President’s Ponderings – March 2021

Welcome everybody to this February, 2021 newsletter. We hope that we find everyone being fit and well, and enjoying getting stuck into the new year.

And it is a new year to look forward to, after what was a difficult and challenging 2020, all around.

But it is pleasing to report that we find our club progressing very well in the last 6 months or so – our membership is on the increase, there are record levels of interest being shown in the club, and we seem to have come through the difficulties very well. And this sort of sentiment seems to be present in many of the other Masters swimming clubs out there, as well as many other sporting and activity based organisations. This is pleasing to see, and can only be of benefit to the increasing numbers of people that are participating.

Thankfully, we managed to get through the most recent lockdown relatively unscathed. The pool was closed for a week, but hopefully it did not affect our swimmers training regimes too badly. However, having to wear masks during that time was somewhat a pain. But we are over that now, and we embrace the return to more normal times.

And our swimmers are keeping busy as well.

We had Sue, Karla and Mark all competing in the Rotto Channel swim on 20th February. And Dom was paddling for Sue. Also, James and Max entered the duo swim. Everybody completed the crossing, which I am advised was done in very tough conditions this year, so a big congratulations to you all. You are an inspiration to the rest of us and the Club is proud of you.

We still have some of our members training for the Port to Pub swim in March, so, good luck to you all, and keep swimming.

The Busso Jetty swim was held on 14 February. Our contingent was a bit reduced this year, due to difficulties with the registration process and the huge number of entrants to the event. But we still had good numbers competing, despite having to negotiate border closures, just prior to the event. The conditions on the day were very good, and from talking to most of our swimmers afterwards, they all posted very acceptable times and were pleased with their swims – with the possible exception of yours truly, who spent a long time out there and got good value for the money! Well done to all that managed to compete and swim.

And there is always a good contingent of our members doing most of the swim thru ocean swims that are on during this time of the year. Thanks to you all for your participation, and good luck with the remaining events.

We also have had a couple of our members, competing in the Newman Churchlands inter club carnival over the last weekend. It is good to see, and one of our members (Tessa) managed to give a rival club swimmer a bit of a run for her money. We would recommend that more of our members give future carnivals a go. They are fun events. There is competition involved, but you are essentially swimming against people who have similar swimming ability or speed as yourself. It is a good test, but without the stress of full on competition.

So, as you can see, there is quite a bit going on with our swimmers currently – keep up the great work, and enjoy the moment.

And we must also mention those of our members who might not be participating in any of the abovementioned events, but still attend the training sessions and get on with achieving their fitness and swimming goals – well done to you all. You are the backbone of the club, and without you, the club would be a much poorer place.

And a big thank you to our coaches, for your consistent help in running the programmes and helping our swimmers, where possible. You are doing an awesome job, and all on a voluntary basis as well. Thank you.

We welcome numerous new members in to our club (listed later in the newsletter) and we are very pleased to have you all on board, and hope you get lots of enjoyment, and are able to achieve your fitness / swimming goals with the club.

And our newest potential future member arrived in the world a few weeks ago – Nicole and Domenic announced the birth of April. Congratulations to you both, and best wishes for April – we have a spot picked out for you already !

That’s about it from me.

Keep well everybody.

Keep swimming.

See you poolside.

Will

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