Swimming club ?splashes? continue
Porirua City Aquatics?merger with Mana Swimco is bearing fruit for the region?s swimmers. The merger has been ?fantastic? for the region's swimming ambitions says Porirua City Aquatics?President Vivien Morton. ?It has really stabilised coaching for the future, as Mana were relying on volunteer coaches. ?Now we can draw on a larger pool of swimmers for competitions,? says Mrs Morton. The club?s lower grades? have been growing rapidly and more squads are competing with ?up and coming swimmers? as the focus. A recent ban on world championship swimmers? using Lycra suits is not likely to affect the Porirua club, and Mrs Morton says the decision ?is like taking drugs one week and saying you can?t the next ? the records will be hard to beat after this?. Swimming New Zealand?s acting spokesperson Mark O?Conner says he doesn?t think the Lycra suit ban will affect local competitions. ?It?s mainly when swimmers get into the top competitions that the high-tech suits are used. ?They have been taking half a second off records, which is huge,? says Mr O?Conner. Hutt Swimming Club?President?Robert Gibb?says most swimming clubs go through difficulties in terms of putting together competitive teams and at the moment they are working on building up younger grades. ?A lot of clubs? are going through the same thing. ?The push for a team has to come from within the club; all clubs? have peaks and troughs they work with. ?You need a group of people to form a team with a goal of what they want to achieve,? says Mr Gibb. Clubs need to have 4-6 committed swimmers in order to form a team because of the ?peaks and troughs of body rhythms?. ?It?s the ultimate sport for the body, you have to use everything,? he says. The club holds competitions every 10 weeks and their next one is set to be a large affair with an Upper Hutt swimming club sending down competitors?. Younger competitions? are going ?extremely well? and their last meet attracted between 80-90 swimmers. ?We had around 200 splashes [swim races] and there were certainly a few that were stand out,? he says.
