News: Swimming Clubs, South Australian, Adelaide Hills
29 May 2010
Trophy winners for the 2010 Season
Perpetual Trophies 2010.doc
Perpetual Trophies 2010.pdf29 May 2010
Presidents Report
2010 Annual General Meeting - Presidents Report – David Hombsch
Over the last year the Onkaparinga Swimming Club has continued to build a solid foundation as a successful club.
We have maintained our success on the pool deck, continued to improve how we operate as a Club, expanded our membership base with many new swimmers and families joining us, and supported other clubs as part of our role in the swimming community.
To have won the prestigious Advertiser Shield at the 2010 South Australian Country Long Course Championships for the ninth year in a row is a fantastic outcome. However this was achievement was made even more memorable due to the large number of swimmers that participated (over 70 swimmers), the excellent team spirit that was shown, and the support and willingness to help that was shown by all families that attended.
Congratulations to all swimmers whether it at the Super Fish level, competing in the heats, in the finals, to those that won races, and to those that achieved PB’s.
Also well done to that those swimmers that swam and achieved their goals at the EDASA meets, and at State, and National levels.
On behalf of Onka’s I would also like to thank Pat and the rest of the coaching staff for the dedication, commitment and enthusiasm that they have show throughout the year. I firmly believe that the Clubs achievements on pool deck and in other areas is a direct result of Pat’s ability as a coach, her guidance, and her dedication to ensuring that Onkas is a successful club.
A special thankyou also to all Officials, those members that performed timekeeping and other duties on pool deck, those members who just put the effort in to support us when it was needed, and to all the parents and carers who have supported their children in achieving their gaols. Well done and keep up the effort.
As a Club we have continued to further improve the internal governance practices to help us manage our responsibilities as a Club for our members. We have updated the Club Handbook and our Policies including the Child Safe Environment, and Privacy Policies; and the Behavioural, and Communication Guidelines.
It is pleasing that Onkas’ continues to receive Gold Club accreditation as recognition that we not only a successful swimming club but one that also takes responsibilities for all requirements to support our members seriously.
I would also like to specifically thank those members that have put in the extra effort to make Onkas a strong club.
To those members that have worked behind the scenes, including Jo W & John B for acting as team managers at the Countries, John W for acting as meet director for our Carnival, and to Dale for continuing to manage the sponsorship requirements, a very big thankyou.
To the Committee - Jo Tremellen, Bob Harris, Jane Pool, Jane Pickering, Pat Wheeler, Chris Marshall, Ellen Brooks, Wendy Vidiguris, Amanda Wheeler. Hamish Nairn, and Stephanie Palmer-White, thankyou for your effort and the opportunity to work with you over the last year.
A special thankyou to our major sponsors - Bridgehead Australia Pty Ltd, Klose’s Supermarkets Pty Ltd, Von Doussas Lawyers and Conveyances, and Wine Warehouse, and all our other sponsors that supported Onka’s throughout the year. Your continued support enables us to be a successful and viable Club.
I would also like to take this opportunity to announce my intention to not nominate for the President’s position for the coming year. It is with regret that I do this however due to personal issues, and work commitments I feel that it is time to move aside to enable somebody new to take over the role. Somebody to take Onka’s to the next level as a successful swimming club.
Last of all I would like to thank all members for their support during my time as President and I wish Onkas all the best and good luck in the coming years
Regards
David Hombsch
President, Onkaparinga Swimming Club
11 May 2010
29 May 2010
Annual Coaches Report 2010
Coaches Annual Report- 2010 Pat Wheeler
This season, club membership has continued to grow with swimming memberships and associate memberships. As our numbers grow, it becomes harder to communicate face to face with all members and families. This is where our older swimmers and swimming families who have been with the club for a few seasons can help new members find their feet. Swimming SA handbooks should be released in September, so new members will have information to access the coming meets.
Currently all squads are working well in the pool and the focus is on skills. All three lanes have been full at both time slots for most of the season. However the last month has been very spasmodic. It is important to remember that lane hire is expensive (approx $13,000.00 per year) and lanes need to be full. This can only happen by regular attendance at training. This month, we have changed to the Short Course season and swimmers will start to compete in Adelaide for the winter series.
