With the Estevan Golden Eels hosting Swim Sask provincials only a week away, the final pieces have come together for another good, big event for the Estevan area.
The RM of Estevan Aquatic Centre event will show that the city is capable of having good events of this scale and magnitude here at Estevan on July 28.
“I think the theme has always been that we want to throw such a great event in Estevan,” said chief organizer Andrist. “That's what we're known for, whether it's for the Summer Games or the curling, Estevan can throw a great provincial event.”
The idea is that people from out of town can have another really good experience here from the facility to the post-meet awards and banquet.
“We have athlete gifts that are pretty special. We're not just throwing a granola bar in a bag, we were able to fundraise and get some athlete gifts for each swimmer that arrives,” Andrist said. “We're having our awards ceremony and banquet right after so we're hoping athletes transition right after the swim meet and go to the banquet.”
Organizers are still a bit uncertain as to exactly how many swimmers and their families will be coming from out of town due to the fact that qualifying is only happening this weekend at both Biggar for the northern half of the province and Gravelbourg for the south.
“Once all the swimmers qualify... six swimmers in each event will qualify. So six swimmers from the north and six swimmers in the south from category and age group and that makes up the tournament,” Andrist said. “Some kids might qualify for five events and some kids might qualify for just two.”
The swim meets are a big family event, as many parents, like Tania, spend a lot of time volunteering and timekeeping over the course of the year. One swimmer can often mean several family members are coming as well.
The volunteer base is strong for the event. Andrist said many times clubs will need outside help from other clubs for an event like this.
“We still have some positions that need to be filled but we have so many trained volunteers and so many people that want to give of their time to help with the swim meet,” she said. “We do have some, but Estevan is generally good at training and using our own volunteers. But it's also part of the swim community.”
There have been some very good performances lately from the Eels at recent meets, but the amount of points they will get at provincials will depend on who and how many qualify this weekend at South Sask Provincials in Gravelbourg. As a team, the Eels may been winning provincials once again depending on those numbers.
“I think it reflects on our great, strong winter programs that we have with both the (Estevan) Mermaids (synchronized swimming) and the (Estevan) Sharks water polo,” said Andrist. “But we also have kids that don't do any winter sports. They're hockey players or baseball players or dancers, but when swim season comes, this is their time in the pool. We have a healthy, big club.”
