The South African golfing legend, Gary Player, once famously said, "The more I practise, the luckier I get."

Player is a firm believer that "luck" in a skill-based endeavour is not entirely random but the result of long, hard hours of training.  It is a case of the more you practise and hone your skills, the better you become.

Judging by the results of the 2025 USSA Swimming Championships, there is undoubtedly truth in this. For the seventh year in a row, Tuks were crowned champions over the weekend in Stellenbosch. 

Overall, Tuks scored 405 points. Maties was second with 299, and Varsity College was third with 271. Tuks's men won their team competition, as did the women. Tuks' Kaylene Corbett and Henré Louw also provided the best performances of the championship, according to the World Aquatics points table.

Corbett won the 200m breaststroke in Stellenbosch in 2:26.21 (830 points) and earlier this year also won a bronze medal at the World Swimming Championships. Her winning time of 1:08.47 (821) in the 100m breaststroke was the second-best performance of the event.

Louw won the 400m freestyle in 3:58.54 (785 points) and the 1500m freestyle in 15:58.82 (748). It was the third time that Louw has represented Tuks at the USSA Championships. He considers the event one of the highlights of the local swimming calendar.

"What makes USSA special is the fact that you swim for the team and not yourself. No one wants to let their teammates down. For us at Tuks, it's a wonderful team-building exercise. After every USSA, there is an incredible camaraderie between us. Of course, it's also very special to win the trophies for Tuks."

According to Louw, he was surprised by his times in the 400m and 1500m freestyle events.

"We didn't taper at all for the championships, so I didn't expect to swim those times. My big goal is to qualify for next year's Commonwealth Games. That means I will have to swim even faster. I am up for the challenge.

"I will definitely have to work on improving my underwater techniques as well as my start. I have spoken to Pieter Coetze a lot about this. It is incredible how his underwater techniques have improved from the past to the present. Pieter often encourages me that I can do it too.

"Another thing I will have to work on is my start. I am too static on the blocks, meaning my reaction time is not what it should be. If you have a negative start in the 200 and 400, you make things difficult for yourself. There are exercises in the gym that I do to improve my explosiveness and reaction time."

The other Tuks swimmers who impressed over the weekend and whose performances ranked in the top ten on the World Aquatics point system are:

Men: Arno Kruger (400m freestyle - 4th and 1500m freestyle - 5th), Adriaan Louw (100m backstroke - 6th), Benjamin Plattner (100m butterfly - 9th), Oliva Lange (100m breaststroke - 10th)

Women: Catherine van Rensburg (800m freestyle - 6th), Hannah Pearce (200m backstroke - 8th), and Hannah Robertson (200m freestyle - 9th