Island Swimming

20 Questions with Taylor Padington

2012-01-29T19:07:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: www.deannamccollum.com

Club: Island Swimming/National Green
Coach: Aaron Dahl
Age: 17
Height: 5"8
Best Event: 200, 800 freesytle

1)At what age did you start swimming?
I started swimming when I was 5

2)What was your favorite stroke or event as a 12 & under swimmer?
Freestyle has always been my favorite stroke

3)What is your very first memorable swimming moment?
At Commonwealth Games Trials in 2010, I had to opportunity to be on the 4 x 200 freestyle relay. Being able to swim with some of Canada’s best swimmers (Alexa and Julia) was so amazing especially since it was my first Nationals. We ended up coming second, and standing up on the podium made me realize one day soon I would like to be able to stand at the top.

4)Who is the person you think helped you most along the way?
My mom has definitely been there the most for me. When I decided to move away from home a few years ago to come to Victoria, she was very supportive of my decision, and I know I can always call her if I am having a rough day.

5)Who is your favorite athlete?
My favorite athletes are the very fast and talented Olympians I get the chance to train with each day. Ryan, Julia, Alexa, just to name a few.

6)What would you be doing if you weren’t a competitive swimmer?
I would still be living in Campbell River with my family going to school.

7)What keeps you motivated to train hard each day?
I have high goals and expectations for myself, and I know if I want to reach those goals,I am going to have to stay focused and remember that each day is a chance to better myself.

8)How do you push yourself during a hard workout when you are tired or sore?
I keep in mind that even though I am tired and sore, so are my other competitors. If I want to be the best I have to be able to train through the pain and keep my goals in mind.

9)What is the secret to balancing school and training?
The secret is sleep and lots of it. I make sure I am in bed by 9 every night so that way I can have a good morning practice and am not tired when I have to go to school after.

10)What is your favourite activity outside of sport?
I really enjoy just sitting out in the sun (when there actually is some in Victoria) and reading a good book. I also love to go camping with my friends and family.

11)What is your favorite post-workout snack?
Chocolate milk!

12)Who is your favourite band/singer?
I love Drake and Taylor Swift

13)What is your favourite TV show , movie or both?
Glee and Harry Potter

14)How do you prepare yourself mentally for a race?
I try and remind myself about all the hard work that I have done in practice to prepare myself for this moment and that all I need to do now is race and everything else will take care of itself.

15)Do you have any pre-race rituals?
I go up behind the blocks very early, not to talk to anyone, just to stretch out. I also go over how I want my race to go in my head right before I start my race.

16)Do you have a favourite pre-meet meal?
My favourite is Chicken and Caesar salad the first night before a big meet.

17)What do you feel is your Career highlight so far?
Coming 2nd in the 4 x 200 free relay at Summer Nationals in 2010 and coming 8th at Summer Nationals in 2011

18)What are your goals for the future in the sport of swimming?
I would like to make the junior national team this year and also make a national team within the next few years

19)What is something that most people wouldn’t know about you?
I am an absolute Harry Potter fanatic! And I love to bake, although most people probably know that.

20)What advice do you wish someone had given you as a young age group swimmer?
I still am an age group swimmer, but some advice I wish someone had given me when I was younger is that you can have a bad race, a bad day or a bad meet, but remember to always stay positive and know that all the hard work you have done previously will pay off.

If you have any other questions for Taylor, please post them under comments and we will get her to answer them for you.

20 Questions with Alec Page

2012-01-20T08:36:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: www.deannamccollum.com

Club: Island Swimming/National Green
Coach: Aaron Dahl
Age: 18
Height: 5'11
Best Event: 400 Individual Medley

• Graduated from Claremont Secondary School
• Won the Victor Davis Award in 2009
• Won 4 Gold Medals at the 2009 North American Challenge Cup
• Broke 30 yr old Canadian Record in the 400m IM for 15-17 yr old boys

1) At what age did you start swimming?
I started swimming at 10 years old.

2) What was your favorite stroke or event as a 12 & under swimmer?
My favourite stroke was Freestyle. My favourite event was the 200 freestyle.

3) What is your very first memorable swimming moment?
My very first memorable swimming moment was my very first swim practice. I started the practice without knowing anything about flip turns, technique, or how to swim butterfly.

4) Who is the person you think helped you most along the way?
The people who have helped me out most along the way have definitely been my parents. Without them getting up at 5am to drive me to practice or supporting me through tough times I wouldn’t be where I am today.

5) Who is your favorite athlete?
Ian Thorpe, Brittany Maclean, Alexandre Bilodeau, Brian Johns

6) What would you be doing if you weren’t a competitive swimmer?
If I wasn’t a competitive swimmer I would definitely be playing other sports. I can’t see myself ever not playing sports.

7) What keeps you motivated to train hard each day?
I am motivated by goals I have set for myself. The goal that keeps me going is to make the Olympic team.

8) How do you push yourself during a hard workout when you are tired or sore?
I tell myself that being sore and tired right now is only one step, and in the long run it will all be worth it.

9) What is the secret to balancing school and training?
Setting your priorities and managing your time wisely.

10) What is your favourite activity outside of sport?
My favourite activity outside of sport without a doubt is sleeping.

11) What is your favourite post-workout snack?
My favourite post-workout snack is a big bottle of water and a protein bar, or some fruit.

12) Who is your favourite band/singer?
My favourite band is Pearl Jam.

13) What is your favourite TV show , movie or both?
My favourite movie is Transformers 3, and my favourite TV show is Criminal Minds.

14) How do you prepare yourself mentally for a race?
Before a race I prepare mentally by listening to songs that motivate me and telling myself, “Live in the moment” because you can only control what is happening right now.

15) Do you have any pre-race rituals?
My only ritual is when I step onto the blocks, I hit the bocks twice, clap my hands twice. Then I shake my arms out, finally my legs out and take a deep breath, then tell myself “Here I am”.

16) Do you have a favourite pre-meet meal?
My favourite pre-meet meal is a bowl of soup, a big sandwich, a tall glass of chocolate milk, and some honey-dew melon.

17) What do you feel is your Career highlight so far?
Winning a gold medal at the World Junior Championships on the 4x200 meter freestyle relay.

18) What are your goals for the future in the sport of swimming?
My future goals are to; make the Olympic team, break a Canadian record, and win a medal for Canada at the international level.

19) What is something that most people wouldn’t know about you?
I am very bad at memorization.

20) What advice do you wish someone had given you as a young age group swimmer?
Be confident in what you have done and what you can accomplish. Most importantly stay confident in yourself.

If you have any other questions for Alec, please post them under comments and we will get him to answer them for you.

20 Questions with Alexa Komarnycky

2012-01-09T15:10:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: www.deannamccollum.com

Club: Island Swimming/Victoria Academy of Swimming
Coach: Randy Bennett
Age: 22
Height: 5'11
Best Event: 400 Individual Medley & 400 Freestyle

• 2008 Olympian
• finalist at 2010 Commonwealth Games
• finalist at 2010 Pac Pacific Championships
• She is a very talented volleyball player but decided on competitive swimming
• you can follow her on twitter @AlexaSwim5 or facebook Alexa Komarnycky

1) At what age did you start swimming?
I started with public swimming lessons at the Etobicoke Olympium at the age of 4, I joined Etobicoke’s introduction to competitive swimming in Sept of 1995.

2) What was your favorite stroke or event as a 12 & under swimmer?
200 backstroke

3) What is your very first memorable swimming moment?
Being to afraid to dive in for my race during a competition as an intro swimmer, and my grandfather coming on deck to give me a magic donut from Tim Horton’s. IT WORKED!

4) Who is the person you think helped you most along the way?
The best mom in the world!!!

5) Who is your favorite athlete?
Ryan Cochrane

6) What would you be doing if you weren’t a competitive swimmer?
A runway model - the clothes, the make-up, the jewelry , and think I would be good at showing it off!

7) What keeps you motivated day to train hard each day?
The pot of gold at the end of my rainbow.

8) How do you push yourself during a hard workout when you are tired or sore?
Just knowing my competition around the world is working just as hard as I am, makes me want to work even harder and tougher.

9) What is the secret to balancing school and training?
My Secret is swimming now, school later.

10) What is your favourite activity outside of sport?
I like to do outdoor activities. I like communing with nature. Watching sunsets with a latte, hiking with the dog.

11) What is your favourite post-workout snack?
I’m a Tim Horton’s girl; Toasted bagel with cream cheese and chocolate chip muffin. YUMMY.

12) Who is your favourite band/singer?
AVICII IS THE BEST DJ IN THE WORLD.
And Aqua (shh don’t tell anyone!)

13) What is your favourite TV show , movie or both?
TV - Desperate housewives, and really bad reality tv.
MOVIE - NIGHT AT THE ROXBURY

14) How do you prepare yourself mentally for a race?
I listen to my favourite song on repeat in the ready room.
In my head I replay the strategy that Randy and I have come up with for the race.

15) Do you have any pre-race rituals?
If I can, I’ll get a manicure before the meet, if not, I always travel with at least 10 colours with me so that I can paint my nails in bright colours, because if you know me, you know I love anything bright!

16) Do you have a favourite pre-meet meal?
I lose my appetite before a meet, so I just focus on making sure I get the right combination of proteins and carbs for my body type.

17) What do you feel is your Career highlight so far?
Swimming a 4:38 in the 400 IM, which is a best time at worlds this past summer, and just missing the top 8 finals by less then half a second.

18) What are your goals for the future in the sport of swimming?
Gold medal at the Olympics, is there any other goal?

19) What is something that most people wouldn’t know about you?
I really like cats and I can play Guitar Hero on "Expert".

20) What advice do you wish someone had given you as a young age group swimmer?
The opportunity to see the world and make friends because of swimming, more than makes up for what you think you may be missing outside of swimming or with non-swimming friends.

