Phuket's British International School (BIS) Flying Fish Swim Club is recognized in Thailand and beyond both for its competitive swimmers and its amazing spirit. The BIS is very proud of their swimmers.

"I am so proud of our Flying Fish athletes and coaches and am very grateful to our parents who have been responsible for the formation of the BIS Flying Fish Swimming Club," said Dr. George Hickman, headmaster. "Without the endless hours of voluntary work by parents, the club would not have become a reality. To me, the most important thing about the club is that it does not only focus on the competitive aspect of swimming. All students are welcome to join, learn to swim and to do so for sheer enjoyment."

In October 2007, Thailand swimming hero and former Olympian Torwai"Oat" Sethsothorn left his home in Bangkok to pursue a coaching career at the BIS Flying Fish Swim Club.

In the few short months that have ensued, Coach Oat has toured in Bangkok and Singapore with his swimmers, he has guided two swimmers to Thailand representation honors, he has fulfilled levels 1 and 2 of a national coaching program, and he was elected as the head coach for Southern Thailand. The club now boasts 100 members across all age groups.

In this role as head coach for Southern Thailand, Coach Oat has joined forces with several local clubs to create the Yanang Cup

The inaugural event was held at the BIS in Phuket on Feb. 9 and is hosted by the BIS Flying Fish Swim Club. The school and its club have the privilege of training in world class facilities, with a 50m and 25m pool available on campus. As well as the hosts, there were three other teams competing for honors: Phuket Country Home, Saphan Hin and Phuket Andaman Swim Club. Swimmers competed across all age groups in 50m, 100m and 200m events.

This long course saw the best of Phuket talent competing, including Gavin Lewis and Karnnika Porter, the BIS Flying Fish Swim Club team captains, who will no doubt have seen the event as a warm-up for the Thailand Junior Nationals this month in Ubon Rachathani.

Another 20 of the BIS Flying Fish Swim Club swimmers will venture to Perth, Australia at the same time to compete in the legendary Indian Ocean Challenge. This event is a qualifying event and showcases the best swimmers from Australia, Asia and Africa. It is a prestige event which was won by the Asian team last year, and it will be strongly defended in 2008.

The coaches of the visiting teams and Coach Oat agree that Phuket has a gold mine of swimming talent that will benefit greatly from competing in a local league. The plan is for these four teams to compete on a regular basis during the year, something that has yet to be offered to Phuket's young swimmers. In the long term, Thailand swimming will greatly benefit from a new opportunity to nurture young swimming talent.

"I have enjoyed swimming my whole life, and I was very proud to swim for Thailand at an Olympic level," Coach Oat said."I hope that in some way we can encourage more swimmers to enjoy the sport and guide those who are interested to perform on a national stage."

The BIS Flying Fish Swim Club is sponsored by the Yamu and David Bateson.

For enquiries, email leanne@flyingfishphuket.com or deetee@csloxinfo.com.