Since the District of 麻豆社国产recently rejected a request for $26,000 for the 麻豆社国产Pirates Swim Club, the 55-person club is hoping new members will join the club and help keep it going.
"We lost our gaming grant so we're in dire need of some new members and 麻豆社国产council is not going to give us anything," said Pirates swim coach Ryan Corbett, who is National Coaching Certified Program certified (NCCP).
Corbett said he welcomes anyone under the age of 18 who can swim one length of the pool safely and comfortable to stop by the pool and be assessed.
"We definitely have people who do it for fitness, to cross train for other sports and certainly with 麻豆社国产being a community surrounded by water, I know people to see the benefits of their kids being strong swimmers."
The longtime swim coach said the benefits of swimming are tremendous.
"It's a challenging sport that teaches a lot of important life skills: discipline, hard work, teamwork, commitment, goal setting," he said. "Swimming is a fantastic sport as well as a life skill. It will benefit them in whatever they do."
Meg Toom, mother of 12-year-old Pirate swimmer Ethan, said parents must commit to helping the club by volunteering their time.
"There's a fair amount of volunteering required from the parents to run this team, especially now that gaming lotteries have been sliced. So it is a commitment from the family."
Toom said the commitment is well worth it because the club is a great way for kids to develop discipline, higher self-esteem and sportsmanship.
"It's a really good outlet for the kids."
Toom said her son's confidence has greatly increased since he first started with the club four years ago.
"My son is just improving exponentially and he was a person who hated swimming when he was young," she said.
Toom said Ethan dreaded going in the deep end and had no intention of pursuing formal swimming until he joined the club. It helps set goals for the young swimmers and helps them achieve or surpass those goals, sometimes to the surprise of the swimmer and their family.
"He actually made it to provincials last year as well which completely surprised all of us," said Toom.
In preparation for the summer swim season, starting in May the club will offer five-day a week training with dry land training as well as pool time.
"They climb the Chief, they run the Four Lakes Trail, they do lots of deck warm ups with sit-ups and team parties where they make banners so when they go to swim meets all of their names are on the banner so it's really social and it really gets the kids feeling like a part of a team but also an individual [because of the] event," Toom said.
The Pirates Swim Club is currently offering a free one-month trial for youth interested in perfecting their strokes and becoming faster swimmers. Anyone interested should call the Brennan Park aquatic centre at 604-898-3604 or contact KristiBane-Allen at [email protected].