If you have any other questions for Alexa, please post them under comments and we will get her to answer them for you.

20 Questions with Keegan Zanatta

2011-12-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: www.deannamccollum.com

Club: Island Swimming/National Green
Coach: Aaron Dahl
Age: 18
Height: 6'3
Best Event: 200, 400, 1500 freesytle

• Graduated from Claremont Secondary School
• Attending University of Victoria
• Speaks both English & Spanish
• Learned to swim in his grandparent’s pool
• His mother and his uncle are both former swimmers

1) At what age did you start swimming?
I first started swimming when I was 7 years old.

2) What was your favorite stroke or event as a 12 & under swimmer?
I’ve always been a big freestyle fan, mainly because I’m not good at much else.

3) What is your very first memorable swimming moment?
My first national team with all my new friends.

4) Who is the person you think helped you most along the way?
Definitely my parents, without them I wouldn’t be where I am today.

5) Who is your favorite athlete?
I don’t really have a favorite athlete.

6) What would you be doing if you weren’t a competitive swimmer?
I probably wouldn’t be doing anything if I wasn’t a swimmer, nothing else really interests me.

7) What keeps you motivated to train hard each day?
I can’t stand getting beaten in a race, so every time I do get beaten, I remember it and use that to motivate me to train harder.

8) How do you push yourself during a hard workout when you are tired or sore?
I usually just think about how much easier it will be for me to swim fast, the harder I work in practice.

9) What is the secret to balancing school and training?
Making sure you’re prepared for both, go to sleep at a good time and study hard when you have the chances too.

10) What is your favourite activity outside of sport?
Sleeping… without a doubt.

11) What is your favourite post-workout snack?
Chocolate Milk.

12) Who is your favourite band/singer?
My favorite artists are Avicii, Steve Aoki, and Nero.

13) What is your favourite TV show , movie or both?
My favorite movie is Se7en, favorite TV show is Modern Family.

14) How do you prepare yourself mentally for a race?
I usually just listen to music and try to visualize my race.

15) Do you have any pre-race rituals?
No, not really.

16) Do you have a favourite pre-meet meal?
I usually just have pasta before the meet for the carbohydrates.

17) What do you feel is your Career highlight so far?
Winning the 4x200 free relay at the Jr. World Championships in Lima, Peru.

18) What are your goals for the future in the sport of swimming?
I really want to make the Olympic team this year and the senior national teams afterwards.

19) What is something that most people wouldn’t know about you?
I really like cats.

20) What advice do you wish someone had given you as a young age group swimmer?
To enjoy every moment of what you’re doing, because you never know what’s going to happen when you’re older.

If you have any other questions for Keegan, please post them under comments and we will get him to answer them for you.

20 Questions with Will Brothers

2011-12-20T08:29:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: www.deannamccollum.com

Club: Island Swimming/National Green Group
Coach: Aaron Dahl
Age: 17
Height: 6’0”
Best Event: 1500m Freestyle
Swimming Canada 2011 Male Youth Swimmer of the Year

1) At what age did you start swimming?
I had taken a few Red Cross swim lessons starting around age 5 but I joined a summer swim club when I was nine to become a stronger swimmer. I came home after the first week of practice and told my parents this was all I wanted to do. I then joined a winter year round club when I was 11.

2) What was your favorite stroke or event as a 12 & under swimmer?
My favorite stroke was the 200m Butterfly because it's one of those strokes where you need to have endurance and technique.

3) What is your very first memorable swimming moment?
Achieving my first age group national time at age 11 in the 200m Butterfly at the Alberta Provincial Championships.

4) Who is the person you think helped you most along the way?
Both my parents have equally helped me - from driving me to meets and practices, making all my meals and supporting my goals.

5) Who is your favorite athlete?
The Green Bay Packers Quarterback, Aaron Rogers. Green Bay Packers are my favorite team and as probably one of the best players in the league. He is very humble.

6) What would you be doing if you weren’t a competitive swimmer?
I live to compete so either a competitive mountain biker or skier. I grew up in Canmore Alberta and learned to love both these activities.

7) What keeps you motivated to train hard each day?
The rewards of swimming fast, whether it’s making a potential team or making a time standard.

8) How do you push yourself during a hard workout when you are tired or sore?
I know I’ll be a better swimmer for what I’m doing and that the harder the workout the faster I’ll swim at a big competition.

9) What is the secret to balancing school and training?
You have to make sacrifices to your social life to get to your full potential in swimming and school.

10) What is your favourite activity outside of sport?
Mountain biking or skiing

11) What is your favourite post-workout snack?
Chocolate milk and a bagel with cream cheese or an omelet.

12) Who is your favourite band/singer?
I’ll always be a big Red Hot Chili Peppers fan.

13) What is your favourite TV show , movie or both?
Dexter is the best show out there and as for a movie I’d have to say “The Dark Knight”

14) How do you prepare yourself mentally for a race?
I have to trust my own training and what I have done to prepare myself physically for the race.

15) Do you have any pre-race rituals?
Listen to music, jump up and down and 5 loud claps before I step on the block.

16) Do you have a favourite pre-meet meal?
Any sort of pasta is great.

17) What do you feel is your Career highlight so far?
Finishing 6th at the 3rd FINA World Junior Championships in the 1500m Freestyle.

18) What are your goals for the future in the sport of swimming?
To represent Canada at the Olympic Games and World Championships.

19) What is something that most people wouldn’t know about you?
I was born with a vascular birthmark in my cheek. I have had a total of 13 surgeries on my cheek to treat it.

20) What advice do you wish someone had given you as a young age group swimmer?
Don’t sweat the small stuff, you can’t swim your life time best all the time but if you train your best you’ll achieve your goals when it counts.

If you have any other questions for Will, please post them under comments and we will get him to answer them for you.

20 Questions with Aimeson King

2011-12-06T18:56:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: www.deannamccollum.com

Club: Island Swimming/National Green
Coach: Aaron Dahl
Age: 20
Height: 6’5
Best Event: 10km Open Water

•Studies psychology at the University of Victoria
•Won three bronze medals at the 2009 Canada Games
•Ontario Provincial record holder in the 800m freestyle
•Father played pro basketball in Europe
•Won first National 10k title in 2010

1) At what age did you start swimming?
I started swimming competitively at age 12, starting introductory stuff only a few months prior to that.

2) What was your favourite stroke or event as a 12 & under swimmer?
I never really got the chance to swim too much 12 & under stuff but I was quite the butterfly fan ironically because I was awful.

3) What is your very first memorable swimming moment?
Definitely this regional meet we have in Toronto, it was probably the biggest event I had ever raced at the time, I was 13.

4) Who is the person you think helped you most along the way?
I would say just my family in general helped. It was hard for me coming from such a strong sports background to enter a sport so late and be forced to work really hard to catch up.

5) Who is your favourite athlete?
There are so many great athletes and so many over the years have changed as my favourite in my mind. I would say my current favourite is probably Roger Federer, just because he has always played tennis with a level of skill and respect that is unprecedented.

6) What would you be doing if you weren’t a competitive swimmer?
If I weren't a competitive swimmer I would probably be actively involved in another sport or just working through school.

7) What keeps you motivated to train hard each day?
I would say that big goals and big competition keeps me motivated to train every day. Especially with the work that goes into distance swimming, competition on an international stage really keeps me going in the tough times.

8) How do you push yourself during a hard workout when you are tired or sore?
Like I said before it’s definitely the goals I have that cause me to push myself. Swimming in my eyes is in the top percentile of difficulty in all of sport so it just comes with the territory that you have to really focus and push yourself.

9) What is the secret to balancing school and training?
I would say dedication is the key to both and also time management. If you are on top of it, the balance can come naturally.

10) What is your favourite activity outside of sport?
I would say that pretty much anything music related is of interest to me. I’m always scouring the internet and other resources for new stuff.

11) What is your favourite post-workout snack?
I only in the last few years started liking chocolate milk but now I would say that it is easily my favourite post workout recovery with some sort of bar. Chocolate chip cliff bars make a good companion.

12) Who is your favourite band/singer?
This is probably the hardest question anyone could ever ask me. My current favourite is definitely a DJ named Porter Robinson. But I would say that the musician that has always inspired me most is Kanye West.

13) What is your favourite TV show , movie or both?
Again a difficult question for me. Some of my favourite shows on TV are The Walking Dead and Parks and Recreation; I can always count on those each week.

14) How do you prepare yourself mentally for a race?
I would say relaxation is the key. Mentally being on top of such a long race is really taxing. So I think what I’ve learned most is that you really need to relax both before and during the race because there is plenty of strategy to control your outcome.

15) Do you have any pre-race rituals?
I like to really hydrate well going into a race. I usually have to travel all over the place to race Open Water and so I bring pre-race gels and bars with me that I know and trust will get me set up well.

16) Do you have a favourite pre-meet meal?
Pre Open Water is all about the carb loading. haha So usually any good amount of pasta combined with an absurd amount of water. It’s not my favourite but it definitely gets the job done.

17) What do you feel is your Career highlight so far?
I think the highlight of my career thus far was probably my experience at Canada Games in August of 2009. It really solidified all the hard work I had done to get to that point and I had some good results at that meet.

18) What are your goals for the future in the sport of swimming?
My goals for the future are similar to that of a lot of swimmers in that I would love the opportunity to represent Canada at the Olympic Games. Alternatively though, I have always been intrigued by the opportunity to compete at all 6 of the major competitions, so I am halfway to that goal.

19) What is something that most people wouldn’t know about you?
Something most people don’t know about me is that I lived in both England and Belgium for almost a year each when I was a kid.

20) What advice do you wish someone had given you as a young age group swimmer?
The advice that I wish someone I had given me at a younger age is the necessary emphasis on technique. Growing up a lot of coaches had a hard time integrating me into the groups because I had started so late so technique wasn’t as big of a necessity at the time. I really believe in the value of a nice stroke and I still am working on technique vigorously every day.

