This was a well-attended event being the first one since the old Corowa pool closed.
The AGM formed the first part of the evening with Life Member Gary Poidevin stepping in to officiate. Once all positions were declared vacant, the new committee was formed with some existing members staying on and welcoming a few more recent members into both executive and general committee roles.
President (re-elected) Rhonda Wright presented her report mentioning some of the challenges and the highs of the club for the year and particularly the summer season. Rhonda thanked the committee and parents – all of whom helped bring the club through a tough period (see coaching report below for more detail).
The most notable change to the committee was the retirement of long serving Club Treasurer and Life Member Paul Schnelle and wife Kate, who together have spent many hard working hours building the club up into a very strong financial position that sustained it (with a little bit of help from some small grants) through the ‘no pool’ years and then the Covid-19 pandemic.
Paul held the position of Treasurer for fourteen years which is an outstanding term of service. For much of that time also held the Club Registrar position and was the driving force behind the success of the triathlons which were the main fund raiser event for the club for a number of years.
As a Life Member and trained official Paul will still be involved with the club, he will be sorely missed at our regular meetings throughout the year.
Coaches were able to give enthusiastic reports having observed how well the swimmers performed over their first ‘new pool’ year, and the very cohesive nature of the squads, which is a credit to both swimmers and parents.
The new outdoor pool and well-appointed Club Rooms were recognised by all as a huge improvement on the old facility.
A number of challenges had to be overcome including creating a new budget to cover year-round swimming at two venues training new coaching staff; employing a fair bit of ‘creative coaching’ across various age groups and abilities and negotiating some of the less than ideal circumstances in the winter as the indoor pool isn’t really set up for teaching swimming skills - in a competitive context these are starts, finishes and turns and require backstroke flags and regular diving practice, neither of which is provided or allowed for in the new indoor pool.
As competition starts before the summer pool open, this leaves our swimmers poorly prepared in terms of starting and finishing races for the start of the summer competition.
Nevertheless, the club did manage to perform at a relatively high standard for a small (and mostly new) club.
Swimmers represented their schools at zone swimming events and at Ovens and Murray Championships. There was also a number of finalists and two medallists at the All Junior country competition in Melbourne and two of our swimmers (Cooper Patten and Harry Webb) came fifth in the state with two of their Corowa South Public School mates in the Small Schools mixed relay.
The Presentation formed the final official part of the evening, with trophies being handed out to the winners of the individual events at Club Championships, and personal best certificates handed out to all swimmers who competed at any of our Club Nights throughout the summer season.
The three trophies that did not relate directly to the Club Championships are Highest Aggregate Pointscore Trophy, the Reward for Effort Trophy, and the Most Improved Junior (Poidevin) Trophy.
These three trophies are participation and/or improvement based and reward the winners for outstanding participation and effort across the season. This season’s well-deserved winners were:
Highest Aggregate Pointscore Trophy: Nicholas Tukuniu
Reward for Effort Trophy: Nicholas Tukuniu
Most Improved Junior (Poidevin) Trophy: Samuel Bellette
Congratulations to these two boys who certainly put in a consistent effort across the season.
The last award to be handed out for the evening was a Life Membership to long-time Club member and coach Sharon Letchford. Sharon has been with the club since moving to Corowa in 2005, and has continuously held various positions on the committee since 2006, and coached for over a decade.
Much thanks to all the past and incoming committee members, to Life Members Gary Poidevin and Maryann Herbert for attending our presentation and awarding trophies; to all our trophy sponsors particularly this year’s donors: Gary Poidevin, Vicky Witherden and Lyn Willett; to the Corowa Cougars Rugby Club for providing us with a BBQ dinner; and to Federation Council for the provisions it has made for us to train and compete, as well as the staff at the Corowa Aquatic Centre and Howlong Pool.
The summer season for the club is now complete, as the outdoor pool is closed. The club will recess over April for a much-deserved break before commencing our winter season which will run from May to September.
Winter squads will run on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. At the time of writing there are still three places available in the junior squad on Monday (4-5pm), one spot in the senior squad on Wednesday, and three spots in the mixed squad at 5.00pm on Friday. There is a possibility for an earlier time slot (4-5pm) to be opened up on Friday if there is enough interest. Those looking for a second session each week are welcome to express interest in the Friday squad.
Please contact Sharon Letchford on 0458080405 to make any inquiries or to secure a place in the winter squad.
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