Swimming Canada has launched its Female Endurance/Distance Swimming Program with the objective to develop contenders in the longer distance pool events for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
And the governing body is looking for coaches who have the talent pool at their club to get involved in the program.
‘’We believe that Swimming Canada can have success at the FINA World Championships and Olympic Games in the women’s 400-m and 800-m freestyle events and the 400-m individual medley,’’ said John Atkinson, Swimming Canada’s High Performance Director.
‘’We have talented swimmers training in our club system across Canada and with the correct training and physical development our athletes can challenge at the world level.’’
The targeted age range to start the program is, but not limited to, the 12-15 age group as of Sept. 1, 2014. Swimming Canada is looking for coaches who have female athletes around that age group who have the potential and determination to race internationally.
Swimming Canada will provide leadership, direction and support to club coaches and swimmers.
The program is scheduled to start on Sept. 10.
You can register with Swimming Canada at the following link.
Swimming News courtesy of Swimming Canada.
My wife and I have two daughters, both were fortunate to represent Canada in London. Both girls had multiple options for university swimming. One stayed in Canada (UBC) and her sister attends UGA. We strongly believe that both girls each made the best decision in pursuit of their swimming and academic aspirations.
Swim Canada has done a great job giving talented younger swimmers the opportunity to travel to international meets to compete against some of the most talented swimmers in the world. Brittany has enjoyed some limited success, part of the credit for this must go to Swim Canada and Swim Ontario for the support and strength of their junior programs.
Swim Canada certainly has the right and responsibility to… Read more »
Mr. Maclean,
Nearly half of SwimSwam is Canadian. We’re strong believers in shared talent between Canada and the US. We’re also strong believers in NGBs being as competitive as possible. Canada and Australia are two great examples of enormous swim talent from far smaller populations than the US. (I was on the US Nat Team during Alex Baumann’s heyday–swim royalty in the flesh.) For the global swim community to thrive, all NGB boats must rise.
Your point is well made. I hope the NGB listens. I’ve always felt swim-parents, especially elite swim-parents, were the most knowledgeable about developing talent. Their emotional investment (+time, energy & money) is a marathon endeavor of support.
From what I’ve seen in… Read more »
Here’s my two cents, Patrick. I believe Swimming Canada got it right. An in-Canada program increases the reasons to keep talent in Canada. This is an old discussion that spans more than the pool (e.g., track and field), and it likely isn’t going to go away as long as the U.S. produces world-class athletes, including Canadian swimmers. Good for Swimming Canada for doing something that will inspire Canadian athletes and coaches.
I think the program is great. My only quibble is the notion of trying to keep the ‘secret sauce’ a secret. I think the sport is served by coaches sharing ideas of what works in a workout and what works over a season and a career, regardless of where that is happening. At the macro level, Swimming Canada must realize this or they wouldn’t have brought in Mr. Atkinson from outside the country.
I hope that if Swimming Canada starts to see success with this program (which, admittedly, will take years to unfold), they will share their lessons learned for the broader swimming community. Not only will that be good for the sport as a whole, it will further… Read more »
Whoops, looks like the cat got out of the bag!
See Notes on page 3, “2. Coaches involved should note we aim to keep the sessions and detail within Canada and make this our advantage.”
While I can get behind the program concept and really like to see more emphasis on distance swimming, that note I copied above seems incongruous with progressing the sport and, quite frankly, disingenuous when Swimming Canada is perfectly happy to welcome onto their National Team swimmers who have trained in the US, both in club and NCAA programs, or elsewhere.
An open forum of ideas and cross-pollination of training programs across the globe is part of what has progressed the sport and will continue… Read more »