If you have any other questions for Aimeson, please post them under comments and we will get him to answer them for you.

20 Questions with Julia Wilkinson

2011-11-25T14:39:00.000-08:00

Photo credit: www.deannamccollum.com

Club: Island Swimming/Victoria Academy of Swimming
Coach: Randy Bennett
Age: 24
Height: 5'11 (178 cm)
Best Event: 200 IM / 100 BK

• 2008 Olympian
• Shoulder injury after Beijing
• Graduated from Texas A&M
• Blogs on CBC.ca

1) At what age did you start swimming?
I started swimming lessons before I could walk, and joined my first competitive team at 8.

2) What was your favorite stroke or event as a 12 & under swimmer?
50 freestyle

3) What is your very first memorable swimming moment?
When I qualified for my first provincials just after my 11th birthday. It was in the 100 backstroke Long Course, and the qualifying time was 1:19.75. I went 1:19.74

4) Who is the person you think helped you most along the way?
My mom, hands down. She was the one who drove me to practice, made all my swim meet food, and most importantly, always supported and believed in me 100%.

5) Who is your favorite athlete?
Paula Findlay- Triathlon

6) What would you be doing if you weren’t a competitive swimmer?
Musical Theater

7) What keeps you motivated to train hard each day?
My goals…and fear of Randy.

8) How do you push yourself during a hard workout when you are tired or sore?
I imagine hearing the announcer say something like, "She is under Canadian record pace", or "Julia Wilkinson is about to win the gold for Canada!" and that gives me a surge of adrenaline.

9) What is the secret to balancing school and training?
Time management, and KNOWING that it can be done and you don't have to sacrifice one for the other.

10) What is your favourite activity outside of sport?
Writing

11) What is your favourite post-workout snack?
Plain yoghurt with harvest crunch granola and fresh berries

12) Who is your favourite band/singer?
Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace

13) What is your favourite TV show , movie or both?
TV Show: Criminal Minds or American Dad
Movie: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

14) How do you prepare yourself mentally for a race?
I rub my hands on the blocks. Sometimes, by the end of a long meet, my hands have cuts on them because I did it so many times.

15) Do you have any pre-race rituals?
I usually like to talk to people behind the blocks or in the ready room. Having fun and joking around makes me more relaxed and helps me swim faster.

16) Do you have a favourite pre-meet meal?
My mom's chicken parmesan.

17) What do you feel is your Career highlight so far?
Winning 3 medals at The Commonwealth Games.

18) What are your goals for the future in the sport of swimming?
To stand on the podium for Canada at the Olympic Games.

19) What is something that most people wouldn’t know about you?
I am allergic to chlorine!

20) What advice do you wish someone had given you as a young age group swimmer?
You know all those "things" you think you are missing out on? Like parties and dances? You aren't missing out on anything. You have bigger and better things ahead of you. And it'll all be worth it.

If you have any other questions for Julia, please post them under comments and we will get her to answer them for you.

Lima Update Day 4

2011-08-19T22:00:00.000-07:00

Big day for Canada and a big day for Island on Day 4.

Canada took 4 medals tonight at the Jr. Worlds. The evening started with Chantal Van Landegham taking another medal in the 50 meter fly. In a close and exciting race she tied for the bronze. Next on the block for Canada was Brittany MacLean in the 400 free. She took the race out right from the start and held the lead the whole way, taking down both the Aussies and the Americans. That really got the Canadian Team and fans going.

The surprise of the night came from Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson in the women's 200 IM. She was a somewhat unexpected finalist from the prelims in the morning. She took to the race with nothing to lose and had the swim of her life to take 2 seconds off from the morning swim and a Bronze medal. She blocked the Americans from the podium in one of their signature events. Ok this had the team revved for the next event.

The Island Boys with Alec Page and Keegan Zanatta teamed up with Omar Arafa from Etobicoke and Chad Bobrosky from Cascade in the men's 4 X 200 relay. Alec led off with a flat start 1:51 and had Canada in the mix right away. Keegan came in and held the position edging past the Americans but behind Poland, China and Italy. Omar took off like a rocket and we crept up to 3rd for Chad, the 200 meter men's gold medalist. Chad quickly over took both China and Italy. By 150 meters he took the lead from Poland. Canada ended up with it's 4th medal of the night and second gold. The whole team and parents on the other side were going nuts.

Canada now has 9 medals (3 gold) and is second in the medal count to the USA. We have 2 days to go and we have already surpassed any Canadian team at a World Championships by 4 medals. Things are looking good for the future of Canadian Swimming.

Tomorrow will see Alec in the 400 IM. He is ranked 5th and just recently became the new Canadian record holder in the boys 15-17 400 IM.

Alex Brothers

Lima Update - Day 2 & 3

2011-08-19T08:14:00.000-07:00

Alec Page at the blocks and ready to race.

Day 2 and 3 in Lima had more success for Canada. On Day 2, Chad came through with a gold in the 200 Free. The race was once again very close and it had the stands on their feet. The team was jacked after Chad's race. We advanced swimmers into a number of finals and had a few close podium calls.

Day 3 saw Island's Alec Page and Keegan Zanatta swim the 800 free. Alec took the race out hard and was in 1st for the first 200 meters. In the end he had a great race as the top 6 were very close with Alec ending up 6th. Keegan was a little off his time finishing 13th overall. Canada ended the night with Chantal Van Landeghem winning a well deserved silver medal medal in the 100 free.

It's winter in Lima so the weather is not great. Cool and overcast which is normal for August.

Alex Brothers

Update from Jr. World Championships

2011-08-17T13:10:00.001-07:00

Aaron's team

Keegan getting ready for his 400 free final

Canada's 4 x 100 free relay at the blocks (Alec Page swimming second)

We arrived in Lima, Peru early Saturday morning (like 3 am). Lima is a very interesting city where the Spanish roots date back to the 1600 Conquistadors. It is very crowded with a population of 10,000,000 in the city. Most of the population is very poor and the swimmers are seeing what 3rd World country is like first hand.

The Island boys settled in with their training group, the three boys from London and Oakville Ontario are Mack, Braydon and Matt. Coach Aaron has been training this group from day 1 and they all fit in well together.

Yesterday was the much anticipated start of the meet and the Canadians started off with a roar!! Canada put 8 swimmers through to finals or semis and 2 relay teams to finals. In the evening, the first event saw Chad Bobrosky and Keegan in the 400 free final. The race was close from start to finish with Chad just getting out touched by a Japanese swimmer for the gold medal. The women's 4 X 200 free then stepped up to grab Canada another Silver Medal.

The most exciting race was the 4 X 100 Free for men, Canada qualified 1st in the morning, just ahead of USA. The team had Luke Peddie, Alec Page, Omar Arafa and Chad Bobrosky for the evening final. By the time the second swimmers hit the water it was a tight race and the stands were rocking. By the 3rd swimmers, it was obvious that this was going to be between Canada and USA. On the last leg of the race, USA took off slightly ahead of Canada. Chad had pulled Canada within a few hundredths of a second with 50 to go but just couldn't manage to make the small gain needed to overtake the USA team and it came down to settling for silver on the touch. With that silver we have out medalled the Canadian performances from the two previous World Jr. Championships combined.

Tonight Canada has 4 swimmers in finals so we will be looking for Gold and more podiums.

Alex Brothers

2011-08-12T08:59:00.000-07:00

We just ended the Montreal training camp and are on our way to Lima, Peru today. The team has been training well and the Island boys look good. The coaches say this is the best group of Juniors they have ever taken to an International meet. The psych sheets are out and the Canadians have 2 swimmers in the top 2 heats in each event. This will be the first real International meet for many of these kids. There are 64 countries and over 600 swimmers entered with all the swimming powerhouses including, USA, Australia, and all the European countries. It's been a long 2 weeks since Nationals and Age Groups. The boys and Aaron have been in Montreal for a month getting ready. Today is a long travel day to Lima, over 12 hours and we arrive at 1 am. I will update everyone on our arrival.

Alex Brothers

Not your typical boy!!

2011-08-01T05:13:00.001-07:00

Well, I thought I was finished but I just had to post this photo...Pinches was getting ready to go to the pool. He also left this morning to travel by himself to the Caribbean, I hope he survives the trip! He might even make some money with that lunch kit, if he opens it up and begs a bit.

Good bye from Montreal!!

2011-07-31T19:32:00.000-07:00

We ended the meet with our team dinner so here are some pics to finish off the trip.
Betty-Ann and I decided we deserved a special treat after the week...

The girls presented Cindy and Neil with some little gifts and the kids all signed a shirt for Neil as this is his last swim meet.

The kids are having their last hour with each other before they part for the summer and then they are off to bed to be up for an early cab ride to the airport.
It has been a great trip and we both had a blast working with your swimmers.

I would like to give a personal thanks to Neil for being such an integral part of our family's experience with swimming. It has been wonderful traveling with you to different meets and seeing you work with all the kids throughout the years. Thank you very much from the Bradleys!

I will sign off now, I hope you have enjoyed keeping apprised of our adventures here in la belle province!
Now hopefully we can corral the kids and get them into their own rooms!

That is it!!!

2011-07-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

PICS: The chaperones...
Cindy, Heidi and Karen
The group in the tent tonight.
Luke getting his GOLD.
Heidi with the subway police
Peter and his 400 bronze.

