When Moose Jaw Kinsmen Flying Fins competitors Makaya Arnott and Damian Chartand left the Pan Am Pool in Winnipeg after the 2022 Man/Sask Winter Provincial Championships this past March, little did they know what awaited them a few months down the road.
Arnott, 14, had won the B final in the 50-metre freestyle in a time of 29.58 seconds at the high-level inter-provincial competition, while Chartrand, 16, landed a 12th place finish in the 50-metre breaststroke in a time of 33.01 seconds.
Solid results, to be sure, but more importantly, the kind of results that attracted some attention from the Swim Sask coaches in charge of selecting the team for the 2022 Canada Games this August.
Last week, it was all made official.
When the swimmers for Team Saskatchewan were announced, the Flying Fins duo were on the roster and as a result will be competing in the pool when the Games kick off on Aug. 6 in Niagara.
For both swimmers, the news came as a huge surprise -- with Chartrand simply checking his e-mail only to find out he’d be wearing green and white in a few months' time.
“I was pretty much in shock that I’d made it, I never thought that I would be on the team or have a chance to be at something like this, it’s pretty cool,” he said during a short break from training on Wednesday afternoon.
Arnott was out for supper with members of the Fins team when coach Gord Shields let her know of her selection.
“I couldn’t really believe it when he told me,” she said. “It’s amazing to have a chance to compete at something like this.”
Folks who have been following the Fins results over the past season will be far less surprised, given the regular top finishes the duo have put together throughout the campaign.
Thing is, all that hard work and success will pale in comparison to what awaits in the next month and a half as Games training takes centre stage.
“After [Summer Man / Sasks July 7-10 in Saskatoon] we’ll be ramping it right up and training hard right until August 2,” Chartrand said of the build in intensity. “Then we’re in Saskatoon for four days and training there, then we fly out right to the Canada Games. So we’re training right up until the day of the Games and it’s going to be a lot of hard work.”
That’s all part of the business in Arnott’s eyes, especially given the level of competition they’ll face at the event -- the meet will mark the first national-level competition for both swimmers and will feature some of the best up-and-coming talents Canada has to offer.
“It’s going to be a lot of high-intensity training and mentally preparing for it all,” Arnott said. “Then you have to stay dedicated and mentally positive, make sure you’re getting your full training in and working hard… It definitely makes you want to work hard and put in all your effort so you can compete well.”
Shields himself has been to multiple Canada Games in the past, and couldn’t stress enough how incredible the experience of being part of an event of that scope will be.
“Being part of Team Saskatchewan and against that kind of competition is going to move them to the next level,” he said matter-of-factly. “Hopefully they can get into the finals, and if they can, it’ll be an amazing experience to be able to be in the pool at that level. Then they’ll come back with more experience, and more dedicated and committed, so it’s going to be great for them to be a part of it all.”
Of course, the Canada Summer Games aren’t just about swimming. With thousands of athletes from across Canada taking part in the event across 20 sports, the competition has accurately been described as a mini-Olympics.
“It’s going to be really cool,” Chartrand said. “We’re obviously there for swimming but it’ll be great to see all the elite athletes there and maybe check out a few events if we can.”
Arnott feels much the same way.
“It’s exciting,” she said. “I’m excited to go and meet everyone, meet all the athletes and just to be able to have that experience is going to be so much fun.”
As Shields points out, whatever happens in the pool will just be a sideline to everything else they’ll be a part of during their time in Niagara.
“The memories that’ll live with them will be what happened outside the pool,” he said.”It’s all part of the growing experience and being part of the Games… I’ve been to three of them and I don’t remember anything about the times, the results that happened in the pool, but I have great memories of all the stuff that happened away from all that. So it’s wonderful that they’re going to get a chance to experience this.”
Swimming runs during the first week of the Games at the Brock University Aquatics Centre, with Chartrand taking the pool on Monday, Aug. 8 and Arnott on Thursday, Aug. 11.
Chartrand, Arnott and the Flying Fins are in action this weekend during the Mike Mintenko Summerfest at the Phyllis Dewar Pool.
For more on the Canada Summer Games, be sure to visit their website at www.niagara2022games.ca.
