On The Blocks The Official Newsletter of Masters Swimming Victoria VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2 JUNE 2007 INSIDE THIS Branch News ISSUE It was disqualification’s Crossing, Surrey Park Sea- Since the last “On the which were the notable horses, Frankston Penin- Branch News 1-2 Blocks”, a lot has hap- events of this meet, with a sula, Casey Seals, Rose- pened. We had the Long large number of relay bud Ranas, North Lodge Melbourne 2007 2 Course Meet at MSAC teams DQ’d for breaking, Neptunes & Baddaginnie. and the Nationals in Dar- particularly in the Medley Technical 3 win. relay. We had the starting Many of the clubs scored Information block reaction times in well in the total points Long Course use, for both events, but score, with a large number Workshop details 3 had only identified the of clubs scoring in the Top We expected 2007 to be a freestyle relay breaks after 25. Of the trophies Around the Clubs 4-9 difficult year for us at the event had been swum, awarded, Victoria achieved MSAC, with the FINA when it was too late to 4 of the 5 and even though State Long 10-11 Championships having an take action. the Branch Relay was run Course Report impact on MSAC staff & incorrectly, due to confu- State Short 12-13 swimming facilities well Future meets at MSAC sion from the recording Course Details into April. The Swim meet will continue to use the team, some of whom were sub-committee was look- reaction timing of the learning the ropes for the Around the Clubs 14 ing at a number of dates starting blocks for normal (cont) (including Anzac day) to Below: Victorious relay starts and relays. It is sug- clubs– L to R-Casey Seals, Feature– Jokes 15 run the Long Course. We gested that Club coaches Powerpoints, Malvern marlins & thought we had locked should start working with Doncaster 2007 Calendar 16 down the booking to using their teams to train the indoor pool, immedi- them to minimise the Flyers-Interclubs 17 ately after a Swimming risk of breaking. Victoria championship 2008 National 18 final. As it transpired, two We expect that the Swim weeks before the meet, a MSAC teething prob- casual enquiry of a Swim- lems are behind us Club Contacts 19 ming Victoria official indi- and the Long Distance cated that they were not Short Course in June Submission 20 due to finish until at least will be an enjoyable Deadlines 2:30pm, which was ½ an and successful meet. hour after we had planned Arafura Games, Victoria to start! Darwin took out that award too! Below: A happy Jan A last minute shuffle en- The Territorian influence Perhaps to cap it off for the Jeffrey abled us to use the out- was certainly felt during meet, Jan Jeffrey (Malvern) side pool, which was OK this Meet, with the whole won the Female Swimmer when the sun was out, but event being relaxed and of the Meet award, with 4 got very cool once the sun friendly. (yes 4) National records when down. Hence, it was Several Victorian clubs achieved and a complete a learning experience for attended: Malvern Marlins, sweep of the Gold medals us all; officials and swim- Powerpoints, Doncaster for all of her individual mers alike. Dolphins, Yarra Roughies, events. Aye, it makes a Geelong Catfish, Hoppers body proud! PAGE 2 Branch news (cont) Apparently, Jan was heard to comment that she was not expecting to do par- ticularly well at the meet, intending to relax and see what happened. The social events were also well attended and relaxed affairs, with the Wel- come Function at Parliament House and the Presentation Dinner at the Motor Boat Trailer Club, overlooking the Arafura Sea. There was a photographic op- portunity at every sunset. At the closure of the Presentation Night, Victoria formally received the AUSSI Masters National flag for our hosting of the 33rd National swim in 2008. Congratulations to all of our Clubs who competed and those members who officiated, for a small contingent, you all did very well! This Darwin meet will be a hard act to follow in 2008, but we look forward to the challenge. Paul Watmough President Melbourne 2007 Masters Swimming Victoria was well represented at the recent 2007 World swimming Championships in Melbourne in March. Below are some “pics” Below: Rod Clarke from Below: Margot Milne from Doncaster Below: The special number Geelong placed on winners track- suits Below: Yarra Roughies– Lise Mackie & Jim Milne Below: Jeanette Holowiuk from Surrey Park & Jim Milne Above: the gold medal (w e can wish!) ON THE