English lessons relished by Parent

Jolly old England left Alex Parent in a cheerful mood.
The 14-year-old member of the Fort Frances Aquanauts lapped up British hospitality with enthusiasm—finishing in the top 12 of all six of his events as part of Team Canada’s entry at the DSE National Open disabled swimming championships in Sheffield, England on June 5-9.
“I showed them what I could do,” said Parent, who backed up his words by posting five personal best times in six races, including a new Ontario record in the 400m freestyle.
“To carry the Canadian colours . . . I’m pretty proud to achieve as high a goal as this in just one year,” he added. “But there’s plenty more to come.”
Parent finished fifth in the 400m freestyle with a time of 5:03.62, and had other top 10 finishes in the 100m butterfly (1:19.80, 7th), 100m backstroke (1:17.91, 9th), and 200m individual medley (2:49.52, 9th).
He also placed 11th in both the 50m freestyle (30.70) and 100m freestyle (1:07.49).
Parent came home with the highest overall point total of any of the eight Team Canada members—despite racing almost exclusively against swimmers ranging all the way up to university age.
His performance caught the eye of the national squad coaches, who have presented him with new and even stiffer challenges.
“They said I stood out really well in each of my races,” said Parent. “They weren’t that surprised, but they were proud of me.
“Now, they’ve given me the set times needed to qualify for the Paralympic Games [next year in Athens, Greece],” he noted. “If I keep training hard over the summer, those times are reachable.”
And the tips he received from his coaches is advice Parent most certainly will take to heart.
“They want me to focus on my technique before worrying about speed,” he explained. “They want me to eventually build up my speed by concentrating on having good technique.
“What I learned over there will help. If I keep doing what they told me, I’ll have things perfected by next season.”
Parent was enamoured with the unified atmosphere of Team Canada, and just as thrilled to make acquaintances with the British people.
“Everyone in England was really nice,” he remarked. “All the people there would help us if we got lost, which was quite a bit.”
In the original birthplace of the Stanley Cup, a sightseeing tour to places like the Kelham Island metal-working museum was an understandable part of Parent’s itinerary.
“I wasn’t able to get to an English soccer game, but there was a lot of it on TV and cricket, too,” noted Parent.
“I definitely would like to go back,” he enthused. “Even the pool was great, with 10 lanes instead of eight, and it was pretty neat to have an electronic scoreboard on hand to tell you your times the minute you got out of the pool.”