SWIMMING
BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
A NEW chapter begins at the Moe Amateur Swimming Club.
The Poxon family, long associated with the local sports club for more than 10 years, proudly leave behind the foundations for growth and development for the next crop of volunteers and swimmers.
Husband and wife, Reg and Bianca Poxon, who served as club president and head coach respectively, called time after a decade of involvement.
Each have helped shape an inclusive environment at the club due to their commitment to providing opportunities for all, especially young swimmers, which has seen the club triple in size since they first started.
Reg was recently announced as a nominee for Volunteer of the Year at the upcoming Victorian Sport Awards next month.
Speaking to the Express, he said he was rather “shocked … and embarrassed to be honest” by the news.
This follows his nomination and eventual win at the 2025 Swimming Victoria Awards as Volunteer of the Year.
After jumping on board as his son Zane began swimming at the club, Reg was most influential in recent efforts by the club to expand it’s intake of participants, which included plans to heat the Moe Outdoor Swimming Pool.
Operating out of the Moe Newborough Leisure Centre, the club is currently capped at 60 swimmers, and have been working hard in recent years to identify options to grow.
“My term as the president was very much focussed on (a) strategic plan to lead the club into a point of growth and development,” Reg said.
“Part of that growth and development pathway was providing greater pool access for our kids to train.
“We’ve been working with Latrobe City Council for the last three years around different options.
“We started to explore the potential of heating the Moe Outdoor Pool. So, I spent three years on the journey of navigating what’s possible, what’s feasible, and then what are we looking at in the way of subsequent cost to facilitate something like that.”
The previous Dutton Coalition Government committed $2.5 million for the construction of a pool roof, shade cover and heating of the Moe Outdoor Pool.
However, in losing last year’s federal election, those funds were lost.
Reg worked alongside Swimming Victoria, local council, and Gippsland Swimming Inc during that venture, with campaigning beginning again leading into November’s state election.
Reg is a self-admitted non-swimmer, unlike his wife Bianca, who is Moe Amateur Swimming Club’s longest-serving head coach of 10-and-a-half years.
The club will need to fill a few positions, as Bianca steps down, along with assistant coaches Abby Dennison and son Zane.
Reg acknowledged that the club going from around 20 swimmers to now being capped at 60 is all off the back of Bianca’s work.
Moe has seen a significant uptick in regards to competitive growth, going against the likes of larger local clubs in Traralgon and Warragul, despite not having the same standard of facilities and number of participants.
Brothers Noah and Jasper Warner became Moe’s first national swimmers in close to 20 years, doing so in back-to-back years.
Recently, Moe has also become a master’s club (18-plus), with their first master’s swimmer competing soon.
Reg, who additional has long-time involvement with Moe United Soccer Club, said that his community sport involvement always goes back to inclusion.
“My passion really stems from every kid should have the opportunity to participate,” he said.
“Let’s give them the best possible opportunity to be the best they can be in whatever they choose to do.”
Moe doesn’t just focus on kids competing, with those willing to dip their toes in the water and train as a means to clear their head, to get fit in between winter sports, or because they have friends partaking.
Reg implored that whoever is next to step up bring their own views and insights to provide opportunities for the club to push forward.
“The biggest thing the club can keep doing is just keep evolving, keep delivering access for the kids to be able to be involved and programs to be involved with,” he said.
“The type of thing that this club does really well (is) look at how it can secure funds through grants (and) through fundraising to deliver things for swimmers at zero cost that they wouldn’t commonly have an experience to be a part of.”
Moe Amateur Swimming Club recently facilitated a special skills clinic at the Gippsland Regional Aquatic Centre, which saw 100 young swimmers from across the region gather to get advice from former Olympic swimmers Mack Horton, Tamsin Cook, Josh Beaver and Angus Barnes.
