State Age Distance Championships 24 November 2005 Peter-Johnston Latest News Brittany Johnson will represent Merrylands at the NSW State Age Distance Championships at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre this Sunday. This is the first year that Brittany will compete at the championships, swimming in the 400m Individual Medley. Congratulations to Brittany on qualifying and we wish her the best of luck for the meet. See Also NSW State Age Distance Championships - Program of Events and Qualifying Times State, Metropolitan and Country Championship Procedures Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre Parking Arrangements
Car Rally 23 November 2005 Peter-Johnston Latest News The 2005 Merrylands A.S.C. Car Rally will be held this Sunday, 27th November. The rally begins at Merrylands Swimming Centre at 9:30am on Sunday morning. The final destination is a beach somewhere (if you don't get lost), so bring your beach gear along with a picnic lunch. For more details, see the weekly Whales Tales Newsletter. See Also Whales Tales Newsletter
World Cup & Skins 14 November 2005 Peter-Johnston Latest News This week is a big week of swimming in Sydney with both the Swimming Australia Skins and the Telstra FINA World Cup being held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. The action begins with the new look Skins on Thursday, 17th November as up to 160 of the worlds best swimmers compete for a share of the $110,000 prize money. Attention then turns to the FINA World Cup on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th November. Fox Sports will be showing live coverage of all three nights with Nine's Wide World of Sports showing delayed highlights. Broadcast Times SwimmingAustralia Skins Telstra FINAWorld Cup Thursday17/11/2005 Saturday19/11/2005 Sunday20/11/2005 Fox Sports 7:30pm 7:30pm 8:15pm Nine (Delayed) 12:00am 10:50pm 12:30am See Also Swimming Australia FINA
Swimming Rule Changes 16 October 2005 Peter-Johnston Latest News Swimming’s governing body, FINA, voted on a set of rule changes for 2005-2009 just before the start of the World Championships in Montreal in late July. The new rules came into effect on September 21. The major rule changes affect backstroke starts and breaststroke starts and turns. The changes to backstroke starts mean that swimmers are now allowed to start with their feet out of the water. It is no longer mandatory that “The feet, including the toes, shall be under the surface of the water”. However, the toes are still not allowed to be above the lip of the gutter or curled over the lip of the gutter. The backstroke finish rule has also been clarified. Now it is legal for a swimmer to be completely submerged not only during the turn but also during the last stroke. During the breaststroke start and turns, while the swimmer is wholly submerged, a single downward dolphin kick followed by a breaststroke kick is now permitted. The new rule ends decades of controversies (the first one occurred in Berlin, in 1978, at the World Championships, the latest last year in Athens, at the Olympics). During, or at the end of the arm pull-down of the first stroke after the start and after each turn, a single downward butterfly kick is allowed, but not required, followed by a breaststroke kick. During the pull-down, if a downward butterfly kick is taken, it must be followed by a breaststroke kick. It is not permissible to take only a downward butterfly kick without then taking a normal breaststroke kick. The downward butterfly kick is not permissible prior to the arm pull-down. In addition, there is now a requirement for all movements of the legs to be in the same horizontal plane and without alternating movement. A full list of the rules that have changed follows. These rules along with the complete list of swimming rules can be found on the FINA website. Backstroke SW 6 SW 6.1 SW 6.3 Breaststroke SW 7 SW 7.1 SW 7.4 SW 7.5 Butterfly SW 8 SW8.3 The Race SW 10 SW 10.10 World Records SW 12 Renumber SW 12.5 as SW 12.5 1 New SW 12.5.2 References FINA Swimming Queensland Swimming Australia See Also FINA Swimming Rules 2005-2009 FINA Technical Congress eSwimmer - Breaststroke Records Under Threat Swimming Queensland - Swimming Rule Changes
2005 Swimming Australia Skins 12 October 2005 Peter-Johnston Latest News The 2005 Swimming Australia Skins will be held on Thursday, 17th November, 2005 at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. This year’s Skins will feature members of the Australian World Championships Swimming Team. Club Members will be able to purchase discounted finals tickets to the Skins for $24 per adult and $16 per concession. This offer is only available through the club and only a limited number of tickets are available on a first come first serve basis. Your only opportunity to purchase tickets for the 2005 Telstra FINA World Cup as part of this special offer will be after club races on the 15th October, 2005. Tickets will posted out to the club in the two weeks leading up to the event. See Also Swimming Australia
