My Canadian Experience on a Tour Team

Meet Report
by Alex Hamilton

October 2010

Racing for team Canada I would have to say is the coolest and most interesting thing that young athletes in this modern day and age can do in the world of swimming.


Alex and Tristan Cote with Coach Murray in Santa Clara

This summer I had the opportunity to go to California with Swimming Canada, where our team competed against three American teams and one Mexican Team. It was a little colder in California than we had expected, well actually it was a lot colder than we thought it would be. We found out the hard way on the first night of finals when the weather dipped below 8 degrees, which is a lot colder when you're only in a racing suit. This was just another obstacle for the racers to overcome. The mental toughness of the Canadian swimmers is what really helped Canada springboard ourselves into first place after Day 1.

We learned our lesson and to adapt for the cold, we came prepared for Day 2 with blankets and sweaters and we did our thing in the pool and kept our first place status. Don't get me wrong. This meet wasn't all just racing. When we first arrived in California we were two days early for the meet, so we had training on both days prior to the meet. On the second day of training, in between training sessions, the team went into San Francisco and went to Pier 39 and had some team bonding time there. I think having Murray there for coaching was great. He not only bonded with the other athletes (he was responsible for 13-14 boys), but he still was able to help me out right up until I left for each race. We stayed in the residence of the University of San Jose and the time we had there, whether it was meal time or just hanging out with the guys and girls on our team and other teams, was great. Everyone on the team was really nice and the team had a sort of family feel to it. There was one little incident that happened in California to the majority of the males over the age of 14. All the boys were hanging around and the older boys just decided, hey why don't we just shave our heads. So about 11 boys ended up shaving our heads and we walked off the bus at the meet turning heads!

Enough about the meet. It's about what you put into it that really matters anyways. According to Malcom Gladwell, in order to be at your best you have to put in 10,000 hours of preparation. That doesn't mean you won't be good, but to be your best you need that magic 10,000. If I could say one thing to the swimmers in the younger groups that I would hope they would take away from this is that you can never take a break if you want to go far. You have to start now. You're never too young to be an amazing athlete and maybe you're not the best right now, but if you keep your head down and keep yourself going in the right direction, you'll get there eventually. For all you know you could be the next Michael Phelps. You would never find out if you didn't try. That's what makes this sport so interesting.

I hope this has given you something to keep you going in this sport. You need to listen to your coaches, train hard, sleep lots, keep up your schooling, and have fun and good luck.

Have a great season everyone.

Alex

2010 North American Challenge Cup Team
Picture: Swimming Canada