Competitive Swimming

SPORTS, October 2007, by Samantha Reid, 13, Newmarket ON


Competitive Swimming
competitive swimming


Samantha Reid wrote in asking if her team, the Clarington Swim Club, could
be featured in an upcoming issue for ‘High Fives’. She said “yes” when we asked if she wanted to write it!

Brief History: Swimming was an English-only sport in competition until the early 1940’s. It then very quickly became highly popular for competitive swimmers everywhere.

Who we are: My Head Coach is Karen Hillis. Bob Boadway is Senior Trainer and Junior Group Coach. Our call letters are ROC (‘Racers of Clarington’). We’re an indoor sport in Bowmanville, ON.

Commitment level: High, but not too hard. You have to understand what you are there to do. If you don’t really want to compete, you can join youth fitness but competing, to me, is one of the most (if not the most) fun thing to do in this sport. We go to practice, work hard, stay fit and eat healthy. Depending on what level you’re at, you can go to up to 8 practices a week. Practices are between 1 hour and fifteen minutes to 2 hours and fifteen minutes long. Our team motto is “WORK HARD, SWIM FAST. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!”

Starting age: 7-9 years old.

Physical Requirements: You should be fit, and in the beginning be able to swim 2 laps of the pool (25m x 2). Once you get over the initial shock of “Oh my gosh, this is going to be pretty hard work” you’ll be fine. It’s just so much fun! At the junior and senior levels you can choose to do dry land fitness as well. It is cross training to make you stronger for your competitions. Some people choose that or they join the local gym.

Equipment: A bathing suit, (obviously) goggles, cap, flippers for your feet, paddles for your hands, a pull buoy and kick board. Paddles are like flippers for your hands. They make you go faster but you have to pull harder to move your arms through the water. A pull buoy is a styrofoam piece that you put between your thighs to keep your legs from sinking while you’re pulling with your arms.

Average costs: Around $2,000. This is for an entire season for full competitive (Sept.-Jun. or more if you’re really good). This does not include meet fees and equipment.

Who are some ‘She’roes in this sport, if any?: Probably the #1 Shero of swimming is Marilyn Bell. She swam the entire Lake Ontario when she was sixteen. But then we can’t forget all of the amazing swimmers who represent Canada at the Olympics. On our team, we’ve had swimmers go to all different levels of competition.

What do parents think of this sport for their kids? Most of the parents that I know love this sport for their kids. Sure it may be pretty expensive, but it really does positively changes kids’ lives. In this sport we definitely learn a sense of discipline and how to manage our time well between school, our sport, jobs and even our social lives.

Jargon/slang: We do have some names for our sets like; 16x25 on 35. That means 16 laps in a 25m pool on 35 seconds each. It means we swim 16 laps in a row which is 400m in less than 10 minutes.

Why others should consider Competitive Swimming?: Well, swimming is a great way to exercise and keep in shape. You can do it just for fun or you can compete. It’s always fun to swim and who knows, you may even end up with a whole team of new friends!

~ Samantha

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