Afranco dives into Jewish club’s new era
BIALIK College student Peri Afranco made Victorian Jewish swimming history late last month by becoming the first swimmer to represent Maccabi-AJAX Swimming Club (MASC) in competitive meets in decades.
MASC had its heyday as a highly competitive club in the 1960s and 1970s before being disbanded, but last November it was revived, and registered as a club again by Swimming Victoria.
The club is affiliated with the new Maccabi Aquatics program, which was established last year at Bialik College’s 25m indoor pool, offering Learn to Swim lessons, competitive swimming squad training, water aerobics and all-abilities classes.
Club president Roelof Vogel said MASC is “absolutely delighted to have Peri competing for the club in Swimming Victoria events”.
“She is the first since the 1980s to do so, and she will also be competing as a junior in the Maccabiah Games later this year.”
Afranco, who joined Bialik College on a swimming scholarship in 2021 and is now starting year 8, wore the blue Maccabi cap when competing in three events at the Victorian Metropolitan Long Course Championships from January 22-24.
Her best placing was 9th out of 20 in the 12-13 girls’ 100 breaststroke final.
She also came 21st out of 31 in the 100 backstroke – clocking 1:20.40 to beat her seed time by almost 3 seconds – and 31st out of 55 in the 100 free.
The following weekend at a Melbourne Metro East qualifying meet, Afranco came 5th out of 27 in the 13-14 girls’ breaststroke, touching the wall in 1:28.96.
At that meet, she also came 7th in the 100 backstroke and 50 butterfly, and 8th out of 47 in the 100 free.
An MLC meet this weekend will be her next focus, and Afranco will keep training hard to prepare for a Swimming Victoria state long course qualifying meet later this month.
Afranco started swimming when she was 4, joined Melbourne H20 Swim Club for 8 years, and represented Loreto Aquatic in 2021, before signing up with MASC.
Her father, Shimon, told The AJN that “when she finished her races at the Victorian Metro meet, and looked up at the results on the big screen and saw Maccabi-AJAX next to her name, she felt so pleased”.
“Peri feels very proud to now represent both Maccabi-AJAX and Bialik College at swimming meets,” he said.
“She is the first MASC rep, but slowly the club will build and more swimmers will compete for Maccabi-AJAX.”
On her swimming results, he said, “Peri is looking to improve at each upcoming meet, having missed out on a lot of training in the second half of last year due to the lockdowns.
“Her favourite stroke is freestyle, but she has been excellent in her breaststroke races at these last two meets, and is currently working on improving her final laps and wall touches.”
To find out more about Maccabi Aquatics – where MASC is based – visit maccabiaquatics.com
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