When the top 16 swimmers ages 16 and under in Canada head to the West Coast later this month, they’ll be taking a local coach along with them.
Dave Loyola, head coach of the Nose Creek Swim Association, will be one of the four coaches leading the Canadian Prospects Team to the Mel Zajac International Swim Meet at the UBC campus in Vancouver, May 27-29.
Between 300 and 400 swimmers from all over the world, including Calgary’s Jonathan Brown, 15, from the NCSA, who was the second-highest ranked male in Canada, will compete at the three-day event.
“As a result, with me being his coach, I got invited to coach the prospects team at the upcoming meet,” said Loyola, who’s been with NCSA for the past 16 years.
“We’re going to be there representing Canada against the international field. It’s exciting and it definitely brings a lot of pride for myself, and obviously for Jonathan Brown. Getting to work with some of the top athletes and prospects in the country for the upcoming Olympics (London 2012) or the Brazil Olympics (Rio de Janeiro 2016) will be a great experience.”
The Canadian Prospects Team was selected following the Western and Eastern Championships in February. It will be comprised of the top eight males and eight females ages 16 and under from that event.
Loyola, who has been to the Mel Zajac meet before, said the biggest challenge for him will be assessing the swimmers he’s not familiar with, all within a truncated timeframe.
“We’re actually heading out a few days early and do some testing with the swimmers,” he said. “From the coaching perspective, I think the only challenge is really getting to know these swimmers and what their strengths are without having met them ahead of time.”
The team will only have three days to come together and select its four-person relay groups. And with top-level competition, the coach knows it will be difficult for his team to produce top results.
“People from all over the world come out, so these guys will be a little bit hard pressed, but, with them being some of the top 16 and under swimmers, they should get a lot of good swims,” Loyola said. “And we’ll see how close we can get to those top guys.”
