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Chilliwack Spartans swim against Richmond Rapids foes virtually

If you can’t beat compete face to face, the next best thing in a pandemic is a ‘virtual meet’
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If there’s one sport that can make competitions happen virtually, it’s swimming, and that’s what the Chilliwack Spartans and other clubs have done during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Spartans recently attended, kind of, a meet hosted, kind of, by the Richmond Rapids.

“All we did was run an in-house swim meet and we combined the times with other clubs doing the same thing,” said Spartans coach Justin Daly.

Obviously there’s a different feel to it, without dozens of swimmers milling around the pool deck and fans in the seating area cheering on their children. But as Daly noted, it’s better than nothing, and once a swimmer is in the pool and the clock is running, all of that external ‘noise’ doesn’t matter.

It is challenging to have the athletes train so hard every day and not know when their next competition is,” Daly said. “That said, the meets are still fun and I see a lot of value in running them.”

Daly plans to have his athletes compete in another virtual meet in December.

READ MORE: Chilliwack Spartans win big at B.C. Winter Provincials

READ MORE: Post secondary swimming for Chilliwack Spartan stars


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Eric Welsh

About the Author: Eric Welsh

I joined the Chilliwack Progress in 2007, originally hired as a sports reporter.
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