The Warwick Swimming Club is one of the oldest, continuously operating swimming clubs in Queensland. It has a long and proud tradition and is highly regarded and valued in the community for its support of swimming for both sporting and social outcomes. The Club has a focus on self-paced improvement whilst promoting a caring and family based social and sporting environment.

Children (and young adults) progress from 25 metres to 50 and 100 metres in each stroke, together with medleys and distance freestyles depending on set time qualifications and improvements. Points are allocated throughout the season on a set of criteria relative to progressively recorded times for individual events in comparison to best recorded time. Accordingly, points are accrued on the basis of improvement and are used to award trophies at the end of the season.

The Club provides instruction to simmers on competitive protocols to support the confidence of the children in competitive swimming with an emphasis on starting, turning, touching, stroking and kicking. This instruction provides a basis for progression in competitive swimming beyond the scope of local Club swimming.

The Club supports swimming development at all levels from novice beginners through to high level such as for District, Regional and State. The Club caters for all standards and ages, the only pre-requisite being an ability to swim 25 metres unaided. Care is taken to ensure the safety of swimmers at all times.

The Club looks towards and encourages the involvement of parents/guardians in the conduct of our swims. Assistance is needed in organisational and technical capacities. A routine Club night, for example, requires some 18 adults to adequately cover the conduct of the swim. Instruction is provided in this regard.

Program

The Swimming Club season is generally held between September and March each year.

Friday nights are designated as Club nights, with registrations opening at 5.30pm and events commencing at 6pm. The program normally finishes at 7-7.30pm and may be followed from time to time with a social night. Details of these socials will be notified on a week in advance basis.

Swimming Club events are not held during School Holidays

Membership

Membership fees are:

Single - $55.00

The Club allows new members one introductory swim before membership is required.

The Club encourages Family Membership in line with the family swimming environment it promotes as well as to ensure insurance can include both the swimming children and their parents/guardians who we need to support Club activities.

Membership Forms are available by contacting the Club President, Cathy Warrener, on telephone 4661 4762 (after hours). New members will need to provide a copy of Birth Certificates for confirmation of the age of swimming children.

Please note that on each Club night a fee of $2 per swimmer registering on the night is payable to the Club. Monies are to be deposited at the registration desk located on the Pool Deck. These funds cover pool hire payable to Warwick Shire Council. There are no entry fees payable to the Centre for our Club nights. Due to this, swimmers are not permitted to use the recreation pools on Club nights. Non-swimmers who wish to use the recreation pools up to the designated time of closure of these pools must pay the prescribed fees upon entering the Centre each Club night.

Registration on club nights

A “tick the box” registration system allows swimmers to indicate which event they wish to enter each Club night. The programmed events, as summarised on attached Season Program, will be shown on the Registration Sheet each night and all that is required is for registered swimmers to record their name and place a tick in each programmed event box for the swims they wish to do on the night. The Registration Forms will be available at the Club registration desk from 5.30pm each Friday night. Registrations must be finalised as early as possible but certainly no later than 5.50pm.

Distance Progression

The Season Program provides for 25 to 50 metre swims in each stroke every Club night with 100 metre events in each stroke, 200 metre freestyle events and 100 metre and 200 metre medleys spread throughout the year.

The 25 metre events and the 100 metre medleys are restricted to the younger or novice swimmers and they may only advance to 50 metre events upon attaining Qualifying Times as follows:

FREESTYLE – 25 METRES IN 25 SECONDS OR LESS
BREASTSTROKE – 25 METRES IN 30 SECONDS OR LESS
BACKSTROKE – 25 METRES IN 30 SECONDS OR LESS
BUTTERFLY – 25 METRES IN 30 SECONDS OR LESS
MEDLEY – 100 METRES IN 2 MINUTES OR LESS

Once these qualifying times are established, swimmers must advance to the 50 metre events for that stroke. Also, swimmers who have qualified for progression to 50 metre events for a stroke cannot nominate for the 25 metre events in that stroke. Any swimmer qualified to swim 50 metres in a stroke may also elect to swim 100 metre events in that stroke, the 200 metre freestyle events or the 200 metre medleys.

The progressing swimmer commencing with 25 metre events will likely swim a combination of 25 and 50 metre events until qualifying times are recorded in each stroke at which time only 50 metre events and the distance events would become available. The 100 metre medley is a major milestone for the younger swimmer and its attainment is encouraged.

