Good things are happening at the aquatic centre these days. Renovations are in the works and an Olympic swimmer just dropped by to inspire kids with medals and a swim clinic in the hopes of restarting a swim program here.
I was eight when the pool opened. My parents seemed suspiciously happy about it yet they’d never actually swim there themselves.They’d just drop me and my sisters off and peel away like they were leaving work on the Friday night of a long weekend.
I didn’t mind a bit.
It wasn’t long before we found ourselves enrolled in every swim class offered and when some parents started a local swim club, we were the first enlisted. We’d go directly to the pool on the bus after school and wouldn’t have to be picked up until 5:30 or so, arriving home for dinner tired and sedate.
Looking back now, it’s clear why the folks were so supportive of our swimming hobbies — they didn’t like us and it was cheap daycare.
Oblivious to this, I started going three times a week. It was training — laps back and forth — but for some reason we all liked it, even when the other kids taunted us for wearing Speedos.
I still get that.
But it didn’t matter because suddenly we could outswim even the fastest of our non-swim club friends and personal best times dropped by huge increments as we grew stronger and perfected our technique.
We looked forward to weekend swim meets in Vancouver because it meant McDonalds and the occasional hotel stay; though we usually slept on the floor of some relative’s living room.
My introduction to the geography of the Lower Mainland revolved around aquatic centres — I still know Percy Norman Pool has a McDonald’s two blocks away. We met city kids and discovered that all the rumours about their peculiar ways were true. We came back with ribbons — sometimes even medals — and it wasn’t long before the Pender Harbour Seals were in contention for team trophies.
Nowadays, you can still spot the ex-swim clubbers at the lake in the summer. Maybe the Mom at the T-dock who hands off her kid to someone and swims to the island with the tell-tale breathing technique that only comes with forced practice.
For me, I can honestly say swim club changed my life — it led to lifeguarding and water polo in university and after. It provided me with a naive confidence that I couldn’t drown which proved helpful later in any number of water related sports from surfing to drunken cliff jumping.
I owe all of these experiences and skills to that little Pender Harbour Swim Club, training in a pool five metres too short, in a town three hours away from the "real" world.
