June Update: Stingers Struck Gold!

Whats Happened:

Stingers Trivia 2024 - GLORY

Q: Who had the best night ever?

A: We did! 

Delivering the promise of a grand ol’ lark Trivia Night 2024 was SOLD OUT at our new location! Players, mates, family, SMEs or just about anybody with their oddly specific interest topic gathered at Rocks Brewery for the evening dedicated to raising money for the club and showing off our talent. 

Absolutely everybody left our trivia night smarter than before and many scored themselves a take home prize thanks to our sponsors, donors and friends of the club. 

Whilst we are waiting for some final numbers to come in, Ms Sprake projects a profit of over $11,000 for the club in a single night. Trivia night is a major event and fundraising opportunity for the club to provide an inclusive environment for our players to get involved with the sport and our community. 

Stingers sends sloppy strawberry kisses to all out volunteers who made the night possible, particularly Rachel Collier, Daddy Annie and Camille Taux. 

Stingers Member Survey 2024 Results

Thank you to everyone who shared their thoughts with us in the Stingers Member Survey 2024! Your feedback was extremely useful at the Stingers Club Leadership BBQ, where it was considered by Exec, club managers, captains, and coaches.

Overall you showed you loved our social media content and communication, along with  recommending us to your friends! 

We received a lot of useful comments, prompting many cooperative discussions. This feedback gives us an opportunity to reflect on how we are doing, help shape the club and its activities to create an environment for stingers to play waterpolo, be challenged and have fun!

A few key outcomes came from the survey which we will be focusing on. You can view the detailed quantitative results here, below are the summary of the actions you’ll be seeing in the near future:

Training and Skills:

• Coaches are planning a range of role focussed training opportunities across the winter season for Saturday Metro training. We have already had our first goalie training session held by World Champ Coach Kayla.
• Coaches are conducting shorter but higher intensity swimsets at the beginning of training. In doing this we are trusting you to maintain your swim fitness on your own. See the end of the newsletters for an example training set, or come along to Thursday night squad. 
• Sunday training signups will first be reserved for Intra players. We are investigating our options for different time formats to increase access for all players on Sundays.
• Regular grading activities - Winter season grading day already held, and will be holding these at least once a year to supplement team selection and development conversations with objective data.
• Different colour size 4 and size 5 balls next time we purchase a kit.

Social and Fun:

• Outdoor/Picnic social events planned for Intra socials in training calendar as well as appointing a social manager for each team to organise at least one team event per season
• Just like our recent start of Winter season tournament, we will be scheduling more regular tournaments with associated social events (brunch/BBQ) for more mingling opportunities

Inclusion and Information:

• Will be developing some more accessible club information (particularly for new trial or bootcamp members) to supplement the Member Zone.

Whats On:

IGLA 2024 Buenos Aires Expression of Interest

Buenos Aires, Argentina will be hosting the next IGLA Championships with events to be held on 5 - 9th November, during the country's Gay Pride Celebrations. Please fill in this form if you're thinking about attending.

Something Helpful

Get to know the whos who of Exec. We’ll be introducing ourselves in this newsletter and next one. We are:

Dean - Ordinary Exec

Member since 2021

I’m one of those community sport die-hards. I joined the stingers about 3 years ago having never played the sport before but have been a swimmer forever. I love the skills and pursuit the coaches have given since I started, the passion for learning and development has rubbed off. 

Since joining the exec I have helped with the running of club events as well as giving perspective and input into the week to week activities. When managing a club with such a range of players it can be challenging to keep everyone engaged (we have former National players to those who have never touched a ball in their lives!) I love the variety of opportunities exec creates for various levels of skilled play and paving a path for all players to enjoy the pool and our sport. 

I also take it as my responsibility to keep the members up to date with the newsletters, and to volunteer where I can in helping with running the various aspects of the club. You can typically find me around Intra and in M7.

Beck (she/her) - Ordinary Exec

Member since 2020

I recently joined exec after multiple seasons captaining our metro W6 team. I love this club and I wanted to contribute more to its overall growth and success, so I nominated for ordinary exec. 

