The Flin Flon Aqua Doves are well on their way to success in and out of the pool.
Most swimmers affiliated with Flin Flon’s synchronized swimming group have wrapped up their season, showing off both at recent competitions and at their year-end water show at the Flin Flon Aqua Centre April 15.
At the Sadie Caulder Knight provincial championships at Shaw Centre in Saskatoon recently, swimmers with the Aqua Doves peppered the podium. Three swimmers in the club’s provincial stream – Talissa Alexander, Maryn McKee and Rene Thompson – qualified for spots at the Canadian Prairie Championships in May. McKee finished third in routine and third in total championship score.
In the limited competitive class, the under-10 Aqua Doves group finished first in routine and second in total championship score, while the age 11-12 group finished first in routine and second in total championship score. Not to be outdone, the club’s 13-15 age division had a dual first-place finish, coming out on top in both routine and championship score.
Individual swimmers also finished strongly. Mackenzie McLean received second place in the age 11-12 figures category, while Morgan Burwash finished third in ages 13-15 figures.
“It was our provincial championship and all of our groups go to that meet. Our competitive girls, the provincial stream girls, they go to a few meets through the year, but all the others just go to that one,” said Tauvia Alexander, Aqua Doves coach and organizer.
In recent years, the Aqua Doves have steadily grown, both in membership and in the group’s rankings in notable competitions throughout Saskatchewan.
“It’s really promising. We’ve developed our club over the years with some really great coaching support and the support from Synchro Saskatchewan over the past two years has been phenomenal. I kind of feel that we’re finally in a place where we know what we’re doing a bit more. With the support we’ve had, we’ve really been able to develop our coaches, which has us able to develop our competitive girls and our recreational girls,” Alexander said.
“Seventh and eighth place may not sound great, but it’s pretty amazing. Even 30th place in figures, that puts us right in the middle of the province. We’re not the bottom. We’ve seen our results over the last two years increase and I believe that’s because our capabilities within the club can increase.”
While the Aqua Doves continue to grow, the facility they’re based out of isn’t. The Aqua Centre has been the subject of a fundraising drive for years now, with no commitments yet made for major renovation of the site.
The sport also took a big hit this past year with the closure of the Norplex Pool in Thompson, one of the largest aquatic centres in the province and the biggest in the North.
Alexander hopes the swimmers will continue to improve, with some younger swimmers diving into more advanced routines and competition.
“We’ve always got limitations because of our pool size. We can only fit so many kids in our pool and we can only get so many hours of training time. That’s always a challenge. What we’re looking at over the next years is that we’re hoping some of our limited group decide to take it to the next step and move into competition,” she said.
