Stingers recognises members for their contributions to and length of membership with the club. See below winners of key club contribution awards, including a list and synopsis of Lifetime Member awards, and information about club members' length of membership in 5 year intervals.

Club Awards

Club Membership Honours

Lifetime Members

Kerry Mealing - Awarded 4 Dec 2021

Kerry has represented the club in over ten international and local competitions, was captain of many (most) of our travelling teams and captain of our highest grade Sydney Metro Comp team for over five years. In the days before we had a club coach, at nearly every bootcamp in the last ten years, and in the time of the club’s exponential growth between 2016 and 2019, Kerry served as a coach and trainer for members, sometimes staying at the pool for up to seven hours each Saturday. Under his leadership in the water, the club delivered its first and second gold medals in the Sydney Metro Comp and he held together much of the club’s grading and teams process for many years. Kerry’s commitment, guidance and stability as our longest-serving member of the Club Executive provided an operational stability to the club that made other club efforts possible, such as the club’s targeted recruitment drive in late 2017.

Long-term Members

__________
List ordered left-right, top-bottom by membership currency, then length, then alphabetically
* indicates member not current
ᶠ incidates founding member
ˡᵐ indicates lifetime member

Nominating a member for Lifetime Membership

Lifetime Members are persons who have made significant and extraordinary contributions to the Club across at least a ten (10) year period. Lifetime Membership is the highest honour that can be bestowed to a member within and by the Club. As set out in the Club Constitution, Section 6.2, Lifetime Members are appointed as follows:

1. Any existing Club member may nominate another previous or existing Club member, other than themselves. The nomination must detail the nominee’s historical contribution to the ongoing success of the Club and be made in writing to the Club Secretary.

2. To be considered for Lifetime Membership, nominees will be assessed against the following criteria: a) Held a Club membership for a period of no less than ten (10) years; and b) Contributed to the Club in at least two (2) of the following areas: (i) Competition; (ii) Coaching and education; (iii) Club Committee, operations or administration; and/or (iv) Fundraising.

3. Nomination support from at least three (3) non-executive existing or previous Club members, across varying membership types, membership periods, competition leagues and/or Club involvement.
4. Nominations will be presented to Club Executive at the next scheduled Executive meeting following their receipt and sufficient completion.
5. The Club Executive will determine the successful appointment of Lifetime Members, with due documented consultation with at least one (1) existing Lifetime Member, or in the case that no Lifetime Member is available, an existing or previous Club member with no less than ten (10) years of Club membership.
6. As far as possible, nominations for Lifetime Members should be kept confidential until appointed by the Club Executive. Newly appointed Lifetime Members are to be conferred and presented at an existing Club activity or event.
7. Lifetime Members are not required to pay annual Club fees and will be reimbursed for any fees associated with state and/or national governing bodies, as relevant.
8. A maximum of two (2) Lifetime Members can be appointed every two (2) years.

Recognising Club Milestones & Leadership

We express thanks to our members who currently serve or have previously served on the Club Executive, and in particular to those who take on the role of Club President, leading the management, culture and strategy of the club's operations. Highlights and milestones over the club's history and a list of the Club's Presidents are below.

Club Highlights & Milestones

• We were founded in October 2001 in order to enter a water polo team to represent Sydney in the 2002 Sydney Gay Games, training at Leichhardt pool with no coaches and entering the Sydney Metropolitan winter comp in May 2002. The first international trip for the club was to the San Francisco IGLA competition in 2003. We remained a small club, hiring our first coach Chris Hook in those early years and moving our training to Ryde Aquatic Centre.
• We grew large enough to start a second Sydney Metro team in 2009, entered our first Mardi Gras Fair Day and Parade float and commenced our bootcamp recruitment program. Around this time we also commenced fundraisers like our famous Trivia Night and other events, such as our regular Grudge Match (Rainbow Cup) events with our sibling club the Melbourne Surge.
• In 2015 and 2016 we supported the establishment of our siblings to the north and west, the Brisbane Tritons and Perth White Pointers, and in 2016 our M6 team took gold in the Sydney Metro Summer Comp for the first time. We also revised our recruitment strategies and saw exponential membership growth (growing to more than 3x our previous size within 2 years), which was further propelled by a targeted recruitment effort in 2018 to broaden our representation across the LGBTQ+ spectrum and enter a team in the women's competition of the Sydney Metropolitan competition. One of our 2 teams entered in the Women's Competition won gold in that first season and we sent 3 teams to the 2018 Paris Gay Games, placing 5th in the competitive division. In 2018 we signed our first Platinum Sponsor and expanded our Trivia Night to 2 nights to support the continuously increasing size of the club, with its 7 teams in the Sydney Metropolitan Competition and over 7 hours of training time every Saturday at Ryde Aquatic Centre. 
• Across 2018 and 2019 we formalised permanent head coaches and began to develop junior coaches for the club. We won second in the International Gay & Lesbian Aquatics tournament in Melbourne in February 2020, just before lockdowns were imposed across the world due to the impacts of COVID-19. We navigated the complexities and uncertainties of COVID, maintained our membership at above 180 annual members and worked across the sporting code to influence and expand LGBTQ+ inclusion at the state and national levels. 
• In 2020 we expanded training access to provide members 2 skills training opportunities each week and in 2021 we established a second training pool at the newly opened Gunyama Park Aquatic Centre in Green Square with new goals, clock system and other equipment for our new Sunday training sessions. In 2021 we also established our internal social and beginners competition, INTRA, paving the way for ongoing retention and development of new players to the sport, with over 50 players in the inaugural season. In 2022 we partnered with the Sydney Wett Ones swimming club to host the Australian Queer Aquatics Championships in March 2023 during Sydney World Pride, establishing new beach water polo and event fundraisers for the club. In 2023, we sent teams to compete in both the IGLA Championships in London, winning the recreational division, and the 2022 Gay Games in Guadalajara. We also established the club's Financial Hardship Policy, designed for members of the club to be able to access and participate with lowered barriers. 

Club Presidents

Updates to this page

This page is updated annually ahead of the club's AGM. If you believe there is an error or omission in this page, please contact the Club Secretary (see Executive Team). This page was last updated on 3 June 2024.