Swimming, swimming, in my swimming pool: Corner Brook Rapids team back in the water

Competitive swimmers with the Corner Brook Rapids swim club lined up outside the doors of the Arts & Culture Centre pool Wednesday morning, waiting for staff to unlock the doors.

Provincially operated pools finally opened this week, after COVID-19 restrictions shut them down in March.

"It's like I lost a family member," said 16-year-old swimmer Stephen Milley.

"I really missed the pool. I even bought a wetsuit to swim in open water. But I'm very happy the pool is open again to train."

Milley was so excited to swim, he jumped in the water without his goggles.

Breaststroke, sidestroke, fancydiving too

His favourite is the backstroke.

"I like sprinting, but my favourite stroke is backstroke. It's really relaxing and I like to breathe every stroke," he said.

His coaches offered dryland training to keep him fit in March and April. Milley tried practising in open waterbut says it was just not the same as swimming in a pool.

"It's a lot scarier for me because I don't like open water as much. There are no flip turns and it's definitely not as good because you don't know how fast you are going, like at practice. I definitely like swimming in a pool a lot more."

The Newfoundland and Labrador government allowed municipal pools to open June 25 when the province moved to Alert Level 2 of its reopening plan. But the provincially run pools in Corner Brook and Gander remained closed.

The Corner Brook Rapids Swim Club members rented time at the locally run pool in Deer Lake 50 kilometres away to get swimmers back in the water.

When days are hot, when days are cold

"After quarantine, we jumped in to the Deer Lake pool and I remembered why I loved it so much. It just felt like home," said 13-year-old swimmer Natalie Parsons.

Parsons says she tried swimming in the cold water at Tippings Pond in Massey Drive, but was not able to perfect her form in open water.

"For me, the biggest difference is swimming in open water is [it's] just black. You can't see anything at all, and that just freaks me out. The occasional fish would swim by and all of a sudden it's like, whoa! I just don't enjoy it. Whereas in the pool, I feel like I can see everything and I know what's happening and it just feels better."

Club president Andrew Burke agreesclub members needed a pool to practise properly.

"For them to be in the water, that is where they need to be," he said.

• Pool closures making training difficult for 2 N.L. swim clubs

Burke started pushing the government to reopen the provincially run pools in Corner Brook and Gander in June.

The Department of Children, Seniors and Social Development said it was waiting on the arrival of specialized personal protective equipment for pool staff in order to open to the public.

It then announced the pools would reopen Aug.10.

• Provincially owned pools in Corner Brook and Gander to finally reopen

Don't you wish you never had anything else to do

Burke says swimmers with theCorner Brook Rapids Swim Club will practise for two hours every weekday leading up to the reopening of school.

He says his club is not at a disadvantage for competition season, but they have some catching up to do.

Parsons is just happy to be back in the pool.

"I really like the competition part.I think it's so fun. You get to spend the weekend with your teammates and just have fun," she said.

"You compete and sometimes you are not racing for a time but sometimes you are. I really enjoy it. I can't wait for September to start and we will be back in full-on training."

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