See you in Victoria

Unfortunately, I haven't had much time since yesterday for updates. Great night of swimming...more on that later.

The team went out to dinner after finals at Earls. Byron and I took Heidi and Christl to the airport at 5:30am to catch their flight. Monique is heading back to Kelowna with her family and the rest of us fly out at 2:30pm. I know my letter to team travel families said 1:30pm so just ignore that.

We are in the midst of packing and doing room checks. So far, Mikaela would win for the cleanest room (if there was such an award).

I am hoping, if we can get organized enough, we can take the kids to the Winnipeg Zoo before we leave for the airport. It is not a for sure thing at this point but rather a possibility. The kids have been wonderful and presented Byron and I with a framed picture of themselves and wrote separate "Thank you's" all around. That was so nice and very unexpected. I will have to take a picture of it and post it on here when I get home.

Okay...gotta run. See you all back home in Victoria.

Heading off to the Final Day of Competition

Here are some photos of the kids from this morning as they waited in the lobby and then headed to the vans. I also included a picture of the Concord Hall where we are staying. The accomodations have worked out great for feeding the kids and it is only a 7 min drive to the pool straight down the road. I would say, the only downfall is that the mattresses are incredibly hard.

Each morning, every swimmer must come up for breakfast regardless of whether or not they are racing that day. Usually everyone goes for warm up and then I go back and pick up swimmers who are either not swimming or have a long wait until their first swim. Today the 400 freestyle event will run quite long and it is the last of the individual events. We have so many who are just swimming the 400 free that Aaron is going to help me shuttle them back here after warm so I don't have to make multiple trips.

In the home stretch

What a great day today! It was sunny and warm. Our kids had lots of best times and qualified for 6 finals. Then we went on to earn 2 more medals tonight. What a great Gold medal performance by Cassandra in the 200m breast. We are all so happy for her. Also, Peter B was presented with his silver medal for the 800m freestyle he swam yesterday. The entire team came out again to cheer everyone on.

All the kids seemed to be in really great spirits at dinner tonight. The picture above is actually from breakfast. This is the chaperone's room...where all the magic happens (by magic, I mean cooking meals). At breakfast time, which is 6:30am each day, the kids just drag themselves in. Peter Inches is usually the last to arrive and very often someone has "borrowed" his bowl or his plate by then but he just takes it in stride. The girls usually find a chair in our room and sit quietly and eat (Caroline always checks the psych sheets). The boys simply retreat to the lounge like zombies. This is quite a contrast from lunch and dinner, when "all" the kids congregate in the lounge and it is just buzzing with activity.

I am truly amazed at how well everyone gets up on time and they are always waiting in the lobby when it is time to go. Not once, did I have to go find someone who was missing. They really have been great at communicating with each other and keeping themselves organized.

One more day of competition...

Sleepy Friday

Okay, so Friday's here and some of the kids seemed a little sleepy during their 800m freestyle. Well, mostly the girls. I am not exactly sure why. Perhaps because we are halfway through the meet and they are getting tired or it could be that today the girls had to race in the East pool for the first time. Yes, let's blame it on that. Tomorrow is another day and another opportunity to redeem themselves.

Tonight, for the younger ones, I really encouraged an 8pm bedtime for some, 8:30 for others and by 9pm it was really quiet on the first floor. So, fingers crossed for some really well rested kids tomorrow.

Congratulations to Cassandra on a great effort in the 100m breaststroke. It was exciting to watch. Most of the group had a swim practice in the warm up pool after Cassandra's race except for Finn and Peter Inches. They swam so well today that they got to sit it out and relax as a reward.

We had some weird weather today. It was really warm and sunny all day. Then around 7pm, out of the blue, it starts to rain hard. Then it gets even harder and the wind is literally blowing it sideways. The streets were flooding in a matter of about 5 or 10 minutes (I am not exagerating). It was really bazaar. Then Cindy and I look out the window and there is Taylor and Christl laughing and dancing around in the rain, soaking wet, barefoot and loving it (don't worry it was warm). It was very cute. I wish I had a camera at the time.

No pictures to add yet but I heard that Taylor did take photos today. I will try and get her to download them tomorrow.

Mosquito update

First of all, here is a link to some photos from our trip 2010 Age Groups. I have had to rely on swimmers to take photos as we are too busy cooking and chauffering to focus on photography. So far, Madison and Lisa have been kind enough to allow me to add some of their photos like the cute one above that Lisa took. Taylor has promised to take some photos for me tomorrow, so check back for those.

We had a great night tonight at finals. Two fantastic swims from Heidi and Peter who both earned a bronze medal (very exciting). We also had great efforts from Madison and Vanessa who finished 7th and 8th overall in their respective events. The 14 & under girls relay ended up 9th overall. Incredible support from the team on the sideslines. They did some fantastic cheering!

We managed to stump a few of the kids tonight with Beef Dip. Apparently, this is not a common meal but they liked it after they figured it out. As Liam says "What don't you understand? Beef Dip, the name says it all". However, he still had to demonstrate it for a few.

