A very warm welcome to 2020 from all of us at Swimming WA. The New Year got "off to a bang" with the 2020 SunSmart Country Championships at HBF Stadium. There was very strong swimming from athletes from far and wide and some of the hard work that Coaches Jason Evans has been doing with the Bunbury Swimming Club athletes was on display. Well done to all Country Coaches and Swimmers on your efforts at Country Champs. Speaking of the country, our Members will have seen that the Northam Swimming Club have a brand new $6.2M pool to call home. I attended the official opening with Federal Minister for Industrial Relations and Attorney General Mr Christian Porter MP. To Jo Stephens and the entire Northam Swimming Club Committee, the very best of luck this summer in your wonderful new facility!
The 2020 Hancock Prospecting State Open Championships were keenly contested attracting swimmers from interstate and overseas. The improvement in many Clubs was on display, but a very special mention must go to Simon Redmond, his coaching team and Steven Brown and the Committee at Arena Swim Club for the enormous improvement in the past year. With a home National Open Championships, I would like to congratulate the many athletes and coaches who achieved PB’s at the Open Championships and have qualified to compete at Nationals in mid-April.
The Open Water Series continued to power along in January with the Bunbury round a huge success in very windy conditions, followed by a huge round 8 at Sorrento to celebrate Australia Day thanks to New Town Toyota. At the national level, our congratulations to the contingent of 45 athletes from 13 SWA Clubs who competed at the SAL National Open Water Championships in Adelaide from January 25th - 27th. Special mention to Jack Wilson (North Coast SC) and Nicholas Rollo (Perth City SC) on their selection on the Australian Team to represent the country at the 2020 FINA World Marathon Series Round 1 in Doha, Qatar. The event will take place on Saturday 15 February and will double as the Olympic Qualification event for the Australian team with the top 2 Australian men being selected to take part in the Olympic Qualification event in Fukuoka, Japan. Best of luck to Jack and Nick!
This month Swimming WA will unveil its Coaching Development Plan. ASCTA Chief Executive Officer Mr Brendan Ward is in Perth in early February to assist with the launch of the Plan which will see some significant work undertaken with our Coaches and their programmes, right across the State to ensure that we make the most of this Olympic year. For more information on how your Club can get involved, please visit the Swimming WA website.
Finally, our best wishes to James MacPherson and the Committee at Geraldton Amateur Swimming Club as they make the final preparations this month for the 2020 SunSmart Country Pennants to be held over the March long weekend as part of Swimming WA’s Festival of Swimming. For metropolitan Clubs, the 2020 SunSmart Club Premierships are the focus this month and we look forward to all Clubs building that ‘Club Spirit’ that is such an important part of these huge Meets.
Best wishes to all of our Members for a very successful February.
