Club Captains

Voting closes this morning at 9.30am for the election of Male and Female Club Captains. Every first claim financial member was sent an email this week with a voting link. If you have not yet voted we encourage you to do so before 9.30am.

The nominations for Club Captains are:

We will announce the election result next Saturday after club races.

Club Championship Races

Last week two championships (100m Freestyle & 100m Breaststroke) were swum. Congratulations to everyone who swam in these races. Two club championship records were broken. Matthew Vicic setting a new record time of 1:02.67 in the Mens 15 Year Olds 100m Freestyle (dual record of 1:02.74 held by Troy Tomkinson set in 2003/04 & Anthony Ventra in 2008/09). Leo Zhu set a record time of 1:25.47 in the Boys 13 Year Olds 100m Breaststroke (breaking the record of 1:25.96 set by Todd Jenkin in 2001/02). Congratulations to Matthew & Leo on these achievements

Today we have the 100m Backstroke & 100m Butterfly championships being swum. Good luck to all swimmers competing in these championships.

Club Uniforms

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

Parramatta Inter-Club Cup

The Inter-Club Cup is being held this afternoon. Good luck to our team of 44 swimmers competing against Parramatta City (67 swimmers) & McCredie Park (11 swimmers).

Entry to the swimming centre is free. We have also arranged catering with food, coffee & ice cream through a grant we received to fund the meet, so we hope you enjoy the meet.

Warm up commences at 3.00pm so swimmers need to be stretched and ready to enter the water at this time. Races commence at 3.30pm.

We are also expecting to welcome Ms Julia Finn MP, State Member for Granville, Shadow Minister for Sport & Shadow Minister for Youth, during the afternoon, so please make welcome.

We require the help of everyone on the afternoon and we will be at the pool from 1.30pm onwards to set up so if you can help from this time that would be greatly appreciated.

MSW Open Water Championships

Merrylands was represented by Joseph Assi & Daniel Vicic at the Open Water Championships swum at the Sydney International Regatta Centre last Sunday. Congratulations to Joseph & Daniel who both swam the 2.5klm event for the 2^nd time. Both Joseph (over 8 minutes) and Daniel (over 6 minutes) off their previous times

Learn to Swim

The Learn to Swim program started last Saturday. If you can help in any way (you do not need to have any qualifications to assist the instructors in the water) even for only some of the sessions we would appreciate your help. Please speak to Peter Johnston if you are able to assist.

Relay Competition

The Relay Competition is underway. Remember that the relay team needs to complete the weekly form nominating the 4 team members who will swim that week. Complete the form here.

Lions Club Award

Nominations are open for any member to recognise the service of other members.

Each month the Committee considers all nominations received during the previous month and votes on these. Voting is secret and the votes are tallied over the season, with the Lions Club Award made at the Annual Presentation.

We would like to recognise the members who we received nominations for in October:

Alison Johnston

Carlos Vergara

Christine Liepins

Danielle Vicic

Denise Assi

Graham Edwards

Ian Johnston

Leanne Tovkach

Luke Hannan

Margaret Edwards

Peter Johnston

William Johnston

Thank you to everyone above for your dedication and help during the month. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

Nominate a club member for the month online here.

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.

At this week’s Area Delegates Meeting we were presented with a report in relation to abuse of officials at recent SMSW meets. Incidents of abuse of officials occurred at both the Long Course Championships (SOPAC) and Open Water Championships (SIRC). The Area Technical Convenor reported that the incidents were all dealt with, however any future incidents will not be tolerated and action will be taken to ban anyone involved in abusing officials from the sport of swimming.

It is inappropriate for a parent or swimmer to be abusive to any Official. The Code of Conduct agreed to by everyone when joining a swimming club sets out clear guidelines on appropriate behaviour.

None of the recent incidents involved our club and we thank all of our swimmers, parents & coaches for the example they continue to set at swim meets.

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.