Issue 5, 2019/2020 by Graham Edwards - 9th November, 2019

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Parramatta Inter-Club Cup - Today

We are hosting the Parramatta Inter-Club Cup today at Merrylands Swimming Centre. Swimmers payment of $10 includes your races, pool entry & sausage sandwich. Spectator entry is free.

We will be setting up from 2.00pm and races start at 3.30pm (all swimmers need to be ready to commence warm up at 3.00pm). This means swimmers need to arrive by 2.30pm to prepare & stretch and to be ready to enter the water at 3.00pm.

We need help from all of our parents at this meet, as we need to set up the pool, marshalling, announcer, timekeeping, cooking the bbq and pack upetc. Your help is greatly appreciated.

Let’s show everyone Merrylands is the premier club in the Cumberland Council area.

Club Captains

The following nominations have been received for the positions of Male and Female Club Captains:

Male

Michael Evans

Female

Darla Assi
Laura-Belle Casey
Charlie-Rose El Riachi
Bree Khoury
Sophia Vicic

We will confirm if the nominees accept their nomination and voting will be held next Saturday morning (16th November, 2018) during club races.

Relay Competition - commences today

Last chance 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). The competition commences today and runs over 10 weeks and concludes on Saturday 21st March, 2020. Good luck to all the teams.

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.

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.

Chocolate Fundraising

We have a couple of boxes still to distribute. Please see Trish Johnston if you would like to take another box. We ask that the funds raised be returned to Trish by the end of November 2019. Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to help sell the chocolates and raise funds for the club.

Your help would be appreciated

Welcome and thank you to Emily Ton who has joined the Committee and will assist with the Social Committee. Thank you to Danielle Vicic who has also advised she will take on the role as Chief Timekeeper and join the Social Committee. We still have a few vacant positions and we need your help to fill them. You just need to be a club member 18yrs of age or older.

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

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

Christmas Hamper

Do you know Christmas is only 47 days away? So start planning your activities and present shopping if you haven’t already. We will be holding our Christmas Hamper Raffle and it will be drawn on Saturday 21st December, 2019. We ask if you could please donate non-perishable items from Saturday 7th December, 2019 as these will help us fill the hamper prizes. Tickets will be $1 (book of 10 tickets $10).

We will also be holding a breakfast bbq on the morning after club races.

Metro South West Long Course Senior Championships

Congratulations to our team of 4 swimmers who competed at the Area LC Championships last weekend at SOPAC. We saw great swims, big PB’s, medals & finalist ribbons won by Laurabelle Casey, Brendan Kirkpatrick, Alison Sakurovs and Sophia Vicic. We applaud each of you for your great efforts at the meet.

Timekeepers Course

We would like to add to the eight members so far who have completed the online component of the course already. We encourage anyone still considering to undertake the course to do so as soon as possible, as we plan to arrange the practical assessment for a Saturday morning club races during December. Remember the minimum age is high school student, so we also encourage our Junior members to also obtain their accreditation.

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.

What to do when a race is about to start

We ask for your help when a race is about to start. The only people who should be on pool deck (lower concourse area) are the swimmers for that race, the timekeepers & the check starter. We ask that everyone else remain out of this area and when the referees long whistle is blown that everyone is quiet. This is important as it helps all swimmers hear the starters instructions and they receive a fair start.

Member Profile

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 Events

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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.