Wow, last night of the meet and our finalists tore it up. Every swimmer improved their their time!
First up we had Heidi in the IM, she moved up from 10th to 7th and dropped her best time. Then Peter was up, also in the IM, he came out with the silver with a great time. Heidi jumped in again for the 50 fly and went from 8th to 6th with another best time. Then the crazy swim of the night had Luke in lane 2 for his 400 free, he took off like a rocket and raced his way to the GOLD!!! Our last race of the night saw Peter in a battle in the middle of the pool for the medal, the 3 guys went back and forth and he ended up with the bronze!! 3 medals on the last night was a pretty sweet way to end the year!!!!! Just found out that the little girls medley relay came 4th, big girls 11th and the little boys 16th.

We are now off to Baton Rouge for dinner and then who knows what they will get up to tonight. We are in cabe tom

Day 5...or what we are calling 'Finally'

2011-07-31T11:06:00.000-07:00

Here is our BIG girl relay team, they all swam both the free and the medley. Then we have the team just hangin' out in the tent. Oh yeah, and Finn the trucker!

It's another beautiful day in Montreal, this is the first year that we have not had a least one day of hellishly bad weather!!

With this being the 5th day of the meet, you might think that our kids would start to slow down in the pool...not the case! It looks like most of them are stepping up and digging in for some best times.

For finals tonight, we will have 6 swims. Heidi in the 200IM and 50 fly, Peter B. in the IM and 400 free, Luke in the free and Finn squeaking into the free too!

DAY 4

2011-07-30T19:36:00.001-07:00

A few more action shots of our adventures...
Some of the kids after they all stuffed their faces on a huge Greek feast.
Noah really enjoyed the dinner tonight and couldn't get enough of the greek rice we made. Peter won the silver medal in the 100 back, Cindy and Sarah finally stood still long enough to get a shot of them together and Taylor just wanted a picture of her in here so I had to put in the last one.

The end of day 4...well, that didn't go as planned. We were just getting the kids tucked in and the fire alarm went off. We all proceeded down the stairs in an orderly fashion and congregated on the vast lawns in front of the hotel. In came the fire trucks, all 4 of them, and an ambulance. Of course the trucks all held your run of the mill fire fighters...all of whom were calendar worthy, they grabbed their axes and ran to check out the problem. After sitting outside for an hour we got to come back inside. We have a number of different versions of what may or may not have happened but what we do know is that the kids got back to their rooms and settled right down.

We have a big day tomorrow with the 200IM, 50 fly, medley relay and the 400 free. All but Lisa have at least one event and some(Noah, Heidi,
Maddie, Egor and Peter B) have 3!

Finals tonight went very well with Island having 4 swims. Peter won silver in the 100 back, Cassandra and Finn both had best times and moved up spots in the breast and Luke finished it off with another best time and rose up a couple of spots.

One more day of fast racing and then we are on our way home!!

2011-07-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

A few more pics to keep you going. Here is JO, Lisa and Chantal by our team tent, then we have Heidi and Noah after her 100 fly gold. In the third pic, Rebecca and Chantal are dressed for their cat dance...we still haven't seen it yet but we have heard all about it. Finally we have Neil with his parasol. I bought it as an umbrella but we have not had to use it.

If you are wondering how I have so much time to blog, it is all thanks to Betty-Ann, while she washes dishes and does general cleanup I get to lie on the couch and fill you all in on the day's events...that's the life!!

In case you are wondering what we have been feeding them, here is a little sampling: BBQ ribs (thank you Byron Powell) and Parisian potatoes, rotini and sauce, chili and baguettes, BBQ chicken/rice/caesar salad wraps, chicken souvlaki, greek rice and greek salad. Tomorrow night we are going out for a team dinner.

I missed some of the top 10's last night, the younger boys swam their 800's in the morning so here are their results: Luke, 5th, Finn, 7th and Peter B. 4th. Nicely done boys!!

2011-07-30T03:33:00.000-07:00

Just a quick addition for those of you who aren't friends of Island Swimming on Facebook...which you really should be because Andrea updates stuff about our club/swimmers about every 10 minutes so you would never miss a thing.
Here is our team(minus Alec), they are an excellent group of kids and Betty-Ann and I are having a great time watching over them.
I just added a couple more of the group so you can maybe see your child in there somewhere and realize they are actually here, in case I haven't mentioned them specifically in here. I can assure you that we haven't lost any of them yet and they all survived traveling on the subway yesterday with the huge crowds swarming onto the island to see Eminem and whatever other crazy bands were playing.
Just a little sidebar...for those of you in Victoria who think we have a lot of homeless people, come to Montreal, it is unbelievable how many are on the streets and in the subway stations asking for money.
We are now off to shop for more food when the store opens and then to the pool to watch our kids swim. The greatest part about this trip is that Betty-Ann finally gets to see her boys swim at a pool other than SCP, where she is volunteering on deck the whole time! Her boys have both stepped up and are giving her an amazing show, way to go Pages!!

Day 3-Finals

2011-07-29T17:39:00.000-07:00

Here are our twin towers getting ready for their 50 frees!!!!!

Well, after realizing that Eminem was out of the equation, the kids got right back to the pool in time to see the girls swim their 50 free's. Cindy and Neil say they do not remember Island Swimming ever having any swimmers in the 50 free final at this meet, so it is pretty cool that we had 2 tonight. Maddie started things off with another best time, from 28.87 to 28.76, and moved from 10th to 9th. Heidi came up next with a move from 6th to 5th with another huge best time, from 27.89 to 27.47.
Next up was the fastest heats of the 800's. Taylor took off and had a battle for a medal with a girl from Cascade, it was back and forth for the whole race then Taylor waved bye-bye and raced in to grab the silver medal with a huge 6 second best time from her time at Senior's last week.
The boys were up next in lanes 3, 4 and 5,(Alec, Keegan and Will) and that is how they ended up with Alec getting the gold and Keegan the silver in the 17-18 age group. Will was 3 rd in the race but won the 16 yr age group. It was another pretty great night with 5 of 6 swims being best times and grabbing 4 medals!!
That's 3 down and 2 to go...we can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.
-Thanks to Neil for the great podium pics!!

Day 3-Prelims

2011-07-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

Today we had 100 breast, 200 fly, 50 free and 800 free. It started off fairly slowly with no one making finals through the breast and fly...during which time Cindy and Neil decided we would give the kids the night off and we wouldn't have them return tonight. Then came the 50 free!!! Out of nowhere, along came Maddie, she swam a best time and grabbed the last spot in the final!!!! Heidi went in 23rd, swam a best time and is going in 6th tonight. There went the idea of not returning tonight! We also have Taylor, Will, Keegan and Alec in the 800 at the end of the night so it will be great for everyone to go back and cheer. The other kids don't have to get in the pool tonight so they are just there to cheer, that will be a nice break too. If we are lucky, the meet will run long and we can catch a bit of the Eminem concert that is happening 300 metres away!! This place is really hopping, tomorrow there is the Gay Pride parade running just outside our Metro station...let's see if we can catch some of it!
That's all for now, Betty-Ann and I are going to have a little rest before we have to start cooking/shopping/yelling at your kids! Just kidding, they have all been wonderfully thoughtful, considerate and polite.

Day 2 finals

2011-07-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

Another great night at the pool tonight!! The night started off with Luke in the 100 free, he went in 7th and came out 6th improving his time by almost a second! Then we had Finn and Peter in the 400 IM, Finn went in 10th and came out 8th...he broke the 5 minute mark for the first time too!! Peter came out with the silver medal with another best time of over 3 seconds. Will was next and also came out with the silver...another best time!! Then we finished the IM's off with Alec SMASHING Alex Baumann's 30 year old record to win the BIG BOY race!!! Next up was the 50 back, Heidi went in 4th and swam ANOTHER best time and won the GOLD. The cheering at the Island bench was fantastic and the performances in the pool were awe inspiring. The competition tank is incredibly fast and if the kids can get a lane they are almost guaranteed a great time.
Now we are looking forward to day 3...we aren't even half way done yet. Hopefully we can get some more kids into finals over the next 3 days.
That's all for now, good night from Montreal!

2011-07-28T12:44:00.000-07:00

Day 2!! Here is some of our swimmers on their way to the pool, just waiting for the subway. I forgot to mention that the subway carries over 1 million people a day!! Yesterday Rebecca refused to touch the handrail on the escalator saying that it was disgusting, I then offered her $10 to put her tongue on it...weirdly, she refused! Caroline thought it was a great deal and wanted me to extend the offer to her!
These are the starts of the 100 free in the girls' pool. We have: Sarah(lane 7), Caroline(2) and Maddie(2).
The kids are on their way back to the pool for finals where we have 8 swims. Luke and Keegan in the 100 free, Alec, Finn, Will and Peter Brothers in the 400IM and Heidi and Peter B in the 50 back.!! GO ISLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's it for now, off to prep for dinner so we can watch all the racing and still feed the kids at a reasonable time tonight!

2011-07-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have not had the pleasure of seeing the pool where our swimmers are competing, here is a couple of pictures of it from the stands. This was during finals tonight. The next picture is of Heidi with her bronze medal for the 100 fly, we let Cindy get in there too...no it is not photo shopped, that is really how beautiful the place is. Heidi also achieved her senior time with that swim. Okay, it might seem a little biased that I only have a picture of Heidi but Neil forgot to bring his cord to download his photos and he has all of the podium ones...there are a lot from there as we got 4 medals from our swims today. Luke is our first National champion after winning the 1500 free for 13 and under boys. Peter Brothers won the bronze medal in the 1500 free and the silver in the 200 back for 14 yr. boys. Heidi's bronze rounded out the night's haul. Peter Inches ended up 4th in the 200 back for 15 yr. boys and Cassandra grabbed 5th in the 50 breast for 13 yr. girls. Our finals swims were all best times by the kids. We had a great cheering squad with all the Island swimmers up at the fence during the races.
That's it for now.

