If you’re a synchronized swimming team and your home pool closes, what do you do? If you’re the Flin Flon Aqua Doves, you go to the nearest water – at the Victoria Inn.
The swimmers finally got a chance to get back in the Flin Flon Aqua Centre pool Jan. 7 to kick off their season.
The closure of the Aqua Centre pool in November meant the club had to put plans on hold, including the cancellation of their Christmas show and dropping out of two competitions.
“With each season, things run smoother, you anticipate what is coming up and plan and practice accordingly. The pool shutdown in November was unexpected and we were very sad to have to cancel our Christmas water show, lose weeks of training and not be able to attend an athletic camp and figures meet in Lloydminster,” Aqua Doves head coach Krysta Hammond said.
“We also made the decision to not attend the invitational meet at the end of January in Regina, as it would add a lot of pressure to learn and prepare routines from now until then,” she said.
“Our goal is to attend the meet at the end of February in Saskatoon. We hope to have four groups, possibly over 20 athletes, attend this.”
Both the Aqua Centre and Victoria Inn pools give a challenge to the Aqua Doves. It’s not a unique challenge for clubs across Saskatchewan.
“Only Regina and Saskatoon can host a full routine and figure competition as they are the only ones with full sized all-deep regulation sized pools and facilities that can house officials, judges and athletes in one spot,” Hammond said.
“Our club struggles with this challenge as well. Our pool is the regulation 25 metres long, but the shallow end does not allow for us to practice many figures and elements of our routines.”
The Aqua Doves can’t do full rehearsals of their programs in Flin Flon.
“We end up having to practice often in parts and share the deep end with numerous swimmers at the same time,” Hammond said.
“We also have to keep in mind while practicing that the pools in Regina and Saskatoon will be more than twice as wide when we go there to perform and when you are being marked on your coverage of the pool in your routine, this is a very big issue to keep in mind practicing in our smaller pool.”
The Aqua Doves switched affiliations from Manitoba to Saskatchewan in 2017. Hammond said that decision has paid off, with the club attending more events and engaging with other clubs.
“There was a lot of research, correspondence, and discussions from within our club and with the two provincial organizations,” Hammond said of their decision.
“We felt it was in the best interests of our athletes and coaches in order to access more development and opportunities. One of the huge swing factors was the discovery that Prince Albert had an artistic swimming club. Once we made contact with them, we soon began to brainstorm future athletic development between the two of us.”
Hammond said opportunities to compete were lacking before the change.
“During previous seasons, we had one year-end opportunity in Winnipeg, so we had increased our athletes opportunities to improve and earn feedback throughout our season versus one final performance without feedback.”
Hammond said she relies on volunteers, including parents and former competitors, to help the club succeed.
“[The volunteers] are more than willing to take courses and training, and put hours of their own time into learning and creating fun and effective lessons for our swimmers,” she said.
“We work like a well-oiled machine, I like to say. Each coach plays a crucial role in the successful running of our club. Each coach brings different strengths that they add to the mix.”
Hammond said the routines have been written and the athletes are eager to start the season. With Maryn McKee qualifying for high performance trials in 2019, Hammond hopes to see more excellence from the club.
“Travelling earlier in the season allows us to get valuable judges feedback on our routines and gives us the baseline data to track all improvement through the season, carrying us into Canadian Prairie Championships in Winnipeg in May,” Hammond said.
“This season we are specifically training for this so that more of our athletes are able to qualify for this exceptional developmental opportunity.”
