Photo Submitted By Caroline Roschat
The North Delta Sunfish Swim Club is all set to host their annual Invitational swim meet at Sungod Recreation Centre this weekend July 22-23.
The Sunfish Swim Club has been providing a great program for kids in North Delta for over 50 summers.
The club is affiliated with BC Summer Swimming Association (BCSSA) and teaches kids all the different competitive swim strokes in addition to offering water polo and artistic swimming.
The swimmers attend competitions all summer long, aiming to improve their times or skills enough to qualify for Regionals and then on to Provincials.
Last summer the club placed 9th out of 60 clubs around the province and this year the Provincial Championships are being held in Nanaimo.
This summer Sunfish has a new Head Coach at the helm, Olivia Roschat.
She is excited to be in the role for the first time and she is hoping the club will have a successful run up to and including Provincials.
Olivia started with the club at age 7 and competed in all disciplines the club has to offer.
She is going into her third year as a varsity swimmer with UVIC and has competed at U-Sports and the Bell National Trials. one of the only swimmers to do so with only swimming in a summer club.
She is also a two time CanWest winner of the Student- Athlete Community Service Award.
Her hope is to encourage more young female athletes to continue with sport along with
community outreach.
Sunfish is able to offer great employment opportunities for Women in Sport due to the Lead
Forward Grant through ViaSport.
She, along with other female coaches, Isabel and Sophia Howie with Water polo and Jenna Dickie, Head Coach of Artistic Swimming are hoping they can continue leading many young girls and show them sport can be something they participate in for life.
Most young female athletes drop out of sport by age 17. Isabel and Sophia are currently developing a Girls in Sport module for coaching.
Many non profit clubs are trying to build back to pre Covid participation levels and the coaches hope to keep the club’s success on the upswing.
Many of our younger coaches/players who are involved in Water polo are currently participating in the Junior Olympics in California.
Two past female players who grew up as members of Sunfish, Hayley McKelvey and Gurpreet
Sohi, have represented Canada on the Women’s Olympic team.
Come by and watch some great races this weekend at the Sungod Pool located off 112th.
The club will be collecting non perishable items for Delta Assist during the meet and
anyone is welcome to contribute. All items will be collected at our concession stand at
Sungod.
As a fundraiser we are running a 50/50 draw through Raffle box online! You don’t even
have to leave the comfort of your home to enter. It’s open to all BC residents over the age
of 19.
The draw will be held Sunday July 23rd at 3pm so get your tickets and let’s get the pot
up with the money raised will help pay for club expenses such as pool rental fees and
equipment.
Sunfish also offers a twice a week swim maintenance program during the fall and winter months
at Sungod. Check us out!
See you at the pool!
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