A family that plays together stays together.
At least that is the philosophy of Murray and Simone Tuininga and their four children, Kaden, 10, Kyler, 9, Denae, 7 and Keltie, 4.
And if where the Tuininga children placed at the Alberta Summer Swimming Association’s regional and provincial swim meets, is any indication, it seems to be effective philosophy in competition as well.
Kaden, Kyler and Denae all competed at the ASSA regional swim meet in St. Albert as part of the Westlock Gators Swim Club on Aug. 13 and they all qualified to compete in the provincial championships a week later in Edmonton. It was here where Kyler would go on to win a bronze medal in the 25-metre fly.
“They all swam so well,” Simone Tuininga said, in an interview at the Barrhead Leader with all of the Tuiningas, minus, father, Murray. “For all of them to have the results they did is a bonus.”
To qualify for provincials, swimmers must finish in the Top Two in their category. There are also a few wildcard spots available for those who did not finish in the Top Two, but finished their event with one of the top times in their zone.
Denae competed in both the 100-metre freestyle and medley relays, Kaden in the 50-metre fly and 100-metre freestyle relay, while Kyler competed in the 25-metre freestyle and 25 meter-fly and the 100-metre individual medley. He also took part in the 100-metre medley relay.
Kaden and Kyler started swimming about four years ago while Denae started two years ago with the Barrhead Swim Club.
“At the time Murray and I were participating in triathlons and as a result the boys started to race in triathlons,” she said, adding that like many triathletes the boys’ weakest area was the swim. “So we enrolled them in swimming.”
It turns out, not only did swimming help them improve as triathletes, they excelled.
That’s why the Tuiningas were disheartened when the town was forced to close the pool in February 2014 for safety and health concerns.
After taking the rest of the year off from swimming, the Tuininga clan returned to the pool, this time in Westlock as part of the Gators Swim Club.
“It was quite a change in our lifestyle,” she said, about making the trip to Westlock as the Tuiningas live in Neerlandia and the 15-minute trip to Barrhead for the pool doubled to 30 minutes.
As for what they most like about swimming Kaden, Kyler and Denae enjoy different aspects of the sport. Denae said she likes swimming just because it is fun and Kaden enjoys competing in the freestyle and fly events the most.
Kyler said the thing he liked most was challenging himself to qualify for the provincial championships.
When the Tuininga kids aren’t involved at the pool, running or triathlons, you can find them participating in gymnastics, golf and freestyle, mogul and cross-country skiing.
“I think as a family we are drawn to sports where we can all take part so that we are all in one place or are of a shorter time period. That way our kids can be involved in a wide variety of sports. They are in something all year round, but it changes every couple of months,” Simone said, adding the variety of sports also helps their athletic development.
