On Saturday 16th September the Samui sharks travelled to Thanyapura, Phuket for their first meet of the season. It was the first edition of the Thanyapura open swim league 2017/18. On the way to the competition news reached the coaches that Phuket had been hit by a monsoon and there was doubt as to whether or not the competition could go ahead at all. Luckily the rain held off and the Sharks were able to enjoy a fruitful trip. The Sharks were very happy to have five swimmers make their debut at the competition, they were Petr Volkov, Peter Karas, Lily Nunn, Sophia Hawkes and Tao Fife. Click here for more photos on Flickr They were all extremely brave as it is quite a daunting task especially in the rain. They all did the school proud and the future of swimming at ISS looks bright thanks to these guys. At the competition the Sharks only managed to break four of their own school records, this is a sign that the standard of swimming is rising to such a high level that it is quite an achievement to hold one of these records. Mek Athapaisal broke his own record in the 200 meter freestyle for boys under the age of 8 by 5.32 seconds, a great achievement. Isabella Pozzi broke the record for 13-14 year old girls in the 50 meter backstroke. She came in at 39.99 seconds and became only the second girl in ISS history to achieve this feat. This record had previously stood for 18 months and breaking it is a testament to Isabella’s hard work. Tom Maestracci broke two school records at the event. First he beat his own 50 meter butterfly record by 1.28 seconds with a time of 34.40 and then he went on to beat the record for the 200 meter freestyle by 9.09 seconds recording a time of 2:32.32. Tom is continuing the type of form that earned him senior swimmer of the year in the 2016/17 season. Overall the Sharks managed to achieve 797 points and an incredible 36 personal best times which they should be very proud of. There were too many fantastic swims to list however I feel I should mention Sandra Groven, Taisiya Lavrenkova, Theodore Lees, Lou Maestracci, Seraphina Lees and Valeriya Lavrenkova who recorded some huge personal bests. Sandra Groven in particular is looking very strong at the start of the season. Keep up the good work guys, the next meet, session 2 of the swim league is on November 11th. Coach Mark