The seniors' group at SLSC (Sudbury Laurentian Swim Club): the setting for one last high-school “hoorah” for some very devoted young men and women who have committed quite literally hundreds of hours of their lives in the pursuit of pool excellence.
For a good number of these teens, their final season of competitive swimming coincides with the year in which they graduate from secondary school.
Indisputably, that is the case for many – though certainly not all.
James Bertrim fits part of the picture.
The 18 year-old multi-sport talent who excelled in the SMHA AAA hockey ranks prior to opting for sport specialization in more recent years will experience the final two months of his time at Lockerby Composite between now and the end of June.
Come September, the talented freestyler who will be studying Mechanical Engineering at the University of Ottawa plans to balance his academic demands with his athletic endeavours, an incoming freshman with the Gee Gees men’s swim team.
For as much as there is a next step in his swimming career, Bertrim has found himself subject to the realization that this is it for his involvement in the sport as a youth. “I went in with a bit of a “just go for it” attitude this year,” suggested the younger brother to current Guelph Gryphons’ swimmer, Ali Bertrim.
“I had a lot more confidence at some of the meets I was swimming at,” he continued. “In December, at OJIs (Ontario Junior International), knowing it was my last short course meet, I wanted to have some fun and see what we could do.”
“I’ve had a lot of trouble having the right kind of confidence on different stages. I can go to a regional meet in Sudbury and perform as well as I want to. I have no doubts in my abilities. But then at a provincial final, I’m a little shaky, a little nervous about what I am doing. My race strategy falls a little bit apart sometimes, honestly.”
It’s a situation that is compounded to some extent by the fact that the venue that has served as the home of countless national caliber swimmers since the early seventies (Laurentian – Jeno Tihanyi Gold Pool) remains unavailable to the SLSC elite.
“We’re not training in a long-course pool; we don’t have the same facilities that people down south are training at,” said Bertrim. “Ottawa has a long-course pool with eight lanes to train, just like Laurentian. Next year, with that training facility, I’m confident that I will be on a level playing field with everyone else.”
All things being equal, 21 year old Alexandre Landry would love to be swimming not only “at” Laurentian, but “for” Laurentian. A native of Hanmer who developed throughout his youth with the Valley East Waves, the breaststroke specialist who just keeps getting better and better is in his third year of studies at L.U.
Given the improvement Landry has shown, a trajectory that has him attending Olympic Trials in just a few weeks, it’s a pretty safe bet that long-time L.U. swim coach Phil Parker would have particularly enjoyed having this hard-working young man under his watch.
“I’ve had a really good season with a couple of ups and downs here and there, but that’s normal,” said Landry. “I’ve been improving on my stroke, for sure, and competing at some pretty big swim meets.”
In January, Landry was part of a Canadian contingent that included national team members which travelled to Tennessee for the TYR Pro Swim Series in Knoxville. Targetting times that would allow him to final at the upcoming Trials in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke events, Landry and coach Dean Henze are ultra-focused on the finer details that help shave off valuable fractions of a second.
“We’re working on my catch as part of my pull, trying to reach further outwards, develop a better sweep so that I can catch more water,” explained Landry. “I’ve kind of cheated my way through sometimes by using mostly my legs because that’s where my strong suit is. If I want to get to the next level, I can’t just rely on my legs, but also my arms.”
Few are better equipped to understand the steps needed to reach the next level than four-time Olympian Brent Hayden, the 40 year-old British Columbia native who Landry reached out to earlier this year. “He’s helped me out a lot,” said the northern lad. “I don’t expect to make the Olympics this year – the qualifying time is faster than the (current) Canadian record.”
“But I want some big PBs (personal best times). I don’t want to be an outside (lane) guy any more.”
This type of mindset is part of what attracted Jayda Hartley to the SLSC group. A 15 year-old grade 10 student at Marymount Academy, the elder of two children in the family made the switch to a new club this past fall and is enjoying a season of steady progression.
*(her development prior to this year is credit to the work of the Nickel City Aquatics' staff)
“Dean (Henze – coach) has pushed me to go faster than I thought I could,” said Hartley. “I think it’s still comfortable, but he still pushes me more. At the start of the year, I really didn’t have a great meet in the Sault but I went to Toronto (a short while later) and took something like four seconds off my time.”
“It took a couple of months, but I think we were just building up.”
Another freestyler in this SLSC co-hort, Hartley has battled shoulder injuries in recent years, her competitive nature still drawing her in part to her favourite stroke. “I just really like racing and sprinting freestyle,” she noted. “When I am racing freestyle, I can see everybody – and I’m kind of competitive.”
Two more meets and an appearance at the Ontario Youth Junior Championships in June will mark the end of the 2023-2024 season for Hartley. But with two more years of secondary schooling to go, she has some time before her final “hoorah” arrives as a member of the senior grouping – unless it doesn’t.
