WARRNAMBOOL Swimming Club members Claudia White and Kai Moloney could not wait to get back into the pool alongside their friends and teammates.
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The pair joined their 10-13 year age group, coached by Paul Aberline, in Aquazone's outdoor pool for the first time on Monday.
Warrnambool Swimming Club's squads resumed training first time since regional Victoria entered step three of the roadmap to COVID normal with Josh Sobey's 16 and over squad jumping into the pool in the morning session.
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Aberline's group, which is capped at 20 due to restrictions, had to wait until the afternoon before they got their chance.
But for Moloney and White the wait could not end sooner after months outside of the pool.
"It feels great. I'm really excited and it was great to get back into the pool after a long time," White, who likes backstroke and freestyle, said.
"There was an opportunity to swim at the beach (during the coronavirus lockdown period) but I wasn't up for it yet so I was just staying fit and doing a lot of walking.
"I missed catching up with my friends and getting in the pool and swimming with them. It's a little weird but we will get used to it and hopefully restrictions ease sooner rather than later."
The 13-year-old, who joined the club at the start of last year, said she enjoyed the competition and the fitness aspects of the sport.
Moloney, who has been involved with the swimming club for over a year and a half, said it was exciting to get back into the pool for the first time.
The 11-year-old, whose favourite stroke is backstroke, said he was looking forward to swimming more frequently again after riding his bike to stay fit during lockdown.
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