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SNAPPETS Stadium Masters Swimming Club Inc www.stadiummasters.org.au June 2016

FROM THE EDITOR

If you were at school in WA in the 1950s of course you know that the “doldrums” is a maritime expression for the low-pressure area around the equator resulting in calm periods, often trapping sailing boats for weeks. Bad for trade! Now we associate the doldrums with inactivity, mild depression, listlessness, or stagnation.

Let’s not fall into this state during the shorter, colder winter days. Training will continue! There are two events coming up very soon: our own 1500 Metre Distance Swim on 11th June and Mandurah’s LiveLighter Club Challenge on 19th June. The program at Mandurah’s new venue is in short course and offers a wide range of choice in 100, 50 and 25 metre events, including 100 IM. Stadium Masters’ 1500 is always well attended, being the first distance swim on the calendar. We’ll need help with timekeeping and providing afternoon tea, so please think about what you can do to help. Throughout the year there’s always the opportunity to record Endurance swims and possibly to swim some in short course indoors in winter. For a completely different experience, come and help at our next Bunnings sausage sizzle, when the date has been set. This one is bound to be a success after the gods have sent foul weather for our last two attempts!

NATIONAL COACH OF THE YEAR 2015

Congratulations to Katya Anderson! At the Nationals in Melbourne recently, Katya was named the 2015 Coach of the Year for her work as the Head Coach of the Superfins squad which is made up of physically and intellectually disabled swimmers with a broad range of abilities. She oversees the entire coaching program and co-ordinates up to 18 coaches. In 2015 she brought 11 of her swimmers to the Hobart Nationals for the first time. Stadium Masters is very proud to acknowledge Katya’s achievement, especially as she is a second claim member of our club.

Katya with National Board Member Therese Crollick

DIARY ENTRIES FOR JUNE AND BEYOND

Date Event Time Venue Wednesday 8 June Committee meeting 6:30pm Regent Park, Mt Claremont

Saturday 11 June Stadium Masters 1500 Distance Swim LC 1:00pm start HBF Stadium

Sunday 19 June Mandurah LiveLighter Club Challenge SC Warm-up 8:15am Mandurah Aquatic Centre

a Sat or Sun in July Annual Club Luncheon TBA TBA

Wednesday 20 July Committee meeting 6:30pm Regent Park, Mt Claremont

Saturday 23 July 2016 Groper State Relay SC Champs afternoon HBF Stadium

WELCOME TO A NEW MEMBER AND GOODBYE FOR NOW TO ANOTHER FRIEND

Graham Wimbridge joined our club recently, just in time to experience the rigours of winter training. Welcome! Malvern Marlins’ member, Mary Williams, has just returned to Melbourne. We enjoyed her company in the pool while she was visiting family in Perth. See you next time, Mary!

In this issue Regular features From the editor.................. 1 Diary entries ...................... 1 Welcome ........................... 1 Captains............................. 2 Membership ...................... 3 Birthdays ........................... 3 MSWA................................ 4 Goggle ............................... 5 Deadline for next issue ...... 6

Special features

National Coach of the Year 1 Welcome back Lynda......... 3

New Club clothing ............. 5

Coaching Tip ...................... 5

Swimathon ........................ 6

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CAPTAINS Pamela Walter and Jackie Egan

Club swim 23rd April 2016 On an unexpectedly warm 30°C day, we had eighteen swimmers across a wide age range. Two were competing with us for the first time and seemed to enjoy the experience. The good number meant swimmers’ heats weren’t too close together.

Thank you to Marg Watson who recorded the times, ‘Tricia, Mary and Robyn who came especially to timekeep, Elizabeth as marshal and Pat Sugars as the back-up starter. The timekeepers did a really good job as there were many instances where times were only 1/100 sec different.

Our club swims are run according to Masters rules, the same as swimmers would experience at a LiveLighter Club Challenge. This is important because it gives members the opportunity to become familiar with starting procedures and to practise starts, turns and race strategy before an interclub meet. Afterwards we discussed the rules to make swimmers aware of any recent changes.

