bajanla

Hi,
We are in the process of considering a move to Perth. My son swims competetively and would want to join a good swim club - can anyone recommend a good one please?

Thanks!

Kim67

A list of clubs for you to contact http://www.wasa.asn.au/Clubs/.

This is Australia, swimming is taken seriously so you won't have a lack of choice.

Amazulu

or a choice of great swimming pools

bajanla

Thanks for the link. It looks good.

Any idea how I could find out which clubs produce the best swimmers? I know that where we are now there is one club which consistently wins club meets on points and tends to have alot of record holders.

It would be great to hear from anyone with school age kids who swim competetively in Perth....

Kim67

I'm not sure - maybe email WA Swimming and ask if they have results for club meets for the last year or two and check out which clubs look strong. If you live in a particular area or your kids go to a particular school, they'll usually have an association with a club and usually swim for that club. In Australia if a child is particularly good at their sport, they will be have a chance at trialling for the Academy of Sport in their state and then do workshops at the Australian Institute of Sport.

bajanla

That's interesting, I didn't know that. I'm trying to research the swim clubs and then schools/areas to live after that. We are currently very close to the swim club and I'm not keen to increase travel time by too much!

Kim67

My kids currently go to school in Brisbane, it's a state school (government) and has it's own swimming pool and swim club. They've also been to private schools and same thing. The kids at our school club last week trialled for the regional team, those that got in will now train with the regional squad to prepare for states. If I were you, I'd find a good state or private school in Perth (whichever way you decide to go) with good pool and club facilities and take it from there.

quoll

Probably City of Perth http://cityofperthswimmingclub.org.au/

It probably all depends on whether your son is sprint or distance, pool or open water and even down to which stroke he prefers. I'd go to the Aus nationals results and check against his preferred stroke/distance but bear in mind he probably wont be training with the elite at the same times but they will be role modelling and will be part of the club.

HelenTD

If you go to the link that Kim67 gave, go along to Results and you'll see a drop-down option Rankings. You can explore different race meets and also click on individual swimmers and you will see which club they're in.

As quoll says, some clubs might be stronger in different strokes and distances. There's also the issue of how easy it is to get there, when training sessions are held, do your kids like the coach, etc. The squad sessions tend to be later in the day, ours for example is 5.30-7.00 pm. This is because of the swimming lessons for the younger kids that take place between 3.00-5.30 pm.

Uniswim at UWA has earlier squads, from 4.30 pm http://www.uniswim.uwa.edu.au/childr...ds#competitive. It will be easy to get confused, as Uniswim provides lessons/squads and there is also the Uniswim Swimming Club, which tends to swim at Challenge Stadium. Challenge is another option, my son's friend goes there and has made great progress. I don't like the centre, so tend to avoid it (car parking, underground corridors, tiny and crowded change rooms for kids)etc).

Some people travel long distances for squad training. This might be because there is not a decent squad near them, or there is not a 50m nearby.

Some primary and high schools have swimming pools. Churchlands SHS has a swimming programme as one of its options. Last year a team of kids went over the UK and swam the Channel. Surf club is also excellent for improving swimming skills and competing. I haven't experienced any association between our state schools and a certain club, this might be different for private schools.