The Red Deer Marlins Swim Club is returning for their 2018 season and with several swimmers already registered, things are going swimmingly for the summer club.
“The season will start on May 1st and we have 77 swimmers registered, which is exciting and fairly similar to what we had last year,” Secretary Erika Grobb said.
Grobb said the Marlins Club is about developing better, stronger swimmers.
“We have had a number of new families join the swim meet team this year and it is exciting to give them the opportunity to develop their skills. It is a bit of a soft entry to what competitive swimming is like,” she said.
While the club takes their meets seriously, organizers also look to ensure that Marlin swimmers enjoy their summer.
“We understand that it is summer and kids want to have fun,” Grobb said. “We try to balance the skill and hard work portion with social activities for the swimmers and their families.”
Many of the clubs the Marlins square off against are year-round swim clubs, meaning Marlin swimmers need to develop quickly to compete.
“Amanda (Halford) and the rest of the coaching team have put together a comprehensive strategy to ease swimmers back into the program. Some of them may not have swam during the school year,” she said.
For more advanced swimmers, the Marlins are implementing a new training regime.
“We are partnering this year with 360 Fitness on a dryland training program for our intermediate and senior swimmers,” Grobb said. “It gives them the chance to develop their strength, which will support their swimming and reduce repetitive stress injuries which are often associated with swimming.”
Swimmers quickly are afforded the opportunity to compete with the Marlins.
“The first meet of the season is a mini-meet later in May and then our Red Deer Marlin meet takes place the second weekend of June,” Grobb said. “It is always nice to be the host team and you also have that home advantage.
“Because it is early in the season, it gives a lot of our new or younger swimmers the comfort of being in a pool they are used to before they travel around Central Alberta.”
Grobb added the majority of swimmers come from Red Deer due to successful programs throughout the region.
The Marlins are also still taking registrations for 2018.
“We find the happy balance is around 100 swimmers but we have gone all the way up to 115. We are accepting registration all the way up to July 15th,” Grobb said.
