentations at around 1.30pm.

A parents meeting will be held afterschool on Wednesday at 4.30pm in the exam hall located on the fourth floor of the senior school building. During this meeting I will go over our new swim meet procedures for this competitive year.

A swimmer meeting will be held in the pre prep studio on Thursday at 2.40pm.

The program is usually available on Friday afternoon, I will email this to you once it has been received from ISB.

Please do not hesitate to contact me any questions or queries you may have.

Best Wishes

Vicki Gill

Dear Swimmers and Parents

Would you like to work specifically on your strokes? If you feel your stroke needs extra development and practice, why not sign up for one the morning or Saturday swim sessions. We currently have a very small number of swimmers atending these sessions who are enjoying 1:1 stroke development with the swim coaches.

If you would like to add a morning or Saturday swim session to your schedule please book with Khun Lynn in the Sports and Activities Office.

Many Thanks

Mrs Gill

Dear Parents

We are delighted by the overwhelming interest in the You Time Stroke School for years 1 and 2 and that many people were disappointed to have not been able to get a place in one of the weekday swim sessions. I am pleased to be able to tell you that there are now 2 additional classes available, these will be on a Saturday morning:

7.15 – 7.45am

7.45 – 8.15am

There will be two classes available (1 x year 1 and 1 x year 2) both with 6 places in each class. Classes begin on Saturday November 7th.

If you would like to book onto either of these classes please see Ms Mica in the Sports and Activities Office, these classes are on a strictly first come first served basis.

Best Wishes

Mrs Gill

Dear Parents and Swimmers

Please do not forgot that Block 2 swimming commences on Monday. The Monday morning training sessions 6.30 – 7.15am will be held in the sports hall and will be a land training fitness session. Participants will require shorts, t-shirts, trainers and water.

Should you have any questions or queries please do not hesitate to contact me in the Sports and Activities Office.

Best Wishes

Mrs Gill