2011-07-27T11:28:00.000-07:00

Well the meet has finally started...Day 1!!! Both coaches are happy with howtheir groups swam their first session.
We have 4 kids in finals tonight: Heidi in the 100 fly, the Peters in the 200 back and Cassandra in the 50 breast. It will be a quick trip to the pool tonight with our races starting at 5:30 and finishing by 6:20. I have a quick little shout out to Ian, who in his first national level meet went a 2.5 second best time and ended up 17th in the 200 back!!!!
I will take some pictures tonight and try to post them.
Hopefully someone is reading this so I know I should keep doing this.

2011-07-26T13:52:00.001-07:00

Today we got the kids to the pool for a swim and so they could have a look at the venue. Luckily, they got a couple of lanes to get themselves a good swim in. After having lunch they rested and then went for walk around and a little shopping, some of them caught a movie. Tonight we are having ribs for dinner and then they will have an early night since some of them have to be at the pool at 7am tomorrow.
The weather has been pretty ridiculous today...the morning was cloudy with very light spits of rain then this afternoon we had torrential rain with thunder and lightning. Betty-Ann and I got stuck in old Montreal for quite awhile waiting for it all to stop. Now it is beautiful and sunny so we are hoping that sticks around. The temperature is very nice too, maybe 20 degrees.
I hope we can still update once the meet starts but I can't guarantee anything!

On our way!

2011-07-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

We are on our way to Montreal, the first leg of the trip is over and now we have a wait of 2.5 hours in Calgary...this is with a 48 minute delay! Most of the team is on this flight and we will meet up with the rest of the crew tonight.
Traveling today we have: Cassandra Purdon, Maddie Powell, Sarah Mabee-Hall, Heidi Bradley, Emily Choi, Egor Peshkov, Jessie Ogden, Ian Schoeddert, Lisa Su, Peter Inches, Noah Charlton, Finn Page and Luke Polson. We also have Neil, Cindy and Betty-Ann with us.
After arriving, the kids have all scattered to eat a nice breakfast of high quality foods...Subway, A&W and Timmy's.
Now all we need to do is find them all again before we load...

ISA at Western Canadian Championships

2011-02-17T21:15:00.000-08:00

Hello from sunny Kamloops! We have 16 Island Swimming athletes competing this weekend; Heidi Bradley, Peter Brothers, Will Brothers, Guilherme Furtado, Rebecca Langlois, Sarah Mabee-Hall, Caroline Macdonald, Tanner Milne, Stefan Nasedkin, Jessie Ogden, Taylor Padington, Alec Page, Sean Penhale, Raquel Solmer, Chantal Walter and Keegan Zanatta.

We just finished our first day of the meet. Alec and Keegan led things off by finishing first and second in the 17 and over boys 800m freestyle with personal best times. Sean finished 5th overall and Stefan was 20th. Will also finished first in the 16 and under boys 800m freestyle with a personal best time. Younger brother, Peter finished 15th and was the top 14 year old in the 16 and under category.

Taylor swam to a huge personal best time in the girls 16 and over 1500m freestyle and finished fourth and Jessie swam to a 10th place finish in the girls 15 and under in the same event. Gui is going into B finals for 50 fly and 50 back, Alec is going into the B final for the 50 Breast and Heidi will swim in the A final for 50 back later on in the meet.

The 4 x 200m freestyle relay saw the girls finish 9th overall. The boys A team finished 3rd and the B team was 14th. At the end of day one, the team is sitting in second place behind the Cascades Swim Club from Calgary.

Day 2 tomorrow includes 100 back, 200 breast, 50 free and 400 IM along with the 4 x 100m freestyle relay. Go Island!

Click here for live results

Britain Tour - A Report from Coach Neil

2011-01-16T08:40:00.000-08:00

After landing in London prior to New Years 2011, the Canadian Youth team quickly settled into a VERY spartan dorm in the Crystal Gardens area of South London. Without much ado, the group, including ISA athletes Alec Page and Keegan Zanatta, accompanied by Coach Neil Harvey, got down to work.

Training was vigorous almost from the first practice. This is a group of the best 18 and under swimmers in Canada, and they were in England to experience training in the land of the 2012 Olympics. The weather since arriving (18 days ago), has seen the sun only 3 times with rain half the time. This is no tourist tour.

The first week finished after a nice New Years trip downtown to see the fireworks. The fatigue was just setting in. After a long delayed bus trip way up to the north east coast near the border with Scotland we arrived in Sunderland. As the rain pelted out it's rhythmic welcome, we settled into a sprawling labyrinth of a hotel right on the coast of the north sea. Can you say quaint? Then back to business.

This time we were training with the England under 19 squad called England Talent. The groups mixed in as did the coaches and we shared ideas and practices for the rest of the week. As expected, the training was very competitive and the groups got along just fine. At the end of the week they hosted a dual meet to see what was what!! Well, after 3 sessions of back and forth, race after race, the lead switching on almost every swim...Canada came out the victors by a scant 4 points. It was down to the men's 200 fly which Mack Darragh from Oakville won in fine style. We put the finishing touch on the meet with a convincing win by the women's 4x100 medley relay. Of course we all forgot the score by the end of lunch :) We did manage a day trip to Newcastle for a look about and some shopping. Nice old town!

Monday saw another day of training in the modern Sunderland pool followed by a short 2 hour trip to the middle England city of Sheffield. The Ponds Forge pool here is the best pool in England, so they say. After the sauna that was Sunderland, we have certainly walked into its rival for air quality. Sweat equity indeed. However... we spent 4 more days of hard training (only 1 session with the very strong local squad) and are now into the meet called the Burns Open Invitational. Some of the best swimmers in Britain are here. Elizabeth Simmons (200 back 206+) and Rebecca Adlington (Beijing 800 meter gold medalist!!) and Liam Tancock (current world record holder 50 back) are all in attendance.

The Canadians are standing up and competing very well indeed. One more day of competition to go. We are looking forward to another great day of racing. Today is day 21 of this long and valuable trip. The swimmers are looking forwards to going home as you would expect (coaches too).
See you soon!

Neil

Burns Meet Live Results

Photos

Results from Sunderland

2011-01-08T19:46:00.000-08:00

Keegan and Alec are doing great in Sunderland, England.

Swimming Canada Article

Results ~ Sunderland Triangular Meet (50m)

Hub International Barton Insurance signs on as a World Trials Gold Sponsor

2011-01-07T16:29:00.000-08:00

Read about it...

Keegan Zanatta and Alec Page head to England

2010-12-28T12:31:00.001-08:00

Island Swimming athletes, Keegan Zanatta and Alec Page left for England yesterday with Coach, Neil Harvey and the rest of Canada's Youth team. Check back for updates.

Island swimmer excelling at southern NCAA school

2010-12-24T08:33:00.000-08:00

By Travis Paterson - Victoria News
Published: December 23, 2010 10:00 AM
Updated: December 23, 2010 10:11 AM

Click here to read the article

Sarah Mabee-Hall and Heidi Bradley earn their spot on the Pacific Coast All-Star Team

2010-12-23T12:35:00.003-08:00

Congratulations girls! Read all about it...

St. Michaels University School continues to support Island Swimming

2010-12-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

Island Swimming is pleased to announce St. Michaels University School as a Platinum Sponsor for World Trials...read more

Michael Mason & Co. Ltd to donate all the medals for World Trials

2010-12-22T08:54:00.000-08:00

Island Swimming is pleased to announce Michael Mason & Co. as the first World Trials Platinum Sponsor...read more

Island Swimming receives Club Coaching Grant from Chevrolet

2010-12-15T13:41:00.000-08:00

read about it...

Big weekend ahead for Island Swimming Athletes

2010-12-09T22:35:00.000-08:00

ISA athletes are attending 2 meets this weekend; the Paul Bergen Junior International and the Christmas Cracker. Read more...

We're on Facebook

2010-12-09T13:39:00.000-08:00

Check it out and "LIKE US" today

Christmas Gifts for ISA families on-line at TAS

2010-12-03T12:45:00.000-08:00

NEW...Check it out! Just in time for Christmas! Island Swimming families can now shop on-line at Team Aquatics and get 20% off the retail price. Read about it...

New Club Records set at Canada Cup

2010-12-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Julia Wilkinson, Alexa Komarnycky and Alec Page. Also, our Senior Girls set 2 new Club Relay Records. Read all about it.

FAST TIMES Newsletter Volume 2

2010-12-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

Click here to view Issue No.2 of Island Swimming's Newsletter

ISA Athletes and Coaches Recognized at Big Splash

2010-12-01T08:36:00.000-08:00

Congratulations to Island Swimming’s coaches and athletes including Ryan Cochrane, Randy Bennett, Jeremy Bagshaw, Neil Harvey, Julia Wilkinson and Stefan Hirniak who cleaned up this week in Toronto at the CN Big Splash Awards Gala! The talent of Island Swimming’s best was highlighted at the annual gala recognizing outstanding achievements by Canadian swimmers and their coaches during the 2009-10 season.

Way to go Island!!!!

photo from www.swimming.ca

click here to read the full story on our website

Would you like to gain exposure on a National Television Broadcast?

2010-11-25T12:40:00.001-08:00

The CBC has confirmed that they will be televising this event. We have put together some great sponsorship/advertising opportunities for Canadian companies. Please contact Nancy Brothers at brothershome@shaw.ca to receive a sponsorship package.

14 ISA athletes heading to Toronto this week for Canada Cup

2010-11-23T16:59:00.000-08:00

Click here for Island Swimming News Story

Some programs are cancelled today, due to snow

2010-11-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

There will be NO SWIM PRACTICE today for the following Groups/Pools...

Juan de Fuca, Sooke Seaparc, Esquimalt, Sidney Piranhas

All Commonwealth Pool programs from OW to TAG are cancelled

The National Group will still swim,(check email for details)

Crystal Pool IS OPEN FOR PRACTICE unless buses stop running(use discretion and check your email for updates)

Psych Sheets for the Island Cup and Jamboree

2010-11-08T08:17:00.001-08:00

The psych sheets for the Island Cup and the 12 & under Jamboree have been posted to the meet pages. Please go to www.islandswimming.com then go to Swim Meets on the menu bar and choose either the Island Pacific Cup or the ISA 12 & under Jamboree.

