Swan Hills Sharks Dive into Swim Meet Experience
The Swan Hills Sharks Swim Club had their first taste of a swim meet experience on Saturday when the club held a “fun meet” at the Swan Hills pool. The event was only open to club members as the Sharks are not yet registered with Swim Alberta (the organization that governs competitive swimming in Alberta) and, therefore, can not host or participate in SA events at this time. While the fun meet wasn’t an official event, it provided valuable practice for the swim club by introducing members and their parents to guidelines, procedures, and rules for official SA swim meets.
Head Coach Kylee Meunier and Assistant Coach Chad Thomsen from the Barrhead Swim Club led the event to provide guidance on official competition rules and proceedings. Meunier and Thomsen began the day by reviewing the guidelines and expectations for the event with the club members, volunteers, and parents. They outlined where swimmers should be between swimming events, explained the different whistle signals that would be used, explained where parents and family members should be while they watched and cheered on their swimmers, and provided related procedural information.
Fourteen of the club’s seventeen members participated in the event and appeared to have a blast throughout the day. All of the participating club members took part in four events: the 50 m freestyle, 50 m backstroke, 50 m breaststroke, and the 25 m butterfly stroke. The 25 m event required swimming one length of the pool, while the 50 m events consisted of two lengths. Three of the older swimmers also competed in the 100 m individual medley event, which involves swimming four pool lengths in total, one length in each of the four swimming styles: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly stroke.
The swimmers focused on improving their own personal best swim times during the meet rather than competing against each other. According to Sharks Coach Crystal Zuk, most of the swimmers shaved 10 to 20 seconds off of their personal best times. Each swimmer received a ribbon with their personal best time at the end of the event.
When asked about her thoughts about the fun meet, Zuk said, “It went as smooth as it could go, but I wouldn’t change anything.”
Zuk also expressed her pride in the club’s swimmers, explaining that over 60% of them were brand new to competitive swimming styles when they started in October, and by April, they were all participating in a competitive style event. Way to go Sharks!
The Sharks still have more in store for this season! Keep an eye out for the Sharks’ upcoming Swim-a-thon on April 25, and please consider showing your support by sponsoring a club member.
Dean LaBerge, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Grizzly Gazette