Currently memberships are due and families are asked to quickly finalise training accounts and reregister for the 2010-2011 season. We cannot afford to have swimmers unregistered because they are not covered with Insurance and it breaches our contract requirements to use the Army facility. Families should realise they can jeopardise our successful program by coming to sessions if you are not a member of our club. I plead with all families to make sure membership is current and if you have not received an account for training to come forward and let us know. In most circumstances the club may not have your email address and accounts have not been sent because off this.
This season it was very pleasing that the majority of members participated in the EDASA competition with parents taking on roles as officials on the pool deck, whilst encouraging and supporting their children in the sport of swimming. This year new club parents took the first steps in the journey by attending the General Principles Course and filling in workbooks for officials training. If we had more helpers become officials the load would be shared around and the regular parents officiating may be able to watch and enjoy their own children compete. I encourage you to all help out where you can because we really value your contribution and support. Thanks must be extended to the regular parents for timekeeping and assisting with the many jobs around the pool and on committees during the year.
The Club has progressed again this year with significant achievements in the area of committee management. Most existing Policies have been updated and the club committee has introduced the Child Safe Environments Policy for its members in the last month. The Club handbook details have been updated for new members to gain information on the daily running and swimmers participation requirements for each squad. This year’s committee members have been committed to improving the documentation and maintaining excellent records for members. I commend them for their efforts and investing time, as these documents strengthen our organisations communication process.
This year’s Country Championship team had an exceptional year again. Many swimmers came home with medals and aggregate trophies for highest point scores in their age groups, this is a testament to the dedicated training habits and the ability to improve daily practiced skills to aid better performance outcomes in competition. I’m sure many of the first time competitors at this meet could be emerging as our new champion swimmers and were inspired by many of our senior swimmers at this meet. Congratulations and well done to all swimmers who participated and supported each other all weekend. This was the clubs ninth successive win and setting goals for the next new season will strengthen the desire for most swimmers to do well as we aim for 10 Championship wins in a row.
This year Club Captains Melody Remnant and Cillie du Plooy lead a small group of swimmers at State Championships the week after Countries. Both swimmers backed up meets and were amongst the medal winners at State level. Well done to all swimmers who qualified to swim at States.
Congratulations to Club Captains Melody and Cillie and Vice Captains Monica Kato and Ryan Turner your support should be commended. Thanks for helping organise swimmers for the Parents Dinner to cook and serve food and for organising activities for swimmers to attend during the year. Also for organising the Christmas raffles and Nationals raffle. Being a Club Captain is a special privilege and should be seen as a Leadership role. I encourage our senior swimmers to consider this position seriously if standing for this role. A high standard has been set over the last 10 years and captain are Ambassadors for our club and need to be regular trainers with excellent training habits and a excellent work ethic as well as attendance at carnivals and Championship meets. Well done Captains!!
Onkaparinga swimmers to represent our club at Nationals in Open Water Swimming were Katelyn Lamb, Melody and Cillie. During the winter months extra sessions were scheduled for all three swimmers to help them prepare for this Championship Event. Swimming at this level is a great experience and one that challenges the mental skills and determination. You should be proud of yourselves. Give yourselves a pat on the back. Congratulations and Well Done.
On the topic of open water swimming, we had approx 20 swimmers compete in events throughout the season and also 17 swimmers entered the Vic Open Water Championships and we travelled to the La Trobe Valley for a great weekend and gain experience to strengthen the skills required to do well in open water swimming. I hope many swimmers put their hands up, and show intent to compete again this season in many of the OWS events available. Practising the longer distances makes easy work of competing in shorter distances in the pool. Both OWS and pool swimming should complement each other. Give it some thought.
This season it was great to see many parents turning up at the pool to swim and train. Your attendance at our Club Championships should be commended and encouraged. Your children look up to you and they are proud of their Mum’s and Dad’s. Well done!! We also had a record number of swimmers compete in our Club Championships with the bulk of numbers coming from swimmers under the age of 14years. I hope you all enjoyed the evening and the BBQ.
