Training heats up for local swim team
Sports
Posted By Kevin Rushworth, Reporter
Posted 2 months ago
For the Crowsnest Pass Piranhas, every swim meet is seen as a build up to their regionals competition held during the first week of August.
Lisa Sygutek, swim team head coach, said the kids are dedicated and that they work extremely hard to achieve the best they can. At each meet, the young swimmers are taking time off their fastest lane swim, according to Sygutek.
"I don't care how the kids place in a swim meet," she said. "To win a race is great, but I think that you can't control how other kids are going to swim but what you can control is how fast you swim."
Intense summer swimming training began at the beginning of May and leads up to the regional competition. On Mondays through Thursdays, the kids hit the lanes for an hour and a half each evening. Now that school has finished, the kids can be in the pool for up to three hours a day.
For Sygutek, she finds swimming to be important because both girls and boys train together. As well, she said the sport could one day save your life. This year, four volunteer coaches are working with the swim club. She said the swimmers benefit from one-on-one coaching.
For her, she sees the importance of coaches for the Crowsnest Pass Piranhas and for her own time spent as a swimmer in university.
"I was able to do a lot with my swimming and that was on volunteer coaches who gave up their time, and their knowledge and their energy to make me a better swimmer," she said.
The four other coaches are Karen Hughes, Lyle Douglas, Liz Rypien and Sean Michalski. The Crowsnest Pass Piranhas recently returned from a swim meet in Taber.
