Coming off great summer of championship swimming, the Richmond Rapids coaching staff is extremely excited for the upcoming season.
Some fresh ideas for training, some new swimmers in the pool and changes in the coaching staff should have Rapids swimmers reaping the rewards at the end of the year.
The past two months were filled with successes in all aspects of the club's program.
At the Provincial AAA Championships in Victoria, the Rapids placed fifth overall in a highly contested finish. With 10 provincial gold medals and a slew of personal bests, Rapid swimmers were in the hunt the whole way.
At the Canadian Age Group Championships in Montreal, the boys' 15-year-old medley relay team captured gold. For backstroker Brandon de Costa (15), breaststroker Liam Kell (15), butterflyer Nicolaas Dekker (15) and freestyler Michael Jakac-Sinclair (14) it was the culmination of a year's hard work.
On the individual side Nick Dekker (15) won silver, while Celine Hong (14), and Hau-Li Fan (13) both received bronze medals.
Rapids' swimmer Nicholas Dekker was selected to compete at the Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloop. The meet pit the best 17 & under swimmers in all the western provinces and territories against one another. At the end of the meet Team B.C. won both the girls and boys side.
Dekker walked away from the meet as a solid contributor to Team B.C. with five medals - silver in the 100 and 200 butterfly and bronze in the 100 and 200 backstroke and the 200 IM. He was also on the gold winning relay teams.
For head coach Rob Petiffer, it was satisfying to see how far his athletes and program had come.
The excitement coming off such great results is evident in the way he is setting up this year's program.
"It's amazing to see what the swimmers' and staff's hard work has accomplished," he said. We look forward to continuing that effort through to next season."
With the addition of a new assistant head coach, the Rapids should be able to do just that. Kurt Murphy joins the coaching staff this season in the hopes of helping the program build on its success.
This is Murphy's seventh year coaching in the Lower Mainland region.
The Richmond Rapids Swim Club has on-going registration throughout the season. For more information visit www. richmondrapids.com or call 6042757946.
