Altona league kids bear tough conditioning test

There is a famous old proverb that says; “catch them young and they shall be yours forever.” The saying emphasises the importance of a child’s formative years and how whatever happens at this early stage has a bearing in a child’s later years.

That is what the technical team at the Altona-BSK (British School of Kampala) League had on the back of their minds when they introduced the ‘Best of Four’ swim-off events to to “make [the young] swimmers take their conditioning sets very seriously.”

The competition held at the school in Muyenga has nine editions with swimmers divided into two teams; Talons and Colts. Each edition has four rounds. 

Every round represents the different strokes in which the swimmers compete every Friday. 
Episode 1 was successfully completed last Friday as the swimmers competed in the 25m breaststroke. Talons collected 524 points while Colts managed 328.

The event, however, climaxed with the best four swimmers in each of the other three strokes swimming off in an elimination format to determine the winner.

Abigail Mwagale, who had set a league age group record of 18.9 seconds in the breaststroke, showed she was a freak of nature as she made it through three elimination rounds of 25m butterfly to touch at the same time of 16.00 seconds with Tara Kisawuzi in the final race.

Recovering
As lactic acid got the better of Kisawuzi prompting her to go easy in the backstroke swim-off, Mwagale went hard to draw with Paula Nabukeera.

Kisawuzi recovered and thanks to her exceptionally strong kick, won the freestyle leg as Mwagale ceded ground to fellow Talon Chriton Kato in the penultimate freestyle swim-off.

“At some points, Tara and I were out of energy but our team never gives up. I had to lead by example,” Talons captain Mwagale said.

Despite Talons taking initial leads, Kisawuzi’s kick helped Colts wrestle back the medley and freestyle relays as they completed the episode with 669 points, 209 behind Talons.

“We can do better but in the next rounds, we’ll need all our teammates to show up, work hard and be consistent,” Kisawuzi said after Caspian Guma, Terrie Akampa and Tanja Atukunda missed the freestyle and breaststroke rounds.

“The swim-offs were tough for them because they didn’t expect to compete in an elimination format. We wanted to give them a test of what it means to be conditioned,” coach Erick Kisero said.

However, due to the wave of Covid-19, the organisers have suspended the event for at least two weeks.

Caltona-BSK Swim League

Breaststroke Points
Talons            524
Colts                328
Age Group Record - backstroke
Tara Kisawuzi (11-12 years)    17.8
Abigail Mwagale (10 & under)    18.9
Total Episode 1 Points
Talons            878
Colts                669

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