Issue 3, 2025/2026 by Matthew Vicic - 17th October, 2025

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As the 2025/2026 season commences for its third week!!

A reminder that races start at 7:00AM, so please be there early to help set up. All the help is always appreciated.

The Metro Southwest Championships will be held on the 25th and 26th of October, and all swimmers in the Development Squad and above are expected to attend. Entries have now closed so good luck to all our swimmers. If there are any other questions about the event, please speak to your coach! 🐋

Calling All Awesome Bakers!

We’re gearing up for the Interclub Cup and need some fin-tastic volunteers to help with our fundraising! We have had a few people sign up so thank you to them but if you love to bake cakes, cupcakes, slices, or other treats, we’d still love your support. Please reach out to Denise, Kylee, or Sylvia by 31st October to let us know what you can bring! Let’s make a splash, and some sweet treats too, to support our club! 🌊💙

Club Captains – Nominations Now Open!

Nominations for the positions of Male and Female Club Captains are now open and will close at 9:30am on Week 4 (Friday, 25th October).

Eligibility: Financial first claim members aged 14 years and over as of the 1st of October are eligible to be nominated for these positions. Kids, ask your parents, parents, ask Graham. Once found enter the nominee here: https://forms.office.com/r/qSuYfheZ6g

 Information about the duties and responsibilities of Club Captains can be found on the club website under the By-Laws section. Once nominations close, we’ll confirm acceptance from nominees and invite them to submit a bio and photo to be included in the online voting system.

📅 Voting:

All financial first claim members can cast their vote in Week 6 (Friday, 8th November). A link to the online voting system will be provided closer to the date.

Let’s celebrate leadership, team spirit, and the whale way! 🐳💪

Making a splash at the Cumberland Inter-Club Cup!

As you know it’s our turn to host the Cumberland Inter-Club Cup, happening on Saturday 15th November at Merrylands Swimming Centre. This is no small fish — it’s one of the highlights of the season, and we’re ready to whale-come everyone for an afternoon of fantastic racing.

We currently have 12 swimmers entered for the Interclub Cup — but we know our pod can make an even bigger splash! 💪

If you haven’t entered yet, get those entries in ASAP so we can plan ahead and allocate duties. The sooner you enter, the smoother things will run for everyone.

We’ll also be rolling out our set of touch pads for the meet, so here’s your early reminder: this event is a WHOLE POD effort. We’ll need all fins on deck, helping on the day. It will be truly appreciated! 🐋👏

Entries are open, so enter fast. EVERYONE IN EVERY RACE, lets aim to win that trophy once again this year!! FOR THE WHALE!!! 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋

Mr Whaley Walters Whispers

🐋 Meet Our Swimmers! – This Week’s Spotlight: Samantha 🌊

“This week, we had a chat with one of our lucky swimmers — Samantha! Here’s what she had to say:

 Q1. How long have you been at the club?

🗣️ For about 4 seasons.

 Q2. What’s your favourite stroke?

🗣️ Butterfly. 🦋

 Q3. What’s your favourite part about training?

🗣️ Pushing myself in the main set. 💪

 Q4. What’s your favourite part about swimming with Merrylands Club?

🗣️ Swimming with my friends nearly every day and pushing myself to do my best! 💙

Stay tuned — next week another lucky swimmer/volunteer, will get the chance to answer a few (possibly the same… possibly different!) questions. Who will it be? “ 👀

Masters Swimming NSW SC Championships

Congratulations to our small but mighty team who represented us at the Masters Swimming NSW Short Course Championships! 💪

 🌊 Varant was super sprinty, smashing out new personal bests in the 50m Freestyle, 100m Individual Medley, and 25m Freestyle!

🏅 Alison had an incredible meet — picking up 3 Gold, 1 Silver, and 1 Bronze, plus swimming her fastest 200m Freestyle in four years! She also earned the title of Runner Up Female Swimmer of the Meet! 👏

Amazing effort from both our swimmers — proof that even a small pod can make big waves! 💙🐳

Walk for MND – We’ve Smashed Our Goal!

 We’ve gone well and truly over our goal for the Walk for MND! Our target was $5,000, and we’ve now reached an incredible $5,623.92! 🎉

A huge thank you to everyone who has donated and supported the cause so far — every dollar helps make waves in the fight against MND. 🌊

 But let’s not stop there — let’s see if we can push that total even higher! 💪

 🗓️ Don’t forget: The Walk to Defeat MND is coming up on Sunday, 2nd November 2025 — that’s just around the corner! You can still register to join the walk or donate to support the team.

👉 Want to donate or sign up? Just swim on over to the channel below to get involved! 🐳💙

https://www.walktodefeatmnd.org.au/fundraisers/MakeasplashforMND

That's all from me this week, make sure you read next week to find out all the hot goss”  🐋

Mid Read Joke of the day:

1. Why did the swimmer take so long to hop into the pool?
2. They were just taking things one stroke at a time. 🏊‍♀️

Chase Those PBs!

As you hopefully now know, the Fat Jak’s vouchers will go to monthly graded point score winners, Swim for Your School winners, and more throughout the season.

Don’t forget — this month’s Graded Point Score winners will each receive a $20 FatJaks voucher! Keep pushing for those PBs and check your progress on the Clubhouse Noticeboard — that’s where you’ll find the points ladder and other updates.! 💪🍔 

You can now check your club race results online shortly after each swim! Visit our club website to track your times and see how you’re improving.

Saturday Morning Point Score Competitions

There are three competitions run each Saturday morning that can gain you points.

🏅 Graded Races:

Swimmers are grouped by entry times and earn points based on how well they swim against their own time.

🎯 Championships:

Swimmers race within their age group (as at 1st October), with an Open Championship also available for all ages who meet the qualifying criteria

💪 Senior Handicap:

A fun event for swimmers 17 years and over.

For more information see here: https://merrylandsasc.asn.au/clubraces/

Planning Your Championship Races

Our Club Championship races kick off in Week 5 with the 200m Individual Medley! To compete, you must have already swum that event successfully during this season.

To make sure you don’t miss out on qualifying for other Championship events, it’s important to plan your swims well ahead.

💡Here are some quick tips to help you qualify:

1. Check the Season Program to see when each Championship event is scheduled.
2. Plan your qualifying swim at least two weeks before the Championship — this gives you time to recover if you miss a week or get disqualified.
3. Stay consistent and track your progress — every swim gets you closer to championship readiness!

So, start planning, keep training hard, and let’s see those fins making waves come Championship time! 🌊🐳

Club Uniforms

We have a great range of club uniforms in stock available for sale. These can be purchased through the club’s online shop club shop . Some items may require a special order to be placed with our suppliers, so planning orders ahead of time will allow for the items to be delivered

Lions Club Award

Seen someone that deserves recognition for their efforts in helping? Nominate them for the Lions Club Award, our peak award to recognise our volunteers over the season.

Nominate a volunteer

P-Plate Award

As the season rolls along keep an eye out for someone making a silly mistake. We like to recognise and reward all efforts during the season, and the P-Plate award is the perfect way to do this.

Nominate a silly mistake

Seen a Problem? Get it Fixed

If you see something that needs fixing you can elevate this directly with Council by logging the issue here.

Donations

Our partnership with the Australian Sports Foundation allows supporters to make tax-deductible donations to the club. Funds raised help us upgrade and maintain our equipment and systems, providing better facilities for you, our members.

We appreciate the great support our members have provided since the partnership commenced. Donations can be made here.

Upcoming Meet Calendar

Check the website for the full list of upcoming meets, closing dates, programs and qualifying times.