Red Fins great option for sport

Spending your summer mountain biking, kayaking or playing soccer and baseball are lots of fun, but don’t forget about swimming. 

For children six and up, joining the Red Fins swim team is “a great way to improve a life skill, while having a social aspect to it,” said head coach Gerrad Lewin. 

The Red Fins invited the Fitzhugh down to see them practice and show off some skills, Mon, June 1 at the Aquatic Centre. The younger children, called the minnows, spend practices improving their strokes as well as having a lot of fun. The minnows spend about 30 minutes swimming and then the last 15 to 20 minutes of practice playing games that incorporate the skills developed during practice, said Lewin.

For the older children, ages 10 and up, Lewin also makes sure the they have a great time. They practice their skills and prepare for competition. There are five practices a week for the minnows, of which they attend three, and seven practice options for the older group, of which they attend five per week. 

The program is set up so that participants can “mix and match” their schedule, said Lewin, who understands that especially in summer, there’s a lot going on in Jasper. However, “the bottom line is that swimming is one of those sports, just as with tennis, it’s a direct correlation between how much time you put in and your improvement,” said Lewin, “so the more committed you are, the greater results you’ll see.”

Even for the athletes that choose not to compete, Lewin tries to provide incentives for improvement. “I remember reading Mark Tewksbury’s (Olympic swimmer) book ... and he was talking about how as a young kid, his coach used to give him, if you got a personal best in the pool, you got a Sundae,” said Lewin, adding that Tewksbury also “said at some point that external motivator became an internal motivator.”

Lewin is keen to provide a positive experience for swimmers of all age. “I really believe that the cornerstone for these kids is getting the carrot out there and letting them achieve the goal,” he said, “you can’t push them along, it’s got to be internal.” 

Megan Warren and Mikyla Sherlow, both veteran members of the senior Red Fins’ contingent, will be competing this summer at the four regional events. “You get to set goals for yourself and I’ve definitely got a competitive streak,” said Warren, “competitions are for me,” she added. Sherlow also discussed the fact that you “meet new people at competitions and improve yourself,” she said. 

Although Warren “hates the getting up early part,” she joked, when she finally dives in the pool, she “loves it.”