Parent off to world meet in South Africa

FORT FRANCES—Local swimmer Alex Parent hopes the road to Beijing, China leads through Durban, South Africa.
Parent left Tuesday for the 2006 International Paralympic Committee’s world championships being held Nov. 27-Dec. 12 in Kwazulu-Natal province’s largest city.
The Aquanaut will represent Canada while competing against the world’s top swimmers in a variety of events, including the 50m, 100m, and 400m freestyle, the 100m backstroke, and the 200m individual medley.
“This is definitely the biggest meet I’ve been to so far,” the 17-year-old said in an interview late last week. “There’s a lot of pressure to do well and perform at my optimal level.
“I’m pretty nervous considering this is my first time [competing at a world championship] but I have swam with Team Canada before at other meets,” he added.
Parent has been training diligently six days a week since earning a spot on the Canadian national team courtesy of his impressive performance at the U.S. Paralympic national championships in San Antonio, Tex. last August.
In the months since, an average day in Parent’s life has consisted of attending Fort High, swimming for three hours immediately after school, an hour of weight training, dinner, homework, and a half-hour of abdominal work, followed by 40 minutes of stretching before bed.
“Sunday is my only day I get off out of the pool but I’m still working out,” he smiled.
Parent is hoping all the hard work and training will pay off at the world championships.
“I’m hoping for best times in all the races I’ve been training for,” he said.
“My coaches have made sure I’ve been prepared for all those races,” he added. “If I do what I’ve been doing in training in the race, I’ll be fine.
“I’m not too sure how I’m going to place because this is my first international meet, but I’m going there to win,” Parent vowed.
While Parent’s immediate focus is to perform well at the world championships, his ultimate goal is to earn a berth on the Canadian team that will compete at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing, China.
“This meet is basically to see where we are right now,” he said.
“It’s a big stepping stone really. If you make this team, then basically you’re on the path to Beijing, but there’s still other things that can happen.
“Other people can still get ahead of you and take your place.”
Aquanauts’ head coach Tristan Hutton—the man responsible for overseeing Parent’s training—is confident his swimmer will perform well in Durban. But he maintains the most important aspect of the trip will be the experience Parent gains competing on the international stage.
“I think he’s going to improve upon his personal best,” Hutton said. “He’s not going to be out of this world, but that’s partly because this is a springboard for later.
“This meet is not for people like Alex to break out onto the world scene,” he noted.
“The goal is to get the young kids some experience swimming with the big fish so they can be somewhat more prepared for when it comes time to swim the Olympic trials in 2008.”
Hutton stressed the importance of becoming familiar with travelling long distances for big competitions—and getting the feel for a big event like the world championships.
Parent won’t have to wait very long to apply any lessons he’ll have learned in Durban as he’ll be attending a series of meets in the new year, starting with the Swimming With A Disability (SWAD) Can-Am Meet being held in Montreal on March 16-18.
Strong performances in the coming months would go a long way to helping Parent realize his Olympic dream.
“They’ll [Swim Canada] keep monitoring us up until 2008 and then they’ll make a decision based on how we’ve been doing the past couple of years,” he noted.
But for now, Parent simply is focused on improving his personal bests one meet at a time.
(Fort Frances Times)