Welcome to the June edition of the Western Swimmer. May was an outstanding month for the sport of swimming in Western Australia with the 2019 Westpac Swimmer of the Year Awards held on 18 May 2019 at the Hyatt Regency. It was a fantastic evening and wonderful to see Holly Barratt take out the 2019 Lyn McClements Swimmer of the Year Medal together with the prestigious Hancock Prospecting Patron’s Award. Congratulations to Holly and her coach Will Scott!
It was also terrific to see champions such as Bud McAllister named Coach of the Year, Rhys Mainstone the Open Water Swimmer of the Year and Ben Popham the Multi Class Swimmer of the Year. Congratulations to all of the Award winners.
I’d also like to make special acknowledgement of Kingsley Bugarin who was elevated into the Hall of Legends from the Hall of Fame on the evening, and to welcome Dianne Saunders into the Hall of Fame on her induction as the 59th member of the Hall of Fame.
To all of our elite athletes I wish you all the very best for the 2019 Hancock Prospecting World Swimming Trials to be held in Queensland on the 9 – 14 June.
As part of Swimming WA’s Asian Engagement through Sport Strategy project, Chief Executive Officer Darren Beazley visited China during May as a guest of WA’s High Commissioner in Shanghai. Darren spent four valuable days establishing links with Swimming Federations and Sport Schools in the Region and encouraging participation in the Asia-Pac Super Splash being held at HBF Stadium in December.
Even though it might be winter, there is a lot of activity on and we wish our Coaches, Athletes and Technical Officials the very best as we move into the Short Course Season. I remind all of our Clubs to make sure that you get your registrations in for the Swimming WA Short Course Qualifying Meet No. 1 which will be held on 22 and 23 June 2019.
We also encourage those sprinters to register for the SWA Short Course Sprint Showdown which will be held on Saturday, 29 June 2019.
Recently, the Bunbury Swimming Club clubrooms were broken into, with a fire causing considerable damage and affecting Club equipment and invaluable memorabilia dating back to the Club’s inaugural 1960 Club affiliation to Swimming WA. We encourage all in the swimming community to support the Club by making a donation to the Bunbury Swimming Club Go Fund me page: https://bit.ly/2Q9nUsy
I’d like to remind all of our Clubs that Club Affiliation closes on 30 June and that you can do much to help the office by ensuring you meet that deadline and to assist us to get your Club up and running for the next season.
A reminder that the SWA office will close during the first week in July and most staff will be on Annual Leave for the bulk of July and as such there will be no July edition of the Western Swimmer.
Wishing you all the very best for the Short Course Season.
Best wishes,
Louis van Aardt
President
