When you are a coach of a swim club that is in its first year after a four-year hiatus you have to be more selective to what competitions you choose.
That is what Barrhead Swim Club assistant coach Charlene Assenheimer said a day after the club was scheduled to compete at a Jan. 20 swim meet at MacEwan University hosted by Penguin Swimming.
Due to the number of entries, Barrhead swimmers were asked to withdraw from the event.
“They did everything they could do to try to accommodate us, including cutting down the number of races to fit us in, but in the end they just couldn’t make it work,” she said, adding first preference for the meet was given to established clubs. Unfortunately this isn’t the first competition the swim club hasn’t been able to attend. Due to the number of winter swimming club programs, depending on the size of the meet, newer clubs are often left out of the mix.
“That is just the way it is. Next year will be different. Now that people know we are back on the circuit we will be able to get into more swim meets,” Assenheimer said, adding the club has been invited to next year’s Penguin Swimming event.
However, Assenheimer noted if they really wanted to the club could attend a competition every weekend.
“There are big swim meets that we could get into, that go until all the swimmers have gone through, but it isn’t the best environment for new clubs and swimmers,” she said. “It is very competitive and you wait a long time between races, plus the rules are very stringent. If kids get disqualified after waiting so long, they don’t feel good about the experience and it’s not like we will never go to those meets, but for now we want to ease them into the experience and make sure they have a chance to be successful.”
The next meet the club is planning to attend is a two-day Fast Eddy Sprint Invitational Feb. 10 and 11 at MacEwan University. The Barrhead Swim Club is also planning to host a mock meet in mid March in preparation.
