“The Olympic size 50-metre pool will allow us to hold not only our own yearly Pennant Meet which is part of a ‘long course’ competition and needs a 50-metre pool but also potentially championship meets such as the Ovens and Murray Championships or Southern Inland Swimming Championships,” club president: Sharon Letchford told The Free Press.
“Previously our pool space has not been large enough to accommodate these larger events which require eight lanes.“The indoor facility will allow us to continue training in shoulder and off seasons so that we can be more competitive with those clubs who have indoor facilities nearby.”In years gone by Corowa Swimming Club was very competitive locally and often brought home the ‘Pennant’ – the team prize for the best club in the district.
Sharon joined the club in 2005, has been on the committee since 2006 and has been coach for more than ten years.
“The building of indoor pools in Albury and Wodonga led to a decline in Corowa’s performance in this competition as we struggled to get a large team to travel to those pools for training over the cooler months, although there was a small core group of swimmers who did so,” she said.
“It is my hope as coach and long term club member that with access to a local indoor venue for year round training we will eventually be able to build up a squad that can give Albury/Wodonga, Wangaratta, Yarrawonga and maybe even clubs like Wagga and farther afield a run for their money!
“In my time as coach we’ve had between eight and a dozen swimmers represent the club or the local high school in any given year until those numbers started dropping off. We have some promising young swimmers coming up with half a dozen or so qualifying for meets at MSAC in Melbourne and the AIS in Canberra over the past few years.
“Ten year old Oliver Just from our Howlong squad medalled at the prestigious All Junior – country finals in Melbourne the last two seasons.”
Currently there are 23 swimmers, mostly from Howlong or surrounds, with only three from Corowa due to no pool. Eleven swimmers are aged 11 or older; 12 swimmers are 10 and under. Imogen Letchford, 14, has been swimming with the club since she was six.
Club vice president Robyn Moore has been on the committee for over 20 years, coaches, is a club Life Member and described by Sharon as “a great mentor to me”.
“We once had numbers of around ninety with about 50 or 60 regular swimmers including a small number of adult swimmers,” Robyn said.
“Membership numbers began to drop off severely from about 2013 when the pool season became progressively shorter. The season basically went from a certain five months to an uncertain three-and-a-half months.”Imogen and her coaching Mum saw first-hand with British club Bracknell-Wokingham last year as to what can be achieved with year-round, almost daily, training.
“One thing Imogen and I came home from the UK grateful for was that we have access to an outside facility – it really is so much nicer to be able to have that outside space at least some of the year, and it adds to the social and fun/relaxed aspects of being part of a sport/recreational community,” Sharon said.
“Even in summer in the UK my nieces need to wear a wetsuit to swim outside – we are blessed with beautiful weather here and I’m very glad we are taking advantage of it with the new outdoor facility.”
Sharon hopes to maintain a regular squad at Howlong and build up a new squad at Corowa. “This will require some pretty enterprising planning and a couple of new coaches as well, especially in the light of possible stringent COVID-19 restrictions – at least for the coming season,” she said.