Mitch Calvert
Donovan Taylor’s trip to the Canadian Age Group Championships in Montreal last week can be chalked up as a learning experience.
The Fort Frances Aquanaut swimmer turned 15 just two weeks ago and had to compete up an age group—and thus wasn’t expecting any miracles at the meet.
“He was going to feel the burn more than anything,” said Donovan’s mom and coach, Dawnn Taylor, who wasn’t able to make the trip to Montreal with him due to commitments judging a horse show in the U.S.
Taylor missed considerable time with a back injury suffered at the Aquanauts’ home meet in January, so deciding to attend the nationals really was not in the cards until the spring.
“I didn’t know if he was going to ever feel his legs again four months ago,” Dawnn Taylor said.
“I don’t think he feels he was in as good as shape as he could be, but we didn’t have any unrealistic expectations and we’re very pleased with the way things stand right now,” she added.
“Next summer is going to be a big one [with the nationals in Winnipeg and Ontario Summer Games] to look forward to, so we’ll be back in the pool at 6 a.m. [today] and ramp up the dryland working towards next year,” she remarked.
“It was tough but definitely a good experience,” Donovan agreed. “I swam butt backwards mostly, but I’m glad I went.”
The Parc Jean-Drapeau Pool, where the meet was held, was outdoors, which presented other difficulties.
“It was a lot warmer than I expected, but that’s because of all the human bodies that were in there,” he noted.
Taylor revamped his starting dive with the help of Thunder Bay Thunderbolts’ coach Stu McLean, and also tinkered with a few other technicalities that he’ll work on perfecting moving into next season.
Taylor swam a personal best time en route to 31st place in the 50m fly (28.55) while finishing 45th in the 200m IM (2:27:20), 45th in the 100m free (59.21), 47th in the 100m fly (1:06:33), 55th in the 50m free (27.08), and 45th in the 200m back (2:29:28).
His progress is remarkable considering he’s limited to seven-and-a-half hours of pool time a week while Winnipeg’s Manta Swim Club, for instance, trains as much as 35 hours a week.
Nevertheless, the Taylors aren’t using that as an excuse and will get back to the drawing board the rest of this summer in preparation for the start of the swim season in the fall.
“You just have to maximize your time and make sure you are doing the right stuff,” his mom stressed.
“We didn’t have any crazy expectations [this year], but we definitely want some things to happen next summer and he’ll be working hard to prepare for it,” she vowed.
