Pure grit and determination are often the backbone of the repetitive nature of swim workouts for those competitive athletes who devote countless hours a week to honing their craft at local pools.
From time to time, trading in practices that permeate with the scent of chlorine for something a little different, anything a little different, is more than just a nice break from the norm. It’s pretty much a necessity if one is to keep the drive alive for swimmers who aspire to be among the best in the province.
None of this escapes long-time Nickel City Aquatics' (NCA) head coach Linda Tenhunen.
The decorated swim mentor (Tenhunen was named the recipient of the Lea Bredschneider Award a few years back by Swim Ontario) was out with her senior crew for dryland sessions at Apex Warrior Tuesday afternoon, the NCA contingent preparing for a Northeastern Ontario Regional Meet (NEOR) in Sault Ste Marie this weekend.
A qualifier to the top-end Ontario Age Group Provincial Meet last March, 12 year-old NCA talent Charlie Richardson lists the butterfly (especially the 200m) and the 400m individual medley as his favourite events – and two areas where he has excelled.
As he looks to hit standard again in an age bracket where the year to year jump is a notable one (going from the U12 to U13 division), the grade 7 student at Lo-Ellen Park Intermediate School is dialed in to one particular aspect of the race where growth (and the shaving of seconds) is most certainly possible.
“The biggest thing for me is my turns, coming off my turns,” said Richardson, the middle of three children in the family. “I am usually quite good at this but when it comes to the 200m, I start losing that near the end – and it’s usually an advantage.”
Avoiding fatigue and the loss of focus that might accompany it is critical when one is fine-tuning a particular facet of the butterfly that relies on doing perhaps two or three things really well.
“The butterfly is kind of a touch turn: you touch with two hands, launch yourself back and push off,” said Richardson. “It is very technical with the butterfly. If your touch is just a little off, you can be disqualified. There are a lot of rules around the (butterfly) turns.”
Still, the fact that this is the stroke of choice for the youngster who grew up on a local lake, supplementing his time in Nepahwin with swimming lessons and such is impressive, even if it was clear early on that Richardson enjoyed an affinity with the water.
“Because I grew up on a lake and because I had taken lessons, I was quite a good swimmer right away and thought that I progressed really well with the program.”
Roughly four years into his racing career, the friendly pre-teen cannot help but to smile as he chats about his earliest competitive outings at swim meets locally, proudly representing the NCA. “The first few races were pretty nerve-wracking,” he said. “I do remember thinking that the 100m was the biggest thing ever, relly hard for me – but now I’ve grown to like it.”
For as much as Richardson clearly maintains a level of proficiency in all four strokes, witnessed by his times and placings in the I.M., it was his ability to grasp the intracacies of the stroke that can be a joy to witness when performed well that separates him a bit from the crowd.
“I think the thing that helped me the most in the butterfly was making sure I wasn’t tilting up; so just having a deeper kick and controlling my breathing,” he said. “With the 200m, I start with two strokes down, one stroke up for the firsty 100 metres. But then I might move to one down, one up, one down, one up.”
With many of their main meets set for the stretch from mid-January to early June, Richardson and the Aquatics are using the early season to shake off the rust of the 6-8 weeks off in late summer, all while gearing up for some regional events as well as the Age Group International showdown that takes place from November 19th to the 22nd in Etobicoke.