BLOCKS VOLUME 3, ISSUE 2 JUNE 2007 PAGE 3 Technical Information Swim Meets without Officials. meet. If we only have the minimum Since the results for State meets are number of officials available and Who needs officials at a swim meet? compiled by Meet Manager, we could somebody takes ill on the day then AUSSI swimmers all know the rules even do this automatically by just we can’t run the meet. and don’t push the limits. Even when a hooking up the software with the mo- race is close they wouldn’t be tempted bile phone network. There are nu- Since the mobile phone option to shave a fraction of a second off a merous votes and quizzes conducted could actually take years to be- breaststroke turn by only touching with on TV using the mobile phone net- come operational and accepted, one hand or to get off to a quick start work so it can’t be too hard. Our we can only eliminate the risk of by jumping the gun. Or would they? If Judges of Stroke and Inspectors of cancelling meets in the short term you were beaten several times by Turns in the stand would simply send by training more referees. somebody who consistently touched an SMS with the event number, heat with only one hand without getting dis- number, lane number and the DQ Being a qualified referee does not qualified, would you be tempted to do code and it can then be processed mean that you have to officiate at the same thing to level up the playing directly. How you check back after a every meet. If we have a large field? Normally that is not a considera- DQ to find out why you were disquali- enough pool of qualified and avail- tion because the officials on the pool fied, and by whom, could be prob- able officials, we will be able organ- deck are there to ensure the playing lematical in this scenario but we will ise a roster which allows referees field is level. Metaphorically speaking have to work that one through. Get- who still wish to compete sufficient of course – until we see a swimmer ting the AUSSI National Board or opportunity to do so, either by who can tilt their lane so they can FINA to agree to this approach could working for only part of a meet or swim downhill, we will accept gravity also be a challenge but then we by rostering them off for selected as a known fact and assume that the wouldn’t be competing if we didn’t meets. pool is level. like a challenge. This requires candidates to be So what happens if we don’t have offi- It will take a bit of time to get all the trained. If you feel that you want to cials on the pool deck? There are al- pieces together and running put something back in to AUSSI by ways plenty of people in the stands to smoothly but we may just have to do becoming as official, please con- watch all the competitors and pick up it. Why? Because we are currently tact Jeanette Holowiuk at the State all their infringements. All we need is facing the very real prospect of hav- Office. Experience as a swimmer is an efficient system to get the message ing to cancel a meet at the last min- a distinct advantage but not a pre- to the recorder who is responsible for ute because we don’t have enough requisite to being a good referee. compiling the results. qualified referees to satisfy AUSSI and FINA requirements for every John Marshall Technical Director Officials’ Workshops Saturday July 28th: 9.30am Two workshops will be offered to qualify timekeepers and marshals. If you are interested in volunteering in these important roles, these workshops are for you. You do not need to be a swimmer to attend. Below. John & Danny at the Frankston meet Above: June & Grace at the recent Long Course. To enrol, or to receive more information, please call Patrick Galvin Telephone number 9521–1309 Or e-mail [email protected] AUSSI Masters Swimming National Approval number 163 PAGE 4 Around the Clubs Frankston Peninsula Frankston held it's club meet on May 28th. It must be one of the longest continually run meet in Victoria. Our first meet was in 1982. One year (1999) missed due to the Jubilee Park Pool's roof falling in. We remember the days when we had 120 competitors. Those days are long gone. This year we had 50 swimmers. Quality if not quan- tity. The star of the night was Ann Hutchings, who not only gained 2 places in the individuals, she was also a member of the winning relay team. Also a multiple raffle prize winner. Not to mention a PB as well. What a girl! The night went so smoothly, the caterers had barely enough time to heat the food.