Issue 4, 2025/2026 by Matthew Vicic - 24th October, 2025

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Saturday races Week 4!!

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

MSW Long Course Championship

A huge congratulations to our 13 Whales who have qualified for the Metro South West Long Course Championships, being held at Sydney Olympic Park this weekend! 🐳

Our team consists of Gabriella Assi, Joseph Assi, Damien Chan, Marcus Chan, Tomas Dlesk, Patrick Hannan, Coralie Havea, William Johnston, Alison Johnston, Jay Shrestha, Samantha Terry, Leo Zhu, and Lillian Zhu, will be competing in 37 individual events across two big days of racing! Let’s cheer them on as they make waves at SOPAC! 🌊💪

A message from our up and away club president: “best wishes to the squad and coaches for the meet. May the whale be with you all.” 🐋 

Calling All Awesome Bakers!

We’re gearing up for the Interclub Cup and need some fin-tastic volunteers to help with our fundraising! If you love to bake cakes, cupcakes, slices, or other treats, we’d love your support. Please reach out to Denise, Kylee, or Sylvia by 31st October (next Friday) to let us know what you can bring! Let’s make a splash, and some sweet treats too, to support our club! 🌊💙

Halloween Lolly Jar Fundraiser!

Our Social Committee has kicked off a sweet new fundraising competition to celebrate Halloween — a Lolly Jar Guessing Game! 👻

A huge thank you to Leanne for donating the glass jar and to Sylvia for supplying the lollies, at no cost to the club. 💙The winner will be announced next Saturday, 1^st of November, during club races, just before the Walk to Defeat MND weekend! How many lollies do you think are in the jar? Take a guess and help support our club, it’s spook-tacularly sweet fun! 🎃🐋🍬

Make sure you bring you gold coins and cash; to take a guess, we’ve already gotten over 30 guesses. Some are even getting close...

Club Captains – Nominations Close Today!

Hurry, nominations close today at 9:30am for the positions of Male and Female Club Captains!

 💙 Who can nominate?

Financial first claim members aged 14 years and over as at 1st October are eligible to be elected.

 📝 How to nominate:

Submit your nomination here 👉 https://forms.office.com/r/qSuYfheZ6g

 📘 Learn more:

Details about the duties and responsibilities of Club Captains can be found on the club website under the By-Laws.

Once nominations close, we’ll confirm acceptance and invite candidates to submit a bio and photo for the online voting system.

🗳️ Voting will take place on 8th November (Week 6) all financial first claim members will receive a link to vote.

Making a splash at the Cumberland Inter-Club Cup!

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’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!!! 🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋🐋

Walk for MND!

“Hopefully no one forgot, but in case you did the Walk to Defeat MND is on the 2^nd of Nov (which is next week). That's just around the corner! Let's make it a club effort to get out there and support the walk, for more information or if you would like to register click the link below: https://www.walktodefeatmnd.org.au/fundraisers/MakeasplashforMND

Lucky Draws – Fat Jak’s Vouchers

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.

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 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.