Walsh, Seman siblings off to swim in HK

Saipan Swim Club’s young swimmers and siblings Olivia and Gabriel Walsh and P.J. and Vince Seman Jr. are off to Hong Kong for the Hong Kong Island Stingrays Swim Club Annual Summer Invitational Swim Meet 2024.

The meet is set for tomorrow, May 24, until Sunday, May 26. This will be the young swimmers’ first international swim meet.

P.J. is swimming in the 50m and 100m freestyle and the 50m and 100m backstroke. Olivia, Gabriel, and Vince are taking on the 50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke, and 100m individual medley.

For 9-year-old Gabriel, he said, “I’m nervous and happy because it’s my first time to go to another country for swimming.” Even with that, he said, he’ll persevere and try to bring home some medals.

For 8-year-old Olivia, she said she’s nervous as well as it’s also her first time to compete off island. Come competition day, she said, “I look forward to swimming hard and trying my best.” Both she and Gabriel are Saipan International School students.

Pamela Walsh said of her children’s first international meet, “Our family is all about health and wellness. We want our kids to develop their bodies as much as they develop their brains. We hope they will appreciate growing up and representing the CNMI: their home. Also, traveling and experiencing new places will give them a more multicultural perspective as they grow older and begin to build their lives as adults.”

Eleven-year-old P.J., also from SIS, said, “I love swimming. I am looking forward to competing in a sport that I love and representing the CNMI. I hope I do well and make everyone proud, especially my coach and family.”

For younger brother 8-year-old Vince of Isla Montessori School, he said, “I am feeling excited and very nervous to swim in Hong Kong against so many other swimmers. But I am also looking forward to this new learning experience.”

Vince Seman, father of P.J. and Vince Jr. said, “We are so humbled by the support of family, friends, businesses, and the Saipan Swim Club community through the raffle fundraiser. These young swimmers will be competing for the first time off-island with hundreds of other swimmers from all over Asia and Pacific. We want them to have fun learning and competing, meeting and getting to know other swimmers. And to take pride and be humbled by this wonderful opportunity to represent the CNMI and SSC.”

The boys’ mother, Catherine, said, “Hopefully, this will be the first of many such opportunities-not just for these four swimmers but also other swimmers from SSC and Tsunami. It’s amazing how well the older swimmers have done in international competitions, even with the limited resources and facilities they have here on Saipan—they managed to practice and train, and excel! I hope we can do more to support these swimmers in this sport.”

As for SCC coach Richard Sikkel, he said, “This will be their first ever official swim meet and I am excited to see how they will do.”

He said that the HK Island Stingrays Swim Club sent SCC an invitation to join their age group swim meets. “I put it out to our parents to gauge interest and a few swimmers/parents expressed interest in going,” he said.

The team left for Hong Kong last Tuesday night.

According to their Facebook page, the HK Island Stingrays Swim Club is a competitive swim club based at Hong Kong International School on Tai Tam. They are focused on developing individuals to achieve their personal best in swimming, sportsmanship, and being a collaborative member of the team.