Issue 11, 2018/2019 by Graham Edwards - 15th December, 2018

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SNSW Senior State Age Championships

Alison Sakurovs is competing today at Day 2 of the Senior State Age Championships, swimming in the 50 metre Freestyle (Event 30) later this morning. There are 155 entries for this event. We wish you all the best Alison for your swim. Remember all the chocolate rewards awaiting you!

Christmas Raffle & BBQ Breakfast – Saturday 22nd December, 2018

The Christmas Raffle is on sale and will be drawn next Saturday 22nd December, 2018. Prizes will include gift vouchers and hampers. Please donate non-perishable items as these will help us fill the hamper prizes. Tickets are $1 and a book of 10 tickets is $10.

We will also be holding a breakfast bbq, so make sure you also bring your appetite with you next Saturday.

50th Anniversary Celebrations

• Merrylands 50s - Saturday, 5th January, 2019
• Dive In Movie - Saturday, 19th January, 2019
• 50th Anniversary Dinner - Saturday, 6th April, 2019

Information about the Dive In Movie is available on the club website and Facebook page. Entry to the movie is free but numbers are limited and entry into the event will be by ticket only. To find out more information or to order your tickets go to the 50th Anniversary section.

Merrylands SwimFest – Saturday 23rd February, 2019

Entries for the 2019 Merrylands SwimFest remain open. The program of events is available online.

This year, members of our club will receive a discount on their event entries. To receive your discount, make sure you enter using the "Entries for Merrylands Members" button on the Online Entries page in the SwimFest section.

We are hosting the Masters BPS Sprint Meet and SwimFest on the same day, so we really need help throughout the day. Jobs on the day will include set up & pack up, timekeeping, marshalling, check starting, starting, bbq & refreshments. Please advise Graham of your availability for the day.

Learn To Swim

Today sees the first block of our Learn to Swim program for this season come to a close. A very big thank you to all of our volunteer instructors, helpers & organisers who have worked with our participants over this period. We look forward to seeing more of our learn to swim participants joining in club races, why not start with the 15 metre races each Saturday. These are held at the end of club races and entries can be submitted online.

The next block of Learn to Swim will run over February & March 2019. Keep an eye on the club website for information about registrations for this block.

Squad Training

The last training session for 2018 will be held on Saturday 22nd December, 2018 and sessions resume on Wednesday 2nd January, 2019 (time to work off the Christmas joy). If you are going to be away over January please advise the coach of your changes to your normal training session attendance.

Going on Holidays?

Share a photo with your 50th Anniversary Cap and let’s see how many places it can visit before the end of the summer 📷

Tag Merrylands Amateur Swimming Club in your photo and add the hashtag #masc50 to get involved 🐳

Club Uniform

As we mentioned last week we are placing an order for a long sleeve shirt which can be used for activities at meets such as staying warm after your warm-up swim, going to the marshalling area etc.

The short sleeve polo shirt remains the official club uniform item and is the shirt that is to be worn to meets and other activities when representing the club.

For a short introductory period we are offering the long sleeve shirt at a club subsidised cost of $15.00 if you already own a short sleeve club polo shirt. To place an order and take advantage of the subsidised cost see the Property Officer today. This shirt cannot be ordered through the online shop.

All other club uniform items can be ordered on the online shop. If you have any questions about club uniform items please see the Property Officer (Margaret Edwards).

Hilltop Road Public School – Year 3 PBL Exhibition

Recently our club was represented by Ian & Tricia Johnston at the Hilltop Road Public School Year 3 PBL Exhibition. This was a photographic exhibition titled Faces In our Community. Our club was selected as one of the local community groups to participate and explain how our club connects with the local community. Thank you to Ian & Tricia for giving up their time to be interviewed and to also attend the presentation of the exhibition on Monday 3rd December, 2018.

Great information about swimming and our club’s involvement in the local community. Looks like another journey the 50th Anniversary cap has made!

Are you a member of Club Merrylands?

Club Merrylands are developing a program to reward local community clubs such as our club. To do this Club Merrylands would like to identify memberships held by our club members and group them together. If you would like to participate in this program and help our club obtain additional support from Club Merrylands let Graham know you are a member. We will provide more details of this program as Club Merrylands implement the reward program.

Cole Classic Charity Swim – Sunday 3rd February, 2019

Timothy Hayes, a past member who attended the recent Back to Merrylands Day will be participating in the Cole Classic Charity Swim to raise funds for The Kids Cancer Project. Tim is swimming and raising funds to honour his eldest daughter, Stephanie, who passed way in June this year.

You can support Tim in his fundraising efforts by donating to help raise funds for this great cause at
https://coleclassic2019.everydayhero.com/au/swim-for-stephanie. Tim’s target is to raise $5,000.

Or if you would like to play a more active role you and enjoy an ocean swim, you could join Team Swim for Stephanie. The event is being held at Manly Beach on Sunday 3rd February, 2019 and distances to choose from are 1km, 2km or 5km. Registering for this event can be done by following this link (early bird rate available up to 4th December, 2018): https://secure.tiktok.biz/register/default.aspx?EventID=sunrun&Edition=2019&Team=SwimforStephanie

Why not join the Club

If you are not already a member, why not join the club as a Non-Swimmer? The Non-Swimmer membership fee is $22. This small fee provides you with the benefits of being a club member including access to the club member discounted pool entry fees. To apply for membership visit https://www.merrylandsasc.asn.au/membership/registration.aspx

7 Things Swimmers and Parents need to know about Age Group Swimming Plateaus

Did you know that Michael Phelps did not swim a single best time between 2009 & 2016?

An article published in the December 2018 Journal of The Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association & Swim Australia provides an article on things swimmers and parents need to know about swimming plateaus. They happen to everyone.

The 7 things are:

1. Not every meet is a championship meet
2. You can’t always predict the big breakthroughs
3. Improvement doesn’t happen all at once
4. Improving sometimes means getting worse first
5. The better you get, the harder it will become to improve
6. You improve at your own rate
7. Improving means making things harder on yourself at training

The article was written by Olivier Poirier-Leroy, a former national level swimmer for Canada. A full copy of the article can be found on the club noticeboard and makes interesting reading.

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