Onkaparinga Swimming Club

State Medals for Onkaparinga Club

Awesome  Open Water Swims net the Onkaparinga Club State Medals in extremely warm conditions. Coach Pat Wheeler accompanied three Onkaparinga swimmers to the State Titles at Brighton on the weekend. Melody Remnant, Cillie du Plooy & Katelyn Lamb showed their strengths in the 5km distance smashing the National Qualifying  times required to be eligible to compete in their age groups in Victoria next February.

In the male race Cillie du Plooy quickly settled into a strong and comfortable tempo  and rounded the course in fourth place at the 2.5km mark. Cillie moved into another gear and worked his way  to second place and held that position up until the last buoy when the third competitor slipped  inside  his right shoulder and a dash to the finish line took place where Cillie has touched out on the finish line and he claimed 3 fastest male to complete the course. Cillie place 2^nd in the 17 – 18 year age group in an excellent time of 59 minutes which is 5 and a half minutes quicker  that the National  Qualifying time of 1. 05.00 

Training partner Remnant also had a very solid race and held a strong pace around each 2.5km leg and placed 6^th fastest female overall in a time of 1 hour 5 minutes  and claimed Third Open Female category medal.  Melody set a new personal best time and was 4 minutes inside National time.

Youngster Katelyn Lamb reaped the rewards of her hard training over the last three weeks knowing she had a solid task ahead of herself having to knock  3 and a half minutes of her 5km time to qualify for nationals. However Katelyn rebelled in water and really made up good time after  upping the pace in the last 2km and speed home to the finish line in a time of 1 hour 13 minutes to smash her personal best time by 7 minutes. Katelyn just missed out on a medal and place 4^th in the 13 year female category and 5 minutes inside the National time.

Melody Remnant returned on the Sunday and lined up for the 10km race. All male and female swimmers started of the same start line and Melody quickly moved away with the first pack of swimmers and settled into 6 place overall at the 2.5km mark and held on to that position until the 7.5km turn after feeding at this point and a quick word and reassurance from coach Pat who encourage her to swim on strongly.  Melody made a break away from the other 2 swimmers in her pack and moved up in to the forth place and chasing South Coast Whitley who was the first female Open swimmer ahead of her. Melody held her position but couldn’t catch the female leader who finished approximately four minutes ahead of her. Forth out right competitor was the outcome for Remnant’s  very first 10km race and  a silver medal for placing second Open Female and a national qualifying time for 10km. Melody completed the 10km in 2 hours 22 minutes – 8 minutes inside national time.

Pat Wheeler said “ All three onka swimmers are a credit to the club and have worked extremely hard over the winter months with an additional 2 swim sessions a week in Adelaide and extra running and dryland or gym sessions to prepare for this season. They share the same commitment and desire to do well,  and also are very supportive of each other in training and competition.

 

 

This year has been as exciting as every year. The club has continued to stay the number one Country Club in the state at the Country Championship. This meet was held in January at Mt. Gambier. Swimmers worked well over the summer months to prepare for our championship meets. All members of the team that travelled to Mt. Gambier should be proud and feel valued members even our little Superfish competitors. This year we had 50 swimmers compete and our clubs point score was the highest ever scored in the history of the shield l believe. Congratulations on your efforts to benefit our club. 

The State Championships continues to be a problem because only a small number of swimmers go on and compete at this meet. It is hoped that swimmers how do qualify will make the effort to travel to Adelaide the following week and swim in at least one or two events for our club next year. It is important that we have swimmers going onto state level not just a handful of swimmers.

EDASA Interclub has been well attended at most meets, however it is really important for new swimmers to get out there and give competition a real go. All swimmers are to swim at 4 meets or more to remain in our squads. It is really not much effort to make to full fill the criteria to be a member of our swimming squads. Lane space is made available for all registered swimming members and it is expected that competition is a main focus for our 25 year age group and under group.

