Oak Bay Orcas Reverse Swim-A-Thon for a Cause!

As mentioned in my previous email one of the long time White Rapids swimmers and coach, Nyah De Pol, had a terrifying health crisis while travelling in Europe this spring. She became very ill and spent several weeks in hospital in Milan, Italy. Her parents travelled to Italy to be with her. They are home now but Nyah still has a long recovery ahead of her and unfortunately, the family is facing massive financial burdens.

 

The White Rapids are hosting a swim-a-thon in Nyah’s name with the goal of fundraising to help lessen the financial stress they are now facing and the Orcas' coaches have decided to get in the pool and participate in the swim-a-thon!

 

Have your swimmers ever wanted to tell their coach to kick faster, turn quicker, get the underwaters going off a turn, or to stop complaining?! Now’s their opportunity!

 

Coach Sarah, Coach Mackenzie, Coach Johanna and Coach Drew need your help in donations and motivation this Wednesday June 21st as they will be hopping in the water to swim a swim-a-thon in support of Nyah De Pol.

 

The plan for practice is as followed:

 

6:30pm—> Junior Dryland

7:00-7:30pm—> Junior practice

7:30pm —> Seniors to meet on deck to help juniors count and encourage coaches

7:30-8:30pm—> Coaches hop in to swim

8:30-9:00pm—> Senior Practice

 

If you are looking to help our coaches in their efforts to raise money to support Nyah De Pol’s family you can click on the link below

 

Swim-A-Thon for Nyah

 

The coaches' goal is to raise $500! Can you help them reach their goal or perhaps go beyond?!

 

We cant wait to see you all on Wednesday as we gather together and demonstrate the real spirit of summer swimming!

 

 

Courtenay Blue Devils Recap! 

What a great weekend we had in Courtenay! Beautiful weather (except when it rained!), happy kids, the most helpful and supportive group of parents, and an outdoor pool - what could be better?! Not to be too mushy but it has just been a delight to see the kids having such a good time together - hanging out in the tent, playing games, cheering each other on, and giving it their all in the pool. As part of this recap, I want to send two special shout-outs.

 

First, to all of those dads who spent their Sunday hanging out with us in Courtenay - thank you! We see you and appreciate you!

 

Second, special shout-out to Hudson who was awarded the senior VI Region Golden Kickboard Award at the meet this weekend. This is a new award that will be given to one junior and one senior swimmer at each meet for the remainder of the summer. It is awarded to swimmers who demonstrate a combination of sportsmanship and performance!

 

We can't wait to see everyone racing at the Sidney Piranhas Sprint Challenge next weekend!

 

 

 

Sidney Piranhas Meet Info and Sign Up!

The Sidney Piranhas are hosting their annual meet right here at home at Saanich Commonwealth Place from June 24-25th 2023. If your swimmer would like to participate, please sign-up here:

 

(SIgn Up Link now closed)

 

Courtenay Blue Devils Meet Info and Sign Up!

The VI Region's first outdoor meet of 2023 is coming up! The Courtenay Blue Devils Invitational meet will be held on June 17-18, 2023. If your swimmer would like to participate, please sign-up here:

 

(SIgn Up Link now closed)

 

Entries are due no later than June 11th at 8pm - no late entries will be accepted!

 

Any questions, please ask the coaches or reach out to us on Slack. If you haven't yet joined us, what are you waiting for?

 

OakBay Orcas Slack

 

CVB Breakers Invitational a Huge Success for Orcas Swimmers!

For those of you were there, you already know how great it was! For those of you who couldn't make it, this recap is to let you in on the terribly kept secret that the summer swimming magic happens on our meet weekends. 

 

This weekend I saw just over 50 Orcas' swimmers having a fantastic time - hanging out in the team tents and playing games (most of which were NOT screen-related), cheering each other on, and giving everything they had in the pool. And, not to leave out the parents, I saw so many of you getting to know each other, planning carpools, enjoying the sun, and volunteering on the pool deck. In fact, I think a little under half of the white shirts this weekend were from the Orcas! Incredible.