As an ordinary exec member I attend the monthly exec meetings where the leadership team unpack the current climate of the club and plan for the future. The vibe of the exec meetings is more dynamic than I could have imagined, as there is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to make things run as smoothly as possible. 

My role sees me providing representation for the members of the club as well as volunteering my time and skills for club events where I can. 

As an exec member I feel it’s my responsibility to assist in making every player feel welcome and safe at our wonderful club so that we can continue to enjoy and grow in this safe space together!

Tom Cooney - Secretary 

Member since 2018

I joined the club after bootcamp and was a complete water polo newbie. Since endless swim squads as a kid I’ve been a water baby, and I found Stingers water polo was a super fun way to spice up swimming and stay fit within a fun community which keeps me hooked. 

One of the best things about being Secretary is helping people, whether that be making sure members get uniforms, finding solutions to Metro game disputes/issues, or sorting out registrations. It’s also a great role if you get a thrill from things being sorted and organised, whether that be making sure Exec meeting minutes are tidy, all Metro game results are entered, or there is enough uniform stock for the next batch of booties. 

The role is also a great way to get to know people across the club, you’ll be one of the first people booties and trial members will meet, and you get to work with captains, team managers, coaches and Exec to ensure Metro teams are entered and coordinated over the season. Within Exec, as Secretary there are also lots of satisfying opportunities to put in place procedures and processes to make things more effective and easier for Exec/coaches/club managers now and in the future.

Dylan Vitucci - Vice President

Member since 2016

As with most here I’m a long time water kid, having grown up deep in country NSW swimming, I’ve been playing polo since I was 16. Feels like I’m part of the wallpaper at this point in terms of organising things. I’ve had a stint running recruits, to being a captain, to settling into Vice President 5 years ago.

Colloquially known for owning all “On Water Matters” the Vice President is responsible for looking after the internal running of the club. I work with the coaches to put together our training strategy and look after our teams, manage the pools to make sure we have somewhere to train and generally have a hand in everything we do in and around the water, both in Sydney and abroad. Swim squad, INTRA, IGLA and all our other tournaments to name a few. 

My role lets me be really close to all our members, and this is something that I really value. I love the connection that it lets me build as I’m always talking with people about how the club and training is running, and perpetually trying new things to try and keep things as equitable as possible. It is a big role with a fair amount of admin, but also one that I get to directly see the results of immediately, so it's very rewarding for me.

Stingers On Tour

Keep an eye out for your teammates as Stinger set out for world domination! We'll be battling it out in the pool and attending these events:

• Rainbow Grudge Match, 4-7th October 2024, Ryde and Gunyama.
• IGLA in Buenos Aires, 5-9th November 2024 (coincides with Gay Pride events in Argentina)
• IGLA Washington DC, 2nd-6th June 2025 (during Pride Month).

General Information:

• If you have Facebook, please join our Stingers Members Page, where you can keep up to date with announcements.
• See the Member Zone for club information
• Check out the Club Calendar for upcoming events and the training plan, you can also subscribe to the calendar on your phone using the link provided
• Grab exclusive merch available on the Stingers Shop at bargain basement prices!

June Swim Set

The Splash and Dash Set

Total Time: 30min with rest

Total Distance: 1150m

Warm Up: 100 Free, 100 IM

Main Set: 

6 x 100m, 2min.

6 x 25m Free sprint, 45 sec. 

Cool down: 200m

Notes:

• Adjust the times to suit you, but still aim to push yourself. Suggestions:
• A bit easier: add 5 to 10s on the suggested times per 50m.
• A bit harder: minus 5 to 10s on the suggested times per 50m or add 2 more distance intervals (e.g where it says 6x100m do 8 of them.)
• Send your team a selfie with you at the pool after your set! Be the fitspo to my DMs :) 
• Splashproof and reuse the set - write it up with crayon (or pencil) on waxy baking paper, pat dry and keep in your bag for next time.