Strokes of Genius: 2nd Term Swimming

18 March 2016Nick P, Privett ‘16; Photo by Jared B, Privett '16

This past term, a group from all grades and backgrounds signed up for Brentwood’s swimming program. With Ms. Whitney as our supervisor, we were always self-disciplined but still having a great time.

Swimming has a plethora of benefits. It is a 0 impact sport (the only one that Brentwood offers) which makes it ideal for those with stiff and/or sore joints. It is also an all-body exercise, a physically demanding combination of power and cardio. It works the muscles in your legs, arms, hips, back, shoulders, etc, and also your heart.

Headphones in and swim bags by our side, we would hop on the bus and head to the Cowichan Aquatic Centre. This pool has a wide variety of facilities available including a wave pool, lazy river, slides, jacuzzi, and much more. Of course we were able to enjoy these but only on select days when we finished our workout early.

In our group, there were “newbies” who had never swum lanes before, and people like Gareth L who swam close to a national level. With such a great variety in skill and experience, our coaches had to work extremely hard to come up with challenging workouts for all of us, yet programs that everyone was capable of doing. They managed to sort us into four lanes; a beginner, two intermediates, and a fast lane.

Varying with each lane, our general warm-up consisted of 200 meters (or 8 laps) of everyone’s favorite “choice” stroke. After this, we would work on a particular stroke, or something specific like diving or flip turns.

It was a very fulfilling sports term, but now we are ready to move from the pool into more outdoor-oriented sports and the warmth of spring. We want to thank Mrs. Whitney, and our coaches, Arianna, Bronwyn, and Sylvia for all their hard work.

Nick P, Privett ‘16

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