TWO of the most influential but unheralded figures in Bathurst swimming were recognised recently when they were awarded life membership of the Bathurst City Amateur Swimming Club.
Both Daphne North and Heather Rosconi have devoted countless hours of their free time to the club and those involved with it, and at May’s annual general meeting it was unanimously decided to give both the highest recognition possible.
They were officially presented with the honour last Friday at the Bathurst Aquatic Centre.
Between the two, there isn’t much they haven’t done in terms of their contributions to the local swimming community.
Daphne North began her association with the club way back in 1969-70 through her children Faye, Carol and Ian and their involvement in the sport which continued through to the early 1980s.
In that time she and her husband Ken held a number of positions within the club, Ken as both vice-president and treasuer while Daphne also held the post of treasurer for some time.
Daphne was involved in the implementation of programs such as learn To Swim classes on a Saturday morning, ensuring that all club members were qualified in water safety and lifesaving while she was ever-present at carnivals both home and away.
Through her grandson Nick North her presence around the club began once more in the mid-90s and once more she took on various committee positions including vice-president while she also constantly helped organise join Bathurst and Blayney winter carnivals, and the 2005 regional titles.
She assisted with catering, timekeeping, raffles, medal presentations and held a reputation for generally being among the last to leave any club function.
On that basis it would be hard to argue with her being awarded life membership.
For Heather Rosconi meanwhile the accolade was just as well earned.
With her children Pip and Jono Rosconi starting with the club in 1991, Heather found herself helping out at club meets with timekeeping which then took her into recording, while her family business Rosconi Brothers sponsored the club from then right up until just a few years ago.
She occupied positions such as secretary, publicity officer, treasurer, vice-president and in 1998-99 she became the club’s president.
Perhaps her greatest contribution was through her accreditation and coaching, something for which she is still qualified to this day, while she was also the driving force behind the progression from a handicap competition system to a pointscore format and wrote most programs for Bathurst and Blayney carnivals.
“I felt very honoured, it was a pleasant surprise to find out I was going to be honoured like this. It is always a pleasure when your involvement in a particular sporting group is recognised like this,” Rosconi said.
“You know, it is an ongoing honour - it is there for life.”
Rosconi explained that her progression to more and more responsibility was borne initially out of the simple fact that her kids were going further in the sport and needed more training, and the nature of swimming meant that her work extended beyond simply taking them along to the pool.
“Swimming is a sport that requires a lot of help from parents, there are often more officials on the deck than actual competitors,” she explained.
“And with the kids having a bit more success it just led me to be further involved a bit higher up. I found it very satisfying to get my qualifications firstly in the technical aspects and later on in coaching.
“All my qualifications are still current, though our business takes up too much of my time now and I like to have my weekends free, I still want to keep them current.”
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