The progress of the newest swim club in Fort Frances is running well ahead of schedule.
The Cyclones will send a season-high 11 swimmers, including seven making their debuts, to this weekend’s sprint meet in Atikokan hosted by the Nakokita Swim Club.
The expanding total has Cyclones head coach Debbie Murray tickled pink.
“We never anticipated getting as much interest from our swimmers in entering the competitive scene as we have,” said Murray, who is overseeing the first-year squad.
“It’s nice to see, and exciting for our club,” she added.
The Cyclones took four members to the Thunder Bay Thunderbolts sprint meet to open the season Oct. 26-27, then took five to the Kenora Swimming Sharks fall invitational Nov. 8-10.
Murray said the team has come as far as it has in a short time due to two key factors. “The parental support has been terrific, and the technical advancement of the kids has been super,” she noted.
“We’ve been emphasizing the importance of getting them to swim [an event] right instead of swimming it fast,” Murray added. “We’re making sure they’re not doing the same mistakes over and over.”
Expectations for the Atikokan meet again will be kept within what Murray considers achievable limits.
“We don’t have as much training time as other kids [on other teams],” she explained. “We’re expecting the best they can give us, and for them to achieve the goals we’ve set.
“It also gives them the chance to be introduced to other kids in the region in their age groups, so they can grow and advance together.”
Meanwhile, the New Year holds great promise for the Cyclones as growing interest in the team will allow Murray to expand her team roster from 29 to 40 members in January to go along with the extra pool time her group will be getting.
“It’s excellent that more people want to be part of this team, and work on advancing their swimming skills and improving in the competitive field,” said Murray.
“With our oldest swimmer being 12 years of age, we’re working on a pyramid theory as our nucleus builds up to getting stronger results when they’re 13, 14, and 15,” she noted.
