Making waves
Year 12 Glen Waverley student Kate Laidlaw has been making waves in Victorian swimming. The 16-year-old was recently awarded the Victorian Women’s Amateur Swimming Association (VWASA) trophy at the Swimming Victoria awards night. The VWASA trophy is awarded to the female who attains the highest aggregate point score in freestyle events at the Victorian Open Championships. Kate is thrilled to have earned such a prestigious award.
The talented teen has been swimming for as long as she can remember, saying she’s “always been a bit of a water baby”. Her interest in competitive swimming was sparked at age 11, when she began squad swimming, and she currently represents Swimming Victoria in the Target Squad, Nunawading Swimming Club in the National Open Squad, and is the 2014 Swimming Captain for Wesley College, in its third consecutive premiership year.
An average day for Kate involves waking up at 4.00am, swimming until 7.00am and eating breakfast on the way to school. After a whole day of school she heads straight back to training from 4.00pm to 6.00pm, then home for dinner and a much-needed sleep, so she can get up and do it all again the next day!
Her sense of discipline and organisation, which has been honed at swimming, helps her manage her Year 12 homework and study, between spare periods and free time on the weekends. She also thanks a wonderful support team for helping her stay on top of things, including House coordinator, Mrs Davies, other teachers, family and friends.
Kate considers her greatest achievement to be winning a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games trials earlier this year, as a member of the 4 x 200 metre freestyle relay team. Her favourite events are distance freestyle and 200 metre butterfly and she hopes to one day represent Australia in these events at an Olympic Games.
Wesley College congratulates Kate on a wonderful achievement and we look forward to seeing what the future has in store for this dedicated student and athlete.
