Swimming
RBAI has a very long and proud history of swimming. Junior, Intermediate and Senior Teams compete in various schools’ competitions each year with the highlight of every pupil’s school swimming career being The Bath Cup/John Nalson Medley Competition held in The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London.
The Bath Cup, inaugurated in 1910, is an invitational Freestyle 4 x 100m Relay competition fiercely contested by schools from across the UK. RBAI first saw victory in 1979 and then not again until 2006 and 2008, after these wins there was another gap before two more in 2015 and 2017. At the same event, teams also compete in the John Nalson Medley Relay Team Race, 4 x 50m, formerly known as the Otter Cup. RBAI saw success in this competition four times in the 1970’s, twice in 2007 and 2008 and most recently in 2015, 2016, 2017. It will come as no surprise that the team achieving these latter wins included our 2024 GB Olympic Gold Medalist Jack McMillan.
Pupils train regularly with swimming clubs outside school, coming together at schools’ galas to represent RBAI at their chosen sport. This academic year there will be no training in school due to the closure of the pool. However, we very much look forward to the new facility opening as part of the School Improvement Plan 2023-26.
Water Polo
The RBAI Water Polo Club is open to pupils in all age groups. Due to the recent closure of the School pool, boys have been invited to train alongside Methodist College on a Friday morning at the Queens Physical Education Centre before school. Transport collects them at the end of the session to be in school for period 1.
Recognition of individual success in 2023 24 to Conor Hanna, Year 12 for his selection for the U15 Irish Water Polo Team as well as the U16 squad with whom he competed in the Aquatic Sports Association Boys Inter-Regional Water Polo Championships.
