INTRODUCING PACIFIC WAVE

Jan 13, 2021

Swim BC is pleased to be introducing a new program, the Swim BC Pacific Wave. An email was sent to each club with eligible swimmers. It is the club’s responsibility to notify their swimmers of the program. Only selected swimmers and their coaches will be able to register. The program will be delivered by Head to Head and is an Olympian led 10 week mentorship program presented by Swim BC. This program is free to all identified swimmers and their coaches and will allow participants to interact directly with Olympic swimmers and hear from them about their experiences and the strategies they have used through their swim journey to reach success. Selected swimmers and coaches will receive exclusive weekly content and access to Head to Head self-reflection workbooks, discussion guidelines, professionally created videos from Olympians and so much more; all to help you sharpen mental skills during this challenging time. In addition, participants will be receiving technical content from Swim BC to support your swimming development. The program will kick-off on Saturday, January 23rd with the first live chat with an Olympic swimmer for all registered swimmers and coaches.

BC Government announces Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport

Nov 27, 2020

Sport is an important part of BC communities, and many organizations have been striving to see Sport represented in our government. With the announcement of the BC government’s new cabinet, Sport has taken a big step and is now been named to a ministry. Swim BC would like to congratulate The Honourable Melanie Mark, M.L.A Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport. We welcome her to the sporting community and are eager to work with her in the future.

Introducing The Swim BC Officially Unofficial Rankings

Nov 26, 2020

The O.U. Rankings

This program is intended to be an opportunity for all clubs in BC to share performances, whether they be from a sanctioned time trial, a race rehearsal in workout, a get-out swim or one a last rep in a descending set.  Coaches are encouraged to submit any times; Swim BC will rank and publish daily (or as best we can, pending a high volume of submissions)

When: November 30 – December 22, 2020 // January 4 – 31, 2021 (collect and submit times over Christmas break, we’ll rank them when staff return from holidays) Where: Club training session or scheduled time trial Who: All Swim BC Swimmers registered in the Competitive Category Why: We know training through COVID is becoming a challenge for all.  With no specific and immediate competitive goal on the horizon we’ve created an opportunity to get a relatively quick sense as to where swimmers stand.  In discussion with several coaches, we thought it would be a positive step to bring the province together, create an opportunity to see what your competitors are doing and how you compare Events: All Olympic, Paralympic and World Championship events Age Groups: 12 & Under; 13 – 14; 15 & Over The Details: Swim BC will be collecting and publishing results from time trial or coach timed swims though December and January. The opportunity is simply to provide an outlet for racing and inspire your swimmer’s competitive spirit.
  • Swimmers must be fully registered in the appropriate “Competitive” category.
  • We’ll accept times from a sanctioned Time Trial, unsanctioned Time Trial, or any other swim deemed fair by the coach. It goes without saying that honesty will be the best policy when submitting times – the only way this program works if an ‘honest watch’ is used!
  • We’ll start with SCM rankings – we’ll consider LCM if we get enough submissions.
  • Results will be compiled and updated daily (or as quickly as possible) on the Swim BC Website.
  • Results will be ranked by Age Group, Gender, and Time.
Coaches submit swimmer’s times to Cory Beatt via the O.U. Rankings Submission Spreadsheet. Please indicated the following information:
  • Name (if Para – classification)
  • Age (at the time of the performance)
  • Club
  • Event
  • Course – SCM (we’ll do LCM if there’s enough demand)
  • Time (mm:ss.00)
  • Type of Start – please correct the time if alternate starts are used (we recognize not everyone has access to an idea racing environment)
    • Blocks start – no time correction
    • No blocks / start from deck – .5 sec correction (time – .5 sec = submitted time)
    • Push start – 1.5 sec correction (time – 1.5 sec = submitted time)
Be Safe – Have Fun – Swim Fast 