Telstra Swimmer of the Year Competition 11 October 2005 Peter-Johnston Latest News You and 3 friends could win a trip to the Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games simply by voting for your Telstra Dolphin Swimmer of the Year. The prize includes return economy class flights to Melbourne for 4 people, 3 nights accommodation in Melbourne, 4 tickets to a Melbourne 2006 Commonwealth Games swimming session and $3000 spending money. Plus there are thousands of other prizes including Telstra PhoneAway phone cards, Telstra Shop vouchers and 2006 Commonwealth Games Swimming Trials tickets to win by voting. To enter: visit http://www.communicator.com.au/telstrasoty/ and follow the competition entry prompts OR SMS the full name of the swimmer of your choice followed by your full name, street address and post code to: 1999 1100 Entries close 11:59pm November 20th, 2005. Visit http://www.communicator.com.au/telstrasoty/ for further details and competition terms and conditions. See Also Telstra Swimmer of the Year Competition Australian Swimming
Telstra FINA Swimming World Cup 30 September 2005 Peter-Johnston Latest News The Australian leg of the 2005/2006 FINA Swimming World Cup returns to Sydney this year after being held in Melbourne for the last 5 years. The FINA World Cup is a prestigious international sporting event. The event consists of a number of stages beginning in South Africa, then swimming the second leg here in Australia, before flying off to compete in Korea, Sweden, Germany, Russia, USA and finally Brazil. Fans have the chance to watch Australia's finest swimmers battle it out against the best of the rest in the world at the Telstra FINA World Cup on 19 and 20 November 2005 at Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre. Club Members will be able to purchase discounted finals tickets to the World Cup for $24 per adult and $16 per concession. As usual, this offer is only available through the club and only a limited number of tickets are available on a first come first serve basis. Your only opportunities to purchase tickets for the 2005 Telstra FINA World Cup as part of this special offer will be after club races on the 8th & 15th October, 2005. Tickets will posted out to the club in the two weeks leading up to the event. See Also 2005 Telstra FINA Swimming World Cup - Program of Events
2005/2006 Swimming Season 10 September 2005 Peter-Johnston Latest News The 2005/2006 Swimming Season will begin with two weeks of time trials starting at 7:00am on Saturday, 17th and Saturday, 24th September. On these two mornings you will also be able to register for the new season after the time trials. These two mornings will also be your opportunity to order club uniforms for the season and will also be your only chance to enter swimming meets that are on during October. If you are unable to register on these mornings you are welcome to register on any Saturday morning during the normal season. The 2005/2006 season will begin on Saturday, 8th October. See Also Club Uniforms Upcoming Swim Meets
NSW State Age Short Course Championships 09 September 2005 Peter-Johnston Latest News Todd Jenkin will represent Merrylands at next weekend's NSW State Age Short Course Championships. The championships will be held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre from September 16 to 18. Todd will compete in both the 50m and 100m Breaststroke at the Championships. Congratulations to Todd on qualifying and good luck at the meet. See Also 2005 NSW State Age Short Course Championships - Program of Events 2005 NSW State Age Short Course Championships - Qualifying Times State, Metropolitan and Country Championship Procedures Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Centre Parking Arrangements
New Coach Appointed 05 September 2005 Peter-Johnston Latest News Merrylands Amateur Swimming Club congratulates and welcomes our new Head Coach, Peter Johnston. Peter, up until his appointment, was Assistant Coach at Merrylands and therefore he has extensive knowledge and experience of the existing squad members. Peter has been a tireless worker for the Merrylands Swimming Club. He is a Life Member and is the current Swimming NSW Learn to Swim Co-ordinator for the Club. He continues to swim at competition level so he brings first hand experience to our swimmers. Although he has had to resign from his current Committee role as Race Secretary to accept the Coaching position, his new undertaking will mean that he will still have close links to the Club and its Committee. We wish Peter the best of luck in his new position of Head Coach. See Also Coaching Update