Catch the wave with the Williams Lake Blue Fins

WILLIAMS LAKE, British Columbia — Williams Lake Blue Fins has 50 pre-competitive swimmers and 30 competitive swimmers. There are pre-competitive and competitive groups. The pre-competitive group consists of Novice, Super Novice and Juniors. Generally, the age range for these groups is 7 – 18 with the ability to swim a length of freestyle and backstroke or completion of Red Cross Level 4. Older swimmers may want to maintain fitness and develop swimming techniques while younger swimmers acquire the swimming fundamentals and develop swimming skills. Swimmers in these groups swim two times per week. Pre-competitive is a great springboard for younger swimmers who would like to move on to the competitive groups.

The competitive groups are where swimmers hone their technique and skills. These groups consist of older Junior swimmers and 3 groups of Senior swimmers. Swimmers must be at least 8 years old and be prepared to swim anywhere from three to nine times per week with one to two session of dryland training. Swimmers compete in meets, including those outside of the area. The competitive groups require a commitment to training and competitions.

Recently, three of our top swimmers competed in the 2022 Canadian Swimming Trials in Victoria; a silver medal was won in the Western Canadian Championships in Edmonton; and our swimmers headed to the Spring Meet in Prince George. Upcoming events include the Zajac International Swim Meet in Vancouver and the TRU Wolfpack Invitational in Kamloops, both taking place in June. Our one little event showcases their skills at a local fun meet in town the last weekend of May. Swimmers will head to California in late July to compete against the best in the western coastline.

Because of the costs associated with booking pool times and with travelling outside the region, some fundraising is an integral component of the club, but we try to keep this to a few events each year. We would like to thank our sponsors for their support, such as the City of Williams Lake, Cariboo Regional District, Team Aquatic Supplies, Canadian Red Cross, Cariboo Dental Clinic, Williams Lake and District Credit Union, JumpStart, Do-More Promotional and Williams Lake Optometry. We are always seeking additional sponsors and welcome donations to our club.

This past March, Williams Lake Blue Fins completed a Swim-A-Thon which is an annual, national fundraiser that allows us to keep about 90% of the funds raised for our club. Our goal was to raise $8,000. Through donations and pledges, we raised over $10,000. A big thanks to the community for this support as we try to keep our membership costs down with these big events.

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