By Josh Hall and Troy Gillard

after more than three months...

Catalina Swim Club finally back in the pool

Jul 6, 2020 | 2:07 PM

For a swim club, to stay afloat during a global pandemic is no easy task.

But the Red Deer Catalina Swim Club has accomplished it even with no pool to use over the last three and half months.

“It’s been a very challenging year for our swimmers because COVID stopped all the provincial and national competitions,” says Head Coach Lucien Zucchi. “It’s a lot of months working and training before you arrive at the big party, which is the cherry on the cake of everything you’ve worked for, so it’s been tough on all the swimmers. They stopped everything the day before we were to leave for provincials.”

Zucchi points out that the year-end competitions are even more crucial for older swimmers who are striving for post-secondary scholarships related to their swimming prowess.

The club’s annual Freeze or Fry meet being cancelled was also a tough blow.

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“That is more for the younger kids, but it was tough because it’s in our blood. It’s in our tradition to do that event and it’s big for the community,” he says. “Then there’s the economic part for the team where we earn some money from that for the club.”

One benefit the club has is the presence of swimmers who would’ve moved away by now for university, but have remained in town because all classes are going to be online this fall.

“The feeling has been good to see the kids with a big smile, coming back together and increasing the intensity of workouts,” Zucchi concludes. “Sometimes the job is challenging and you don’t know if you’re doing well, but since we’ve come back, it’s been super exciting.”

Zucchi, a native of France who’s been coaching Catalina swimmers since 2018, says it’s been important to transition swimmers from doing online training focusing on their physical health to a more social setting that benefits their mental health.

“We were able to give regular workouts to the kids online, and they were training almost every day. After seven to eight weeks though, that starts to feel really long, so we needed a few twists,” he explains. “Three weeks ago, we got really good news from the City that we were able to use parks and whatnot for dryland training and conditioning. The kids were so excited and me too as a coach.”

The swim club first returned to the water two weeks ago when they secured pool time at Burman University in Lacombe. On Monday they hit the pool for training at the Michener Aquatic Centre for the first time since March.

Looking ahead, Zucchi says it’s complicated to determine what requirements will still be in place as the year progresses. As of right now, however, they’re preparing for a regular start to the next swimming season in September.

“Maybe having had to stay at home all this time will make us better because we know what we lost,” he surmises. “It’s one thing to have a routine, but when someone takes that away, you realize the connections and ability you have. I think we’ll be way stronger after this.”