Freshwater Amateur SwimMING Club

Freshwater Amateur Swimming Club has been racing at the Freshwater Rock Pool since 1946. The pool itself is older — opened by Shire President Parr on 28 November 1925, it was the first rock pool built on the Northern Beaches. Measuring 33 yards long (30.18m), with its concrete floor completed in the 1930s, it hosted informal races by local lifesavers from the start, competing for a trophy donated by H.C. Butterworth, then secretary of the Freshwater Surf Life Saving Club.

The Women's Club

The first organised club at the pool was the Women's Amateur Swimming Club, formed in the early 1940s. It affiliated with the NSW Amateur Swimming Association and later joined the Northern Suburbs Women's Amateur Swimming Association, alongside ladies' clubs at Collaroy, Dee Why, Manly and Narrabeen rock pools.

The Men's Club

The precursor to the Freshwater Amateur Swimming Club we know today. The Men's Amateur Swimming Club (Freshwater) was formed in the early 1950s. Our current clubhouse opened in 1954, built by volunteers who erected the lower level themselves before adding an upper storey funded by Warringah Shire. Before this, members had used the Freshwater surf club building.

Growing the pool, growing the club

In 1962, the pool was extended from 33 to 55 yards at the western end to meet competition swimming standards. In 1966, the men's and ladies' clubs amalgamated under the Freshwater Amateur Swimming Club banner, running races on Saturday afternoons and Wednesday evenings.

In 1990, Freshwater Amateur Swimming Club and the Harbord Diggers Sunday Morning Swimming Club agreed to share the clubhouse with Freshwater Amatuer Swimming Club as the prime tenant, though the Harbord Diggers used it year-round while Freshwater Amateur Swimming Club ran only through the summer season.

The Roy Longley Trophy

In 1998, Councillor Darren Jones proposed that Warringah Council install a memorial seat and plaque near the rock pool, honouring the late Roy Longley's contribution to coaching junior swimmers. The Roy Longley Trophy remains one of our most coveted perpetual trophies, awarded annually.

Eighty years and counting

Since 1946, thousands of local swimmers have raced at this iconic rock pool. Different families, same pool. The Freshwater Amateur Swimming Club Committee welcomes you and yours to be part of the next chapter.