Today we're diving into - Macquarie Yabbies SC
Newcomers to the Central West swimming scene, Macquarie Yabbies SC services locals in and around Narromine. Club members previously faced a 40km trip one-way to train at nearby Dubbo, and because of this, enough interested members in Narromine were able to form their own club. The club was the third and final winner of our Emma McKeon prize pack after registering 104 members, blowing their 2020-2021 membership goal out of the water! Macquarie Yabbies have experienced outstanding growth since their inception in 2017.
To find out more about the club, we spoke with Club President Krista Morrisey and Publicity Officer Elayna Reid.
Macquarie Yabbies SC in Depth
Macquarie Yabbies offer weekly club nights to service their large base of social members who don’t necessarily train in regular squads. While the club was created to remove travelling barriers for many families based at Narromine, 50% of the club’s members still live outside of Narromine and can travel up to 60km from family farms to access the only 50m pool located between Dubbo and the far west of NSW.
Macquarie Yabbies SC attributes a great deal of their success and current notoriety in the region to the generous support of their local community and small businesses.
Macquarie Yabbies Head Coach Lance McCabe described the club culture as “…all about family fun and participation. No one swimmer is more important than another and it is really noticeable at carnivals that our swimmers cheer for each other and acknowledge each-others’ efforts as well as congratulating the swimmers from other clubs.”
To ensure everyone in the community felt welcome to come along to a club night and have a go, the club used social media as a promotion tool to communicate their values of inclusiveness and fun. Club members created a video explaining how the club works and what’s involved at club night, and posted it on Facebook. Nearly 900 views and many expressions of later, this video encouraged new families to get in touch and eventually, join the club.
Macquarie Yabbies offer a sausage sizzle at their Thursday club nights which is a big highlight for the kids, and also provides a bit of fundraising for the club too. The kids are always keen to give events a go, and even though they offer 25m events at their club nights, most kids opt for the challenge and do the 50m races!
What's next for Macquarie Yabbies SC
Macquarie Yabbies recently hosted their annual interclub meet in November, which was a great success. The kids love getting involved in the Dash for Cash event that is a big part of this carnival, which awards big prize money across three different age groups.
The club are also hoping to get involved in more fundraising activities to help raise money for a new Wylas Timing System to use at their club nights as well as at school carnivals and district meets.
Find and Contact Macquarie Yabbies SC
Club pool: Narromine Aquatic Centre, Burraway St, Narromine
Follow Macquarie Yabbies SC on Facebook
Want to be featured in the next Clubs in Depth?
- Get in touch with us
- Purpose of Clubs in Depth initiative
Contact Olivia Kapocius (admin@nsw.swimming.org.au) to organise an interview.
The purpose of Clubs in Depth is to promote NSW-based clubs to both the Swimming NSW and broader community in order to increase engagement and participation. The article is distributed via our website, social media channels, the Hot Off the Blocks Newsletter and Swimmer Magazine.
Swimming NSW will also provide featured clubs with a modified copy of their article so it can be distributed to local media outlets as a new member and community engagement tool.
