Tina Hoeben is the long-time Head Coach of KISU Swim Club in Penticton BC. An accomplished coach who has pursued education through the National Coaching Certification Program, National Women in Coaching programs and serves as a role model and mentor to other coaches across the province. Tina was selected as the Assistant coach for the BC Provincial “ID” team, participating fully in the training camps and in-season travel experience to the Euro 2020 competition in Luxembourg. As the Head Coach of KISU, she has coached many targeted athletes, provincial and national team members. Swim BC believes Tina embodies all the elements that signify coaching excellence. Congratulations on being named the first ever Swim BC Female Coach of the Year.
Brian Metcalfe is the Head Coach of the Langley Olympians Swim Club and the first recipient of this new Swim BC award. A highly respected coach in the BC and Canadian swimming community, Brian has many years of coaching experience and education. Selected as the Head Coach for the BC Provincial “ID” team for 2019-20, the program featured two training camps and an in-season travel experience to the Euro 2020 competition in Luxemburg. During the 2019-2020 season, Brian coached several Langley Olympians who were selected as targeted athletes and provincial team members and coached one swimmer to a provincial record. Brian is a major asset to the BC Swimming community and this award reflects that status.
Piero Porreca is a highly accomplished level 5 official who provides selfless leadership to the Swim BC officiating fraternity and swimming community. Piero is currently a Regional Officials Director in the Lower Mainland, a challenging role requiring liaison with Club Officials Directors, leading certification clinics, along with the provision of officiating services for many clubs. Piero also sits on the Swim BC Officials Committee, the key leadership group for BC swimming officials. As a very active BC Swimming community member, he has contributed a remarkable number of hours of volunteerism and leadership. His selflessness benefits thousands of youth in achieving their goals. Piero has contributed to countless competitions, from club time trials to provincial championships. He has been an exceptional mentor for other officials in our community. It goes without saying that officials are profoundly integral to our sport, Swim BC cannot thank Piero enough for his unselfish service.
Carmen Massey is currently in her second term as the President of the Columbia Shuswap Selkirks Swim Club’s. Her contribution to the fabric of BC swimming through her selfless efforts with the Selkirks has been significant. During her time as president, Carmen has initiated a focus on Board governance and fiduciary responsibilities. She has liaised with other clubs in the community to enhance opportunities and share resources, contributing to club membership growth of 40% prior to COVID. Balancing a full career, post-secondary education and family, Carmen has managed to carve out time to build a board culture that focuses on strategies and tasks, ensuring the club is sustainable through growth and accessibility. Swim BC profoundly values the strength of volunteers such as Carmen, providing selfless leadership and untold hours of volunteerism in moving our sport forward.
Since the beginning of the season we’ve been anticipating what a return to competition might look like, and what would be required to keep our swimmers, coaches and officials safe. To address this, Swim BC has determined that step one is introducing “in-club” Time Trials with significant amendments to required officiating complements, working to maintain total participants under 50 individuals.
Attached is the Swim BC “Return to Competition Guidelines Step 1 – Time Trials”. This document incorporates viaSport Phase 3 competition guidelines as well as Swim BC Return to Swimming Guidelines. Please review the document carefully and determine what your club’s time trial opportunities may be. Please note that Swim BC does not require a further club Board motion to adopt these guidelines.
Future Competition: Swim BC will be communicating a decision as to whether the Winter Championship Meets (Divisional and Provincial) will go forward as planned. That announcement will be made November 30th. Any possibility for a return to standard competition (intra-club, regional and invitational) will be made in conjunction with viaSport guidelines and the BCCDC / PHO orders.
Virtual Swim MeetsSwim BC has reviewing and working with a web-based platform that enables clubs to run competitions designed to permit an easy / fast set-up, provide minimal touch points, and can run virtual competitions (limiting numbers of individuals on the pool deck and reducing travel requirements).The US based company,Swimmingly, is used by many swim leagues and LSC’s. We’ve been working with Swimmingly in a pilot project designed to determine the appropriateness of the platform for Swim BC clubs. Three clubs, COMOX, LOSC, and HST have been participating in the pilot, providing us with a good sense of its functionality. Thanks to TylerLewall, Zach Haw, Brian Metcalfe and Brad Hutton and their clubs for their assistance.Next StepsWe’d like to encourage each club to investigate and thoroughly review Swimmingly and then indicate to Swim BC if your club might be interested in Swimmingly as a tool to address competition in the time of COVID, and beyond. Please provide that input using the Swim BC Swimmingly Inquiry Form by Friday, November 6th.Please note that Swim BC is investigating the opportunity to support each club in the province with the purchase of the Swimmingly Starter Kit. Its intended that the associated ongoing costs would then be the responsibility of the club. (ie/ monthly fee for the online Clubhouse).About SwimminglySwimmingly an easy-to-use app that runs your entire swim meet, handling the actual operations of the swim meet – on the pool deck (timing system, DQ process, scoring, ribbon labelprinting). Swimmingly shortens the length of the swim meet and reduces the number volunteers needed to run each meet.Each official uploads an app onto their phone and the starting, timing of races, stroke and turn judging, and scorekeeping is all managed by the app on the phone. No more stopwatches, clipboards, or paper. It can be set-up in minutes, and you can have the session up and running very quickly.The results are immediately viewable on the website or app for the phone and can be uploaded to Team Manager (if needed).The platform is an innovative way to conduct Time Trials and Swim Meets and gives the opportunity to run Virtual Meets by compiling the results from events run at different locations. The system can hook up to most starter systems or an external speaker. It does not interface with touchpads or scoreboards. It is best used for Time Trials, Virtual Swim Meets, and Developmental Meets. We are also interested in the new ways that you come up with using the platform… what about a skins meet, or a virtual meet with a team in Texas! There are many opportunities to explore.Swimmingly was developed by Charlie Houchin, US Olympic Gold Medalist, and has a team of swimming minded people. They have been proactive on working to ensure that Swimmingly suits our specific needs and have updated the software to accept our SNC ID Numbers as well as add a number of features that are relevant to us. QuestionsIf you would like more information regarding this Swim BC initiative, please contact Cory Beatt Swim BC Technical Director.
