- Gracin Black cuts through the water while competing with the Blenheim Blast swim team. (Contributed image)
With the hot weather arriving, pools across Chatham-Kent are flying open, and for youth, it’s an opportunity to fall in love with swimming.
While swimming lessons are a likely first step for parents wanting to teach their children about swimming safety, often, a passion for the water emerges, and youth may want to take the plunge into competitive swimming.
To bridge the gap between swimming for fun and competitively swimming, fundamentals programs are popping up across Ontario, including in Chatham-Kent, run by CK Recreation.
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According to Kristen Pegg, the aquatic co-ordinator at Gable Rees Rotary Pool in Blenheim, a fundamentals program encouraging area youth to try competitive swimming, such as CK Recreation’s new FUNdamentals of Competitive swimming program, has long been a goal of hers.
“One of the main reasons I wanted to offer this program is for children to learn some of the basic fundamentals of the competitive swimming sport before jumping into a full season on the swim team,” said Pegg, who also coaches with the Blenheim Blast competitive swim team.
“It also makes the kids entering feel more comfortable that they understand what a coach is asking of them,” added Pegg, who describes the FUNdamentals program, which begins this month, as a place to familiarize with the expectations and skills of the sport through play, before committing to competition.
And how would Pegg know the benefits? She’s not only the Gable Rees aquatic director and a local coach, but she’s a competitive swim parent, as her 10-year-old daughter Emma, who has set several personal bests at regional meets recently, swims with the Blenheim Blast.
Pegg isn’t the only Blenheim Blast parent seeing the benefit of fundamentals programs, as Blast head coach John Van Herk also attests to the value of pre-competitive training. Van Herk has coached, and watched his own kids, Brendan, Shania, and Justine star for the Blast, winning dozens of gold medals in recent seasons, with Justine now competing in OUA swimming with the University of Guelph Gryphons, and Shania moving to university swimming next year.
“These programs are a great introduction to water skills and stroke fundamentals,” said Van Herk. “They set the base. Without these skills, a potential athlete could not consider competitive swimming as a sport option.”
For parents looking to find a sport for their child, Van Herk also believes swimming, and preparation for competition through a fundamentals program, is valuable, and can spark a love for sport in youth who enjoy the feeling of personal improvement.
“Competitive sports teach a number of valuable life lessons,” said Van Herk, who has coached the Blast since 2003. “Swimming, in particular, has a strong, yet simple basis as a sport. Generally, hard work pays off for a swimmer. For the most part, we focus on self-improvement of the athlete, not against their peers.”
And for a child looking to find a place where they can be successful, fundamental swimming is a great start.
“The more a swimmer or any athlete is aware of a fundamentals pertaining to the sport, the more success they have in a competition,” added Pegg, whose new program for children ages five to 12 aims to teach new skills such as starts, turns, underwater swimming, and effective breathing techniques through fun games.
With other local swim programs flourishing, including the outdoor Tilbury Vikings, who have produced athletes such as Aaron Norg and Jessica Cook, along with the Chatham Y Pool Sharks, who currently feature budding star Madison Broad, along with the Blast’s own group of university-bound swimmers, a demand for early ages competitive swimming development is now being fulfilled with CK Recreation’s new program.
In a few years, these athletes will potentially find themselves on the podium, inspiring another cohort of swimmers in Chatham-Kent. And even if they don’t choose to continue into competitive swimming, youth will have developed important safety and fitness skills that can be applied in recreational swimming, lifeguarding, or other sports
“They establish water safety skills for the athlete and may also lead to lifeguarding opportunities,” said Van Herk, of the FUNdamentals program. “For the parents, the value is in peace of mind from a water safety perspective. “
“Swimming,” adds Pegg, “Is a life skill they will always have and always be able to do.”
