Hello Region of Waterloo Swim Club, With a new season on the horizon, it brings me great excitement to announce two new group coaches to our ROW Coaching Staff - Tyson MacDonlad and Russ Franklin. Russ Franklin Russ Franklin joins us in his 51st year of coaching. Approximately 30 of those years were spent working as a head coach, filled with numerous success stories including Provincial and National Medalists, having worked with athletes going on to represent Canada at international competitions, including the Olympics. Russ will be accompanied by his...

ROW is especially proud of our swimmers who raced in championship meets OYJs and Festivals last weekend! This year's Festival championship meet was incredibly full and busy. Our 12, 11, and 10 & under swimmers were especially full of energy as they raced at the Etobicoke Olympium over the course of 3 days. The Festival's championship put a spotlight on our 12&U athletes, who have made tremendous progress from the beginning of the season until now. Their hardwork and determination throughout the season showed through the results this meet! Meet...

The 2024 Cunningham Classic was held at our home pool, WLU, this past weekend and the energy on deck and in the stands was palpable! The first Long Course (LCM) meet of the year for AGD, RSA Comp, PD2, JD1, and JD2 -- and the first meet upon our return from March Break -- the Cunningham Classic helped us get back into the swing of racing. A lot of work went on behind the scenes to reformat the meet, which was strongly catered towards the needs of athletes for this...

Hello ROW families, The Eastern Canadian Championships were held at the University of Laval in Quebec City last week. This National meet is open to all provinces, but is typically targeted at the Eastern provinces, including Ontario. This is the final year the Eastern Canadian Championships will be held. ROW was proud to send 4 of our athletes interested in racing once more during the winter competition -- some with hopes of qualifying for Olympic Trials being held in May. Here is a summary of the results: Day 1 Le...

Ontario Swimming Championships This past weekend, Region of Waterloo Swim Club ventured on to their next Championship Meet of the winter competition window – Ontario Swimming Championships at the Toronto PAN AM Centre. The Ontario Swimming Championships have the toughest qualification times of all three provincial meets, hosting the fastest age group athletes across Ontario including several provincial record holders. You can find the qualification standards on our website: https://www.gomotionapp.com/team/canrwsc/page/for-swimmers/standards Historically this meet has produced several “above and beyond” moments, with Winter OSCs 2024 being no different. We witnessed many...

This past weekend, ROW took a trip to the Canada Games Aquatics Center in London, where our swimmers competed in their third championship meet of the winter competition window – The Western Region Winter Championships! This meet hosts 27 clubs from South-Western Ontario and is typically a very high-spirited, high-energy competition due to the number of athletes representing each club – Winter 2024 was no different. Although the format of the meet was relatively on par with past Regional Championships, there were a few minor changes: 13&O de-qualification times changed...

The Ontario Winter Festival Championships took place February 17-18 at the Etobicoke Olympium. Festivals is the highest level of competition for 12&U athletes in the province of Ontario. With consensus amongst coaches in the province, Festivals has been the highest energy competition from season to season due to excitement amongst the young age groups and their families, as well as the number of athletes in attendance. From a coaching standpoint, it is very cool to witness some of the best athletes in the country begin their competitive swimming journey as...

Thursday, February 15th marked the beginning of the 2023/2024 Championship Meet competition window with the Ontario Youth-Junior Championships held at the Markham Pan Am Centre in Unionville, Ontario. 80 clubs from across the province participated in one of the more challenging championship meets of the season. Some of the challenges imposed by this competition? · Just 6 weeks out of our Winter Break · Very early Long Course (LCM) championship (Athletes have been swimming mostly Short Course up to this point) · With OSC de-qualification times and relatively quick/tight OYJ...

More great swims during the A&B meet at the Etobicoke Olympium last weekend! Families persevered against the harsh weather conditions, and swimmers once again showed their commitment to the sport they love in the first meet back after the winter break. Our athletes were able to experience new opportunities to race for placement in two paralle meets (A and B) separated by time standards. Our 10 & under swimmers put their all in the pool despite the challenge of unconventionally early morning sessions, and the whole team achieved great results...

Hello again ROW families, As we head into the holidays and a break away from the pool, we'd like to celebrate our success from the BAC Team Showdown held this past weekend in Brantford. This meet is ROW's largest team competition of the season! Coming in as the reigning Team Showdown Champions, the group was eager to defend our title. That said, there was a new scoring format this season, which was relatively unfriendly to our roster size of 80 swimmers. This meet would award points based on High Point...