News
Hey Rapids! We just had the most successful Swim-a-thon in club history! All together, we raised $13,424.50. That’s $6,000 more than last year! First and foremost, the staff would like to thank you all for your efforts in fundraising. We’re going to use this money to make the club a better place to grow up and learn in, so that you all have the best opportunities possible to be successful. A HUGE congrats goes out to the AGD2’s, who raised the most money per swimmer in the whole club, averaging...
After his recent outstanding performance at Canadian Senior Nationals, Richmond Rapids swimmer Nicolaas Dekker has been named to the Canadian Junior Pan Pacific Championship team. The Junior Pan Pacs make up some of the best 18-and-under swimmers from Canada, Japan, Australia, and the US. The meet, which runs on non-Olympic and non-World Championship years, will be held in Maui, starting in August. Dekker was selected for the team primary due to his performances in the butterfly events, which increased in strength and ranking as the meet progressed. On Wednesday, Dekker...
Richmond Rapid athlete Brandon de Costa has committed to swim for McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. De Costa will attend the university on scholarship, based on athletic and academic performances. For de Costa, the choice had much to do with feelings of support and community. He was drawn to McMaster, in part, due to its small size. He believes this gives the university the ability to care for its students on an individual and personal basis. De Costa said this feeling was even stronger on the swim team, where it...
The Richmond Rapids Swim Club returned from snowy Kamloops last Tuesday, after having accomplished something no Rapids squad has ever done - win a provincial championship title. “This has been a goal of ours for a long time. It’s something we’ve been trying to build over the last few years, and it came together for us in Kamloops,” said Head Coach Robert Pettifer. After missing the title last long course season by 11 points, the Rapids were out for redemption, leading from the very beginning to the meet. Over the...
And it's official The Richmond Rapids Swim Club are the 2014 SCM Provincial Champions
The Richmond Rapids are only days away from Short Course Provincial Championships in Kamloops, BC. A team of 35 swimmers will compete in what is, for many, the short course season’s finale. In preparation for this meet, the Rapids raced two major mid-season meets: their home hosted Fastswim Classic, and the Thunderbolt Junior International Meet in Oregon. The majority of the age group program stayed home for Fastswim for three days of heats and finals racing, with over 450 swimmers in the competition. In the midst of that, the Rapids...
On Monday, it was announced that six Rapids were selected to attend the second Lower Mainland Regional Camp of the year. Selection was based on the fastest 200 IM times in the LMR, from October 1st to December 31st, 2013 for swimmers age 11-13. Catherine Liao, Nadia McGowan, Lionel Han, Ethan Chan, Benjamin Zhuo, and John Chiam are eligible to attend the weekend-long event, filled with opportunities to increase their swimming skill and knowledge level. Mike Flegel, Swim BC’s Regional Technical Coach and Interim Provincial Coach, will be leading the...
Rapids Team Records have been updated on the website. They can be found under the Team Records tab, and are subdivided by Short Course, Long Course, and 10 & Under. Both individual and relay swims are listed. Please note that this season's record breaking swims are highlighted and in bold. Records are updated regularly (as noted by the date on the page). Continue to check back in to either A) see your bright, shiny swim posted on the internet or B) get yourself motivated to break one of your own!...
By Branden Keith - Swimswam.com We hear it all day and all night. ‘Swimmers are the best students,’ ‘Swimmers perform academically,’ ‘Swimmers learn time management and life balancing skills.’ As a coach, though, I fear that swimmers have heard these things so often, that they’ve begun presume that it’s a right. Great time management skills just come along when an athlete pays their dues to be on the swim team; that academic success begins the moment a swimmer jumps into the water. There’s somewhat of a sense of entitlement that has...
The Richmond Rapids’ National Development squad is coming off a double of national and university-level competitions. Serena Xue and Nicolaas Dekker attended Canada Cup Toronto, hosted by the University of Toronto and Swimming Canada. Xue, strong in the breaststroke events, was up against some of Canada’s international-level swimmers, including Martha McCabe, a bronze medalist at the 2011 Word Championships. Xue went on to break two club records in the 50 and 100m breaststroke events, and painfully close to a third. Dekker swam himself into four out of five “A” finals,...