This year we have provided swimmers with the opportunity to swim in the Open Water Swimming events. We had swimmers compete in the Swimming SA Open Water Championships as well as the Victorian Open Water Championships in the La Trobe Valley in October of last year. Swimmers who swam in these Championships, committed to three sessions a week over winter to prepare for these events. We had 17 swimmers travel to Victoria with a support team of parents for the weekend. Swimmer meet at the Melbourne Vic Centre to swim on the Friday morning and had a swim session then split into groups. One group headed in to Melbourne for a tour of the city shops and went on to the Victorian Markets. The second group headed for the Melbourne Museum for a morning looking at exhibitions and displays offered by the Museum. Both groups joined up for an eventful journey out to the Latrobe Valley. On route one of the two hire vans broke down. We just thought they were taking a faster route until a text message was received that they had broken down. We stopped to wait and see what would happen with the other vehicle and passengers aboard. Eventually we meet up in Morwell with two other families and awaited for passengers in the broken down vehicle to arrive. We all had tea together and travelled to our accommodation. Next morning we all travelled to the Hazelmere Pondage for the swim. All swimmers completed the distances of 1km, 3km and 5km. After presentations we headed back to St. Kilda share a home cooked meal and swimmers were accompanied down to a café for dessert. It was a great weekend away and all swimmers were rewarded for the hours of training preparing of this event. 

Three weeks later we had 5 swimmers compete in the 5km OW at Brighton. It was a day of rough and tough competition. This year has been tough in all Open Water Swimming Events, swimmers have been challenged by the elements and conditions on each outing. At the Henley & Grange OW swimmers gain placings and some came away with prize money also.

Just days before Christmas families gathered for the 2^nd Christmas Steak & Claw Night & Swimmers sleepover. It was a great night again and 17 families came together to socialize and enjoy a club activity. Thanks to the Turner family for preparing the selected area down by one of their dams where we all gathered for the evening. Swimmers participated in competition for the largest yabbie. Swimmers also had fun after dark with many a touch that went flat and batteries died.

Time Trials were well attended and younger swimmers practiced race skills and received feedback on technique and what officials looked at while they are swimming. Time trials were carried out at both venues during allocated training sessions. 

At our Open carnival this year we had 45 swimmers compete and the day was a great success. Swimmers enjoyed swimming and socializing with all who attended. Parents worked well as officials, timekeepers and with catering. This year I spent the day in the catering tent rather than on the pool side with swimmers and this was quite different. I do hope that parents will put their hands up to take on positions within the club. My position is to coach and help swimmers at competitions not to coordinate the catering tent. 

From 28^th April – 3^rd May, I attended the Australian Swimming and Coaches Conference in Queensland. This is a valuable time to refresh on coaching ideas and skills, viewing drills and techniques and updating qualifications. This year I attended the Open Water Swimming Coaches Course with 2 other South Australian coaches. In the next year I will complete the necessary coaching hours and workbook requirements to gain this qualification. I was able to spend a day at the Runaway Bay Sports Centre to watch Megan Nay work with her coach Michael Bohl. He also coaches Stephanie Rice.   Stephan Windmar also had swimmers demonstrate freestyle and butterfly drills while he spoke on elements of each stroke.   I thank our committee for giving me the opportunity to attend this conference yearly.

Without your help we can’t manage this wonderful club that has a great foundation to see it succeed for years to come. With the hard work that is put in by the older members of the club, it may be time to see new hands be put up for jobs throughout the year in sponsorship, fundraising, catering, social activities coordination and at committee level. Most people just don’t like being on committees, however many a time it is the committee members that carry the club to see it continues working well and achieving the set goals of the club and coaches goals which in the end benefit the swimmer in all outcomes. Please if you can’t accept a position on the committee, then please put your hand up to co ordinate an event.

This year thanks should go to Dale Turner for his continued work with sponsorship and recruiting new sponsors to our club. Also Jane & Paul Pickering for taking on the Coordinator position for the Trivia Night & Silent Auction and organizing club raffles.   Thanks to the parents who have helped cook pancakes on Friday mornings in summer. The swimmers really enjoy this small treat for the hard work they put in at training and it’s a great way for them to spend ½ hour after training once a week and just talk and have fun with each other before heading to school. 

Thanks to Stephanie Palmer-White and Sarah Wheeler for being my support coaches. At times they have taken full responsibilities while I have been away with swimmers at competitions and they have made sure sessions continued. Sarah has managed the Learn to Swim transition group on Saturdays and has been supported by Monica Kato and other swimmers have helped support some of these new swimmers. We have only 6 – 8 swimmers in the Learn to Swim however it is quite a task some days to have all swimmers happy and gaining water confidence and learning basic swimming skills.    Sarah also took on duties of warm ups at Countries to help younger swimmers. Stephanie is gaining confidence with all squads when she is coaching but with full time work has found it hard to be on pool deck a lot, however she has managed to be in the pool with swimmers training and giving advice when needed during sessions.

