By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
One of Australia’s oldest swim clubs, Lilydale Swimming Club, has suspended operations due to declining membership, largely stemming from the closure of the Kilsyth Pool, where the team trained.
According to a report from the Eastern Melburnian, following the closure of the club’s home pool three years ago, the Kilsyth Centenary Pool in Mooroolbark, Lilydale Swimming Club, a 123-year-old club, experienced declining membership numbers, from 75 to 39 in those three years.
“We had about 70 members and lost almost half because of the closure,” said club secretary Samantha Wahrenberger in the report from the Eastern Melburnian.
Following the closure of the pool, the club relocated to the Yarra Center in Yarra Junction, resulting in 60 km round trips for several members, another major factor in the decline in membership numbers.
In a separate report from Mount Evelyn Star Mail, the club’s president, David Macrae, said that the final decision came after head coach Duana McLeod was offered another coaching position, leaving the club in a difficult position.
“We knew that once she left, it was a quick decision as to what we would do,” Macrae said in the report from Mount Evelyn Star Mail. “When we told the committee, they were shocked, but they completely understood and had nothing but admiration for the work that Duana had done.”
Though the Yarra Ranges Council helped support the club during their first year at the facility, the club’s costs, such as $120 per hour for lane hire, Macrae said, were not financially justifiable.
““Unfortunately, in Yarra Junction, that volume of people is not coming through, so as people get older and leave, there wasn’t a pathway; the population demographics up there are not that big.” Macrae said. “But in order to pay for a coach, you need to have critical mass, and you can’t be paying someone to be a coach for 10 hours a week when it’s their job.”
Despite the obvious sadness and unfortunate nature of the situation, Macrae can look back over the past three years and see the good that came from the club.
“This portion has been sad, but there have been a lot of kids who have made nationals and states,” Macrae said in the report from Mount Evelyn Star Mail. “Even in the last three years, for kids to be able to make state age and nationals and reach their best potential is a credit to the effort that’s been put in by a number of people to keep things going, keep kids belonging to the club… If you can find a sport you love, just keep doing it.”
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