Congratulations to the Mallee Swimming Club, who celebrated their 10-Year Anniversary at the EDSA #4 carnival, held at the Lameroo Swimming Pool!
The club celebrate in style, hosting a community fun afternoon after the meet + great weather, for everyone to enjoy (and have fun on the massive pop-up water slide!) SwimmingSA congratulates Mallee Swimming Club for 10 Years of operation.
Thank you to Rebecca Pudney, of Mallee Swimming Club, for providing information about Mallee Swimming Club for their anniversary!
Mallee Swimming Club formed from a learn to swim program, run by volunteer instructors under the Southern Mallee District Council at the Lameroo Swimming Pool. Swimmers and parents were seeking more advanced learn to swim / squad training session and showing interested in attending Swimming SA competitions. To support this, a committee was formed, and the Mallee Swimming Club was first affiliated with Swimming SA in 2014/2015 swimming season.
The Club identified as ‘Mallee’ to incorporate towns across the region (Karoonda, Murrayville, Pinnaroo, Parilla, Lameroo, Geranium) . The logo was designed by one of the club swimmers, Zack Maynard through a logo design competition and represents a swimmer coming from a wheat head, a typically crop grown in the mallee area. Club colours of black, grey, fluorescent lime and white were also chosen at this time. Since incorporation, the Club maintains its affiliation with Swimming Australia, Swimming SA and joined Eastern District Swimming Association in 2016/2017 season.
In 2020/21 season the Club formally adopted the ‘Lameroo Learn to Swim Program’ and now provides classes from swimmers aged 5 years and up, including adults across its programs. The Club operates from Mid November, through to Mid March with a short break over the Christmas new year period. Learn to Swim classes run school Term 4 and School Term 1 as 30 minutes lessons, once a week, while the Junior, Senior and Masters can train 2 x 1 hr sessions a week.
The club is run fully by volunteers. It has 3x Development Coaches, 1x Foundation Coach and 3x AustSwim Qualified instructors. Our senior swimmers either help being assistant instructors or being lifeguards to ensure the pool can stay open. This year has been our biggest year with just over 100 swimmers participating in the program. Over the last 10 years the club has had 201 swimmers become members
The club has not gone without its struggles. With Covid -19 reducing programs and causing cancellations, then straight into 2 years of our local pool closure for redevelopment, resulting in plenty of dry land activities and operating from a nearby pool at Pinnaroo. There is always the need to build relationships with the local council and modify programs to suit pool operations. The challenges are by no means sorted and new ones will arise, but hopefully the club will power on. There has been some instrumental people that have helped the club over the years and we would like to thank
- Southern Mallee District Council
- Michelle Doyle and Swimming SA
- Carol Veldhuyzen (endless advice, support and workshops for swimmers)
- Grant Muller (workshops for swimmers and technical support)
The club is proud of its history and swimmers. It has produced many excellent swimmers at State Country, State Age, Masters and with swimmers being recognised in the Australian wide Junior excellent program. The main aim of the club it to provide a learn to swim and an avenue for our community to enjoy the water and experience swimming as a sport.
