Issue 6, 2025/2026 by Matthew Vicic - 7th November, 2025

Download

Welcome to week 6 Saturday races (the second championship)!!

A reminder that this week we are testing our touch pads, which means, we are ALL setting up at 6:15. Ian Wilson, who normally gets there early to setup is currently on holidays, and Graham and Margret, although they are back, they will most likely be jet lagged, so please be there to help set up. All the help is always appreciated and needed.

Tomorrow is the second day of our weekly club races. This week the race is the 100 freestyle, then 100 breaststroke!

Club Race Videos now Live!

You can now watch our club race videos online. Head to: https://merrylandsasc.asn.au/clubraces/

A big thankyou to Syliva, and Johnson for organising and creating the video!!

Halloween Lolly Jar Fundraiser!

Our Social Committee kicked off a sweet new fundraising competition to celebrate Halloween — a Lolly Jar Guessing Game! Last week they announced the runners ups and the winner, Gabriel 👻

Our Halloween Lolly Jar guessing competition raised $220 for the club! Congratulations to Gabriel who guessed 71 and was the closest!

Check out the Club Notice Board to see how close you and others came!

A huge thank you to Leanne for donating the glass jar and to Sylvia for supplying the lollies, at no cost to the club. 💙

Club Captains – Voting Closes Today! Our Whale Pod Leaders!

We’re excited to announce the nominations for Club Captain for the 2025 season! After a few withdrawals, the confirmed nominations are listed below.

💙 Male Club Captain Nominees:

• Joseph Assi
• Jokubas Urbonas
• Matthew Vicic
• Leo Zhu

💙 Female Club Captain Nominees:

• Lisa Shrestha

🗳️ Voting opened this week! All financial first claim members have received a link to the online voting system, where you can cast your vote for our next Whale leaders. Make sure you choose wisely!! Voting closes at 9:30am today.

Making a splash at the Cumberland Inter-Club Cup!

Interclub cup is literally right around the corner and is approaching fast. Please ENSURE you have entered in EVERY race you can do! We have a huge shot of winning this year so let's do our best to do so!!

FOR THE WHALE!!! 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋

Walk to Defeat MND – Amazing Result!

The walk for MND, was on Sunday the 2^nd and it was a blast. Our pod managed to raise, $13,500. Which put us in first place! For the walk. It was fantastic to see everyone coming out to support as well. Whale done!

Chase Those PBs!

 We’re cheering on all swimmers to push for new personal bests this month! To keep things exciting, we’ll be awarding $20 FatJaks vouchers to our monthly Graded Point Score winners. So, dive in, give it your all, and you could swim your way to a tasty reward! 💪🍔 

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 of 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

To compete in any upcoming champion races, you must have already swum the event successfully during this season before the day of the event.

To make sure you don’t miss out on qualifying for 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! 🌊🐳

Lions Club Award Nominees

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.