Here are the latest items for club members and other interested parties.

The Collingwood Swimming Club annual Swim-a-thon was held on Friday the 7th of September. This is our biggest fund raising event for the year and it provides money for the purchase of pennants and trophies and entry to events such as Winter and Spring Interclub. This year’s Swim-a-thon was a huge success with a large number of swimmers involved. It was a treat to have our coaches, Tony, Neil and Thom in the water swimming laps, and special mention must also be made of Jim MacDonald. It was excellent to have a parent participating. There was no shortage of parent volunteers to count laps and make the certificates – thank you very much to you all. We are all grateful to Lee Lee for her wonderful spring rolls, which have become a feature of the post swim-a-thon catering. Thanks also to Barry for organising the pizzas and to “Little Tony’s Pizza Restaurant” in Queens Parade.

The MS 24-Hour Mega Swim report by Nick Rickard
On Friday the 23rd of February, a group of us from the Fitzroy squad (Adam, Elia, Felix, Christine, Lily, Alessi, Harriet, Nick, Alec, Jasper, Bec, Peta and Jack) participated in the MS 24 Hour Mega Swim at Fitzroy Pool. We went under the name of the Collingwood Crawlers and swum against 26 other teams. We were the youngest team that participated in the mega swim and we raised a total of $1688.50. Congratulations to Alessi for raising the most money on our team. Overall we came third in the amount of distance covered, swimming 84.6 kilometres. Over the 24 hours everyone had lots of fun even when it started raining in the early hours of the morning. Thank you to the rotary club who kept us fed with their nonstop BBQ and to people’s parents for feeding us and fulfilling our constant and sometimes strange requests. So far the 2007 Fitzroy mega swim has raised over $108,000 towards the MS “Go For Gold” scholarship program.

Nick Rickard Reports on his Role at the FINA World Champs
Early this year I was lucky enough to have my application as a volunteer for the FINA world championships accepted. I was given the role of Athlete Gear Assistant and as my letter informed me I would have to “promptly remove the athlete’s equipment and apparel from the field of play and replace clothing baskets/ stands from the field of play as required for presentation ceremonies”. On Sunday the 11th of mach I went to Rod Laver Arena for my role and venue training. First we met each other and our supervisors, then we had a tour of the venue (this was very confusing because every corridor looked the same!) and then as promised, we got to swim in the competition pool-we were one of the first and few people to swim in it.  
On Sunday the 25th I went with the club to watch the morning heats and I was rostered on for the evening finals. Halfway through watching that morning I was called from the stands because the morning group were one person short. I had heaps of fun that morning especially with people cheering for me (mainly Alessi) every time I came on to pool deck.
From the 25th to the 1st I was rostered on for eight sessions, the first four in the evening (finals) and the second four in the morning (heats). Each session lasted for at least four hours, this included time for a meal and free time. The first four days went very slowly and it felt like two days in one because I had a full day of school beforehand. As the days went on we got more efficient at it and had very few mistakes. Basically what we had to do was as soon as the starter went, we would all run up the stairs with empty boxes and on to pool deck, then when we got to our lane we would swap the boxes over and take the full boxes down the stairs and to a collection point, then take an empty basket and wait at the bottom of the stairs to repeat the process again. My favourites were the relay races because there was a lot of excitement and so much stuff that two people were needed for each lane, the worst were the medal ceremonies because there was lots of waiting around doing nothing. Over the week we all collected as many pins as we could from the teams competing and tried to get as much free stuff as possible from the sponsors’ stalls. We were all very sad on the last day because it felt like we had been doing it for so long and known each other for years and most of all, we all really enjoyed it.
If I am ever given the chance to do something like this again I definitely will, its way too good an offer to pass up!

Triclub championships report: By Lily Potocnik
On Saturday the 10th of March the Richmond pool hosted the ‘Triclub Championships’. The three clubs included were Northcote, Richmond and Collingwood swimming clubs. There were a total of 18 events that consisted of 50’s and 100’s for every stroke and a 200m IM. The event was a huge amount of fun. There was friendly competition between the clubs and everyone got on well. A large number of Collingwood club records were set which shows that everyone put in a lot of effort, and not just in the pool. Thank you to everyone who played a part in the organising of the Triclub Championships and helped make it lots of fun. We are especially grateful to Loy Mc Carthy, who stepped in at the last minute to run the software so that we could have our times on the night. Thanks again to everyone.

