Richmond Rapids were named Club of the Year at the recent Swim B.C. Coaches Conference and Awards Banquet.
The accolade was earned through steadily improved performances in recent years, including the club’s first provincial championship title.
Throughout the recent 2013-2014 season, the Rapids regularly placed athletes on major teams, from provincial to the Canadian Junior National team. The Rapids set four provincial records and one national record — the boys 14-and-under medley relay. Membership also grew to an all-time high, with over 400 athletes involved in the Watermania based club’s program.
Away from competition, the Rapids presented a well-rounded approach to the sport, including volunteering, education, and unique opportunities. This included increased coaching certification, officials training, sport psychologists, professional nutrition instruction, and visits from high-level swimmers.
“We are very proud to receive this award,” said head coach Robert Pettifer, “as it represents improvements not only in performance, but in club culture as well. This is a great starting point for us to build on as we chase bigger and more difficult goals.
“Thank you to the hard working athletes and parents who continue to make the Rapids an amazing place to train and race. The success of this club is due to your continued devotion to a vision of greatness.
The club received more good news when longtime Rapid Nicolaas Dekker earned carded athlete status for the 2014-15 season from Swimming Canada.
Dekker will receive top-tier funding to train and compete, which includes training trips, travel meets, any needed equipment and racing suits.
He is the first swimmer to come through the Rapids’ entire program and finish on the national carding list. He started with the 10-and-under age development group after coming over from summer swimming.
It only took one season to qualify as a provincial age group swimmer. He eventually graduated up to the club’s National level program, working under Pettifer.
Dekker swam for Canada at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii this summer and is now a first-year student at the University of Alberta.
National level carding is only given to a select group of high-performance athletes. Recipients are expected to improve at international levels for the duration of their carding, which is reviewed annually for renewal.
What made Dekker a strong pick for Swimming Canada was not a single, golden-moment swim, but a collection of consistent improvements and high-level dependability for over a year. Regardless of a meet’s importance or environment, Dekker was regularly achieving personal best times across all events, and simultaneously posting nationally competitive times in butterfly, his strongest stroke.
Meanwhile, Rapids para-swimmer, Emily De Boer, was selected to attend the Swim BC Para-Swimming Camp held this past weekend at Watermania.
The three-day camp not only included several workouts, but also sessions on nutrition and sport psychology. The camp culminated in a sanctioned time-trial, as an opportunity to get in some focused racing early in the season.
De Boer’s improving performances through last year’s long course provincial championships has put her on the regular list of attendees, which will included para-athletes from all over BC.