ISA FAST TIMES Newsletter - Issue No.1

2010-10-29T11:16:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE to view

First Cut of the BC Senior Circuit Psych Sheets are Up

2010-10-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

The attachment can be found on our Upcoming Events, BC Senior Circuit #1

11 Island Swimming Athletes named to Fall Provincial Teams

2010-10-05T15:19:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to the following Island Swimming athletes on being named by Swim BC to Fall provincial teams.

Youth & Junior Team: (In photo above) Taylor Padington, Will Brothers, Keegan Zanatta, Naomi Ellis and Alec Page. Click here for Island Swimming News Story.

Prospects Team: Sarah Mabee-Hall, Cassandra Purdon, Madison Powell, Luke Polson, Heidi Bradley, Peter Brothers and Coach Cindy Mabee. Click here for Island Swimming News Story.

Island Swimming Distance Group Highlighted in "Swim News"

2010-10-05T15:04:00.001-07:00

Gold for Ryan! Bronze for Stefan and Julia!

2010-10-04T08:48:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of the Commonwealth Games...New Canadian Record for Stefan in the 200m butterfly and 3 medals for Island Swimming Athletes; Ryan Cochrane, Stefan Hirniak and Julia Wilkinson.

Click here for CBC sports write up and to watch Ryan's exciting gold medal win.

New blog post by Julia Wilkinson

2010-10-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Goodbye Singapore, hello India

Congratulations to Alec, Keegan and Will

2010-10-01T08:39:00.000-07:00

These 3 ISA swimmers will be heading to Great Britain to train and compete.
Click here for Island Swimming news story

New time standards for 2010-2011

2010-10-01T08:37:00.000-07:00

Click here for Island Swimming news item

New video on Stefan's blog

2010-09-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

Follow the Canadian Commonwealth Games Team's journey to Singapore. Check out the new video on Stefan's blog www.stefanhirniak.com

Hopefully, Stefan can keep us all up to date as the team goes onto New Dehli, India to race in the Commonwealth Games. Please send pictures!

Please complete our new on-line registration today

2010-09-03T16:05:00.000-07:00

Island Swimming has a new on-line registration system to help us streamline the entire registration process.

We require all new and "returning" members to please reserve your spot on-line prior to the "in person" registration day for your pool.

All swimmers must be properly registered prior to getting in the water.

Visit www.islandswimming.com and register today.

Island Swimming's Ryan Cochrane and Julia Wilkinson become bloggers

2010-09-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to let everyone know that Team Aquatics has announced that 2 swimmers will be regular bloggers on their site. They will share tips, info and basically allow us to follow along on their swim journey as they travel around the globe.

Both Ryan and Julia have a new blog post dated August 30th.

I have added a link to their blog under website links on the right. Check it out... http://www.team-aquatic.com/blog/

Check out this great article by Island Swimming's Julia Wilkinson

2010-08-31T14:06:00.000-07:00

http://www.cbc.ca/commonwealthgames/blog/2010/08/pan-pacs-highlight-jam-packed-summer.html

Michael Phelps presents medals on the final day of Jr. Pan Pacs

2010-08-31T10:57:00.001-07:00

Well the Jr. Pan Pacific Championships have come to a close. The Canadian team won another 3 medals last night and Michael Phelps was there to present the last medal presentations which was very exciting. The kids say they all had a great time and what a great experience it was Everyone taking part in the meet from the Coaches to Chaperones and officials were just great- the kids were very well looked after! It was also fun getting to know all the other parents not only from Canada but from around the world.

Aloha from Maui and see you in Victoria!

The Brothers Family

Day 3 updates

2010-08-29T12:54:00.000-07:00

Another beautiful day here in Maui! The pool here in Kehei is fantastic and its been a great organized meet. They have covered stands for spectators and you are really close to the pool edge to get a great view. They sing the Hawaiian national anthem before each final and the teams have given us some great entertainment with their various cheers. The Canadian team is full of spirit and we were treated to a great human chain cheer lead by Jeremy before finals last night.

Day 3 saw all the Island boys swim in the 400 free. Jeremy and Keegan were the top Canadians in the prelims and made the A final. Although a little off of their personal best times they both improved their time over prelims and finished 6th and 8th respectively. Will was the third best time in the Canadian boys with a new personal best time where he took 5 seconds off his old time from Nationals. He swam in the B final and ended up just slightly slower than the morning swim finishing 7th.

The finals saw the 4x100 relays which are always so exciting to watch. There are quite a few Canadian families here and we may be outnumbered by the US but we are loud! The girls team won an exciting silver medal just out touching the Aussies. The boys team which included Jeremy had a battle the whole way for third against Japan. It was even by the time Jeremy dove in and all the parents and other team mates screamed the entire 100 meters. He out touched Japan at the very end and Canada received another Bronze medal. So exciting!!

Day 4 sees Will and Kyle swim the 200 IM, Alec swim the 200 Breast and all the boys swim the 800 free.

Day 2 Jr. Pan Pacs

2010-08-28T13:05:00.001-07:00

Day 2 saw the Canadian Team rise up and stick their nose on the podium. The Girls 4 X 200 free relay out touched the Ausies with a great sprint in the last 25 meters to the Silver. In the women's 100 breast Teresa Van Beilen took the Silver in a very close race with the top two going under the meet record. The Ausies and the Americans are power houses with many Sr. Pan Pac team member at this meet. It was great to see the Canadian team gain confidence and start to wedge themselves in the fight.

Day 2 had the Island boys swimming the 100 free and 400 IM. In the 100 free Jeremy made the B final and finished fourth. Alec and Will swam the 400 IM with both swimmers making the B final. Alec swam a 4:29 good enough for 3rd, while Will took nearly 4 seconds off his results from Sr. Nats swimming a 4:35 taking 5th in the B final. Those results would have easily got both boys gold medals at our National Age Group championships in there age division, just to put those swims into perspective. Both Alec and Will could still compete at this meet in 2 years.

Kyle and Keegan both got to swim for Canada on 4 X 200 meter free relay. Both swam close to personal bests. Jeremy swam in the A relay and Canada was just out touch by Japan for 3rd place for a medal. That was another exciting race.

Day 3 has the 400 free for the Island Boys. Go Island!! Go Canada!!

The Brothers Family

Day 1 at the Jr. Pan Pacs

2010-08-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

Well this is a very fast meet. As fast or faster than our Sr. National Championships. Of the 8 events swam this evening 7 new Junior Pan Pac records were broken. So the Canadians are in tough. The Ausies have brought 8 swimmers from their Sr. Pan Pacific team. Of course the Americans are very strong with many US National finalists on their team.

The Island boys swam well today. Jeremy was the closest Canadian to the podium finishing 4th in the 200 free with close to a personal best at 1:50.91. Alec also made the A final in the 200 free and swam a respectable 1:54.40 for eighth.

In the 200 fly our import Kyle McIntee swam to a 5th place finish as the top Canadian with a time of 2:01.95

The 1500 was tight all the way through the field. Will Brothers led the Canadians in the morning heats with a PB of 15:55.60 eventually finishing 11th overall. Not bad for one of the youngest swimmers in the meet. Alex and Keegan swam in the final heat at night with another close race between the two teammates. Keegan swam to a 7th place finish with a time of 15:44 and Alec just behind in 15:47 for 8th place. It looks like the future of Canadian men's distance swimming is very healthy thanks to Ryan's success.

Tomorrow will bring up Jeremy, Kyle and Keegan in the 100 free. Will and Alec will take on the some the best 18 and under male swimmers in the world in the 400 IM.

The Brothers Family

Finals for Jr. Pan Pacs at 9pm our time tonight

2010-08-26T19:35:00.000-07:00

Finals for the Jr. Pan Pacific Championships start tonight at 6pm Hawaiian time (9pm our time). We have the link for live results located on the right sidebar. There will be no live coverage however you should be able to view videos on demand of all the final swims via swim network.

LIVE RESULTS - Jr. Pan Pacs

2010-08-26T14:02:00.000-07:00

http://www.star-meets.org/results/JrPanPacs/2010/

Great photos of our boys getting ready to represent in Hawaii

2010-08-25T14:54:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the Brothers Family for these great photos of coach Neil with our swimmers training and getting ready to represent Canada at the Jr. Pan Pacific Championships in Kihei, Hawaii. It looks nice and warm.

The competition starts tomorrow...Go Canada!

Swimmers need core work 12 months of the year!!

2010-08-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a link that Coach Neil asked to have posted a while ago (oops). With our athletes jumping back in the water in less than a month's time, it is time to get back into shape. Click on the link below for some "over the summer work".

http://www.t-nation.com/testosterone-magazine-631

Teams arrive in Hawaii for Jr. Pan Pacs

2010-08-24T09:05:00.000-07:00

The teams for Jr. Pan Pacs have all arrived today. There are 10 countries participating with the four main Countries being Canada, USA, Australia and Japan.

The Island boys are ready to go. Alec, Keegan and Will have just finished a 2 week training camp at UBC. They had Dave Johnson from Cascade as their main coach for the camp and arrived in Hawaii last night. Jeremy and Kyle travelled from the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore with Neil.

The weather here is typical for August with hot temperatures early in the morning and the relief comes in the afternoon with strong trade winds. We have met a few other Canadian parents and we are getting ready with our red and white gear to cheer on Jr. Team Canada.

The Brothers Family

Day 5 at YOG

2010-08-19T10:25:00.000-07:00

The heats today saw some good swimming from our group!!

Lindsay Delmar qualified 1st in the 100 fly and Lauren Earp moved on to the semifinal of the 50 free with a very good swim.

