Malcolm McCutcheon
Nelson Star
Members of the Nelson Neptunes swim team are prepared for their first meet of the summer season after a month of hard training.
For swimmers aged four to 18 the first meet gives them a chance to get used to competing in swim racing.
“It is about getting them back into the pool and excited about racing and introducing kids into the competitive side of swimming,” said Nelson Neptunes head coach Cynthia Pfeiffer. “We have a lot of new kids this year who have not been to a meet before so we are trying to get them out into a racing atmosphere.”
The Neptunes swim team, which is hosting the event, is made up of 50 kids and will have all but 10 athletes competing in the weekend meet attended by teams from all over the Kootenay region.
After not having a team last season the Neptunes are rebuilding and back for another season of competitive swimming.
“We are not looking to win or beat everybody. We’re looking to get kids involved in racing so that later on in the season we have more kids involved in the meet and be more competitive,” says Pfeiffer.
The competitive swim season is made up of seven meets with one occurring almost every weekend all over the Kootenay.
This weekend’s event — the Nelson Neptunes 46th annual Invitational Swim Meet — runs Saturday and Sunday at the Nelson and District Community Centre.
The next meet for the Nelson Neptunes is in Grand Forks and is designated as B meet which gives the newer swimmers a taste of competitive swimming.