This is due to the highly successful school swimming carnival which was held on February 8, and BCS teacher and Sports Coordinator Hayley Quill said that the huge team is a result of a surge of swimmers coming through the high school. 

“There’s a strong cohort of swimmers in the high school year group now, particularly years seven, eight, and nine,” Quill said. 

“They do squad, because squad has recently started in Braidwood. They’re training [and] enthused, and their parents are also enthused, which makes a big impact.” 

Although the swimmers and the teachers have not discussed any specific goals which they will aim for in Narooma, Quill said that she hopes that the school can continue its historically strong results in the Central Schools Relay.

Braidwood has made it through to state championships for the past two years, which Quill said was “pretty exciting”, and she added that they would “absolutely” look to repeat their previous success. 

While swimming has not always been the strongest sport in Braidwood, Quill said that interest in the sport is “definitely improving”, and that the challenge is maintaining that interest as the children grow up and move into the older high school year groups.

“It weakens off towards the tail end of the years, in Year 10, 11, and 12,” Quill said. 

“That could be because our cohort of kids is a lot smaller in those year groups, or you bring in the fact that body image and that kind of thing starts to play in the kids minds when you hit those age groups.

“But [the interest in swimming is] definitely very positive at the moment … and we had a lot of parent volunteers on the day, and that makes a big difference when your kid’s in a race and your mum is watching.” 

Meanwhile, the primary school students who excelled at the carnival competed in the PSSA District Swimming Carnival yesterday, February 19, which was also held in Narooma.