All-Juniors Preliminaries:
There were two very busy nights of swimming at Richmond pool on the 24th of February and the 3rd of March.  More than 200 swimmers competed in the 10 /Under All-Juniors Preliminary event, then over 300 swimmers battled it out in the 11/ Over age groups.
A number of Collingwood Swimming Club members attended the event and, as well, Tony organised dozens of swimmers from the learn-to-swim and squad programs to have a taste of competition swimming.
Congratulations and good luck to all our swimmers who have qualified to swim in the All-Junior semi-finals by finishing top ten in their events. The semi-finals will be held at MSAC on the 28th of April.

2006 Christmas Party by Nick Rickard
Just like other years, the annual Collingwood Swimming Club Christmas party kicked off down at the South Melbourne Life Saving Club at South Melbourne beach on Sunday the 3rd December. Most of the time was spent in the water, catching waves on boogie and lifesaving boards (supplied by the lifesaving club) or eating. Beach soccer and the water fight didn’t last long but it was still heaps of fun. Once again the weather was lovely and sunny although it was a bit cold getting out of the water. The food was exceptional with a large range of salads, lollies, cake, and chocolate and of course the BBQ, which was expertly cooked. All up a very successful and fun day. Many thanks to our parents for providing our food and drink and to the South Melbourne Life Saving Club for the use of their facilities. 

Swimathon 2006
The annual club swim-a-thon is usually a highlight of our events calendar and the 2006 swim-a-thon was no exception. On Friday the 8th of September twenty five energetic swimmers took to the water and swam laps of the Collingwood pool for an hour, then tucked into a feast of spring rolls and sausages in bread.

Thanks are due to all the parents and siblings who counted laps and prepared the certificates, to Brad for cooking the sausage sizzle and to Lee Lee for bringing along the spring rolls.
Thanks also to the swimmers who have done a great job collecting sponsors and swimming in the swim-a-thon.

So far the swim-a-thon has raised over $900 for our club and, with many people still to hand in sponsorship money, we hope to raise well over $1000. This will provide money to fund our entry fees for events such as Aggregate and Interclub competitions and for trophies and ribbons and other club activities.

Goodbye to Joseph La Posta
It is with very heavy hearts that we say goodbye to Joseph La Posta. Joseph has been a swim coach at Yarra Leisure for many years and has always been a wonderful teacher and mentor to all swimmers. For the last twelve months he has coached our older swimmers at Fitzroy pool on Monday and Wednesday evenings. During these squad sessions Joseph has imparted a strong work ethic and positive attitude as well as technical advice and training, and our swimmers have all benefited. Joseph has also been a good friend to the swimmers and parents at the Collingwood Swimming Club and his contribution as a coach at competition events is greatly appreciated. Even though we will all miss Joseph enormously, we wish him all the very best for his new life in Sydney.

Registration for season 2006/2007.
New registrations and membership renewals need to be completed at Friday club nights on 7th, 21st or 29th of April.
Paperwork and payment should be given to our Membership Registrar, Jenny Thompson (Harry and Lily’s mum).
Process to register

1. Renewing members only need to confirm current details, complete a medical advice form and provide payment. The forms will be available from the 7th of April.
2. New members should complete the Swimming Victoria form, the medical advice form and provide payment. The forms will be available from the 7th of April.

Membership is not complete until payment is received.

Fees: 
Fees have not increased for the past several years, despite increases in the Swimming Victoria fees. Currently over $55 of your registration money goes to Swimming Victoria so that you are insured to swim at Swimming Victoria events such as Interclub.
Our club fees for the 2006/2007 swimming year will be increased in order to keep pace with Swimming Victoria Registration fees.
Collingwood Swimming Club fees for 2006/2007 are

• $90 current swimming members
• $95 new swimming members
• $30 non-competition members (committee members’ fees are paid by the club)

Please note: there is no rebate when joining later in the year.
Please pay cash or via cheque made out to the Collingwood Swimming Club.

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