Issue 3, 2019/2020 by Graham Edwards - 26th October, 2019

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Club Championship Races

Today is the commencement of club championship races and there are championship events on most club mornings for the rest of the season. A couple of reminders about these events:

• Club races commence at 7.00am, with the championship event the first event of the morning;
• Make sure you are at the pool prior to 7.00am, as you do not want to miss your race;
• If you arrive after your event has marshalled and commenced you will not be able to swim in the event.

To be eligible to enter championships the swimmer must be financial in this season. The swimmer must have swum the same stroke and same distance during the current season (check the program and plan your swims carefully).

If there is a championship for your age (whether you are swimming in it or not) you can swim:

• your Age championship
• the Open championship (subject to having swum in your age championship)
• 2 other events
• Senior Handicap (if 17 and over)
• Relay (if there is one on the program for the day)

If there is NO championship for your age you can swim:

• 3 events
• Senior Handicap (if 17 and over)
• Relay (if there is one on the program for the day)

If you enter too many events your entries for the extra event/s will be withdrawn when the program is prepared for the day. The 2019/2020 season program can be downloaded at https://merrylandsasc.asn.au/clubraces/

Upcoming Club Events

We will be hosting three swimming meets at Merrylands Swimming Centre this season. The Inter-Club Cup will be held at Merrylands Pool on Saturday 9th November, 2019 and this is a short meet where every swimmer (young and not so young) from our club competes. The program for this meet is on the club noticeboard. Team members will be selected over the next week, with all members in consideration for this meet.

We will be holding the Masters Sprint Meet and Merrylands SwimFest meets on Saturday 22nd February, 2020. We will need your assistance at both of these meets, as hosting meets is the major fund raising activity for our club.

Club Captains

Nominations for the positions of Male and Female Club Captains are open and close at 9.30am on week 4 (2nd November, 2019). All financial first claim members can vote for these positions on week 6 (16th November, 2019).

We need your help!

We have a few vacant positions following the Club’s Annual General Meeting in May and we need your help to fill them. You just need to be a club member 18yrs of age or older.

Social Committee Member

Role: Helps organising or running social activities e.g. BBQs, Raffles, etc.
Time Commitment: On average, 30 minutes on a Saturday morning during Club Races selling Raffle Tickets
Attend Committee Meetings: No
Questions: Ask Tricia Johnston what is involved
Can you help?: Email secretary@merrylandsasc.asn.au to volunteer

Learn to Swim Committee Member

Role: Helps with the administration of Learn to Swim on a Saturday morning – marking off names, handling enquiries
Time Commitment: 30-45 minutes on a Saturday morning while learn to swim is running
Attend Committee Meetings: No
Questions: Ask Leanne Tovkach what is involved
Can you help?: Email secretary@merrylandsasc.asn.au to volunteer

Assistant Treasurer

Role: Assists collecting payments on a Saturday morning when the Treasurer is unavailable
Time Commitment: 20-30 minutes on a Saturday morning, following Club Races, when the Treasurer is unavailable
Attend Committee Meetings: No
Questions: Ask Ian Johnston what is involved
Can you help?: Email secretary@merrylandsasc.asn.au to volunteer

Chief Timekeeper

Role: Organising Timekeepers on a Saturday morning
Time Commitment: Duration of Club Races
Qualifications: Ideally will hold the Chief Timekeeper Technical Official Accreditation
Attend Committee Meetings: No
Questions: Ask Graham Edwards what is involved
Can you help?: Email secretary@merrylandsasc.asn.au to volunteer

All these positions have a very small time commitment, but are vital to the smooth running of the club.

Timekeepers Course – Today

Thank you to everyone who took the time to attend the Timekeepers course video presentation over the last two weeks. We encourage you to now complete the online test and we will then arrange the practical assessment to help you obtain your accreditation.

If you weren’t able to attend either of the sessions you can view the video and undertake the test online in your own time. We encourage all of our members (from secondary school age and above) to become a technical official. Timekeeping is a great introductory accreditation and is a very important aspect of swimming races, as every swimmer deserves an accurate time.

To access the online video and test:

1. Visit https://nswtraining.swimming.org.au/courses/timekeeper/
2. Click the green “Take this Course” button at the bottom of the page
3. Register for an account on the site
4. Once logged in, you can watch the video again, or scroll to the bottom of the page and click “Timekeeper Theory Test”
5. Once you have successfully completed the test, email a copy of your certificate to technical@merrylandsasc.asn.au and we will organise the practical assessment.

Swim Central – Don’t Shoot the Messenger

A number of members are experiencing difficulty with Swim Central for membership and online entries. Please remember this system is provided by Swimming Australia & Swimming NSW. If you have complaints or feedback we recommend you provide this to Swimming Australia & Swimming NSW by completing the following surveys:

Membership Survey: https://bit.ly/2IBk2hp 
Meet Entries Survey: https://bit.ly/2ARsjtk 

Remember: Please do not leave your meet entries until the last minute. Our Race Committee are able to help you if you are having difficulties, but don’t leave it until Thursday afternoon to ask for help (or after entries have closed).

Online Entries – Check Your Events Carefully

In the new online entries system, the descriptions of the events cannot be changed e.g. Senior Handicap instead of 50m Freestyle, or 100m Backstroke Championship instead of 100m Backstroke. Please check your event selections carefully before you pay.

Club Uniform

We have a great range of club uniform items available for sale. These can be sourced through our online shop (https://shop.merrylandsasc.asn.au/). Please see our Property Officer (Margaret Edwards) if you need assistance or have questions about the club uniform items.

Relay Competition

Remember to organise your team if you have not done so yet (maximum of 6 team members, with any 4 of the team swimming each week). Time trials conclude today and the competition commences on Saturday 9th November, 2019. The competition is held over 10 weeks and concludes on Saturday 21st March, 2020.

Learn to Swim – Commences Today

The LTS program offered by the club commences today. Thankyou to everyone who helped with grading last week. Please make welcome our LTS participants.

Member Profile

We will again provide the member profile in the Whales Tales and we would like to provide a profile of our members throughout the season. See Graham to provide your profile information for inclusion in future editions of the Whales Tales.

Chocolate Fundraising

We are running the chocolate fundraising activity again this season. We have boxes of yummy healthy treats available, so please see Trish Johnston to take a box or two. Monies can be returned to Trish as well and we plan to complete this activity by the end of November 2019

Sponsors

We again thank our major sponsors who provide fantastic support to our club. If you know of a business or organisation who may be interested in providing sponsorship or support to our club please let Graham know.

Upcoming Events

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