Issue 1, 2020/2021 by Graham Edwards - 10th October, 2020

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Welcome

Welcome to our existing members and new members joining us for the first time. As a family oriented club we encourage swimmers of all capabilities and ages.

We hope you enjoyed the online Presentation recently held. Thank you to Peter & Alison for their great organisation of the event and the Committee members who took the time to present awards. We will arrange the collection of trophies & awards over the coming weeks.

We are planning a jam-packed season and the season program can be found here. Please take time to review the season program and plan your swims early.

Whales Tales will be only be available online given health guidelines. So ensure you register for the online version (published every Saturday morning).

Sign Up for Whales Tales

Committee 2020/2021

You can find our 2020/2021 Committee Members here.

We do have some Vacant Committee Member positions and we would welcome members volunteering to join the Committee and participate in the ongoing management of the club.

COVID-19 Safety Plan & Protocols

Sign-In for Spectators & Volunteers

Health guidelines play an important role in setting the protocols the club is required to comply with. The Committee has undertaken significant work to prepare for the return to club races. A COVID-19 Safety Plan for the club has been developed and it is continually updated as health guidelines change. The Committee members have also undertaken COVID-19 Infection Control training.

We ask for your assistance in complying with the protocols & plan in place. We will communicate changes as they occur and these updates can be found here.

Please remember:

• Anyone (coach/athlete/parent/official/spectator) who is unwell for any reason should not attend any training, competition or club activity;
• If you become unwell whilst at the pool please advise us and leave immediately;
• Protect yourself and others from getting sick by following good personal hygiene practices and maintaining physical distancing. We have hand sanitiser available for your use;
• Swimmers should not share any equipment including googles, drink bottles or towels;
• Maintain social distancing when at the swimming centre. We have designated areas around the pool and ask for your assistance in complying with these;
• If you wish to wear a mask whilst at the pool we recommend that you bring this with you;
• Download the COVID-19 app to assist with contact tracing if it is required.

As health guidelines can change rapidly we need to be able to contact all of our members electronically. Your contact details are important to us and we need them to be up-to-date at all times.

Please check your swim central profile and ensure your contact details (parents & children) are up-to-date.

A couple of important changes this season are: 

• No manual card entries will be accepted. Club Race entries can only be done through Swim Central;
• No cash payments will be accepted. Purchases need to be made online through the online shop;
• No raffles or bbq breakfasts at present. Changes to these may be made as health guidelines are updated;
• We must keep a record of all people attending club events (club races and training sessions) for contact tracing purposes.
• Competitors are recorded automatically through their online race entry so they do not need to sign in on a Saturday morning;
• Officials, Volunteers & Spectators (who aren’t competing in races) must sign in at the pool entry (Council has an app option or paper form to complete). In addition, the club is required to also record attendees, so we ask that you sign in using the QR code (see the QR code in the Whales Tales) to complete an online form each time you attend a club event. We will have a sign-in area for this;
• Normal pool entry applies and you will need to scan your Council pool card for entry;
• No club room access. Access is limited for only obtaining equipment required to be used. This means that no-one should enter the club room and equipment should not be stored along the front verandah area;
• We recommend you leave the swimming centre after completing club races. Council is allowing recreational swimming, subject to maximum numbers allowed at any one time, however we believe it is in your health interests to leave the centre after club races.

Club Uniforms

We have a great range of club uniforms available for sale. These can be purchased through the club’s online shop. If you have any questions about club uniforms please talk to the Property Officer (Margaret Edwards).

Technical Officials

Welcome back to all of our technical officials. For those who are non-swimming members don’t forget to renew your non-swimmer membership to ensure your technical accreditation remains current.

Championship Eligibility

The Club By-Laws set out the Eligibility to Compete in Championships (By-Law 21). Some key points to remember are:

• Only Financial First Claim Members are eligible to compete in Championships;
• Entrants must have swum that stroke and that distance in the current season.

It is therefore important to plan your swims so that you have swim the stroke and distance if you plan to compete in the Championship for that stroke and distance. The season program sets out the Championship dates to allow appropriate planning of your swims.

There are many situations that may arise which impact on swimmers plans. These situations may mean for example that the pool is closed for club races or the individual swimmer may have circumstances which preclude them from swimming at a particular time (for example COVID-19 health guidelines constantly being changed and updated). All members must continue to comply with health guidelines that are in place and there may be circumstances arise which impact on your ability to swim the stroke and distance in eligibility preparation.

As such the Committee strongly recommends that swimmers plan and undertake their eligibility swims as early in the season as possible, rather than leaving these swims to the last week available before the Championship event is to be swum.

A failure by a swimmer to swim an eligibility swim will preclude their participation in that Championship.

Club Records

A total of 11 club championship records were broken last year. Congratulations to all the swimmers. How many can be broken this season???

Annual Presentation

If you missed the recent presentation, or would like to watch it again you are in luck. It can be viewed here.

Learn to Swim

The club Learn to Swim program will commence soon. Program and enrolment details will be available over the weekend, so stay tuned to the club website for these details.

Club Captains

Nominations for the positions of Male and Female Club Captains are open and close at 9.30am on week 4 (31st October, 2020). Information about the duties and responsibilities of Club Captains can be found on the club website in the By-Laws.
All financial first claim members can vote for these positions on week 6 (14th November, 2020).

Squad Enrolment

It’s time to complete your squad enrolment if you haven’t already done so. See the details here.

Relay Competition

The team relay will again be hotly contested this season. Congratulations to the Swim the Winner team who won the relay competition last season. A very close finish to the season saw Swim the Winner (Ruby Shrestha, Pare Nader, Chloe Ton, Avani Pradhan, Ren Jie Hum & Joseph Assi) overcome the “older” Merry Ladies and Grumpy Old Men teams, relegating them to the minor placings.

So it’s time to organise your team (maximum of 6 team members, with any 4 of the team swimming each week) and plan your strategies to become the champions this season.

Relay team nominations are to be submitted online each week (naming the 4 swimmers for that week).

Nominate your Swimmers

Time trials commence today and conclude on Saturday 24th October, 2020. The relay competition commences on Saturday 14th November, 2020 and is held over 10 weeks, concluding on Saturday 20th March, 2021.

Membership

All the information you need on club membership for this year is available here. We are happy to advise that membership fees have not changed this year, and free membership is again available for swimmers 8 & Under, thanks to Club Merrylands.

Upcoming Events

Sponsors

Thank you to 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 us know.