Announcing our new Head Coach

Henley and Grange Swimming Club are delighted to announce the appointment of our new Head Coach Jerry Zhang with immediate effect. (16th September 2013)
Brief Introduction from Jerry:

“As a swimmer, I competed at the Chinese Olympic trials for the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. I have also won a bronze medal at the Chinese National Sports Institute Swimming Championship as well as many Chinese Provincial Championship gold medals. After retiring from competitive swimming, I studied at Shanghai Sports University from 1997-2001 during which I completed a Bachelor of Physical Education degree. While studying, I was an assistant coach to Wei Li Yan, (coach of former female 50m freestyle world record holder Wen Yi Yang), and I  was also involved in the coaching of some Chinese National age group champion swimmers. After I finished my studies, I opened up my own swimming school in Yanlord Garden, Shanghai. I have been teaching and coaching hundreds of swimmer from junior level to age group level since then. I have been a Junior Coach for Henley & Grange for the last 4 years. My goal in coaching is to help swimmers to achieve their full potential.”

We are confident that Jerry will bring with him a new and exciting era for the club and wish him all the best, as we congratulate him in this appointment.

2013 Short Course Compeition

11&U JX meet 1 and 12 & Over Division 2 meet 1 

As the Division 2 and JX were the first meets of the short course season it was a great opportunity for swimmers to see their hard work done in the pool pay off. It was great to see some new faces in William Ferrier and Simon Gagliardi competing in their first division 2 event achieving some amazing pb’s. A mention also goes out to Hans Siegloff, Emma Robbinson and Cassandra Dillon who achieved some divison 1 qualifying times, so it will be great to see these swimmers racing at the next division 1 event. 

A number of our junior and development swimmers also swam extremely well at the JX. It was excellent to see the junior swimmers coming out and getting a feel for competition racing with many of our younger swimmers having a go in the come and try 25m events. 

Many of our swimmers received JX patches as they made the JX qualifying times and finished 1^st, 2^nd or 3^rd in their age. A special mention goes to Catlin Wyman and Shelia Naku. These girls raced four races each and in all four races achieved state qualifying times for their age group. It will be great to see these younger swimmers competing at the state titles this year! 

All up it was a great couple of days of swimming by the swimmers who all blew me away with the pb’s that they achieved. They are now ready to get back in the pool and train hard for the next division 2 and JX coming up in June.

Marie Greco

Assistant

ANNUAL HENLEY TO GRANGE LONG SWIM 2013

Our two trophy winners, Riley Giersch (14) and Emily Richardson (14)

The Henley & Grange Swimming Club held its long standing annual event on Sunday 21 April 2013. The event was first held in 1917 and this year was the 96^th anniversary of that first swim.

It is normally held earlier in the year but Sunday’s date was the first available for the year without clashing with other swimming competitions but at the same time free of Surf Lifesaving Competitions so that adequate water cover could be provided.

The late April date attracted fewer entries than most years but the majority of those entrants registered to swim on the day. 

The weather was very unkind in terms of heavy rain and northerly squally wind.  SwimmingSA Referees in consultation with the Club and Henley Surf Lifesaving decided to reverse the swim direction and start from the Grange Jetty.

Officials on the Henley Jetty bore the brunt of the weather while waiting to record times and placings for the swimmers.  The usual waterproof pens and laminated sheets proved useless in the rain and they were forced to make use of modern technology.  They used the Voice Recording capability on a smart phone to record the cap numbers and times of the swimmers as they reached the Henley Jetty.

Two swimmers decided not to swim once they had arrived at the Grange Jetty and one more came ashore partway through.  The remainder made very fast times, particularly when they were nearly all younger swimmers.

The Bacchus Bar on the foreshore, Henley Square, kindly made their premises available in lieu of the Club’s tents for the finalisation of the results and the presentations.  This provided swimmers with a nice warm, sheltered area and opportunities for warm food and drinks.

In spite of the adverse weather conditions, both the Club and the swimmers were happy with the event.  Club swimmer Jade De Beer said “I really enjoy the Henley & Grange jetty to jetty swim. This was my second year participating in the event. The weather conditions were not ideal this year, but everyone seemed to give it their best." 

Age Group winners:
11-12 years Boys     1^st        Mitchell Allen             Playford Aquatics
13-14 years Boys     1^st           Riley Giersch              Playford Aquatics
11-12 years Girls      1^st        Caitlin McManus        Clovercrest Swimming Club
13-14 years Girls      1^st        Emily Richardson       Clovercrest Swimming Club
19 & over Womens   1^st        Kate Brocklehurst       Whyalla Swimming Club

Overall Winners:
Fastest Male                      1^st        Riley Giersch              22m 21s  Playford Aquatics
Fastest Female                  1^st        Emily Richardson       24m 48s  Clovercrest

Winners of the Barltrop Shield for the Club which is the first to have five swimmers across the line was Playford Aquatics represented by Riley Giersch (1^st overall), Abigail Pearson (3^rd), Mitchell Allen (9^th), Kate Giersch (10^th) and Bailey Allen (11^th).

Open Water Nationals 2013 – Lake Macquarie

Henley and Grange had five swimmers qualify for the Open Water Nationals this year.  Melody Remnant, Cass Dillon, Emma Robinson, Jade de Beer and Maeve Moroney-Plouffe all competed in the 5km swim.  Jade de Beer also competed in the 10km.  Conditions at Lake Macquarie were less than ideal but the girls still gave it their all.   

Saturday started with Jade swimming the 10km.  She placed 6^th in the 14 year age group.  Maeve swam her 5km in the afternoon.   

Sunday morning saw Mel take to the water, followed by Cass and then Jade and Emma in the last race of the weekend.  The swimmers really enjoyed the experience of competing at such a high level and had a lot of fun as a team.  Thank you to Sheryl for her hard work preparing these swimmers for their races.

Julie De Beer

Coaches' Report 29th January 2013

Congratulations goes to all the swimmers who swam at state age long course championships. We had many of the swimmers make it into the finals with excellent PBs swum. Special mention goes to Larissa Fielding who came second in the 14 year old age group for the 400m and 800m freestyle. Also our u/14 relay team just missed out on a medal by .5 of a second! Our u/12 relay team also swam very well and it was great to see some of the younger swimmers at this meet. The commitment and energy from the swimmers at this meet was amazing, team spirit was running high and for one of the smallest clubs we were definitely one of the loudest, it was great to see everyone supporting each other throughout the meet. The Henley and Grange members in the state surf team swam very well in Sydney competing against surf teams from all around Australia, placing in a number of events.

The West Lakes' Challenge was also swam very well by the swimmers who attended. It was good to see the number of competitors who swam was very high with many new-comers and younger swimmers trying the shorter distances. Congratulations to all the medal winners from Henley and Grange!

We are off to Australian Age Open Water on the 8th February taking 5 swimmers across to Lake Macquarie.