After missing the better part of a year at the Memorial Sports Centre, the Cyclones swim club is looking to rebound from a year that set them back in their growth track.
Tammy Thibault is the chair of the Cyclones board of directors, she says while COVID and the pool closures have been a challenge they’re still trying to come back all the way.
“I think when you have the starting and stopping and pool closures, we’ve had a couple pool closures on top of (COVID) that have kind of put us back a little bit,” she said. “Last year we had a good start and then the pool obviously closed for most of the season.”
The pool at the sports centre closed in November last year and didn’t reopen until late last summer when some of the posts holding up the roof over the pool were deemed to be too rotten to be safe under any potential snow load.
In addition to structural work the pool was given a full refit which included new plumbing and deck as well as paint among other improvements. However, due to an issue with deck quality the pool was closed again for two weeks in September.
Last fall and winter competitive swimmers were able to practice across the river in International Falls but that also placed more of a financial burden on the swimmers and families with having to pay to cross the bridge when they practiced.
After losing most of a year’s revenue when the pool closed, the club petitioned town council for a reprieve on user fees at the pool and though they weren’t granted the full requested amount the town has given them a discount for the rest of the year.
Head coach Debbie Murray says she feels it was a considerable setback to have their home pool closed for a season.
“I believe that it definitely set the club back,” she said. “Competitively, developmentally, not having that interaction with your teammates for a year is a long time not to associate with team members. But we weathered through it and I think because we’re a strong club, we got through it and we’re moving forward now.
Thibault says registration this year is at its highest in her three years on the board.
“We did swim across (the border) with a handful of kids, but this year it’s nice to see the volume of developmental swimmers,” Thibault said. “We did open up a pre-competitive division, a transition between a one hour swim to a two hour swim with the big kids.”
The pre-competitive swimmers can swim up to six hours a week, while competitive swimmers are swimming for eight, having the two hour long practice session helps to build endurance.
“They get extra pool time, they get a longer swim too,” Thibault said. “It helps with endurance. They’re still transitioning between practicing the endurance and then skills with coaches, just to fine tune what they are able to do. They’re just not quite big enough, some of them to be able to do the full competitive (division) yet.”
There are nine each of competitive and pre-competitive swimmers this year with pre-competitive swimmers ages ranging from nine to 14 years old but head coach Murray hopes to get the club up to over 70 swimmers.
“As I said earlier, last year, with that whole year off, it definitely affected the team,” Murray said “It’s quite an impact. We did the best we could and you’ve got to take the hits and move forward, looking ahead, definitely building the team to 75 member team minimum, and promoting swimming as a life skill, but also a sport that anybody and everybody can participate In.”
In addition to adding the pre-competitive division, the club is also looking to add an 18+ Hurricanes division for older swimmers to get pool time and instruction from coaches.
Swimmers would have to qualify the same as other members of the club by being able to swim 50 m unassisted.
“This is something we’ve run in the past. I believe it won’t take a lot to bring it back,” Murray said, “There’s excitement out there already in the public, so it’s a matter of getting through this meet that’s coming up next weekend and then introducing them, now that the new kids and everybody’s back in the pool and training.”
Anyone interested in joining the 18+ Hurricanes program can contact the club at cycloneswimclub@gmail.com
In advance of hosting the first meet of the season last weekend, Murray was pleased with how the competitive swimmers were doing in the early part of the season as they look to qualify for Manitoba provincials in the spring.
The swimmers definitely are learning their routines, deck protocol, they’re back into practice. They have their goals and focus. So practices are going very well,” Murray said. “For a lot of the kids, depending on what their goals are competitively, maybe it’s meets they didn’t qualify for last year. You know, as far as setting standards and things like that, trying to be able to [qualify for] that meet, [Manitoba] junior provincials is definitely a focus for all of the kids, and then for the young development swimmers just moving to that next level and participating in meets, hopefully getting that energy up to do that.”
The Cyclones held their annual meet, the first of the season in the region, hosting clubs from Dryden, Atikokan, Kenora, and Thunder Bay.
The Cyclones wish to thank their sponsors, Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario, Holmlund Financial, La Place Rendez-Vous, the Rainy River Future Development Corporation, Baker Graphics, Judson-Howie LLP., Kiwanis, Green’s BrandSource Home Furnishings, Leon’s Furniture, The Place Fine Foods, Kris Johnson, Ryan Mason Contracting.
