If there’s one meet on the annual swim calendar that athletes look forward to it’s the one in their home pool.
This weekend, the Trail Stingrays will welcome teams from across the zone for the annual meet at the Trail Aquatic Centre.
First-year coach Samme Beatson knows full well the excitement, nerves and pressure that come with competing in front of family and friends.
“It’s a lot of fun for them to host the meet for their friends and competition from other clubs. It gives the kids a sense of pride and something to prove in the pool.”
The big advantage to hosting a meet is the ability to compete in a pool the swimmers constantly train in.
“It’s a great meet for the swimmers because they’re all comfortable in this pool,” added Beatson.
She’s eager to watch her team perform after it first-place finish in the season -opening meet in Nelson at the beginning of June.
The Stingrays easily amassed the most points and posted so many personal bests that it would appear tough to top so early in the season.
“So far this season the team has blown me away,” Beatson admitted. “I am amazed by how well this season has started and I know that we have amazing things yet to come.”
She isn’t concerned about the team trying to top the Nelson performance but rather is focused making gradual improvements.
“As long as all my swimmers are trying their hardest I cannot expect anything more from them,” said Beatson.
“For this meet I expect nothing but the best effort from all of my swimmers and with such a great group of kids I am confident that is exactly what I will get.”
The meet goes Saturday and Sunday, with the majority of heat races in morning and finals in the afternoon. Sunday afternoon will also feature the team relay events.
Meanwhile, some of the club’s swimmers were in competition last weekend at the Grand Forks “B” meet. The Stingrays posted a clean sweep of the Div. 4 boys’ division with Sharman Thomas, Logan Blair and T.J. Worsley taking gold, silver and bronze respectively. Jesse Bartsoff and Megan Robertson took the boys’ and girls’ gold in Div. 6. Maddy Fraser collected gold in Div. 1 girls, Sam Grebe took gold in Div. 8 and Daniel Merry won bronze in Div. 5.