Provincial Health Order affecting the Lower Mainland & Fraser Valley

Nov 12, 2020

This bulletin is an update to the bulletin sent November 9th, 2020. Understanding this new Provincial Health Order has created confusion in interpretation at all governing levels including viaSport. Swim BC is attempting to communicate in a timely and accurate manner given the immediacy of the PHO.  Once again, we received new information and interpretations from viaSport last night.  The purpose of this memo is to present this new information to the affected members of Swim BC in a timely fashion.  viaSport and Swim BC thank everyone for their patience as we navigate the many grey areas. The Order and what it means to swimming: The Order States: “No person or municipality may provide or host and no person may participate in an indoor sport unless the sport involves no physical contact between the participants.” Clarification:
  • Indoor sports can only conduct physically distanced activities. This does not mean all indoor sports are in Phase 2. Some Phase 3 activities may be possible as long as physical distance can be maintained along with other safety measures that we have implemented in return to sport (e.g., increased cleaning protocols). It does mean that the cohort concept is suspended, swimmers must maintain physical distancing while training. Lane density during training must accommodate 2m physical distancing at all times.
The Order States: “No person may attend as a spectator at an indoor sport activity unless this is necessary to provide care to a participant.” Clarification:
  • We understand that “unless necessary to provide care to a participant” can be interpreted many ways. viaSport is working with public health to provide more clarity.
The Order States: “No person may travel to or from the affected area or between the regions of the Fraser Health Authority and the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority for any sport related activity, including practice, training, games or tournaments, unless they are an identified by Canadian Sports Institute Pacific as a high performance athlete affiliated with an accredited provincial or national sports organization and are already training in the affected area and subject to the safety guidelines of their provincial sports organization.” Clarification:
  • The Order now clearly states that travel is not permitted for any sport activities. However, high performance athletes and their coaches are permitted to travel to, from and between the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal Health regions. High performance athletes are individuals that have been identified to a targeted athlete list with Canadian Sport Institute Pacific by their PSO or NSO.
The Order States: “No person or municipality may provide or host and no person may participate in a group indoor fitness activity until guidelines for group indoor fitness activities have been approved by the provincial health officer and the person or municipality who provides or hosts the activity has submitted an updated safety plan in accordance with those guidelines with respect to the activity to the Medical Health Officer and the safety plan has been approved. Once a safety plan has been approved, it must be posted in a place easily visible to participants.” What it means:
  • Group indoor fitness activities (e.g., dance, spin, etc.) will need to have an approved plan before they are able to reopen and operate again. This Order is NOT a requirement for sport / swimming. viaSport indicates that some sport organizations received conflicting information directly from health officials. Now that the Order has been made available in writing, viaSport will work with health agencies to improve the interpretations and communication.
We know there will be more questions arising as you develop and refine your swimming-specific procedures based on the details of the new Order. Swim BC will continue to work with viaSport to maintain an aligned voice. viaSport will continue to work with the Sport Branch and Public Health to provide updates based on further direction and/or any new information that may arise. If you have any issues in interpreting this memo, please do not hesitate to contact Swim BC.
Swim BC President’s Award

Swim BC President’s Award

Nov 6, 2020

Jeannie Lo (CDSC)

The Swim BC President’s Award is awarded to a long serving individual within the BC Swimming Community who has had a significant and lasting impact on the direction of the sport. This year’s winner is Jeannie Lo from the Canadian Dolphins Swim Club. Swim BC profoundly values the strength of our club system. It is volunteers such as Jeannie that provide the leadership and untold hours of volunteerism that move our sport forward. The work she has done to not only advance the Canadian Dolphins’ “Return to Swimming” opportunities to gain access to the Vancouver Aquatic Centre in the face of challenging conditions, but to also represented all clubs that access pool time at the VAC, has provided a strong voice for our sport. We cannot thank Jeannie enough for her service to BC swimming.
Swim BC Club of the Year

Swim BC Club of the Year

Nov 6, 2020

Hyack Swim Club

The Hyack Swim Club has a rich legacy of performance, since their inception in 1973 through to and including this past 2019-2020 season. They demonstrate strong governance; have a highly qualified and fully registered coaching staff; they rank at the top of the province in combined club FINA points; combined Provincial Champ scoring; total number of National qualifiers; number of registered officials; have demonstrated a positive swimmer registration and retention trend; and fully participated in all Swim BC Provincial Championship meets. Swim BC congratulates the Hyack Board of Directors, coaching staff, swimmers and parents on being named the Swim BC Club of the Year for 2019 -2020.

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