Submitted. Five Abbotsford swimmers were in action representing Abbotsford at the SwimBC AAA championships over the weekend starting January 31 through to February 3, the five; Tobyn Smith, Tavleen Grewal, Hannah Weinkauf, Ryan Han & James Lee, qualified for the meet in the Fall and have been preparing since for the opportunity which now can be called a success. 18 months ago the program took on a new direction, one that would create athletes that were competitive at the provincial level and national level.
PHOTO – From left to right: Tobyn Smith(10), Tavleen Grewal(11), Hannah Weinkauf(15), Ryan Han(11), James Lee (15)
The process was started with a hand full of young swimmers and a larger number of younger swimmers being developed to one day succeed the first generation of this new project.
If this project was going to be successful, there was massive amount of work to do both within the club and within the community. First and for most, swimmers and families had to buy into the idea that competing and wanting to win is OK and then they had to do it. The swimmers are now evolving to meet that idea and are proud of their accomplishments. Abbotsford residence should be proud of these young people. The recreational component of the program was well established and continues to thrive.
The new direction that these young swimmers have been a part of, has been a challenge for them, learning to operate at a high standard daily, learning how to be accountable, learning how to fail and find the lessons in failure and learning how to be successful. This challenge has lead them to a point where they are just now starting understand, the complexity of what they do and the work required to be successful.
Last year at this point, 1 swimmer represented Abbotsford at the Provincial championships, with no medals or finals appearances.
A year later, 5 swimmers are here with 2 medals and 10 finals swims. They raced well and have improved tremendously, however and they all leave this experience seeing how much more work and time they need to put in to be great in this sport.
At the SwimBC AAA championships this year finals results were:
Tavleen Grewal:
- 11th place 800 Freestyle
- Bronze 4 x 200 Freestyle Relsy
- 7th place 400 Freestyle
- 8th place 100 Backstroke
- 5th place 200 Backstroke
James Lee:
- 7th place 50 Butterfly
- 15th place 200 Freestyle
- 16th place 200 Butterfly
Ryan Han:
- Silver 4 x 200 Freestyle Relay
- 12th place 200 Freestyle
- 6th place 200 IM
- Silver 4 x 50 Medley Relay
Look for more from these Abbotsford swimmers in the future.
For live updates on the program visit the Facebook page.