As for mosquitoes in Winnipeg...haven't seen too many...until today. Jessie Ogden got the first and only mosquito bite that I am aware of within the first day or so. However, they really have been scarse as the weather has been quite warm and breezy. Then today it clouded over and cooled off, and suddenly we started seeing them (although still nothing major). It did rain all evening though so we will see what tomorrow brings.

That's all for now. All is well in Winnipeg.

Day 2 in Winnipeg - Happy Birthday Monique!

So, I finally have a moment to myself...

Today, we had breakfast around 8am and then headed to the pool for a swim practice.

After lunch we dropped all the kids off at Silver City (Polo Park) to watch a movie "Despicable Me in 3D", where we met up with the non-team travel athletes Jessie M, Peter B and Cassandra. Then Byron and I took off to the airport to pick up Heidi and Christl. They literally jumped in the van and we drove them directly to the movie theatre to join the rest of the team. Miraculously, we got them there just in time to miss all the trailers and they were seated right as the movie started.

After the movie, we headed back to the pool for a second swim practice, then dinner, shaving and then bed. Yes, I did say shaving. This seems to be a common pre-race ritual at this level. I have seen some incriminating photos of certain people shaving certain other people. Perfectly innocent of course...for the good of the team...supporting your teammates...so they swim better tomorrow as they cut through the water with extremely smooth skin...pictures later (if I can get my hands on them before they get deleted).

Oh, and Happy Birthday Monique! It was Monique's birthday today however, we haven't yet celebrated as she went out to dinner with her family.

Well, that pretty much sums up the day. All the kids have been great. They are all so polite and helpful.

Early day tomorrow...wish them luck! Everyone on the team is swimming at least one event, 100 fly, 200 back, 50 breast or 1500 free.

We have arrived!

3 flights later, we are finally here in Winnipeg all safe and sound. It is a bit cloudy but warm. We are just waiting for Taylor's flight to arrive. Then we are off to check out the pool, register the team and have a swim practice.

Byron pre-cooked a lasagna, froze it and shipped it with us on the plane. So...easy dinner tonight. A huge thank you to Cathie Pickerl in Winnipeg who did some shopping for us and had kitchen utensils and the fridge stocked upon our arrival. What a treat! The kids were grateful to have some food awaiting them.

ISA heads to Winnipeg for Canadian Age Group Championships

Look out Winnipeg, here we come! Travel day tomorrow.

Check out all the photos sent in from AAA's

Click here to view all the photos sent in from various families that attended the 2010 LC Provincial Championships in Kamloops.

Thank you to Karen Bradley, Alex Brothers, Greg Lawrance, Ron Ogden and Sherrie Wickware. If anyone has any more photos that they would like to add, I am sure we have many parents who would like to view them. Please email akentpowell@gmail.com

2010 LC Provincial Champions!

Congratulations to Island Swimming's 2010 Long Course Provincial Team. Well done! This is also a good time to thank all our coaches and our chaperones, Margot Inches and Betty-Ann Hansen, who did a great job of looking after the team. They took on a very big job and these are the kind of volunteers who make it possible for our kids to travel as a team and perform well.

Thank you ladies! We all appreciate your hard work.

Congratulations to Madison Powell

Vancouver Island RAD Award Winner at BC AAA Provincial Championships

Island Swimming Fan Club

Island Swimmers are Preparing to rule the pool!!!

Team Meeting Before The Finale!!

Congratulations to Erin Lawrance

2nd place overall in the Girls 10 & under Swim Stars Competition!

Word on the street is that Neil is still looking for the matching shirt.

Island Swimming takes the lead on Day 3

It's official...the team scores at the end of Day 3 show Island Swimming in the lead with 2,963.50 points. This is only a slight lead over Vancouver Pacific Swim Club's 2,884.50 points. The Langley Olympians are still sitting in 3rd place overall with 2,131 points.

ISA and VPSC keep going back and forth with the lead so anything can happen tomorrow. Stayed tuned...

Day 2 and 3 in Kamloops

Day 2 Saw all Island Swimmers cheer on coach Cindy swimming 100 backstroke in 1:09.21 !!

Don't miss Ryan's 1500m freestyle final tonight at 5pm Watch it Live!

Ryan is swimming the 1500m freestyle final tonight in LA at 5pm. You do not want to miss this. You can watch it live on your computer. The link can be found on Island Swimming's home page. Go Ryan!

Photo Credit: Swimming Canada

Island Swimming in 2nd Place after Day 2 of Provincials

After day 2 of Provincials, we are sitting in 2nd place behind the Vancouver Pacific Swim Club by only 121 points. That is not too far out of reach.

I am not at the meet but have heard from some parents that the heat inside the pool is equal to the heat outside. So, it is making for some very grumpy parents and likely presenting a challenge for our swimmers who don't often have to contend with 30-35 degree weather.

I am including a photo that was sent to me by Ron Ogden (thanks Ron). If you are at the meet and have some photos you would like to share on this blog, either email me to set you up to contribute to the blog or email me some photos and I will add them for you. Please contact me at akentpowell@gmail.com. Any member of Island Swimming is welcome to contribute...parents, coaches or even swimmers.

Thanks,
Andrea

Day 1 in Kamloops- The Team Prepares to Race

Island Swimming 2010 LC Provincial Team