About Us
Far North Queensland Regional Swimming Association
Far North Queensland Regional Swimming Association (FNQRSA) incorporates 19 swimming clubs in Cairns, north to Weipa, west to Normanton, south to Tully and the Atherton Tablelands.
FNQ Swimming provides support in many areas including membership drives, development clinics, and hosting swim events. FNQRSA, together with Swimming Queensland, has also developed pathways for swimmers to reach their goals at a regional, state and national level.
Management Committee
| President | Jim Greatorex | president@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Vice-President | Peter Clark | vice-president@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Secretary | Bronwyn Jones | secretary@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Treasurer | Louise Nicholson | treasurer@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Race Secretary | Alice Foote | race-sec@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Committee – Technical Officials | Kathy Hare | techofficial@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Committee – Development | Toni Bartley & Ramayana Loveridge | development@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Committee – Coaches Representative | Troy Gazzola | |
| Committee – Multi Class & Media | Sarina Andronicus | |
| Committee | Kent Rowbotham | |
| Committee | Alicia Casey | |
| Committee | Holly Webster |
Annual Presentation Books
Regional Reports
2022/23 FNQRSA Regional Report
Development
Our regional Development calendar was full of activities for all levels of swimming. Four (4) Development Clinics facilitated by Brant Best were held over the season which included High Performance Squads, State Development Squad and Regional Development Squad. These clinics were well attended by our swimmers and we look forward to further developing the sport with further clinics planned for the next season.
Regional Events
Our regional Short Course Championships were held in 30th & 31st July 2022 attracted 233 swimmers, well up from 174 athletes registered the previous year. Our Long Course Championships, held 4th & 5th March 2023, attracted 268 swimmers which was slightly more than the previous year Champs which attracted 245 swimmers.
Strategic Direction
FNQRSA Committee continue to focus on the strategic direction for swimming in the region together with the sustainability of the organisation to lead this activity. The organisation secured grant funding from Cairns Regional Council to support our 2023 regional championship events and $40,000 was secured through the Gambling Community Benefit Fund to purchase a purpose built trailer for our Technical Officials and timing equipment.
Squads
Ongoing use of the previously developed squad pathway programme has seen a number of our swimmer achieve state and national level qualifying times. Our High Performance, State Development, Relay and Junior Development Squad Clinics have been well received and highly successful. Numbers of swimmers achieving State and National times is increasing and junior swimmer retention is on the rise with more than 20 swimmers qualifying for ago/open Nationals.
We would like to recognise the efforts of Brant and the SQ Team in supporting and driving this programme for us. Brant has committed to an approach of empowerment of our swimmers and coaches which has led to many great examples of coloration in our region between the various coaches and clubs with the aim of swimmer development.
With the departure of a number our young adult swimmers, we once again go through a rebuilding phase with the depth now more in the early to mid-teens. This will once again see a revision of our squad strategy for the year ahead to ensure we support the demographics in our region.
Technical Officials
We are fortunate to have a talented and dedicated team of Technical Officials led by Kathy Hare. This year we continued our focus to grow and further development the team and attract new officials from across the region.
Management Committee
Committees consist of volunteers who dedicate time and energy and strong commitment to ensure that things just don’t happen but happen seamlessly and well. We are very fortunate to have such a strong committee within our region:
President – Jim Greatorex
Vice President – Peter Clark
Secretary – Bronwyn Jones
Treasurer – Louise Nicholson
Committee (Race Secretary) – Alice Foote
Commitee (Technical Officials) – Kathy Hare
Committee (Coaches Representative) – Troy Gazzola
Committee (Grants) – Geoff West
Committee – Kent Rowbotham
Committee – Alicia Casey
Jim Greatorex
President
Links:
2021/22 FNQRSA Regional Report
2020/21 FNQRSA Regional Report
Congratulations to everyone who has been involved in swimming in Far North Queensland over the past 12 months and what a year it has been!
FNQ Swimming’s strategic role is to increase participation opportunities and performance pathways for competitive swimming in Far North Queensland.
The region has seen a 10% participation increase this season with strong numbers building in our juniors across all clubs. Through the concerted effort by coaches, parents, and volunteers we are seeing clubs rebuilding and strengthen throughout the region with Tully, Innisfail, Mossman, and Normanton swimmers now competitively involved in carnivals and winning medals at the FNQ Championships.
A special mention must go to the committee at Cooktown Swimming Club which held its first regional carnival in 17 years with more than 100 swimmers in attendance on the ANZAC Day long weekend. The success of the two day event highlighting that grass roots development swimming is in demand. In attendance were some of our National and Olympic Qualifying level swimmers both competing and providing coaching at the clinic the following morning.
This year saw record numbers of swimmers qualifying and competing at events outside the region. More than 60 FNQ swimmers competed at the December 2020 Queensland State Championships in Brisbane demonstrating the depth of talent being developed by so many of clubs. April 2021 saw a record 25 FNQ swimmers qualify for Age and Open Australian National Swimming Championships on the Gold Coast. Finally, 8 FNQ swimmers have qualified to compete in the June 2021 Olympic Trials in Adelaide, and we wish them well on what will be the highlight of Swimming Australia’s calendar.
FNQ Swimming has this year joined with the Cairns Academy of Sport (through TAFE Qld) to provide further opportunities for our senior swimmers to remain in FNQ and continue their training and education upon completion of secondary schooling. The opportunity to become a part of a high performance program with other elite athletes based in FNQ is another strategy to improve the retention of swimmers in our sport.
Swimming Australia has been instrumental in assisting with the planning of multiple events to be conducted in FNQ during mid-2021 to coincide with the Australian Dolphins training camp being held in Cairns prior to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. We would like to thank the team from Swimming Australia for their commitment to providing world class opportunities for our local swimmers.
On behalf of the FNQ Swimming community I would like to thank Swimming Queensland’s team for their ongoing support administratively, with swimmer and coach development and for their unwavering advocacy for the return to competitive swimming through the COVID pandemic. A special mention must go to Brant Best who has been instrumental in growing the continued local collaboration amongst our coaches/clubs, accelerated technical skill development both in and out of the water and generally supported our improvement goals throughout the region. You are one of us now!
Finally, I would like to thank the FNQ Swimming Committee, Technical Officials, and those of you providing much needed time and skill in the background for all your hard work and incredible dedication that assisted in making the season 2020-21 such a success.
See you on the pool deck for Season 2021-22.
Jim Greatorex
President
> Download
2019/20 FNQRSA Regional Report
Development
Our regional Development calendar was full of activities for all levels of swimming. Six Clinics were held over the season which included visits by Jade Edmistone for our Junior Development, and Brant Best for our State Development and High Performance Squads. Our swimmers and coaches always look forward to these clinics and they were well attended.
Regional Events
Our Regional SC Championships held in August 2019 had 171 swimmers (10% increase on previous year) attend and our LC Championships, held over days in March 2020 attracted 234 swimmers (same as previous year and we saw a 10% increase in total entries). We were fortunate to have been able to hold the LC championships just prior to the initial COVID-19 lockdown.
Due to ongoing commercial/infrastructure negotiations with the Belgravia and Cairns Regional Council that were unsatisfactory, FNQ Swimming took the Long Course Championships in March away from the new Tobruk Memorial Pool and held the event at Marlin Coast Aquatic Centre. Despite some concerns raised around the speed of the older pool in comparison, numerous FNQ records were broken and most excitedly 4 national records were also broken. Joel Mundie broke 3 Multi Class records and Ike Martinez broke the 13years boys 200m Butterfly record by more than a second.
The financial outcome was more than $5,000 better for FNQ Swimming in comparison to holding the event at Tobruk. The feedback from the competitors and spectators was also very positive due to the atmosphere created.
The most concerning issue however of holding events at Tobruk Memorial pool is the lack of control room which leaves the team of people and the computer equipment open dangerously to the elements during wet weather or even with pool overflow despite our best efforts with gazebos. There is also no timing display.
At Marlin Coast Bicentennial Pool there is a fully air-conditioned and enclosed control room for our timing equipment that also includes an electronic timing board displaying results immediately.
Strategic Direction
As a part of efforts to increase the participation rates in swimming, FNQRSA has established a position on the committee dedicated to setting strategy for the region. While evolving, we hope to be in a position to attract more swimmers, corporate and government funding and to generally raise the profile of swimming and its benefits reaching further into the community that we have ever before.
With 2020 being an Olympic year, we were looking to maximise the hype that will build and leverage the exposure swimming will gain from many of the international teams training here in Cairns in the lead up to these next major swimming events. We will look to do something similar in 2021 should we move from the current COVID-19 restrictions
Squads
On going use of the previously developed squad pathway programme has seen a number of our swimmer achieve state and national level qualifying times. Our High Performance, State Development, Relay and Junior Development Squad Clinics have been well received and highly successful. Numbers of swimmers achieving State and National times is increasing and junior swimmer retention is on the rise.
Coaching
Since 2017/18 the FNQRSA committee along with the assistance of Brant Best and SQ, has invested in the FNQRSA Coaches Scholarship and Coaches Forum which are each held year about. The intent for 2020 was to hold some coaching workshops in South Queensland with coaches travelling from FNQ during the period between our LC and SC seasons post nationals. COVID-19 has unfortunately put this plan on hold and we will review for 2021.
During year we continued to hold our squad development days, a number of our local coaches have also participated to assist Brant and Jade Edmistone, while at the same time taking the opportunity to learn some further skills themselves.
Technical Officials
We are fortunate to have some very talented and dedicated Technical Officials led by Matt Bromley – although small in number they are big on commitment. This year a focus has been on growth and development to see a sustainable number of technical officials in our ranks that has seen a number of our FNQ officials participating in state, nation and international events.
Management Committee
Committees consist of volunteers who dedicate time and energy and strong commitment to ensure that things just don’t happen but happen seamlessly and well. We are very fortunate to have such a strong committee within our region:
| Management Committee | ||
| President | Jim Greatorex | president@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Vice President | vacant | contact President to express interest |
| Secretary | Scott Snelling | secretary@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Treasurer | Todd Olds | treasurer@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Committee – Technical | Matt Bromley | techofficial@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Committee – Race Secretary | Alice Foote | records@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Committee – Strategy | Jason Salecich | strategy@fnqswimming.com.au |
| Committee – Grants | Geoff West | |
| Committee – General | Louise Nicholson | |
A huge thank you must be given to these people in acknowledgment of their efforts.
Branding
The region continues to refresh of the branding to reach further into our general community to grow our swimming numbers.
In closing, I would like to thank all the members of our region – we have a strong family attachment throughout our vast area and this is a credit to our Clubs. Thank you also to Swimming Qld for the support given to us in all areas but particularly this year with Brant Best and Drew McGregor.
We look forward to re-entering swimming competitively with everyone globally post COVID-19.
Jim Greatorex
President
> Download
Governance & Policies
Our History
