KEY DATES FOR THE DIARY EVENT: DATE: DETAILS: National Prep Meet 13 Entries closed Tasmania State Champs 11-14 Entries Closed Swimmers Attending National Age & Opens in Adelaide 19 Breakfast @ MLC See below Australian National Age Champs 28 Entries Close 15 Olympic Trials 8 April 2016 Entries close 22 All Junior Competition 16 April 2016 Entries close 4 April 2016 MLC Club Championships 28 May 2016 Full Details on Website Soon MLC Presentation Night @ MLC 18 June 2016 Full Details on Website Soon SWIMMERS ATTENTING NATIONAL AGE & OPENS BREAKFAST A breakfast will be held for those swimmers attending National Age and Opens on Saturday Morning 19 @ MLC. SWIMMING VICTORIA LATE ENTRIES Swimming Victoria has advised us that they have received a number of late entry requests from MLC Aquatic Swimmers/Parents. Moving forward, please ensure all swimmers and parents note closing dates for all Swimming Victoria Events. SV will no longer be accepting late entries so please enter early to avoid disappointment. For State meets, we suggest parents and swimmers enter events as soon as times are achieved to avoid missing closing dates. HEAD COACH UPDATE With only a few more weeks left of the 2015/16 swimming season, there is a mad combination of final preparations and last minute qualifiers for nationals, school swimming competitions (APS, GSV, AGSV, ACS ETC), All Junior qualification and Interstate meets (NSW Opens & TAS State Champs). This point of the season is extremely busy with most swimmers and families having more than one focus. The best piece of advice that can be given at this point is to be aware of what is coming up over the next few weeks, but focus on what is in front of you now - this week and today! In 3-4 weeks time all swimmers and families will either be on a break or about to start their break from both swimming and school. These breaks are an important time to physically and mentally switch off, recover, enjoy and do something different. Good luck to all swimmers over the next few weeks and hopefully all your had training through the season pays off at your major competition (whatever that might be for you). Keep your eyes on the Facebook page for updates. NICK VELADIES HEAD COACH MLC AQUATIC MLC Aquatic - Page 1
NATIONAL COACH UPDATE Racing has been hard fought for the National squad, being deep into the preparation for Nationals (and carrying all the soreness and fatigue that comes with it), execution of race plans and tightened skills were the prime focus of the recent MLC meet. Some however were in fine form, none more so than James Lloyd, earning himself the prized 2XU National Team jacket. Unfortunately I missed the race, coaching the Performance squad that morning, however, having seen the grit known to live within James it does not surprise me he was able to achieve a PB (and National time) mid-way through a tough prep, congratulations to James. Emma Malcom showed signs of the speed she is capable of achieving, looking forward to seeing her race once freshened up. Dante Negri Requalified for the 100 fly in an impressive sub 60 effort. Ethan Rozanic, like a bottle of expressive wine he keeps getting better with age, with a game plan of no warm down between races, his maturity and desire to improve shone through during his last (lactate bubbling) race. A special mention to Tiia Verosarii who competed at the National Open Water championships. The only member of the National squad to compete at the open water event. Having 7 to a lane at some sessions prove difficult for Tiia to get her specific long distance training in, though through the years of coaching her she has proved a resourceful, self-managing young adult, always asking questions or making suggestions not only to help herself, but for the group as a whole. Under difficult conditions she was able to swim faster than she swam at the State titles. Awesome work all. SAM ASHBY COACH NATIONAL SQUAD UNIFORM SHOP THANK YOU LYNDAL PEAKE On behalf of the MLC Aquatic Committee and families, we take this opportunity to say a very big thank you to Lyndal Peake for her many years of service to the Club. Lyndal has been managing the Club Uniform shop and is now retiring from this role. We again thank her for all her hard work. We are now seeking expressions of interest for the Uniform shop coordinator role and we are looking for 2 replacements, one to organise the National team uniforms and caps, and the other to organise new member and general uniform. If you have an interest in helping out and volunteering with any of these roles, please contact MLC Aquatic on mlcaquatic@hotmail.com MLC Aquatic - Page 2
