Into his second academic year here at GESS, we review the milestones of our swim programme from the past year and find out from Coach Ivan what other exciting plans he has for his swim team, which is now part of the larger and rebranded competitive sports named GESS Wildcats.
GESS takes immense pride in our world-class facilities and infrastructure to support our expanding suite of sports activities, delivered by a strong and highly qualified faculty team. Last academic year, GESS welcomed Ivan Bunakov as Head of Swimming. Backed by his rich and extensive experience, Ivan wasted no time in discovering the top swim talents in GESS, to accomplish his mission of establishing the best swimming programme among all the international schools in Singapore. He aspires to expand the current GESS swim team and increase enrolment in our after-school swim programme that has now over 250 swimmers. GESS students will also be able to grow their expertise using the latest teaching technologies.
In just less than a year, he has led the GESS swim team to sweep several medals at notable events including the “International Feeding Frenzy Swimming Championships” in Bangkok in March 2023, the “53rd Singapore National Age Swimming Championships” in May 2023, the “German Age Group Swimming Championships” in Berlin, and the 18th Singapore National Swimming Championships in June 2023.
Ivan’s vision goes well beyond GESS and the local swim-scape. He has taken the initiative to open up the school’s swimming programme to the wider swimming community, optimising the use of its unique temperature-regulated Olympic-sized pool. He also has high aspirations of bringing his students to an international level, thereby paving their way for scholarships at universities in Europe and the USA.
Over the last season Coach Ivan has been approached by the World Aquatics to coach Nigerian National swimmer Ada who is a GESS student now. Ada represented Nigeria at the World Aquatics Swimming Championships in Fukuoka this summer and recently represented GESS at the World Junior Aquatics Championships in Israel.
To support Ivan’s plans, he welcomes two new instructors –Maxsim Khmel (or Coach Max in short) and Guan Ki (or Coach Ki) this academic year.
Maxsim Khmel 
Guan Ki
Senior Coach Max not only has a rich personal swimming career but also brings to GESS his vast experience at both local clubs and prestigious international schools in Singapore. His pedagogical background will also allow him to maximise the full potential and abilities of his trainees, working with our core swim squads, supporting strength conditioning programme and reviewing GESS’s swimming curriculum to make sure all students get a quality aquatics program across all grade levels.
Coach Ki also brings with him 10 years of experience, in various local school programmes, including Chua Chu Kang Secondary School swim team and swimming club Swimfast. This beefs up Ivan’s team to fulfil bigger plans in store for GESS swim talents.
Visitors to GESS’ Sports Block would also have noticed new touches to the area – this is part of ongoing effort to build up the sporting and team spirit at GESS, starting with making our sports block home of GESS Wildcats, the symbol of GESS competitive sports. Read about this here:
NEWS – GESS Wildcats: Unveiling a New Era of Unity and Athletic Excellence