Thanks to our Team Managers this year. Jo Palmer did a great job at Championship events and when called upon at training to help swimmers.   John Brooks assisted Jo and he too was on the run at meets to gain official times for feedback to coaches and swimmers.

Congratulations Club Captains Joanne Hombsch and Ryan Turner for your support, attendance at carnivals and meets, organizational skills with the younger swimmers, coordination of the Parent Dinner and filling in relays times etc…. Being a captain is no easy job. With it sometimes comes resentment, non cooperation and criticism for some swimmers, but on a hole there are many rewards to be gained from being a club captain. I congratulate you both on your efforts for this season. Thanks to Emily Bassell and Zac Elliott for supporting Jo and Ryan throughout this year. It is great to have our more senior swimmers working actively within our club. Congratulations to Joanne for accepting a vacant committee position throughout the season. Thanks also to those swimmers who were involved with the Swimmers Committee this year. Your support helping with activities throughout the year was great.

We are very lucky with the continued support and roles the senior swimmers have taken on within our club. I see a sense of pride and belong you have with our club. I have been very lucky as a coach to walk the swimming journey with these swimmers over the past 12 years with some of them and see their achieve, be there with them in non achievement, see them grow and mature whilst sharing a friendship with them. We have a positive and committed group of senior swimmers who lead our younger swimmers, help encourage and motivate them and are awaiting the day to share in our junior swimmers successes. We have a great group of swimmers who I continue to encourage, to see each other’s strengths and congratulate each other on successes. We can’t be good at all strokes and distances, so it nice to value each other’s strengths.   Keep on valuing each other in competition and training.

Thanks must go to Dave Hombsch for supporting me as Head coach. Dave is a quiet person but will always see that if I need anything to benefit the swimmers that he will work towards gaining it to benefit our swimmers. This year we have not been successful with any grant applications. We submitted 4 applications however other sporting clubs in the district were seen to be of more needy. Dave and committee approved money which went towards another computer and software. Money has been made available for me to attend the National coaches conference which each year gives me ideas and skills to help implement our club program. Thanks to the committee also.

Thanks must go to Melody Remnant for nominations and Sarah Wheeler for maintaining swimmers records. These positions take hours of volunteer work to keep up to date with throughout the year. Thanks to Merrilyn Lamb for organizing parents to help with putting our carnival entries on to a data base in team manager for the program and our open carnival. This is a job that also takes many hours to prepare information for our carnival to be a success. Jenny Kennedy, Anat Goldstein & Sam Nicholson also volunteered their time to support Merrilyn and also Bob Harris with EDASA recording.

This year our club has increased in membership again.   We have approx. 40 new members,    we received 6 transfers from other clubs and we also welcomed 3 swimmers and their family from South Africa. We are a multi cultural club fostering activities for all to attend. 

Our growth on most occasions is word of mouth to swimmers friends. We have many new swimmers accessing our website for information relating to training times and if we can cater for their swimming needs. Thanks to all who have contributed to the website throughout the year as it is a link for new members and thanks to Dale Turner for his company sponsoring the website.

The invaluable work that members perform throughout the season is outstanding. Their hard work has enables your family and swimmers to have access to our club program , and access to competition with support from our club officials.

 Training is available from Swimming Sa to our club members wishing to contribute as officials on pool deck at meets and carnivals. I do ask that parents really give some thought to becoming an official to help our club and to aid swimming to grow as a state also. Officials will always be needed and the more helpers we have lessens the work for those who continue to volunteer their time to benefit the sport of swimming. Please give it some thought we need officials with 2 and 3 qualifications with varied skills.

For the coming season, plans are in place for performance outcomes for swimmers. We have swimmers who will target events for qualifying times for Countries, States and Nationals. We have a core group of swimmers who have made long term plans and dream of achieving set goals throughout the year. I wish all swimmers well over the coming year with their swimming. I hope that your commitment and dedication is in line with your goals and dreams. Hard work always pays off, you may not see it in the beginning, but with two or three years of good training effort long term goals can be reached. It’s the small learning steps in the early years that lay the foundations for your growth, success and achievements in later years. 

Short term goals help you reach your long term goals, so continue to set short term goals and have weekly aims with technique and skills, or even just making it to training on time!! Be responsible in owning your own training habits and efforts for your success in swimming. We are just your support crew that can support you in your journey. 