Points Night Points Allocation

The allocation of points throughout the Season will occur as follows:

Between 2.51 to 99.00 seconds faster than best 7 points
Between 1.51 and 2.5 seconds faster than best 6 points
Between 0.51 and 1.5 seconds faster than best 5 points
Between 0.00 and -0.50 and between 0.01 and
0.50 seconds slower or faster than best 4 points
Between -0.51 and -1.5 seconds slower than best 3 points
Between -1.51 and -2.5 seconds slower than best 2 points
Between -2.51 and -99.00 seconds slower than best 1 point

Please not the following:

(a) Best time is the best time recorded on any Points Night in the current season.

(b) The best time for a new member will be the time recorded in the first swim in each stroke.

(c) 1 point will be deducted each time a swimmer nominates for an event but fails to start.

(d) Progress points will be recorded by the Club but will not be available to any swimmer during the Season. It will be the responsibility of swimmers and/or parents to maintain their own records.

(e) The Management Committee shall determine a cut off for the award of Points Qualification trophies at the end of the Season.

(f) Points are awarded to registered financial members only.

Club Championships

The Club Championships at this stage will be held on [Al W to advise] and are based on the following Age Groups, with age being as at March 1:

7 years & under – 25 metre events in each stroke plus the 100 metre medley
8 years – as above
9 years – 50 metre events in each stroke plus the 100 metre medley
10 years – as above
11 years – as above for 50 metre events plus the 200 metre medley
12 years – 100 metre events in each stroke plus the 200 metre medley
13 years – as above
14 years – as above
15/16 years – as above
Open – as above plus a distance freestyle event.

Please note: The Open category, as the name implies, is available to any swimmer.

Again, points are determined for the Club Championships in each age group for the award of trophies at the Clubs annual Trophy Night. Points are allocated as follows:
First 10 points
Second 5 points
Third 3 points

These points determinations are quite separate to the points determined for progress throughout the Season.

A prerequisite to qualify for the Club Championships is that a swimmer must be a registered and financial member and must have participated in at least 50% of the season’s Points Nights unless through extreme circumstances it can be demonstrated that this was not possible. New members joining the Club late in the season will be permitted to swim the Club Championships but will not qualify for the award of Club Champion in the age group contested.

Another important issue is that swimmers contesting Open events will not transfer placing points to their own age group.

Carnival Nominations

The Programs for swim meets at Centres likely to be of interest to swimmers will be posted on the Pool Deck Notice Board. These swim meets are normally Open Championships hosted and conducted by Clubs. Warwick Swimming Club, for example, conducts its Open Championships, the McNamara Sprints, in November of each year and swimmers from many Darling Downs as well as other regional Clubs nominate and compete. Nominations for these events are to be carefully recorded on the sheets attached to the Notice Board. Nomination form and fees are to be placed in the Nomination Box in an envelope. Please note that a closing date for receipt of nominations applies hence it is important that nomination sheets are completed in sufficient time to allow this to happen. Our Club fixes a closing date for nomination entries about two days in advance of the receipt closing date for return of the nominations to the host Club.

Reminders regarding upcoming events will be provided during our Friday night swims but the responsibility for nomination rests with the individual swimmers/parents.

Since a nomination time is required to be recorded for each event a swimmer nominates for and also that this nominated time can be confirmed in the event of enquiry, it is important that the nominated time is accurate and able to be verified.

Coaching

The Club encourages swimming Members to join coaching and training programs offered at the Aquatic Centre. The provision coaching is independent of Club activities.

Club Uniforms

Any requiring any part of the Swimming Club Uniform should contact Lorraine Cole on Friday nights

Management Committee

The Club’s Management Committee meets at 7pm on the second Tuesday of every month in the Warwick Swimming Club Room (located in the Warwick Indoor Recreation and Aquatic Centre). The Committee welcomes the input of all members.

The Committee for the 2007/08 season consists of:

Patron – Lance Reddick
President – Cathy Warrener
Vice President – Merady Brown
Secretary – Narelle Pails
Treasurer – Don Warrener
Carnival Secretary – Andrea Braken
Assistant Carnival Secretary – Kylie McMahon
Committee – Katie Ackerman
Louise Coleman
Ross Braken
Uniform Sub Committee – Katie Ackerman
Club Captain – Andrew Fidge