Results Ann Ritchie FR50; FR100 (both inaugural)

Audrey FR50 (PAB, best since 2014); FR100 (PAB, best since 2012)

Barry BA50 (PAB, Club record)

Bill FR50 (PAB, best since 2013); BR50 (best since 2014)

Carmen FR50 (PB by 1.5 sec); FR100 (PB by 6 sec)

Cas BR50 (PAB); BA100 (inaugural)

Mat BU100 (Club record)

Pamela FR50 (PAB, best since 2012)

Peter Downey FR100 (PAB, best since 2011); BR50 (PAB, best since 2009)

Peter Gray FR50, FR100, BU50 (all inaugural, all Club records)

Westcoast LiveLighter Long Course Club Challenge Sunday 1st May 2016

Outdoors on a cloudy day our team of 16 found the air brisk. What a surprise, though, to walk barefoot on the synthetic grass in the marshalling area and feel the warmth on the soles of your feet. We did really well to finish third, only 6 points behind Perth City and won the Handicap award calculated by dividing the total points gained by a club by the number of swimmers from that club. Two of our three relay teams blitzed the field and the other came second. Westcoast’s wonderful spread for lunch made up for the nip in the air.

Results Anne Edmondson FR100 (best since ’14)

Audrey Bullough FR50 (PAB, best since ’13); FR100 (PAB, best since ’12)

Barry Green BR50 (CR,PAB); BA100 (PAB)

Bill Woodhouse BR50 (PAB, best since ’13)

Jenny Kohan FR50 (PB); FR100 (inaugural)

Mary Gray FR50 (PB); BA50 (PB); FR100 (PB by 7 sec)

Mat Lovelock BA50 (PB, CR); BR50 (PAB)

Pamela Walter BR50 (CR)

William Curtis BA50 (best since ’14); BA100 (best since ’11)

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June July 4th Graham Wimbridge 1st Elizabeth Edmondson 8th Margaret Smithson 4th Colin Beaton 11th John Christie 7th Anja Messmer 18th Mary Gray 19th Jenny Kohan 20th Peter Jones 23rd Brian Downing 24th Lillian Hadley 29th June Maher

WELCOME BACK LYNDA Marg Watson

On Friday, 29th April, at 2:30pm, the ground floor concourse of the Stadium rang with the sound of happy humans. No, it wasn't school children noisily returning to buses after a successful swimming carnival. It was the people enjoying the afternoon tea put on by the 'Dappers' (a word from the past!) to welcome back Lynda Joachim, our first President and Life member, who was in Perth for a couple of days with her husband. Sue Colyer and Cliffe and Beryl Webb also happened to be here in the West, so it made quite a reunion!

A table that was four trestles long, covered with the now famous yellow tablecloths, extra chairs 'borrowed' from the cafe and plenty of intermingling. The food was sumptuous and plentiful. June Maher made her ever popular Cream Matchsticks and Trudy's Dutch Apple Slice was pure nostalgia. Helen Green made a chocolate birthday cake with candles - it was Lynda's birthday that week - and the traditional song filled the hallway, only to be repeated for Geoff Lane and Trudy who had also celebrated birthdays that week!

Audrey Wren, with Hazel and John Christie, represented the inaugural membership; and I'm sure every year since then had a familiar face. Forty people reminisced till well after 3:30pm, with the passing Stadium staff curious and free with their congratulations. Captain Pamela made her announcements and delivered the joke of the week and the $10 raffle was held. So, with a difference, it was business as usual. Walking sticks joined swimming bags against the wall and we obligingly stacked the chairs as we've always done! It couldn't have been better.

MEMBERSHIP

At 28th May 2016, Stadium Masters membership stood at 72, made up as: Ordinary members 47 Associate members 16 Second claim members 7 Life members 2

We welcome back as Associate members Jen Petelczyc, after a year’s absence, and Madeleine Denness, one of our founding members.

A special greeting to Mary on her 80th! Amazingly, Mary is still doing PBs. We’d like to know her secret.