The girls 4x100 freestyle relay finished a surprising 3rd place going into finals. This is with our 2 breaststrokers splitting under a minute!

The finals saw Lauren finish with an excellent 26.6 50 free at 13th place, not enough to advance to the finals. Lindsay swam a solid 60.6 to qualify 2nd into tomorrows final in the 100 fly.

To finish off the night, the girls went to town to finish with the BRONZE medal in the 4x100 freestyle relay. It was a very exciting race with amazing split from each of the swimmers.

Watch tomorrow for the girls 200 breaststroke where we have 2 of the top swimmers in that event; the womens 100 fly with Lindsay; the boys 200 fly wher Thomas Jobin and Kyle McIntee make their appearance in the 200fly. We also have the mixed 4x100 medley relay where we have a very good chance of challenging for a medal.

stay tuned for day six!

Neil

Day 4 finals

2010-08-18T13:43:00.001-07:00

After a very rough morning we had another great finals!!

Tera Van Beilen won the 100 breaststroke and Rachel Nicol got the bronze. It was great to hear the Canadian anthem again and this time with 2 flags on the pole.

It was a very exciting race as the Auzzie came fighting back in the last 25 meters. Tera overpowered both to take the GOLD by a tenth. A pair of very happy Canadians walked around the pool after they were handed their medals by swimming great Alexander Popov!!

We have 2 more days of competition so stay tuned for more great swimming.

Neil

Day 3 Finals

2010-08-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

It was a shorter program but it was still full of thrills for the Canadian swim team on the third night of swimming at the Youth Olympic Games.

Canada captured another hard fought bronze medal to bring the medal total up to 3.

Lauren Earp was in 5th place at the 50 turn in the 100 freestyle when she decided to have a go at a medal. Her blazing second 50 got her past most of the field to get to the bronze.

In the 100 breaststroke semifinal, Canadian swimmers continued to control the program with a first place from Rachel Nicol and a third place from Tera Van Beilen. The time were just off personal bests, but the race for medals tonight looks very exciting.

Day 2 Finals - Gold and Bronze for Team Canada!

2010-08-16T15:54:00.000-07:00

We had a great night of swimming last night! Jeremy won the bronze medal in the 200 freestyle, just ahead of Chad in 4th. It was a very exciting race with 50 meters to go both the silver and the bronze were up for grabs. It was Canada's first Olympic medal. Both swimmers had personal best times on this swim.

Then, in the very next race Rachel Nicol won the GOLD MEDAL in the 50 breaststroke. She was even at the 25 and then swam away from the group through to the finish line. It was a great feeling for our team to watch another medal go up on the board. The medal ceremonies were amazing for us. It was great to hear the Canadian anthem played in front of the crowd.

To finish the night off, our women's 4x100 medley relay finished an excellent 4th place. The chinese relay was disqualified for a takeover infraction, which moved us up into near medal territory. We had excellent swims from Rachel (new to backstroke :), Tera Van Beilen on breastroke, Lindsay Delmar on fly and Lauren Earp on freestyle.

It was a good night for us.

Rachel and I got home well after midnight due to backlogs in the doping room. Oh well that's life.

No pictures on this blog as I did not have enough time last night, but I will put some up this afternoon. Enjoy!!

Neil

Day 2 Heats

2010-08-16T13:49:00.001-07:00

This morning we had another solid bunch of swims. Everyone got through to the finals!!

Lauren Earp swam a solid 57.0 to qualify 3rd for the semis, Lindsay Del Mar finished 6th in a very tight field for tonight's final of the 200 fly. Chad Bobrosky was 4th while Jeremy finished in a tie for 5th going into the final of the 200 freestyle.
Our women's 4x100 medley relay qualified a respectable 5th place. That is without a backstroker on the squad. Thanks to Rachel Nicole who stepped up with a 1.09 backstroke leg, just off her best time for the 100 breaststroke!!

Tonight we have those finals swims plus Rachel is going into the 50 breast in 1st place. It will be exciting.

Attached is a scene from the village square after lunch today.

Neil

Times Colonist Article today

2010-08-15T16:09:00.000-07:00

Island Youths get taste of Olympic Dream

Day 1 Finals

2010-08-15T15:42:00.000-07:00

We went into the finals with 3 medals up for grabs and came away with 4th place finishes. At the Youth Olympic Games, 4th place is a great result and that was certainly the case last night in Singapore for the Canadian Swimmers. That we came so close to the medals was a hard pill to swallow, but it shows just how competitive this meet really is.

Congratulations to Jeremy for his 5th place finish and to Chad for his 4th place in the 400m freestyle. I am sure both boys would like to have the chance to swim that one again!!!

Rachel Nichol continues to be a player in the 50 breaststroke as she finished first again in the semi-final. The field tightened up to indicated a very close race for the top 3 placings. That final goes tonight.

The 4x100 mixed freestyle relay was also 4th in a great race. The 2 men, 2 women format makes for some very exciting racing. We ended up 4th by a 10th behind the French team. Great swimming by all the Canadian relays.

Today we have Lauren Earp in the 100 free for women, Thomas Jobin in the men's 100 fly, Lindsay Del Mar in the 200 fly and the women's 4x100 medley relay. It looks to be another exciting day. Tune in online!!

Sorry, no action shots from last night, I had to coach! I will try to get some general pictures today. I have attached a picture of the Olympic flame moments after it was lit.

Neil

Day 1 Heats

2010-08-14T23:53:00.000-07:00

We started the meet off with some great heats!!

Jeremy is going into finals seeded 1st with Chad Bobrosky 2nd in the 400m free. Rachel Nichol is seeded 1st in the 50 breast and our 4x100m free relay is seeded 2nd.

That is it for the first morning of competition. Not a bad start.

The opening ceremonies were spectacular last night in a totally amazing place (Marina Bay). You can watch the Opening Ceremonies at www.youtholympics.org

More to come...watch the YOG website for instant results.

Neil

Let the games begin!

2010-08-13T21:24:00.000-07:00

You can watch Jeremy lead the Canadian team during the Youth Olympics opening ceremonies live tomorrow morning (Sat) at 4am our time. Go to www.youtholympicgames.org

Team Canada Celebration

2010-08-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

Aug 12 cont...

After a vigorous morning swim, the athletes got organized with massage and other small details of preparation. In the afternoon, we made a short trip to the downtown area for some shopping as well as admiring the amazing buildings in this area.

In the evening, we went out for a Team Canada dinner. We were bussed downtown and let off at a rather nice hotel (Swiss hotel). We were whisked to the 69th floor and found ourselves in a reception in our honour thrown by the Canadian High Commission and over 200 Canadian business people and families of Canadian athletes!

We enjoyed a traditional dragon dance for good luck, a full buffet, a rock band and some presentations of thanks to the Canadian businesses who donated time and money for the event. Jeremy Bagshaw was asked to give the tokens of thanks to this group.

Attached is a picture of the swimmers with the dragons.

Neil

Articles about Jeremy from YOG website

2010-08-12T10:52:00.000-07:00

Made in Singapore

Singapore born Canadian honored as flag bearer

August 12 in Singapore for YOG

2010-08-12T09:48:00.000-07:00

Today we trained once in the morning then had a massage for those who booked them.

In the afternoon we went to downtown Singapore to get out of the village and see a bit of the city. We were hoping to get a trip up to the top of the Marina Sands resort but alas, not to be. So we went shopping. It was good for everyone.

Tonight we have a team Canada dinner with all the athletes and coaches at a swank downtown hotel. It should be good.

Neil

Neil and Jeremy arrive in Singapore for the Youth Olympic Games

2010-08-12T09:34:00.000-07:00

Update from Neil August 11

The travel over was straight forward, though we had to scramble to get aisle and bulkhead seats for some of the group. In Hong Kong, I had the group do a 5 minute jog around the airport and then 10 minutes of activation work. We didn't draw a crowd but there were a few lookers.

Arrival in Singapore was laced with anticipation, especially for Jeremy. He has visited here on many occasions but this was different. A small but cheerful welcoming committee made up of family members greeted him with flowers and hugs.

The athlete village is quite nice as is most of Singapore. It is a sprawling campus with many, many stairs and no straight lines. The food is good but basic. The number of athletes is huge. There are so many countries represented here it is amazing. I have not counted but I believe there are over 100 countries here. Not that many in the swim meet but still, it is impressive.

The pool is the same one the Canadian Olympic team trained in prior ot the 2008 games. Very nice.

The transportation is quite good with large buses taking us around on schedule. There are dedicated lanes on the highways and it appears that most of Singapore (population 5+ million) wildly supports the games.

The meet starts in 3 days and the group looks good. We are just getting over the travel and jet lag etc.

Neil

See you in Victoria

2010-07-26T08:46:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I haven't had much time since yesterday for updates. Great night of swimming...more on that later.

The team went out to dinner after finals at Earls. Byron and I took Heidi and Christl to the airport at 5:30am to catch their flight. Monique is heading back to Kelowna with her family and the rest of us fly out at 2:30pm. I know my letter to team travel families said 1:30pm so just ignore that.

We are in the midst of packing and doing room checks. So far, Mikaela would win for the cleanest room (if there was such an award).

I am hoping, if we can get organized enough, we can take the kids to the Winnipeg Zoo before we leave for the airport. It is not a for sure thing at this point but rather a possibility. The kids have been wonderful and presented Byron and I with a framed picture of themselves and wrote separate "Thank you's" all around. That was so nice and very unexpected. I will have to take a picture of it and post it on here when I get home.

Okay...gotta run. See you all back home in Victoria.

Heading off to the Final Day of Competition

2010-07-25T05:45:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of the kids from this morning as they waited in the lobby and then headed to the vans. I also included a picture of the Concord Hall where we are staying. The accomodations have worked out great for feeding the kids and it is only a 7 min drive to the pool straight down the road. I would say, the only downfall is that the mattresses are incredibly hard.

