12&under Spring Break training camp - a trip around the island!

Written by Karina McDougall, Provincial 3 swimmer

Day 1

We started off with morning practice on Wednesday at commonwealth, all the girls loved the training and our main set. -4x 400 free, IM with fins. Next, we traveled to Lady smith after stopping at the “old town bakery” and getting some cinnamon buns. In lady smith, we went to the pool to take a quick peak. It was a 4 by 25m pool where Colton Gonzales swims, his 100-backstroke time is 58s!

Later we went to the Nanaimo pool called Beban Park and met Marks lifetime lifeguard friend Jackal, it was a cute little pool with a sick water slide! After that we went to Qualicum to the Raven song pool and swam with coach Byron’s swimmers, one girl and six boys. The pool had great panoramic views of the urban forest.

After swimming we went to White spot (Karina’s favorite restaurant) for a nice huge dinner! Soon after dinner we went to the Holiday inn express in Courtenay/Comox, where we had a super nice pullout couch in the room with Karina, Sierra, and Maya, everyone (girls) had a pretty fair sleep only waking up a couple of times throughout the night.

Day 2

We started off day two with a nutritious breakfast at our hotel, straight after we headed to the Air force base pool for our morning practice with a main set of 6x 400m or 300m. after practice Maya’s dad, Mr. Marston brought us some delicious glaze donuts!

Once we finished our treat we went to an outside plane and helicopter museum where Karina was the first to kiss a helicopter! (Winning a toonie) soon after the museum we went to the ferry, on the way to Powell River, and played some frisbee outside. The ferry was small but cute. After the ride over we went straight to the pool and swam with the West Wind swim team.

Once we all changed after practice with Ian we went upstairs, and Megan lead us in a 30-minute yoga session. We then went to the “Coastal Cookery” and had some massive burgers! Right after dinner we went to the “Town Centre Hotel” for a good night’s sleep, all five girls had to share a room, but we still managed to get a good long sleep.

Day 3

After a long sleep we caught the ferry from Saltery Bay to Earls cove, straight to coach Sarah’s house/barn for a delicious lunch of homemade chicken noodle soup and fruit. After lunch the girls took a long nap/relax while the boys moved the wood pile outside.

At 3:10 we had a short dryland session in Sarah’s indoor gym, then we went to Sechelt pool for a long practice with a main set of 7x 100 IM changeover” afterwards we came back to Sarah’s house for barbecue! We had burgers and chips, noodles and so much more.

After dinner we relaxed for half and hour and then played manhunt for a while outside in their muddy field. We tuned down for some more time, with smores and a bonfire.

Then we cleaned the downstairs while most of the boys stomped like elephants upstairs, however Lukas, B did dishes for a very long time! Thank you, Lukas! Night at Sarah’s house was awesome, somehow Eloise didn’t wake anyone up at all!! Sleep was great, now we start day four.

Day 4

  Day four of the camp was fun as always, we started off the day (after a great sleep at coach Sarah’s house) with a short 30-minute practice. After a quick practice we headed straight for the ferry that took us from Earls Cove to Horseshoe Bay. Then, coach Allison made us a delicious lunch of before we headed off for our second ferry from Horseshoe Bay to Nanaimo. 

 After a long ride we headed straight for commonwealth pool for our last practice, and that was the last practice that concluded our trip! This ended our four day journey of 7 different practices at 5 different pools across Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast.