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About Us

SwimZone Racing is the Hutt Valley's renowned competitive swimming club, with a long history of success in the Wellington region and at a national level. Our key philosophy is to develop the fitness, skills and competence of young swimmers so they can achieve their potential as competitive swimmers. As part of that journey we aim to provide opportunities to develop important life skills and lasting friendships through attending national events, development camps, away meets and fun nights.​ We believe that competitive swimming develops skills that set children and young adults up for life by developing skills in teamwork, time management, a focus on health and well-being and resilience.

 

Our club values are:

  • Demonstrating sportsmanship and commitment to the team

  • Working hard and competing with our potential

  • Demonstrating mental toughness and discipline 

  • Contributing to our community, and representing it with pride

  • Striving for excellence

 

SZR Board Members

Chairperson: Martyn Bain

Secretary: Lisa Wilson

Treasurer: Nicola Martin

Meet Co-ordinator: Meghan Cavanagh

Race Secretary: Martin Baker

General Board Member: Paula Alkema

Coach Representative: John Ross

Board Meetings: the next Board meeting is scheduled for 10 October 2023. Please email secretary@szr.co.nz if you have any queries.

Meeting Minutes: please email secretary@szr.co.nz to receive a copy of the last meeting minutes.

Club Constitution

SwimZone is an incorporated society established under the Incorporated Societies Act 1908 and shall be a member of Swimming NZ and abide by the rules and regulations of Swimming NZ.

Full details of the Club Constitution can be downloaded.

History

Swimzone and Swimzone Racing started by John Ross and Frank Tourelle.

John Ross
John is originally from Invercargill and arrived in Wellington after finishing school to work under Master Coach Tony Keenan, a well known NZ swim coach at the time. Although originally intending to just stay for a year to gain experience, this opportunity turned into a lifetime career. John's experience extends to many areas of coaching especially developmental swimming and competitive swimming. He also has coached triathletes and open water swimmers. John supports and trains the current SwimZone coaching team. John is totally committed to his coaching role here in Lower Hutt developing swimmers from Swimzone Racing and also to the community for providing an innovative and competent swimming program for swimmers of all levels here in the Hutt Valley.

 

Frank Tourelle
Frank was also born in Invercargill and moved to Wellington to work at the Naenae Olympic "Outdoor" pool in 1985 on his way to Indonesia for one of many trips there for surfing. In 1988 he arrived back to Wellington and got involved with the Lower Hutt City swim programme and discovered the joys of being a swim coach. In 1991 Frank and John gained the contract for developmental and competitive swimming in Lower Hutt and have during these years developed competitive swimming to a high level in the Hutt Valley with swimmers qualifying for Olympics Games, Commonwealth Games, World Cup and World Youth Championship meets. Frank has been awarded the top qualification from SNZ as a Level 1 Coach and is currently coaching the Marlins squad.

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