About EBSC
Our Mission & History
"The Ernestown Barracuda Swim Club promotes a family-oriented swim club committed to excellence in competitive swimming at all levels."
The Ernestown Barracuda Swim Club (EBSC) is located in Loyalist Township, Kingston area. It is an amateur, non-profit, parent-run club that teaches and promotes the sport of competitive swimming.
The focus of EBSC and the coaching staff is to provide a competitive swimming program for the youth of Loyalist Township and surrounding areas, from our Junior Program (developmental) to our National Training Group.
EBSC encourages swim training for skill improvement, self-development, competition, leadership and sportsmanship. EBSC endeavours to develop healthy well-adjusted athletes who contribute to the team and our community. We offer programs for skill development and learning, fitness, as well as competitive training.
Qualified professional swim coaches oversee all the programs with the assistance of our older swimmers who have are certified Red Cross WSI’s, NLS, NCCP Coaching or through experience with the club. EBSC is affiliated with Swimming/Natation Canada, the national sport governing body, and Swim Ontario, its provincial affiliate.
The direct and obvious benefits of competitive swimming include increased physical well-being, greater cardiovascular fitness, increased strength and improved coordination. A healthier person is also a happier person, better able to deal with life’s daily stress. Swimmers also benefit socially by developing close friendships with teammates and swimmers from other clubs.
The self-discipline learned in the pool may also carry over to outside endeavours, such as school, and the experience gained through winning, and losing, help our swimmers grow toward adulthood.
Each swimmer’s personal improvement, regardless of age or ability, fosters self-confidence. EBSC, under the guidance of our veteran Head Coach Gord Emmerson, provides a learning environment with the following goals in mind:
- Assist individual swimmers to achieve their maximum potential as swimmers.
- Promote physical fitness, health and well-being as life values.
- Encourage swimmers to develop self-discipline, self-acceptance and responsibility.
- Encourage teamwork and cooperation amongst swimmers, parents and coaches.
- Foster respect for self, each other, coaches and parents.
Location
The Ernestown Barracuda Swim Club trains and competes at the W.J. Henderson Recreation Centre located in the small community of Amherstview, on the outskirts of Kingston, Ontario. The facility included a five-lane, 25-metre pool where one Ontario Record, as well as many PB's and other outstanding swims, have occurred.
With the closure of the Henderson pool in 2021, the club has temporarily relocated to several pools in the Kingston area including Queen's ARC, the YMCA, and the Boys & Girls Club.
We are looking forward to the new pool opening at WJ Henderson in early 2026.
2019 marked the 40th anniversary of EBSC
The club was founded in 1979 by a group of dedicated parents with the support of Head Coach Gord Emmerson.
The competitive program is supported by a development program that consistently strives to promote excellence within the competitive swimming community and is in support of SWIMMING/NATATION CANADA objectives.
EBSC has grown from an initial membership of 25 swimmers to approximately 100 Competitive Swimmers and 60 participants in the Junior Barracuda Development Program.
Over the years the club has demonstrated many outstanding performances: AA Team Championships
EBSC is the only club in Ontario to rise from AAAA status to A status.
