“CJ” is well known and respected in WA swimming circles, with a long coaching history in WA across multiple clubs. He holds a national-level coaching qualification and has coached across age groups, with a strong background in youth development. CJ is known for his sharp focus on developing stroke technique, matched only by his ‘dry’ sense of humour. He is kind and encouraging, and is a wonderful role model, both within our club and in the wider swimming community. We are lucky to have him!
Travis has been a competitive swimmer himself and a Junoir Coach for Broome Barracudas Swimming Club. He's moved to Perth to study Engineering at Curtin Uni and is coaching our Silver B squad alongside CJ on Saturday mornings and running our Friday PM Bronze and Silver B session.
Bronze: Generally our youngest and/or newest squad swimmers
Silver B: Swimmers who have more experience with squad training and are challenged a bit more in each session, including swimmers aiming for State times
Silver A: Swimmers with a higher level of proficiency in all strokes, and working towards, or already swimming at a State level
Gold: Swimmers with a higher level of endurance, who are at a State level or who are working towards this goal or beyond.
Fitness: Swimmers 16+ years for fitness and includes our Curtin Uni swimmers.
We offer our swimmers morning and afternoon training session 6 days a week, dependant on Squad level.
Morning sessions are 5.30am to 7am for Silver A, Gold and Fitness Squads.
Afternoon sessions are 4pm to 5pm for Bronze and Silver B Squads and 5pm to 6.30pm for Silver A, Gold and Fitness Squads.
Long Course Season (LC): 50m pool competitions from October to April; and Short Course (SC): 25m pool competitions from May through September.
Club Nights: are held during the summer/LC season (8 meets per season). Swimmers generally swim in four events per meet, giving an opportunity to practice their racing and get feedback on racing rules etc, in a safe and encouraging environment. Each year, we recognise swimmers with the greatest total points from club nights, all based on personal improvement. It’s often not the most experienced, fastest swimmer who takes this out! These can’t happen without swimmers’ parent/s in attendance, to assist with timekeeping and other duties to make the times official.
Targeted Meets: A season schedule/planner and reminders will be circulated for all club swimming events and meets. There is generally one targeted meet per month, hosted by another club or by SWA. Targeted meets have a coach supporting the swimmers and generally a bigger group (cheer squad!) from the club attending. It’s a great way for new swimmers and parents to learn the ropes of competing, with help from more experienced competitors and families. Coaches will let swimmers know which events (races) to enter. Other meets on the SWA calendar can certainly be entered, but there won’t be a coach in attendance.
VPSC Annual Spring Into Summer Carnival: Our main fundraiser of the year is our carnival, open to entries from all clubs across WA, and is usually late November each year. A wonderful day with all hands on deck making light work and lots of fun!
Volunteer Duties at Club Nights and Meets: it takes a lot of people-power to run a club night or swimming meet! Parents are needed in timekeeper roles (3 per lane), to help marshalling and other duties. Some club members hold technical official accreditations to make the event and times official, and these are valuable skills (starter, referee, judge of stroke etc). We encourage anyone with an interest to talk to our Board members about learning. At other meets, each attending club is allocated duties such as timekeeping or medals table, and each club needs to coordinate themselves to cover this. It’s a great view from timekeeping positions! Timekeeping is literally the touch of a button at the finish.
Junior and Senior SC and LC State Championships and Nationals: swimmers who achieve qualifying times as set by SWA/SAL are eligible to enter. They’re great for goal-setting!
Entry for all meets including Club Nights is through Swim Central, and early entry is recommended, to avoid disappointment where meets fill up and sell out quickly.
Open Water Events: our club encourages participation in the Open Water Series (October to March). Information is available from SWA and/or the club, and there is usually a wonderful social element too. Many of our families will enter the Busselton Jetty Swim event in February and support each other as a club and make it a fun social event at the same time.
© Victoria Park Swimming Club, 2024