The Mount Gambier Swimming Club has added another feather to its cap, being named the 2022/23 Swimming SA Club of the Year.
Not only did the club receive the honour at last week’s SA Swimming Country Championships in Nuriootpa, it was also announced as the host of the 2025 event – the second time it will host the event in two years.
The announcement follows the club winning the Community Event of the Year at the Sport SA Awards late last year, in recognition of its hosting of the swimming championships in Mount Gambier.
Club president Lauren Oxlade said she was thrilled the club had been recognised for its efforts, not only in hosting the championships last year, but for its growth.
“We were very excited being named Swimming SA Club of the Year, it is our second award for the year which is great,” she said.
“All clubs in SA are offered the opportunity to nominate, so our submission was based not only on country championships and pulling off that event, but also that we have grown our club rapidly.
“We have gone from 20 swimmers to almost 60 in the space of two years and the bulk of that growth was in 2022/23.
“With that we have improved our governance, made changes to constitution, got our committee working better, making sure our growth is not only rapid but also sustainable.”
Ms Oxlade said the completion of the Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre’s swimming facilities had been hugely beneficial to the club.
“The fact that our swimmers do not have to travel to learn to dive now, the new centre has definitely been an advantage to us, previously our swimmers would travel to Penola on a Friday afternoon as that is the only place they could dive,” she said.
“We have also undertaken a bit more promotion of the club and the sport and the opportunities it offers for families in general.
“On the country side of things we are one of the larger clubs, we were competing for the title against bigger clubs with more than 100 swimmers and members generally.
“It certainly is nice to be recognised for the work that has gone in, not only the swimming championships, we have had swimmers at the national age championships and also state and country championships, but also the effort that our club and members and sponsors and volunteers that have made to make the club a success.”
Ms Oxlade said the club was focussed on its young swimmers and helping them to achieve their goals, whether that be for fitness or competition, right through to state and national level.
“In good news, the award-winning championships we hosted last year will return again in 2025,” she said.
“That’s quite rare to hold them twice so close together, we have been awarded the rights to hold them again in 2025.
“We are really excited to have certainty well out from the event which we did not have last time and to build on the event not only for the swimmers but also for local businesses to really benefit from having the championships in our town again.
“We are already hearing from people who attended last year and who are wanting to return to make a holiday out of it either side of the competition.
“I think we have a lot more time to plan with certainty, the centre was not even finished when we started making plans last year, we want to make it the best in and out of the pool for people coming again.
“Last year we had more than 400 swimmers, we will be looking to have the same and perhaps more again, that’s 400 entries plus families, coaches and support crew.”