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LiveLighter pool events working group sought At the recent Council of Clubs meeting it was decided that the pool events need to be reviewed so we are seeking people to form a working group to brain storm ideas and look at how we can improve these events for our members. If you would like to join this panel please email me sam@mswa.asn.au.

Reminder that we have moved offices Masters Swimming WA have moved to a new office at Beatty Park Leisure Centre, 220 Vincent Street, North Perth WA 6006. Our new phone number is 9328 9469. Please feel to call in. We are along the corridor from the main entrance.

Survey to benefit aquatic sports in WA A survey funded by the Department of Sport and Recreation is being undertaken on behalf of aquatic sports in WA. It is important that as many MSWA members as possible complete this survey. If you have received a survey I ask that you respond with honest answers which the contracted agency will collate and return to us as an in depth report on aquatics in WA. All responses will be confidential. Thank you for your input.

Sam Noall, Executive Officer

STADIUM MASTERS FEATURE AT COUNCIL OF CLUBS

Congratulations to all included in the presentations at the May Council of clubs:

Katya Anderson, WA Coach of the Year 2015. (Katya went on to become National Coach of the Year.)

Open Water Swim age group winners, Pamela Walter (60-64) and Stuart Gray (75-79), although Stuart was registered as Claremont because that was his first claim club when the OWS series started last year.

Stadium Masters, highest Combined Average points OWS winner – that was a pleasant surprise. Our 3 men and 8 women scored 380 points giving us an average per swimmer of 34.55 points, way ahead of the next club, Maida Vale, whose 23 swimmers averaged 29.09 points.

Pamela Walter received a badge pronouncing her Pool Officials Coordinator but she can’t think of an occasion when she can wear it. Not much point in wearing the badge at home which is where she chews up time working out rosters for officials for each interclub meet.

Pamela Walter, Seven Million Metre award accompanied by a rather-too-big red vest. (Tony Stanton from Albany is the only other person in WA to reach this milestone!).

THE ENTERTAINMENT BOOK FUNDRAISER Peter Lyster

The Entertainment book is a very easy way of raising funds, if we sell enough of them. We earn $13 per book. I am hoping to sell about 50: if half of the active members sell two each then we earn $650. To date we have sold 23 books and apps and I still have three books in stock.

Register If you have bought an Entertainment book, then do go on line and register your card to gain access to all the travel and retail deals. You will also receive new updates on a regular basis - there was an offer of 10% off Hawaiian Airline flights recently. You can also download the App to your phone and use the search facilities but you will still have to produce the card or the voucher to claim the discount. If you bought the App you are automatically registered and you can download additional copies of the App to family members’ phones. Emirates. The airline has announced discounts of up 10% on flights. The 10% is on the more expensive flexi fares; on the sale fares, which is most of us, the discount is 5%. Hotels. I’ve checked some hotel rates against bookings.com and there are definite savings but quite variable.

NEW CLUB CLOTHING

It’s been a while since our Club clothing has been updated. Now we’ve taken the first step towards a fresh new image and are offering

aqua short sleeved polo shirts (men’s and women’s styles) and

aqua hoodies (unisex) with full zip. Samples are available to try for size. Your Captain has more information. Don’t miss out!

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GOGGLE SAW Mat Lovelock winning the $10 raffle at the April

Club Swim

Elizabeth with Dawn Fraser at the Swimming WA 2016 Swimmer of the Year awards.

AND HEARD Experienced MSWA Referee, Ron Gray, telling the club that he was visiting

while on holiday that all of their backstroke times on race night were invalid: the swimmers had started with a dive and immediately turned onto their backs to complete the distance.

COACHING TIPS Stuart Gray

As Masters Swimmers we might be losing some joint mobility and muscle fibre but if we can improve technique we can still do PBs especially if we have serious stroke deficiencies.

Why can some people feel their faults and make adjustments while others seem to be unable to change? It is about how MUCH do swimmers want to change and whether they have the mental fortitude to TRY and to persist. Assuming that they really want to improve it is then more about being honest about doing set drills and getting visual feedback such as sitting on the edge of the pool and watching your legs do the correct breaststroke kick or watching toes pointed in freestyle kick. Perfect practice makes perfect. And practising often enough!

