DRASA Avenue Primary School girls swimming team have been crowned overall girls’ champions at the 2025 Fiji Primary and Secondary Schools Swimming Championship held at the Damodar City National Aquatic Centre in Suva on Saturday.
The Lautoka-based school edged out defending champions St Joseph’s Secondary School in the combined results, finishing with 15 gold, 12 silver and 8 bronze medals in the girl’s division. Their boys finished fourth overall.
Drasa head coach Salaseini Lele said the win was a result of hard work, faith and sacrifice.
“Initially I had 30 swimmers but right at the 11th hour, due to injuries and unseen circumstances, we went to Suva with 28 swimmers,” she said.
“This year, we started training a month ago. We had to commit our two weeks break as usual. We only train every morning from 6-8am, five days a week.”
Lele said they focused on the basics in training, knowing the competition would be tough.
“We were just working on our technique and our endurance and speedwork every day at the pool. One thing that stood out was the consistency of our swimmers.”
She said their preparation paid off, especially in the girls’ performances.
“Our boys are stronger than the girls but when we came out, the girls dominated more than was expected.”
Lele thanked the parents, school staff and sponsors for their support.
“Thank you very much to our mums, our dads who are always behind us. I’d like to thank few of our sponsors that helped us in our preparations. We had sponsors from Radisson Fiji, Resort Fiji, Extra Supermarket and FINTEL for the bus. Thank you to our mums, our dads and our community.”
She said their faith was central to their journey.
“Mostly, our source of strength is always God.”
“That was one of my objectives this year to topple the ones above us.”
Meanwhile, Marist Brothers High School topped the boy’s overall division winning 21 gold medals, 10 silver and six bronze.
