Welcome to the May edition of the Western Swimmer. What a fantastic spectacle the 2019 Hancock Prospecting Australian Swimming Championships and the 2019 Hancock Prospecting Australian Age Swimming Championships in South Australia were! Western Australians not only performed with distinction but set some outstanding results including UWA/West Coast swimmer Joshua Edwards-Smith. Josh broke two Australian Age All Time and All-Comers records in the 100m and 200m Backstroke during the Age Championships. The 200m time broke the record of current Olympian Mitch Larkin set back in 2010!
Last month we also saw the 2019 Hancock Prospecting Junior Long Course Championships held at HBF Stadium which were a real “festival” of highlights and my congratulations to all SWA Clubs that participated once again this year.
As we move into the 2019 Short Course Season we now have a number of major projects on the move. A key element for this month will be the Special General Meeting (SGM) to be held on 11 May 2019 at Beatty Park. We are requesting that all Club Delegates attend in person or join us via Zoom conferencing so they can assist us to ensure that the revised SWA Constitution is able to be submitted on time to the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety. Following the SGM will be a Club Question and Answer session about the Metro Zone implementation, so I look forward to seeing you there.
Regionally the staff have been working extremely closely with a number of Regions including the South West, Pilbara, Goldfields and Great Southern, and look forward to continuing to bolster the structure of these very important Regional bodies over the winter months ahead.
This month will also celebrate the 2019 Westpac Swimmer of the Year Awards to be held on Saturday, 18 May 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Perth. I’d like to encourage all of our Clubs to buy a table and get behind what is a fantastic event for all of our Members to celebrate the 2018/19 season that was.
I’d like to remind all Clubs that your Club Affiliation is required by no later than 30 June 2019. All Clubs will have received the notification of Membership fees together with the Affiliation Booklet that you’ll need to fill out and submit with your payment prior to 30 June.
In addition, Swimming WA Management made the decision to delay the transition to Swim Central, to facilitate additional training and to ensure the best possible transition for our Clubs and all Members. With Swim Central replacing My Swim Results, the national bespoke programme is a sport’s software system that makes things easier for our consumers and facilitators to administrate. All Winter Short Course entries, as well as all new and renewing Memberships for the 2018/19 season, will continue through MySwimResults. The new timeline is estimated to be 1 August 2019 for the changeover to Swim Central. New and renewing Memberships for the 2019/20 season will be through Swim Central, updates to follow.
Finally, if you haven’t seen it already, please take some time to look at the new SWA website that was launched on Monday. It has a whole new look and feel and up-to-date information which we’re sure will better support our Clubs and Members.
I look forward to seeing you all at the 2019 Westpac Swimmer of the Year Awards on Saturday, 18 May.
Best wishes,
Louis van Aardt
President
