For the better part of the two-decade era when he served as head coach of the Laurentian Voyageurs' swim squad, Phil Parker extolled the virtues of the team aspect of university swimming.

While pretty much all of his athletes had come from club settings that attempt to create links in terms of team bonding through various age brackets, the truth is that individual development was, more often than not, at the very top of the priority list of those teenagers who sought to compete beyond high-school level.

In the OUA, by contrast, everything was driven towards team results, with increased emphasis on relay races and such. And while it is clear that individual success ultimately drives team success in this sport, there was little doubt that the balancing act between the two teetered far more around the 50% mark than with most if not all youth programs.

All that being said, this current group of Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club (SLSC) seniors (some 16 swimmers in all) is pretty darn special – certainly in regards to the overall togetherness of the crew.

“We have a really close-knit group,” noted 16 year-old SLSC veteran Blake Gough. “We all like being here and all want to see each other get better.”

In a setting that calls for a steadfast adherance to training programs based on a great deal of repetition, highlighting the need to simply build the mileage / endurance while tweaking with the more technical stroke skills along the way, the ability to remain motivated through lap after lap of practice session is critical to reaching one’s goals.

“I am in a really good place with my swimming,” said Gough, all while still acknowledging that he is poised for what he hopes will be his next significant breakthrough in terms of personal best times. “I am just having a lot of fun. I really like swimming.”

“I like the team I am swimming with.”

That is certainly something that SLSC head coach Dean Henze considers a matter of personal pride, looking to create an environment that allows personal athletic growth to flourish, all within a landscape that helps to make the journey an enjoyable one, in spite of the heavy workload of swimming that is required.

Siblings Ewan Duncan (16) and Callum Duncan (13) have been mainstays of SLSC since the pre-Covid era. While older brother was immersed in swimming lessons earlier, the tandem arrived on the club scene at roughly the same time, far different swimmers now than the day the first began to follow in the father’s (Craig) footsteps.

“At the start, I was really good at the breaststroke,” said Callum, his team back in practice mode, full tilt, following a short respite for the holidays. “As I trained more, I have become better at distance freestyle and the I.M. (individual medley).”

Coming off a pair of bronze medals at the Murray Drudge Invitational in December, Duncan is ratcheting things up as he and his teammates prepare for a busy second half of 2025-2026 schedule that opens with an invitational meet this month in Markham, giving way to the Dave Kensit meet in Sault Ste Marie in February and Ontario Age Group Championships in March.

“Each practice, I am getting better, I find,” said Duncan. “If I have something specific to work on, it really drives me. With the I.M., there is so much to work on.”

The simple truth is that when it comes to the individual medley, the swimmer is looking to master four separate strokes, versus many of their counterparts who become single stroke specialists by the time that post-secondary competition arrives.

“Getting my shoulders back in the breakstroke is a big thing for me,” said Duncan. “When you are pulling back, you try and reach forward with your chest and pull back with your shoulders.”

“You get a better catch (of water), I think.”

Still, for as much as continuous progression is the goal, the very nature of a sport such as swimming is that there will comes times of relative stagnation, times where the results do not seem to reflect the effort being made.

“Usually, I just talk to my coach,” suggested Duncan, when asked about his approach for those flat-line moments. “He helps to explain it – and just being positive helps me eventually get better.”

A year and a half away from finishing his high-school career at Lo-Ellen Park Secondary School, Blake Gough has come to learn that it’s not easy to duplicate the improvement curve that occurs when a young swimmer first commits to a competitive swimming training program.

“I started with a lower group but I progressed very quickly,” Gough recalled. “When you’re young, it’s easy to progress quickly.”

When the challenges came, as he knew they would, the young man who is looking at pursuing some sort of Business-related line of study at university drew upon a comfort level with the person he is in order to stay the course.

“I think it helps just having the mindset that I am able to do this; not letting anyone tell you no,” said Gough. “You have to believe that I can progress and get better and get faster.”

Where Callum Duncan can overcome a slow start in his distance freestyle events, Blake Gough has less margin for error as a swimmer who favours the quickness of the 50m/100m/200m troika – events in which more rides on getting off the blocks quickly.

It’s a bit of a tough skill to master when the starting blocks you are working with in practice bear little resemblance to those of most top end meets.

“In the northeast, every pool has different blocks, so we just have to adapt to what we have,” explained Gough. “But we do go to a lot of meets, swim in Toronto a lot, so we get a grasp of using the Omega blocks.”

Given that the senior group of the SLSC are all in this together, it is yet another hurdle they can overcome together.

(just don’t even get us started on the loss of the Laurentian pool)