Issue 5, 2022/2023 by Graham Edwards - 4th November, 2022

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Club Captains

Nominations for the positions of Male and Female Club Captains closed last Saturday. Congratulations to the following members who received nominations:

We will confirm if these members accept their nominations and undertake voting next week. We encourage all financial first-claim members to vote. The announcement of the Club Captains for 2022/2023 will be made the following week.

Club Championship Races

We have two championships (100m Freestyle & 100m Breaststroke) being swum today. This is followed by Learn to Swim and Skill Session being held from 9.00am. We have a very busy morning and ask that swimmers be in the marshalling area and ready for their races as this will help us meet the tight morning timeline.

Learn to Swim

The Learn to Swim program starts today and we welcome all of our participants. We still need helpers to assist in delivering this important program. Please speak to Peter Johnston if you are able to assist with any roles for this program.

MSW Long Course Championships

Merrylands was represented by a team of 13 swimmers at the MSW Long Course Championships at SOPAC last weekend.

Our team had a massive weekend, achieving 30 new personal best times, 8 finalists, 2 medals, and new qualifying times for State and Metropolitan Championships. The full report can be found at here.

Congratulations to the team of Aisha Abdelraheem, Ameena Abdelraheem, Joseph Assi, Laura-Belle Casey, Ren Hum, William Johnston, Alison Johnston, Jay Shrestha, Lisa Shrestha, Daniel Vicic, Matthew Vicic, Leo Zhu & Lillian Zhu on the fantastic results achieved. Thank you to our coaches and to Danielle Vicic and Denise Assi who undertook the hosting duties on Sunday morning.

Relay Competition

The Relay Competition commences today. Teams must have nominated the team members (maximum of 6), the team time and have paid the team entry fee of $12 before the relay is swum today. Complete the forms online here.

Parramatta Inter-Club Cup

The Inter-Club Cup is being held next Saturday. We still need swimmers for some age groups (2 for each age group to ensure we have swimmers in every event) as well as ensuring we have enough swimmers for teams in every relay event. Entry to swim in the meet is FREE and entries close next Wednesday (9^th November 2022), click here to submit your entries.

We also require the help of everyone on the afternoon as we will need to set up, provide timekeeping (we will have automatic timing system being used), catering, pack up etc. Please see Graham to volunteer.

Skills Sessions

The 2^nd of the Super Saturday Skills Session is being held today, commencing at 9.00am.

Swimmers from Novice 2 and above are welcome to book into this session. The cost is $7.50 per swimmer, which will come off your multi-session pass.

These sessions are an extra session, not a replacement for a session during the week, and need to be booked online.

Junior Swimmers Results

We have seen fantastic swimming and results in the 15m, 25m & 33m races at club so far this season. Congratulations to the following swimmers on breaking the times for these events:

25m Freestyle

15/10/2022 – Leah Johnston

22/10/2022 – Anastasia Krga *

22/10/2022 – Aiden Festo *

25m Backstroke

22/10/2022 – Anastasia Krga *

25m Breaststroke

29/10/2022 – Patrick Hannan

33m Freestyle

22/10/2022 – Leah Johnston *

29/10/2022 – Anastasia Krga *

29/10/2022 – Aiden Festo *

33m Backstroke

29/10/2022 – Anastasia Krga *

15m Freestyle

22/10/2022 – Lilly Palise

* broke the time at their first attempt

MSW Open Water Championships

Merrylands will be represented by Joseph Assi & Daniel Vicic at the Open Water Championships being swum at the Sydney International Regatta Centre on Sunday. Both Joseph & Daniel qualified to swim in the 2.5km event. Good luck to you both and may the whale be with you (hopefully it doesn’t get in your way)

Merrylands Swimming Centre Modernisation

The modernisation works for swimming centres was discussed at the Council meeting this week.

Council has recently received full funding from the NSW Government (WestInvest Fund) for the modernisation of Guildford Swimming Centre, so there is now discussion regarding the funding of the modernisation of Merrylands Swimming Centre.

Graham attended the Council meeting this week and spoke to this project. There was unanimous support from all Councillors that Merrylands Swimming Centre is an important community asset and needs to be upgraded. Council resolved at the meeting to:

1. Insert into its 23-24 works program, the concept and detailed development of designs for the refurbishment of the Merrylands Swim Centre.
2. Consult and engage with the community on the refurbishment of the Merrylands swim centre.
3. The costs associated with the development of a concept and detailed plans be funded from Councils 23-24 capital works program.
4. Prepare and return a report to Council by April 2023 to determine how much of the approximate $17 million currently allocated to swimming pools in Council’s long term capital projections can be specifically set aside for the refurbishment of the Merrylands Swim Centre.
5. Upon receipt of the report immediately seek funding for the project through the State and Federal Governments.

Stay tuned for further information on this. We will continue to press Council to undertake the appropriate modernisation of Merrylands Swimming Centre.

Lions Club Award

We are looking for your help in recognising those members who provide service to the club, over and above their normal duties. So, if you would like to nominate a club member to be considered for their service, please submit your nomination.

Membership Cards

Remember to download a copy of your membership card from Swim Central to show to the pool staff if requested when entering the swimming centre. Instructions are here.

Technical Officials

To be able to run club races and have the times accepted by Swimming NSW we need to ensure that we have qualified technical officials. This includes various roles around the pool deck, including timekeeping. Training for most roles is conducted online and we encourage you to start by obtaining your timekeeping qualification. See https://nswtraining.swimming.org.au/ for more information and ask Graham any questions you may have about becoming a technical official.

Club Uniforms

We have a great range of club uniforms available for sale. These can be purchased through the club’s online shop.

To order uniform items go to https://shop.merrylandsasc.asn.au/club-uniforms

Upcoming Meet Calendar

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

Sponsors

Thank you to our major sponsors who provide fantastic support to our club. If you know of a business or organisation that may be interested in providing sponsorship or support to our club please speak to Graham Edwards.