With a new name and a new schedule in the works starting this fall, the Woolwich Wave swim team – formerly the Elmira Aquaducks – is looking to appeal to more young people in the township.
“We’ve had quite a bit of feedback that people felt the name Aquaducks was a bit juvenile,” club executive Erin Schmidt explained. “You know, people kind of associate with a rubber duck and things like that. So, we are trying to attract more older swimmers. You’ll notice at the meets that the other clubs, Fergus and Kincardine, have a lot more swimmers in the 11-12 and older categories, and so, I think there are lots of kids in the Woolwich area that would be interested in our club, but we want to make sure that we’re not putting them off just with our name.”
She added, “We also wanted to expand it so that people know it’s not just for Elmira, because a lot come from the surrounding area.”
The organization is also adjusting their schedule going forward, to give swimmers in the summer session more time to train for the annual swim meets which take place in June, July and August.
Instead of four 10-week sessions through the fall, winter, spring and summer, there will now be three sessions, the first running October 6 to December 6, the second from January 5 to April 21 and finally April 26-August 4.
“It’ll be the same number of weeks overall, but having three sessions instead of four should give our swimmers more time to prep for the summer swim meets,” Schmidt said.
So far this season the club has participated in three meets, including the semi-finals held July 18 at the Woolwich Memorial Centre in Elmira.
There, club members performed well, with each swimmer qualifying for the final event next month in Baden.
For more information, visit www.woolwichswimteam.com.