2016 VICTORIAN OPEN WATER CHAMPIONSHIPS The Victorian Open Water Championships were held at Williamstown beach where a team of 35 swimmers (our biggest team by about 20 swimmers) competed in the 10km, 5km or 2.5km events. From the group 9 swimmers qualified for the national water championships in Mooloolaba in February. MLC Aquatic claimed 8 medals on the day, 2 gold, 5 silver, and 1 bronze. Congratulations to our own Connie McClelland, winner of the 16 year girls National open water 10km swim and MLC Aquatic's newest Australian team member! Connie travelled to Abu Dhabi as a part of the Australian Open Water junior team. Connie competed in her first senior international event with world champions and Olympic qualifiers. Connie will now join the Australian World Junior team for the open water event in Amsterdam. 2016 VICTORIAN STATE SPRINTS Over the weekend of the 13th-14th February, a whopping 56 of our swimmers competed at the State Sprint Competition held at MSAC outdoor pool. With finalists across all age groups and strokes, we continue to impress as one of the most successful clubs in the State. Medallists are as follows: James Lloyd (3 Gold - Back, Free and Fly) Dante Negri (2 Gold - Free & Fly, 1 Silver - Breast, 1 Bronze - Back) Benno Negri (2 Gold - Free & Back) Samantha Schlicht (1 Silver - Breast, 1 Bronze - Back) David Schlicht (1 Silver - Fly, 1 Bronze - Breast) Emma Malcolm (1 Silver - Free, 1 Bronze - Fly) Connie McClelland (1 Silver - Back, 1 bronze - Free) Isabella Symons (1 Silver - Fly, 1 Bronze - Back) MLC Aquatic - Page 3
2016 VICTORIAN STATE SPRINTS continued Aryaman Bhardwaj (1 Silver - Breast) Ryland Brian (1 Silver - Back) Heath Macleod (1 Silver - Breast) Sam Durrant (1 Silver - Breast) Ashleigh Gould (1 Bronze - Free) Luka Zubcic (2 Bronze - Fly & Free) Jack Collins (1 Bronze - Breast) Girls 16/u 5 x 50m Free Relay - Silver A Team - Emma Malcolm, Connie McClelland, Julia Silverii, Rebecca Cainey and Samantha Schlicht Boys 16/u 5 x 50m Free Relay - GOLD in a Victorian record A Team - Thomas Hunt-Smith, Dante Negri, Ryland Brian, Heath Macleod and David Schlicht Boys 16/u 5 x 50m Free Relay - Bronze B Team - Lukas Juodkazis, Ethan Rozanic, Billy Bowden, Charles Cullen and Darcy McEvoy Other Finalists were: Billy Bowden,Rebecca Cainey, James Carazzo, Charles Cullen, Matiss Dalins, Saskia Dammersmith, Thomas Halliday, Thomas Hunt-Smith, Ryan-Alexander Lobo, Darcy McEvoy, Seba Negri, Dominique Quirk, Ethan Rozanic and Emily Yang. MLC AQUATIC LC MEET Thank you to all the fantastic club members who came together to help make our meet such a huge success. The amount of time and effort that goes into running a meet of that size is considerable, and for a small club like ours this is all done by volunteers! We are very lucky to have a talented and dedicated team of people prepared to give up their time to make it happen. Not only are these meets essential to the world of competitive swimming, without them, our children do not get the chance to compete and develop their races skills, but also to the continuation of our club. The meets we run each year are the only fundraising we do and the money raised at them helps to pay for the support we offer our athletes and teams. From our short course meet last August and from this February meet in addition to our normal support, we have been able to purchase a backstroke ledge for all swimmers to practice on and we are currently purchasing a storage cage with whiteboard for Hawthorn. Thank you all again. Happy Snaps on the following page! MLC Aquatic - Page 4
NEW CLUB MEMBERS A big welcome to the following new club members: Sophie Ward Tom Hunt-Smith Anna Rusjan Lachlan Williamson Marcus Agnos Arielle De Highden Victoria Lai MLC Aquatic - Page 5
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST JULIE ROBINSON SESSIONS Julie Robinson who wrote the book "Mind Training for Swimming Fast" that was being sold at State Age and Open competitions is coming to Melbourne and has kindly offered to run some sessions for parents and swimmers on 14/15 April. The swimmers workshop includes a lot of fun and interactive exercises that teaches the athletes powerful ways to enhance the enjoyment and progression in the sport they love. The parent s workshop will cover ways to learn exactly what to say and do to relieve expectation worries, nerves, anxiety and install a wise, tough mental attitude that promotes success. The website is www.julie-robinson.com.au. If you are interested in attending please register your interest at mlcaquatic@hotmail.com. HAPPY BIRTHDAY A big Happy Birthday to the following swimmers celebrating a birthday over the next few months: February Birthday s: Aryaman Bhardwaj Ethan Rozanic Harrison Colwell Kristen Todorov Lachlan McNeill Lily Baxter Lochie Noonan Molly Freeman Monique Beckwith Seba Negri Sophie Peake March Birthday s: Anna Jamieson Dakota Murray Eliza Verwoert Georgia Langford Hugo Hennessy Isabella French Joshua Beader Kirra Parks Luca Zubcic Madeline McCormack Marc Grech Mike Grech Ray He William Franklin-Miller April Birthday s: Charles Cullen Chloe McArthur Connie McClelland Gemma Bennett Henry James Isabella Symons James Carrazzo Lily McNeill Matthew Duncan Sarah Grummitt Tom Halliday Victoria Wood Zoe Scherret May Birthday s: Annalise Dalins Dante Negri James Ditchburn Jemma Schlicht Laura McArthur Matilda Hayward Noah Franklin-Miller Rhys Patterson FACEBOOK If you haven t already joined, please join our Facebook page to receive regular updates on events and news as they come to hand. MLC AQUATIC WEBSITE Our MLC Aquatic Website has the latest updates for training and completion schedules as well as upcoming events. Please check the website regularly for information. Training breaks and updated training schedules will be posted shortly. www.mlcaquatic.swimming.org.au MLC Aquatic - Page 6