Each morning, every swimmer must come up for breakfast regardless of whether or not they are racing that day. Usually everyone goes for warm up and then I go back and pick up swimmers who are either not swimming or have a long wait until their first swim. Today the 400 freestyle event will run quite long and it is the last of the individual events. We have so many who are just swimming the 400 free that Aaron is going to help me shuttle them back here after warm so I don't have to make multiple trips.

In the home stretch

2010-07-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

What a great day today! It was sunny and warm. Our kids had lots of best times and qualified for 6 finals. Then we went on to earn 2 more medals tonight. What a great Gold medal performance by Cassandra in the 200m breast. We are all so happy for her. Also, Peter B was presented with his silver medal for the 800m freestyle he swam yesterday. The entire team came out again to cheer everyone on.

All the kids seemed to be in really great spirits at dinner tonight. The picture above is actually from breakfast. This is the chaperone's room...where all the magic happens (by magic, I mean cooking meals). At breakfast time, which is 6:30am each day, the kids just drag themselves in. Peter Inches is usually the last to arrive and very often someone has "borrowed" his bowl or his plate by then but he just takes it in stride. The girls usually find a chair in our room and sit quietly and eat (Caroline always checks the psych sheets). The boys simply retreat to the lounge like zombies. This is quite a contrast from lunch and dinner, when "all" the kids congregate in the lounge and it is just buzzing with activity.

I am truly amazed at how well everyone gets up on time and they are always waiting in the lobby when it is time to go. Not once, did I have to go find someone who was missing. They really have been great at communicating with each other and keeping themselves organized.

One more day of competition...

Sleepy Friday

2010-07-23T19:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, so Friday's here and some of the kids seemed a little sleepy during their 800m freestyle. Well, mostly the girls. I am not exactly sure why. Perhaps because we are halfway through the meet and they are getting tired or it could be that today the girls had to race in the East pool for the first time. Yes, let's blame it on that. Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to redeem themselves.

Tonight, for the younger ones, I really encouraged an 8pm bedtime for some, 8:30 for others and by 9pm it was really quiet on the first floor. So, fingers crossed for some really well rested kids tomorrow.

Congratulations to Cassandra on a great effort in the 100m breaststroke. It was exciting to watch. Most of the group had a swim practice in the warm up pool after Cassandra's race except for Finn and Peter Inches. They swam so well today that they got to sit it out and relax as a reward.

We had some weird weather today. It was really warm and sunny all day. Then around 7pm, out of the blue, it starts to rain hard. Then it gets even harder and the wind is literally blowing it sideways. The streets were flooding in a matter of about 5 or 10 minutes (I am not exagerating). It was really bazaar. Then Cindy and I look out the window and there is Taylor and Christl laughing and dancing around in the rain, soaking wet, barefoot and loving it (don't worry it was warm). It was very cute. I wish I had a camera at the time.

No pictures to add yet but I heard that Taylor did take photos today. I will try and get her to download them tomorrow.

Mosquito update

2010-07-22T19:31:00.000-07:00

First of all, here is a link to some photos from our trip 2010 Age Groups. I have had to rely on swimmers to take photos as we are too busy cooking and chauffering to focus on photography. So far, Madison and Lisa have been kind enough to allow me to add some of their photos like the cute one above that Lisa took. Taylor has promised to take some photos for me tomorrow, so check back for those.

We had a great night tonight at finals. Two fantastic swims from Heidi and Peter who both earned a bronze medal (very exciting). We also had great efforts from Madison and Vanessa who finished 7th and 8th overall in their respective events. The 14 & under girls relay ended up 9th overall. Incredible support from the team on the sideslines. They did some fantastic cheering!

We managed to stump a few of the kids tonight with Beef Dip. Apparently, this is not a common meal but they liked it after they figured it out. As Liam says "What don't you understand? Beef Dip, the name says it all". However, he still had to demonstrate it for a few.

As for mosquitoes in Winnipeg...haven't seen too many...until today. Jessie Ogden got the first and only mosquito bite that I am aware of within the first day or so. However, they really have been scarse as the weather has been quite warm and breezy. Then today it clouded over and cooled off, and suddenly we started seeing them (although still nothing major). It did rain all evening though so we will see what tomorrow brings.

That's all for now. All is well in Winnipeg.

Day 2 in Winnipeg - Happy Birthday Monique!

2010-07-20T19:42:00.001-07:00

So, I finally have a moment to myself...

Today, we had breakfast around 8am and then headed to the pool for a swim practice.

After lunch we dropped all the kids off at Silver City (Polo Park) to watch a movie "Despicable Me in 3D", where we met up with the non-team travel athletes Jessie M, Peter B and Cassandra. Then Byron and I took off to the airport to pick up Heidi and Christl. They literally jumped in the van and we drove them directly to the movie theatre to join the rest of the team. Miraculously, we got them there just in time to miss all the trailers and they were seated right as the movie started.

After the movie, we headed back to the pool for a second swim practice, then dinner, shaving and then bed. Yes, I did say shaving. This seems to be a common pre-race ritual at this level. I have seen some incriminating photos of certain people shaving certain other people. Perfectly innocent of course...for the good of the team...supporting your teammates...so they swim better tomorrow as they cut through the water with extremely smooth skin...pictures later (if I can get my hands on them before they get deleted).

Oh, and Happy Birthday Monique! It was Monique's birthday today however, we haven't yet celebrated as she went out to dinner with her family.

Well, that pretty much sums up the day. All the kids have been great. They are all so polite and helpful.

Early day tomorrow...wish them luck! Everyone on the team is swimming at least one event, 100 fly, 200 back, 50 breast or 1500 free.

We have arrived!

2010-07-19T13:36:00.000-07:00

3 flights later, we are finally here in Winnipeg all safe and sound. It is a bit cloudy but warm. We are just waiting for Taylor's flight to arrive. Then we are off to check out the pool, register the team and have a swim practice.

Byron pre-cooked a lasagna, froze it and shipped it with us on the plane. So...easy dinner tonight. A huge thank you to Cathie Pickerl in Winnipeg who did some shopping for us and had kitchen utensils and the fridge stocked upon our arrival. What a treat! The kids were grateful to have some food awaiting them.

ISA heads to Winnipeg for Canadian Age Group Championships

2010-07-18T22:04:00.000-07:00

Look out Winnipeg, here we come! Travel day tomorrow.

Check out all the photos sent in from AAA's

2010-07-15T19:17:00.001-07:00

Click here to view all the photos sent in from various families that attended the 2010 LC Provincial Championships in Kamloops.

Thank you to Karen Bradley, Alex Brothers, Greg Lawrance, Ron Ogden and Sherrie Wickware. If anyone has any more photos that they would like to add, I am sure we have many parents who would like to view them. Please email akentpowell@gmail.com

2010 LC Provincial Champions!

2010-07-12T10:19:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to Island Swimming's 2010 Long Course Provincial Team. Well done! This is also a good time to thank all our coaches and our chaperones, Margot Inches and Betty-Ann Hansen, who did a great job of looking after the team. They took on a very big job and these are the kind of volunteers who make it possible for our kids to travel as a team and perform well.

Thank you ladies! We all appreciate your hard work.

Congratulations to Madison Powell

2010-07-12T10:14:00.001-07:00

Vancouver Island RAD Award Winner at BC AAA Provincial Championships

Island Swimming Fan Club

2010-07-12T10:10:00.000-07:00

Island Swimmers are Preparing to rule the pool!!!

2010-07-11T17:12:00.000-07:00

Team Meeting Before The Finale!!

Congratulations to Erin Lawrance

2010-07-11T14:41:00.000-07:00

2nd place overall in the Girls 10 & under Swim Stars Competition!

2010-07-11T11:42:00.001-07:00

Word on the street is that Neil is still looking for the matching shirt.

Island Swimming takes the lead on Day 3

2010-07-10T22:32:00.000-07:00

It's official...the team scores at the end of Day 3 show Island Swimming in the lead with 2,963.50 points. This is only a slight lead over Vancouver Pacific Swim Club's 2,884.50 points. The Langley Olympians are still sitting in 3rd place overall with 2,131 points.

ISA and VPSC keep going back and forth with the lead so anything can happen tomorrow. Stayed tuned...

Day 2 and 3 in Kamloops

2010-07-10T14:11:00.000-07:00

Day 2 Saw all Island Swimmers cheer on coach Cindy swimming 100 backstroke in 1:09.21 !!

Don't miss Ryan's 1500m freestyle final tonight at 5pm Watch it Live!

2010-07-10T10:02:00.000-07:00

Ryan is swimming the 1500m freestyle final tonight in LA at 5pm. You do not want to miss this. You can watch it live on your computer. The link can be found on Island Swimming's home page. Go Ryan!

Photo Credit: Swimming Canada

Island Swimming in 2nd Place after Day 2 of Provincials

2010-07-10T09:31:00.000-07:00

After day 2 of Provincials, we are sitting in 2nd place behind the Vancouver Pacific Swim Club by only 121 points. That is not too far out of reach.

I am not at the meet but have heard from some parents that the heat inside the pool is equal to the heat outside. So, it is making for some very grumpy parents and likely presenting a challenge for our swimmers who don't often have to contend with 30-35 degree weather.

I am including a photo that was sent to me by Ron Ogden (thanks Ron). If you are at the meet and have some photos you would like to share on this blog, either email me to set you up to contribute to the blog or email me some photos and I will add them for you. Please contact me at akentpowell@gmail.com. Any member of Island Swimming is welcome to contribute...parents, coaches or even swimmers.

Thanks,
Andrea

Day 1 in Kamloops- The Team Prepares to Race

2010-07-08T10:22:00.000-07:00