 

As a parent of swimmers who have historically been resistant to attending meets, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of encouraging our kids to get out to meets. While they might be a little anxiety-inducing at first, every single Orca I saw this weekend had a huge smile on their face. Some of those swimmers achieved amazing athletic feats (special shoutout to our flying phenom, Rowan Larkin, for really giving everything she had and breaking two meet records in the process!), others achieved personal bests, and some of our swimmers were disqualified ("DQ'd") and were rewarded by their knowing parents with a trip to Dairy Queen ("DQ"). There was no downside! This is truly the beauty of summer swimming - it's all about the community. 

 

I really hope that my waxing poetic has encouraged you to encourage your swimmer to sign up for more meets! Our next one is in Courtenay on June 17-18 (sign-up information will be coming as soon as we receive it!).

 

Finally, for those of you who were at the Duncan meet this weekend, you may have seen Jon and others taking photos on the pool deck. The Board is currently trying to find a way to have a central repository where members can access these and other meet photos (and upload their own) while ensuring we respect everyone's privacy concerns and comply with our media policy.

In the meantime, if you have photos you would like to share with the Club for us to use on our social media/website, you can do so by uploading them at the following link:

 

CVB Photo Upload Form

 

Although we would love to post every photo received, please know that this wont be possible and you should absolutely not take offence if your photo is not "the chosen one".

That's all for now! Thanks so much for a tremendous first meet weekend!

 

 

Practice Meet Sign Up

We are hosting a developmental practice meet on Wednesday May 24th at Crystal Pool from 6:30-9 (juniors can be dismissed earlier). Please sign up at the link below to let us know you'll be attending. We will also be running officals shadowing and training beginning at 6:30 so parents please stick around to help out.

(Sign Up Link now closed)

 

Cowichan Meet Info and Sign Up!

CV Breakers meet info can be found on our calendar and has also gone out to members by email, please don't forget to sign up before the May 19th 8pm deadline!

(Sign Up Link now closed)

 

Swim-A-Thon Smashes Goal!

Thank you to all of our Swim-A-Thon participants for another successful Swim-A-Thon campaign, you raised a grand total of $13,515.29 this year! This funding helps us pay for pool time, meet fees, equipment and so much more to keep our fees low and our club accessible. A list of prize winners will be posted shortly.

 

Coach Jon places 5th and 2nd at Trials!

Congratulations to Coach Jon on a fantastic effort at World Championship Trials finishing 5th in the 10km event and 2nd in the 5km event! Jon will now be focusing on his training for the next year in preperation for Olympic Trials. While we are seeing less of him around the pool as a member of our coaching staff, we will continue to cheer him on.

 

T-Shirt Design Contest! (Contest now closed, thank you for your entries)

Design our 2023 summer t-shirt! Contest is open to both winter maintenance and summer registered swimmers. Please submit your designs to [email protected] by April 22nd at Midnight.

The rules of the contest are as follows:

• entries must be sent to president@oakbayorcas.ca and received by April 16, 2023 at midnight;
   
• the e-mail attaching the entry must indicate the swimmer's name and age;
   
• the design must be an original design (no copyright infringements please!);
   
• the design must only include a maximum of two colours (printing costs are real!);
   
• the design must be able to fit on the back of a t-shirt;
   
• no profanities, inappropriateness, etc. which will be determined at the Board's discretion; and
   
• each registered swimmer is permitted to submit up to two entries.
   

The winner of the contest will be determined by our coaching staff who will be provided copies of all entries but not told who submitted them (this is me getting ahead of any pesky bias allegations!).

 

We will announce the winner shortly after the close of the competition. The design will then be provided to our in-house artist to make it "production-ready" before sending it off to the printer!

 

Coach Jon off to World Championship Trials!