Welcome

While the 2020-2021 season was again faced with challenges and uncertainty, our club has showed resilience and determination in supporting our swimmers. While we implemented procedures and processes which allowed us to maintain operations when at all feasible, our swimmers faced another challenging year with the lack of competitions and consistent training. Despite all of this, we did finish the year on a strong note hosting two long course competitions and cheering on Cascade swimmers, past and present, on the world stage at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the International Swimming League. With this renewed excitement for the sport of swimming in Canada, we now begin our 54th year serving the Calgary community.

We announced early this year some changes to our staffing. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge and thank Marc Tremblay for his years of commitment to our swimmers and the club. Marc will be missed by many, but we are excited for him as he embarks on this great opportunity as Head Coach of the Kelowna AquaJets. Congratulations to Coach Kristina Crook as she steps into the role of Head Championship Coach. As well in addition to her role as Covid Officer, Ella Wilson will also be supporting us in the Cascade Office.

While we were limited in our competitions, we did see many or our senior swimmer excel at Olympic Trials and then at the Olympic Games.  Our own Cole Pratt debuted as a member of the Canadian Olympic team swimming in the 100 Back. We also saw Cascade alumni Rebecca Smith, Yuri Kisil and Morgan Bird (Para Olympics) don the red maple leaf with Rebecca and Morgan bringing home a silver and bronze medal in relay events respectively.

The ISL is in full swing in Italy also represented by our Cascade swimmers- Cole Pratt, Ingrid Wilm and Yuri Kisil. Both Cole and Ingrid have excelled breaking Canadian Records and last weekend Ingrid won not only the 200, 50 and 100 Back stroke events- but also the 50 Backstroke skins! Very exciting for our young swimmers to watch these events as they demonstrate what hard work and commitment (and of course talent!) can lead to. 

A big thank you to our volunteers that stepped up to host our two summer events under some modified rules, as well as our board members and parents who have helped us do what was necessary in order for the kids to stay in the pool.  We know it has not been easy, and we appreciate your patience and support. I would like to thank my fellow Board members and Cascade families as I am personally appreciative of their continued support. Let’s all work together to continue to face challenges and uncertainty while putting our swimmers experience at the forefront.

Sincerely

Kim Connell

President

Welcome to the 2021-22 Swim Season with the Cascade Swim Club

It is with great anticipation that I extend a warm welcome to returning and new members of the Cascade Swim Club. We all hope that the challenges of the past 18 months will recede into the distance and that the great sport that we know and love will resume and begin to resemble the programs that we are all familiar with. We do continue to face a series of challenges however we have all shown that we can and will find a way to be part of a successful program and an enjoyable and fun time.

During the past year Canada competed successfully on the Olympic and Para Olympic stage and Cascade was an integral part of these global events. Cole Pratt was selected as a member of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team and Cascade team member Morgan Bird, swimming out of the Montreal based national para centre program, competed at the Tokyo 2020 Para Olympics. Cole swam the 100m backstroke placing 26th and Morgan swam the 50m freestyle placing 6th. Morgan was also a part of Canada’s freestyle relay winning the Bronze medal.

Cascade operated throughout the interrupted 2021 season and in the final summary of the season’s performances put together virtually by Swimming Canada Cascade had numerous swimmers finish at the top of their age group: Liam Weaver 50 free and Addison Butler 50 and 100 free.

It is anticipated that the traditional Alberta and Canadian national competitions including the Alberta championships in February and July, the Alberta provincials in March and July, the World Championship selection Trials in Victoria, April 5-10, the Westerns Nationals April 21-24 in Edmonton,  the Canadian Junior and Senior Nationals, July 25-01 in Parc Jean Drapeau, Montreal will be a part of the competition calendar this season.

With the cancellation of many of the international meets due to Covid restrictions many of the meets that were to be held throughout 2021 were cancelled/postponed and are to be reinserted into the calendars compressed into the three intervening years leading up to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. 

Meets such as World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan in May, the Commonwealth Games in July in Birmingham, England will have an impact on the domestic and international calendars. You will notice that the summer championship will be a combined Junior and Senior meet in Montreal’s Parc Jean Drapeau, an outdoor venue that was the site of the 2005 World Aquatic Championship - a very fast pool by the way and a great place to visit for family and friends. All you swimmers and families plan on qualifying and attending, it will be sooooo much fun! 

With the success of our Cascade swimmers where we have seen Cole Pratt become the first Cascade swimmer to reach the Olympic Games swimming training exclusively out of the Cascade program and now with Ingrid Wilm’s recent swims where she has put herself into the Canadian and World scene with her Canadian record performances in the ISL meets in Naples, the question is who is next? Finding the next Cascade swimmers who will insert themselves into the provincial, national and international scene and opportunities will be the challenge for all of us as we go forward over the next quadrennial.

At the time of writing this welcome letter, Cascade has three swimmers, Ingrid Wilm, Cole Pratt and Yuri Kisil competing in season 3 of the International Swim League in Naples, Italy. Ingrid has broken the Canadian Senior 100 back SCM record three times winning her first ISL victory and numerous seconds and thirds and Cole has had his highest placing with a second in the 200 back. Yuri has been part of the Men’s relay gold medal team and also made the prestigious Skins Final. At this time it looks like our Cascade swimmers will be competing in the playoffs in Eindhoven, Netherlands in November as the Toronto Titans (Yuri and Cole’s team) and the LA Current (Ingrid’s team ) will be in the playoffs

Cascade’s program prides itself on building great people who are also great citizens and representatives of their family, the swim community, their community, Calgary, Alberta, Canada and of course the Cascade Swim Club.

With the successful integration of the comprehensive dryland program,  the excellent coaching of the swimming program offered by Cascade has become the industry standard for the implementation of the LTAD (Long term Athlete Development) for swimming.

Your Cascade  swimmers will learn excellent values, life skills and disciplines and as well will be in one the world’s leading swimming performance programs.

Led by our excellent coaching staff:  Wendy Johnson, Jasen Pratt, Jacquie Pratt, Cara Clifford and our newly appointed Championship coach, Kristina Crook the Cascade program has a strong base of swimmers competing from the grass roots level through to the provincial representative teams, all the way up to the Youth, Junior and Senior Canadian National and ISL Teams. 

Swimmers will experience the wonderful lessons to be learned from being challenged and trained under the tutelage of our staff and will share in the excitement of our cutting edge approach.

Looking forward to seeing you on the deck and for a successful continuation of the CASCADE way.

Swimming Faster,
Dave
David M. Johnson
Director of Swimming and Head Coach

Welcome to Cascade!