Strategic plan guides club's season

The Hedland Amateur Swim Club has wrapped up another successful season which was characterised by a larger than ever involvement by families, helpers and volunteers.

HASC president Patrik Mellberg said the committee sat down at the start of the season and enacted a strategic plan which mapped out the club's priorities.

"From our point of view, our strategic plan was really about growing the club with new entrants and trying to build a new clubhouse for the club," he said.

"The committee have worked really hard to increase the size of the club this season and we managed to grow from 65 to 90.

"We started a new squad called the Reef Sharks, which is a bridge between the YMCA Learn to Swim program and competitive swimming, and it's been a really great success - it's been a joy to watch those kids develop and thrive over the course of one term."

The summer season spanned from October to April 10, and featured children of all ages training in five different squads: Reef Sharks, Tiger Sharks, Hammerhead Sharks, Makos and White Pointers.

Season highlights included visits from Olympian Libby Trickett and water polo coach Georgina Kovacs, and the inaugural Hedland versus Karratha friendly swim meet on February 22.

The club's annual general meeting and windup will be held on May 3 at the Andrew McLaughlin Centre, and will be an opportunity to reflect on the past year and award swimmers with perpetual trophies and medallions for club champions and coach's awards.

Mellberg said HASC was looking forward to developing club premises at the South Hedland Aquatic Centre for the next summer season.

"The club's been a little bit homeless, it's never had a base to operate from, so that's been a strong push for us this year," he said.