Author: Adrian Bell

Social nights

Each season Drummoyne Swim Club organises a few social events so that swimmers can get to know each other better while wearing more than active wear. These events are always fun and it would be great if you could come along.

Now that venue rules are being relaxed we can plan our initial social events for this season. Subject to ongoing COVID rules we’re proposing:

Ladies

What: Dinner and drinks

Where: Ribs & Burgers, Victoria Road Drummoyne

When: Thursday 19 November starting at @ 19:00

Cost: Each attendee to pay for their own food and drinks

Men

What: Dinner and drinks

Where: Ribs & Burgers, Victoria Road Drummoyne

When: Thursday 26 November starting @ 19:00

Cost: Each attendee to pay for their own food and drinks

Juniors

What: EPIC Pizza in the Park

Where: Taplin Park, Drummoyne

When: Saturday 28 November starting at 18:00

Cost: $15 per head payable in advance

Some parent and/or carer volunteers to help on the evening will be required.

Numbers at each event will be limited to ensure compliance with NSW Government guidelines. The events will be posted in the club’s Team App application soon and you’ll need to RSVP for these events in advance.

Family Picnic and Harbour Cruise

All things going well we’re also planning a family picnic and a harbour cruise for the second half of the season. More details to follow once they’ve been locked down (and assuming we’re not all locked down again!)

Presentations

COVID meant that we couldn’t hold our end of season presentation. Instead we’ll be recognising last season’s achievements by handing out trophies and medals on the pool deck. We’ll do this over the course of a number of weeks starting in mid November.

We’re also looking to lock the 7th of May 2021 as the Presentation Date to celebrate this season (touch wood).

Well Halloween certainly brought out some strange happenings last Saturday. But, heavy rain and the threat of thunderstorms did not diminish from the morning. Despite the frightful weather we had our biggest meet of the season so far with 43 races.

The sight of our new Club Captains Tadhg and Rosie in Halloween costumes was only slightly more unusual than the unique BBB heats and then Christian Taylor reminding everyone that Freestyle really does mean you are free to swim whatever you wish. He proceeded to do backstroke in the 400m – posting the best time of the day to boot!

Congratulations to our BBB finalists. We look forward to seeing you battle it out for the George Wheaton Trophy on Saturday the 21st of November.

This week’s racing is a little more traditional:

• 100m Freestyle
• 50 Backstroke (Heats for the Tom Brown 50m Backstroke Handicap Trophy)
• 200m Medley (Heats for the Five Dock Rotary 200m Medley Handicap Trophy)

See you on Saturday!

Relays are always a highlight of school swimming carnivals, the annual Battle on the Bay and those other lesser swim meets like the Olympics. As mentioned earlier in the season this summer we are introducing two new relay races into the swimming calendar. The first is the “Canada Bay Cup”.

The “Canada Bay Cup” – a race in which residents of the various suburbs in the Canada Bay Local Government Area (LGA) will square off against each other to see which is the fastest suburb. This relay race will be held on Saturday the 14th of November at Swim Club. The format will be a mixed handicap relay. The number of participants will be determined from the entries received. We’ll also field a relay team from out of LGA swimmers.

Our Club Patron Mayor Angelo Tsirekas will be attending to present the trophy to the winning team.

Please complete the form at the end of this link https://forms.gle/uV8MBsqXagQGVhT5A to nominate for the Canada Bay Cup – nominate the suburb you live in. Please complete the form for each person you are entering for.

Thanks to the following people who have nominated to stand as Club Captains this season:

Girls

• Cara Parker
• Hannah Svoboda
• Rosie Tunstall

Boys

• Joseph Colley
• Matthew Svoboda
• Tadhg Donnellan

We’ll be holding election for male and female Club Captains this coming Saturday 24 October 2020.

If you didn’t get a chance to nominate but would still like to do so, please feel free to drop Adrian Bell a message by email president@drummoyneswimclub.com.au or phone 0424 561 831.

Final nominations will close 7:00am on Saturday the 24th October 2020.

Club Captains are a fundamental part of the Club and valued by all members.

The key responsibilities of the Club Captains include:

Attendance – Regular attendance every Saturday.
Assistance – Regularly assists to help run races very Saturday morning. Arrives on time to help set up and stays to help pack up.
Role model – Acts responsibly and is a role model for all DSC Juniors.
Battle on the Bay (BOB) – Assists in all facets of BOB including organising juniors in their heats and relays. Masters of the cheerleading.

Thanks very much to Cara Parker and Joseph Colley who were our Club Captains for last season.

Happily COVID-19 case numbers in NSW continue to remain low and certain restrictions continue to be lifted. Group booking limits at restaurants, for example, are due to increase from 10 to 30 as of 23 October 2020. This bodes well for the club holding our annual men’s and women’s social nights in the not too distant future.

Restrictions at the pool however continue to remain in force per our COVID Safety Plan.

Until further guidance is issued by the NSW Government and Swimming NSW we’ll need to continue with our revised marshalling arrangements, the use of sanitiser, minimising spectators to parents and / or caregivers (ensuring that all spectators are registered via Team App) and most importantly social distancing in the stand. The most recent advice from the NSW CHO is:

“More than one parent may now attend community sporting activities if physical distancing of at least 1.5 metres can be maintained between people that are not from the same household.”

Dr Kerry Chant, Chief Health Officer NSW Ministry of Health​

Pool management are generally happy with the way we have managed our activities so far this season. The only negative comments we’ve had are about social distancing.

By way of an example of what might happen if pool management and/or Council want to crack down on swimming related activities we only need to look as far as the City of Sydney. As can be seen in this Sydney Morning Herald article a totally different approach to COVID-Safety has been adopted at City of Sydney pools. Interestingly these pools are, like Drummoyne Pool, managed by Belgravia Leisure.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/no-such-thing-as-a-casual-dip-as-sydney-pool-rules-favour-lap-swimmers-20201016-p565tv.html

So, per our COVID-Safety plan let’s ensure that we maintain appropriate social distancing of 1.5m or more between family groups.

The Club’s COVID Safety Plan has been published to our website here. In a nutshell our COVID-Safety Plan is:

Have fun, but… be safe and protect others! Arrive ready to swim; Register your attendance using Team App (swimmers and spectators); Get in, Swim, Get out; Follow social distancing rules; Sanitise and wash your hands; Minimise use of the amenities; Don’t share equipment, food or drinks and Go home when you’re done.

Please don’t come to swimming if you’re sick or if you’ve been to a designated hot spot within the timelines shown in the NSW Govt. guidelines.

For more information, please read the Club’s COVID Safety Plan.