Swimming Canada will be hosting six virtual national stroke camps in the month of January to bring national team members together for targeted presentations, educational content and team building activities.

The camps will take place virtually on two Sundays with a weekly template of practices to be completed in between by each swimmer and their coach in their own home programs to the best of their ability with available facility space and following all national and provincial guidelines.

The two online Sunday sessions will be an arrangement of stroke-specific educational content, athlete panels and talks, and break out room activities for our athletes to engage and work together.

This is a further reimagining of Swimming Canada’s normal camp delivery process due to the global COVID-19 pandemic. These camps follow a similar format to the successful virtual distance development camps that Swimming Canada hosted in November.

“The national virtual event camps are a great initiative in the current pandemic, and a way to engage with our athletes and coaches,” said John Atkinson, Swimming Canada’s High Performance Director and National Coach. “It is very important to share information, keep a sense of team and for all to learn from the content of the camps.”

The activities will be take place over two weeks, with the butterfly, backstroke, and 200m-and-down freestyle camps taking place Jan. 3 to 10, and the breaststroke, individual medley and 400m-and-up freestyle camps taking place Jan. 17 to 24.

A total of 125 athletes and their coaches from across the country have been invited to attend the camps, including current carded athletes, High Performance Centres athletes, and those with “On Track Times” from the 2019-2020 season.

Swimming Canada has also selected a head coach, assistant coach and mentor coach for each camp to help run the activities with the appointed Swimming Canada team leader and support staff.

“We have a great group of head coaches and assistant coaches working together to develop the program for each camp and they are supported by mentor coaches and team leaders,” said Atkinson. “To see 125 swimmers and 48 coaches involved will be great for all.”

These camps will be an opportunity for Swimming Canada’s national team candidates to come together again to learn and look ahead to the 2021 season.