BUNNINGS SAUSAGE SIZZLE Peter Lyster Ed: As Peter was writing an email to let the Committee know the state of affairs, he was looking out at the river. It was a mass of white horses, the rain was almost horizontal and the trees were being thrashed.

We were ready for our sausage sizzle at Bunnings Claremont on Saturday 21st May. Early that morning very strong winds and heavy rain lashed Perth. Rotto recorded gusts over 100kph. When I arrived at Bunnings at 7:00am the duty manager and her staff had tried to put the canopy up without success, decided it was not going to be safe and cancelled. Coles allowed us to cancel the main part of the bun order, so we had only bought 30 rolls on Friday to get us started early on Saturday.

We have 264 sausages and 10 kilos of onions in Richard Diggins’ freezer! I doubt a domestic freezer meets commercial standards so I don’t think we should use these sausages and onions for the next sausage sizzle. (I’m working with Bunnings to arrange another date in the next month or two.) The sausages are in 12 packs of 22 which we are selling to club members at cost, $8.00 per pack.

OPEN WATER SWIM SCENE Gavin Cull and Gail Parsons at the SunSmart Busselton Ironman on Sunday 1st May. They each did the swim leg, although in different teams. Danielle Vlahov and Peter Marcello competed in the event as individuals and were pleased with their times.

RECORDER

It’s already June and almost time for Anne to enter your Endurance 1000 swims recorded in the second quarter

of the year. Please leave your files in the cage for her to collect at the end of the month.

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SWIMATHON Barry Green

On a glorious Sunday 29th May the club held its annual Swimathon for Alzheimer’s Australia WA, with nine swimmers taking part. Mary Gray, Pat Sugars, Elizabeth Edmondson and Bill Woodhouse were there to timekeep, helped by some swimmers. We are grateful to HBF Stadium for allowing us two lanes free of charge for the event. Unfortunately, both the indoor and outdoor 8-lane pools were in use so we were given lanes in the outdoor 10-lane pool, as far from the entrance as it is possible to get. This reduced the potential for alerting passers-by to the event. However, Geoff Lane stayed for most of the day collecting money for Alzheimer’s and advertising the club, with some success.

Well done to Stuart (6.6km) and Pamela (5.2km) who put in mammoth efforts. Ed: And so did Barry (3.0km), just back from a no-swim month overseas. Others who swam were Ann Ritchie, Audrey, Cas, Louise Norris, William and Merilyn. Many thanks to all those who took part in whatever capacity. My only negative comment about the day is that, as a club event, the Swimathon was not better supported by club members. However, there is still time to sponsor one or more of the swimmers. Money in by Friday 10th June please.

Ed: Pamela swam backstroke (upside down) in the outdoor pool (outside) which reminds me of Ogden Nash’s verse written for Camille Saint-Saen̈s’ Carnival of the Animals:

The Elephant Elephants are useful friends, Equipped with handles at both ends. They have a wrinkled moth-proof hide. Their teeth are upside down, outside. If you think the elephant preposterous, You’ve probably never seen a rhinosterous.

Stadium Masters gratefully acknowledges a donation from BGC Concrete

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DEADLINE Thanks to Barry Green, Pamela Walter, Jackie Egan, Marg Watson, Elizabeth Edmondson, Stuart Gray and Peter Lyster for their contributions to this issue of Snappets. The deadline for the next issue is Friday 1st July 2016 and I am ever hopeful that YOU will contribute to it!

Merilyn Burbidge mburbidge@westnet.com.au

Who remembers the second ever Snappers Swimathon on a cold, clear Saturday in mid-June 2000 in the outdoor 10-lane? It started under lights at 6:00am with timekeepers rugged up against the cold and swimmers warm in the water, all watching the mist rise, and the sun, too, eventually.

What’s going on here?

Can you think of a caption?

Here’s one from one of our coaches: “A ninja doing backstroke!”