Fundraising, what can I say! We need it, we can’t survive without it. Your involvement, support and attendance is required to full fill your parental duties and help expand our bank balance. If we can’t raise money through fundraising then, cheaper fees, purchases of equipment and resources are affected. Please make dates in your diaries as they come to hand or are announce for this next season.
Thanks to David Hombsch for your support given to me as Head Coach over many years. Dave has been their encouraging and supporting me. Thank you for your service given at committee level. Congratulations on your service award this year and also to congratulations to Sarah Wheeler and Melody Remnant who also were presented with 7 years’ service awards.
Well done to Robert Harris for Chairing the EDASA committee meetings and being director of EDASA Interclub Meets. Bob also maintained the finances for EDASA. Our club chaired and organised EDASA event for the last two years. Strathalbyn was handed over these duties at the last EDASA meeting last week. Thank you Bob for your enthusiasm over the last two years.
Thanks to Dale Turner, working quietly in the background with the task of Sponsorship. This is an area that not too many people put their hand up for. Well done Dale. Without these funds lane hire and championship fees would be a concern for the club. If you have skills with fundraising or know of businesses that may sponsor our club in some way, I’m sure Dale would love to hear from you. Thanks to Dale’s company Bridgehead and his staff for assisting with our website support throughout the year. Thanks to all sponsors, your contributions have helped assist needs within the club.
This year I celebrate 10 years as Head Coach of the Onkaparinga Club and personally I have goals and dreams that continue to give me the passion and desire to nurture and plan for all club swimmers personal improvements while delivering coaching to our swimming community to see improvements in all swimmers. I ask all club swimmers to look at where they were as a beginner and walk the journey of your improvements and acknowledge their growths and strengths as a swimmer. I challenge you to address your training habits, skills and take ownerships of any weaknesses you see. Working on weaknesses can only bring more successes for you personally and the club will benefit from your ownership in setting new goals for the season ahead of you.
This year has been a year where personalities in the pool have been addresses on several occasions. I ask all swimmers to be mindful of each other in the pool. The golden rule is “Treat others how you yourself would like to be treated.” If a swimmer has a concern, I encourage the swimmer to be resilient and come forward to discuss the concern. If the coaches don’t know about little things that are said or even unseen behaviours, we can’t help deal with the issues if it isn’t brought to our attention. It may also be helpful to know that these problems can be solved quickly if we are made aware something has happened. It is best dealt with there at the session.
On April 26th – May 2nd , I attended the Silver Coaching licence course which was held during the National Coaches Conference in QLD. This course allows me to re visit the coaching principles required for having swimmers compete at National level and network with other coaches from clubs similar to ours. In the coming months, I need work through the requirements to gain the silver licence and hand in log books and assignments. This month my CPR has been updated, also first aid requirements and my National Police check. I have also maintained my RLSS Level 3 Examiner qualifications. This year Sarah Wheeler progressed to a Bronze level Coach and Stephanie Palmer-White has maintained her green licence. Both coaches are also ASCTA members. Monica has worked alongside coaches to gain valuable experience.
Highlights & Club activities for 2009-2010 season include:
- Winning the Advertiser Shield for the 9th year in a row.
- Transition & Merit squads competing in the “Superfish” Competition at Loxton
- Melody Remnant, Cillie du Plooy and Katelyn Lamb qualifying for Nationals in Victoria
- Participation at Swimming SA State Championships
- Participation at Victorian Open Water Swim – Hazelwood, La Trobe Valley
- Parents Dinner catered by the swimmers
- Trivia Night & Silent Auction
- Club BBQ’s & Time Trials
- Sleepover Turner’s Property
- Steak and Claw night Christmas Celebration
- Competing in the EDASA Interclub Series
- Competing in Swimming SA Winter Scratch Meets.
- Participation in the Woodside Pageant
- Attendance at Go Club workshops
- Attendance at Country Forum
- Attendance by parents at the Officiating & Training workshops
- Social movie nights for swimmers
- Club Presentation Night