Stirling High School pupil Rebecca Schenk was a winner at the recent National Age Groups Artistic Swimming Championships.
Rebecca, who is a member of the SA Junior team, made a splash with her dazzling display of skill, strength and artistry.
The grade 10 pupil, along with her Cape Town-based “duets” partner, Aurelia Pretorius, won the Junior Free and Junior Technical Duets and her club team, the Barracudas Open team (junior and senior swimmers), won the Technical and Free Team events.
Coach Sue Manners-Wood said they had started preparing for the competition after the SA Junior team returned from Peru in September.
She said Rebecca and Aurelia swam both duet routines in Peru and adapted them after listening to international judges’ feedback.
Their experience gained at the Junior Worlds was invaluable and resulted in their achieving a higher (and PB) score at NAG.
An ecstatic Rebecca said she was over the moon when she was announced a winner.
“I am very proud of my results at National Age Groups as it is a reflection of the hard work and commitment I have put into training.
“I have been competing at National Age Groups since 2019 when I was just 10 years old, however, this was my first year representing my current club, Barracudas Synchronised Swimming Club, which is a Cape Town-based club.”
She enjoyed rubbing shoulders with other talented swimmers.
“It was an amazing experience, with competitors as young as six all the way up to Masters level (50-59 category).
“The last day of competition included trials for those competitors who wished to be considered for the South African National Teams which will hopefully get to compete at an international level during the course of 2025,” she said.
Most of her training takes place virtually, as coach Manners-Wood is based in Cape Town along with her duet partner and team.
“I only get to train with my team and duet partner when I fly down to Cape Town for training camps, so this makes it difficult for all of us within the team, as part of the judging system includes scores for synchronisation, which can only be achieved through constant training together.
“Our results mean so much to me as it makes the sacrifice of lost school time and costs of flying to Cape Town all worth it.”
Rebecca said she had always loved artistic swimming, which she started at the age of nine.
“I also enjoy representing my school, Stirling High School, in both water polo and hockey.
“For the last two years, I have had the privilege of representing SA at the Youth (2023) and Junior (2024) World Aquatics Competitions and my motivation to train comes from my desire to be selected to represent SA again in the coming months and years.”
Coach Manners-Wood said she was proud of these achievements, given that most of the time Rebecca had to train alone, from videos, or via Zoom during a weekly coaching session.
“When she was in Cape Town, she often had to train twice a day to fit all her routines in and take advantage of the time together with teammates and duet partner.
“She had to develop advanced time management skills to juggle school work, other school events and sports, a social life and family life.”
Manners-Wood described Rebecca as “quietly confident, and responds positively to a challenge”.
“She is motivated and will work tirelessly at a specific skill until mastered.
“She’s a hard worker and is always co-operative and respectful towards coaches and fellow team members.”
Manners-Wood encourages Rebecca to ‘just do it’.
“Keep striving to be the best you can be, don’t stress about the rest. Control what you can control and let the uncontrollable take care of themselves.”
DispatchLIVE
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