A LARGE support system kept swimmer Keiko Smith of Natabua High School on a set course for success as she competed in the 2026 Fiji National Schools Swimming Championships in Suva recently.
Smith competed in the girls 17-19 age category in the two-day meet that began on Friday and finished on Saturday.
Her results in the competition showed strong finishes; she came second in the 400m freestyle with a time of five minutes and 32.18 seconds, first in the 200m individual medley in 2:57.28s, second in the 200m freestyle with a time of 2:28.74, helping her teammates Hannah Wise, Maria Bobi and Katie Pattie finish the 200m medley relay in fourth with a time of 2:22.04,
In the 400m butterfly she took gold with a time of 3:09.85, and helped Natabua finish third in the 200m freestyle relay with a time of 2:06.89.
Speaking of her experience in this year’s competition, she said the swimmers were constantly reminded of what their participation meant at a broader level.
“We’re always being constantly reminded that we’re not only serving for ourselves but we’re swimming on behalf of everyone that supports us; our school, our family and God,” Smith explained.
Preparing for competition this year was not as difficult as it was for last year’s competition, as there was a lot of assistance lent to ease it for this year.
“Preparing for competition was less hard as compared to last year because of different schools, different coaches and different environments.
“It was new this year but I just kept pushing forward because I wanted to make my school proud, as well as my family and most of all, myself.”
With a successful outing for Smith this year, she reflected on how the competition was a platform where she said unconditional sportsmanship had shone through.
“It’s been good; one thing I really enjoyed about this is the unconditional sportsmanship.
“Even though we are all from different schools and all of us are from different backgrounds, we still show up and support each other.
“That is something I’ve noticed in Fiji swimming; we all show up for each other despite our different backgrounds.”
As a secondary school student, balancing her training with studies was of the essence and while she affirmed the difficultly of balancing the two, it gave her a boost to remain even more focused.
“It’s definitely been hard but I find that when you’re training for sport, it’s much easier to stay focused and that’s something I’ve taken from this.
“It helped me to be more focused and concentrate on things I had to prioritise.”
Meanwhile, Natabua finished seventh on the girls medal tally with six gold, four silver and six bronze medals.