Follow your heart, be passionate about your dreams & work hard, apply it to your pathways in life.

 

Pat Wheeler

 Head Coach

  

It gives me much pleasure to present the Annual Report to our swimming community tonight at our combined AGM & Presentations Evening. The reports contained in this Annual Report, are an indication of the exceptional results achieved by a dedicated group of volunteers, whose focus is to equip our swimming community with the essential elements of management and knowledge to deliver a quality service for all swimmers, parents, officials, coaches and supporters to benefit from.

During the last year the Onkaparinga Swimming Club has continued to be successful on the pool deck and in all activities that we do.   To have won the prestigious Advertiser Shield at the 2009 South Australian Country Long Course Championships for the eight year in a row is an enormous achievement. It was also very pleasing to see so many new swimmers at the Countries including those that competed in the Superfish event, the support that the older swimmers gave the younger swimmers, and the outcome of all the hard training that had been put in to just compete, to gain the PB’s and medals. 

Recognition must also be given to those swimmers that completed at the EDASA meets, and at State, and National levels.

As a club we continue to be very successful. We have a strong group of swimmers who are very committed to stretching themselves to improve their own results, we have new swimmers and families coming to club, we have a very dedicated and committed coaching group that is fully focussed on achieving the best outcome for each swimmer and the club, we are financially sound, and we have a core group of committed members who continually put themselves out to support the club in all that we do

To have obtained the results that we did throughout the year is a credit to the commitment and motivation of all our swimmers, our club captains and vice captains, coaching staff, and parents – so well done. In addition I firmly believe that the clubs success 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. Pat on behalf of Onka’s, I thank you for your effort throughout the year. Also thanks to Stephanie and Sarah for supporting Pat during the year.

It is also very important that all swimmers take the time to reflect back and celebrate the success that they achieved throughout the year. The hard work that they put in to during training throughout the year paid off.

Our next major focus is to get even more swimmers starting to compete at state and national levels. We cannot be complacent on the fact that we are an excellent country club. If we want to do the best that we can for our swimmers we need to start getting them participating at the next levels. I know that Pat is fully focussed on achieving this, to help our swimmers continue to grow and improve themselves.

I would also like to specifically thank those members that have put in the extra effort to make Onkas a strong club. 

To all Officials, members that performed timekeeping and other duties on pool deck, members who just put the effort in to support us when it was needed, and to all the parents, guardians, and grandparents who have supported their children in achieving their gaols, well done and keep up the effort.

To those members that have worked behind the scenes, including Jo Palmer & John Brooks for acting as team managers at the Countries, John W for acting as meet director for the Counties and our Carnival, and to Dale Turner for continuing his focus on improving the sponsorship needs of the club, a very big thank you. 

To the Committee – Jane Pool, Bob Harris, Jo Tremellen, Chris Marshall, Amanda, Sarah & Pat Wheeler, Neil Collins and Jo Hombsch thank you for your effort and the opportunity to work with you over the last year. 

A special thankyou to our major sponsors - Bridgehead Australian Pty Ltd, Foodland (Balhannah, Woodside, Lobethal), Von Doussas Lawyers and Conveyances, Winen Warehouse, and Accom GC, and to the Friends of Onkas - Grumpy’s Brewhaus, Hahndorf Hyundai, Oakbank Mower, Squires Sales and Service, Sports Power, That’s Hot Jewellery Woodside Motors, Jarrett Motor, Taylor Collision, Federation Glass. Your continued support enables us to be a successful and viable club.

From a financial performance perspective Onkas remained in a good financial position for 2008/09 with a small profit for the year being achieved. It is expected that this will continue to occur in 2009/10.

However there is one area that I believe needs to be improved. We need more members to help and support the club. Our success is only as strong as the members that do this for our children, and it appears that this is being constantly done by the same members.    Supporting doesn’t mean that you need to be on the committee, even though it would a large help, it is about proactively supporting and helping the club.   The more help that we can get the easier it is for very one.

Finally as we look towards the next 12 plus months there are a lot of positives. We have an excellent group of swimmers and families with new ones at all age groups joining us, very good coaching staff, and members that are willing to put the effort in to help. Put of this together and I am sure that we will continue our success.

Last of all I have enjoyed my time as Club President and thank everyone for their support, and I wish Onkas all the best and good luck in 2009/10 !!

Regards