The Deep River Candu Swim Club wrapped up a very successful
2012/13 season with its annual Awards Brunch and AGM on June 15 2013. It was a fun event, with food prepared by our
dynamic group of coaches; Bingo enjoyed by the kids while 38 parents attended
the AGM, and of course, the presentation of awards and recognition for a great
year of swimming. Special recognition
was given to the following:
DEEP RIVER CANDU SWIM CLUB
AWARD RECIPIENTS 2012-2013
- Best All Around: Ecaterina Facina and Lauren Adams (Deep River)
- Blimkie Best All Around 12 & Under: Noah Gallagher (Petawawa)
- Bonnie Harrison Award for Dedication and Excellence: M.J. Lusty-Smith (Deep River)
- Snider Pharmasave Leadership: Vincent Martel (Petawawa)
- Coaches Choice: Connor Pike (Deep River) and Victoria Adams (Petawawa)
- Sportsmanship Award: Alexander Williams and Jodie Lance (Deep River)
- Rookie of the Year: Kylie Smith and Raphael Guerout (Deep River)
- Leeson Rising Star 12 & Under: Breanna James (Chalk River)
- Top Score: Ecaterina Facina (Deep River) and Vincent Martel (Petawawa)
- 4 A Award (Attitude, Achievement, Attendance, Ability): Liam McKenna (Deep River)
- *New* Diane Davis Team Spirit Award: William Miller-Muir and Hannah Williams (Deep River)
Looking back at the 2012/13
season shows the growth and progress of the club and its swimmers. A total of 62 youngsters participated in our
Sears I Can Swim (ICS) program, swimming 2 hours per week for a total of 30
weeks divided over 3 sessions. Coach Heather
Pentney led a group of coaches to deliver 54 basic skills that enable kids to
learn the four major swim strokes and progress into competent swimmers, while
having fun. Four new coaches completed
the ICS coaches training and all coaches received in-house training with a
focus on stroke improvement and diagnosis as well as safety. ICS swimmers had a chance to track their
progress by participating in mock meets during sessions 1 and 2 and
participation in Sundaes on Sunday, the Blackfly meet and our swim-a-thon in
session 3. During the 2012/2013 swim
season, 8 swimmers graduated from the ICS program and began swimming with the
pre-competitive team. Ten more swimmers have since completed the 54 skills
during session 3 of ICS and were presented with a certificate at the banquet
inviting them to move up our program.
New in 2012/13 was the
development of a precompetitive program under the direction of Coach Mitch
Blimkie which provided a stepping stone between our learn-to-swim and
competitive programs. Twenty-four
swimmers trained for 2 or 3 one-hour practices per week and participated in an
average of 3 meets (Great Harvest, Sundaes on a Sunday, Blackfly) and some
travelled to away meets in the 2nd and 3rd session. The swimmers were exposed to a variety of
developmental activities including a stretch clinic, video analysis and some
shared practices with the competitive program.
One swimmer (Noah Gallagher of Petawawa) graduated from the program and
joined the competitive program for Session 3.
A primary focus of the Candu
club is to produce swimming athletes. We
had 15 swimmers in the competitive program this year, and Coach Chela Breckon
developed a strong program to motivate and train these athletes. She implemented new and innovative training
from the province, including new measurement tools proven to provide a tailored
view of swimmers strengths and areas for improvement. Her back to the basics approach produced
cleaner swims and fewer disqualifications.
Training focused games were also a hit with the swimmers, keeping things
interesting while they trained up to 5 times per week. Video analysis during training proved a
valuable tool and the club would like to thank the Town of Deep River for its
financial assistance in purchasing the hardware, as well as Connor McKenna for
his assistance with filming/editing. The
team competed at 11 swim meets, plus swimmers qualified for an additional 4
meets run by the Eastern Ontario Swimming Association or Swim Ontario. Steady progress was made by all swimmers,
achieving personal best times throughout the year, thus knowing their training
was working! Congratulations to all the
swimmers.
The Candu club provided an
opportunity for non-competitive swimmers as well. Our fitness program had 17 participants who
joined the competitive swimmers for any 2 of their weekly practices. Several fitness swimmers took the opportunity
to compete in our Blackfly Meet as exhibition swimmers and also were able to
participate in the stretch clinic and video analysis.
The club’s 3 program leads
mentioned above provided the structure for great programs throughout the
year. They were supported by each other
and a large group of adult and teenage coaches, providing great variety of
instruction for each swimmer. A
dedicated group of parents/grandparents on the Executive provided
organizational structure for the club.
Parent’s supported the club and their swimmers. And of course, the community supported our
fundraising events. Thank you to all!!
