The ALBATROSSWingSpan
Committee News
Upcoming Events
Summer Events
Welcome new Club Members
Kit
Club Launch Party
Meet Al...
Issue 1 - 01 July 2011 We felt that with other clubs with names likeSharks, Dolphins, Barracuda, Seals and Orcas wewould fit right in with Albatross.
The albatross which is a large seabird, is bothenigmatic and cumbersome, and is among sailors aharbinger of good fortune. However according tomythology killing one brings misfortune. Read ‘TheRime of the Ancient Mariner’ by Samuel TaylorColeridge this is about a sailor who kills analbatross and brings a death curse to his ship. Weof course see the bird to be about good fortuneand success for all our swimmers.
We had a logo designed in purple, black and whitethat incorporated the albatross bird and thebutterfly swimmer which I’m sure you have allseen.With the re-establishment of the club wewanted a logo that retained the original idea but isnew and modern and reflects what the club is now.Fortunately the committee supported the visionand we are presently in the process of updating thelogo for the new club. The new logo will be readyfor Durban Prestige
All the most successful clubs in sport are like afamily. There is a collective bond amongst themembers of the team created by the sharing oftraining and competition. But also it is almost as ifeach member has a sense of ownership of the club,its reputation and its results. This is the vision forAlbatross; that each swimmer be proud to be amember of the club, that each swimmer hasrespect for their teammates and that the club islike a family, something that is consistent anddedicated. I’m sure that like all families there willbe disagreements but that the mutual support andrespect for each other and the club will always bewhat define what we are all about.
I look forward to the season ahead and encourageall of you to support the club and all itsswimmers.I’m sure it’s going to be lots of fun andsuccessful.
All the best - Paul
WingSpanDear Parents and Swimmers
This is the first of a regular contribution I will bemakingto the monthly Albatross newsletterwhich will be edited and maintained by KarenSharpe. We hope that you will find thesenewsletters informative and enjoyable. Manythanks to all of you for your support for the newclub. It’s going to be a challenging season gettingAlbatross established as a competitive clubwithin CGA as well as fine tuning theadministrative functioning of the club.
Tania and I first started the club in 2000 when wehad just started our own swimming business inOlivedale. We got the name from Michael Grosswho is a former World and Olympic champion inthe 100m and 200m Butterfly and the 200m Free.Gross is 6ft 7inches (2.02m) tall and got thenickname "The Albatross" due to his long armspan of 2.13 m. He was probably the finestswimmer in the world in the 200m butterfly racefrom 1981 to 1988. During this period he set fourworld records, won two world titles, fourEuropean titles and one Olympic gold medal.
Committee News
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It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the newly resurrected Albatross Swim Club. As most ofyou are aware, Paul had previously run the “old” Albatross swim club about six years ago. Since then theswimmers have been affiliated to a number of clubs and with the start of this season, the Planet Fitnessclub was dismantled.At a meeting of most of the parents, and after much discussion a vote was cast and it was decided thatwe should form our own club.
A committee was then elected as follows:
It has been an extremely busy start to get the club up and running. We applied to CGA to register the clubwhich was accepted at the CGA AGM. We have also embarked on creating a new logo for the club as welllooking at options for the Albatross kit. We have also secured two gazebo’s which will be used at thegala’s.
Special thanks must go firstly to the committee members for their passion and hard work. To MichaelBender and Brandon Tucs for the logo designs, Annette Reyneke for purchasing and getting the accountsup and running, Aarthie and Kamal Ramsingh for the Gazebo’s, Angela Allan for the website, Linda Jou-bert for organizing the kit options and Karen Sharpe for the newsletter.
I would lastly like to take this opportunity to welcome you all to the Albatross family and I am confidentthat the swimmers and the parents under the guidance of Paul can take this club from strength tostrength.
Regards Nick Small
Chairman Nick SmallVice Chairman Andre Joubert
Coach Paul Fryer - BBM PIN 224A601D0837029483
Treasurer Annette ReynekeSecretary Anne Fryer
0836313275 [email protected]
Committee Members Michael Bender and Ralph Grob
Upcoming Events
jUNE25 -CGA Winter 1Linden
No events yet 27 - 2 JulySasol WinterChamps
jULY
9 - CGA Winter 2Linden
22-24 - Snr ShortCourse ChampsSt Andrews
29-31 Jnr ShortCourse ChampsWahoo
12-16Speedo PrestigeKings Park
AUGUST6-9 - SA ShortCourseSt Andrews Girls
20 - ProvisionalAdrian Grafe
Summer EventsSummer Season starts...
CGA Level 2/3 - 10 SeptemberCGA Level 1 - 24 SeptemberCGA Level 0 - 25 September
Sun City Open Water - 22 October
Speedo - Kings ParkOn 11 July, a number of Albatrosses will bemaking their way to the beach house inForest Drive Umhlanga for a week of fun, sunand swimming at Kings Park in Durban.Good luck to all our swimmers!
Welcome New Club MembersAnton Reyneke joins Albatross this season.Anton comes from 4 years at MandevilleDolphins and attends Helpmekaar HighSchool. Anton is mostly an Open Waterswimmer.
Junior Zhao also joins the senior squad thisseason and is also ex Mandeville Dolphins.Junior attends Crawford College Lonehill.
Welcome both! We wish you happy swimmingand great ‘times’ with Albatross!
KitAshleigh Small manages kit. Designs havebeen completed. Prices and details will beavailable soon.
Caps will be ready for Speedo.
Meet Al.....Al is not the Albatross logo,he is a separate and identifiable character associated with Albatross.He is intended to be a fun variation of the Albatross club identity for use on non-official club items(as opposed to caps and track suits which are official club wear). We hope to use him on itemslike t-shirts or various other options as the opportunity arises. Al will be included in differentscenarios such as wearing goggles and cap, or playing electric guitar, dressed as a WW1 fighterace etc.
If you have any ideas for how he should be dressed and on what to use him - share with Paul.
Next Newsletter
SOCIAL...
Club LaunchParty
14 August @The Ramsingh’sInvitations to
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Thank you to contributors for this newsletter!
The Albatross is dependent upon news fromclub members. We would like to have photosof our own swimmers featured with each edi-tion. Please send photographs from events,achievements, information about upcomingevents, anything related to the club. Publishedevery 6 weeks, the next newsletter is due outon 15 August. It will include photos and newsfrom Speedo and CGA Short Course Champs.
Email addresses for photos and news:[email protected], or [email protected]
Linkshttp://www.cgaswim.co.za/http://www.swimsa.org
http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/http://www.swimgear.co.za/