Acadia University in Canada Reinstates Swimming

WOLFVILLE, Nova Scotia, Canada, October 2. ACADIA University today announced that it will reinstate varsity swimming in time for Atlantic University Sport competition in September 2009. This is the second varsity sports program Acadia has brought back in three years and follows the community partnership model established when its resumed its men's varsity soccer program in 2006. This time, Acadia will partner with the highly successful Wolfville Tritons by sharing Head Coach Chris Stone.

"Acadia had a popular and successful swim program until it was discontinued in the 1990's and we know that there are many high school and club swimmers who want to continue to compete at the university level," said Brian Heaney, Acadia's Director of Varsity Athletics. "Being able to bring back our varsity swimming program by partnering with the Tritons will give these athletes a reason to choose Acadia and give us another opportunity to compete for national championships. We are fortunate to have a great swim team already using our facility, a highly-regarded swim coach in Chris Stone and a group of dedicated volunteers and parents who have worked hard to put this partnership together."

The plan is to have Acadia varsity swimmers competing against their AUS rivals in September 2009. Acadia expects its re-entry to AUS swimming will be confirmed at the AUS annual meeting in April 2009. Tritons Head Coach Chris Stone will be hired to coach varsity swimmers and they will train in the Acadia pool following the normal late afternoon practice time reserved for the club swimmers in the Tritons program.

"Acadia's re-instatement of their varsity swim program is great news for the swimming community in Atlantic Canada," said Sue Jackson, President of Swim Nova Scotia. "This will open up more opportunities for Atlantic Canada's young athletes to further their swimming careers at a highly competitive level while obtaining a quality education and staying close to home. The addition of another varsity swim team to the AUS is definitely going to increase the excitement at swim meets regionally and help all our university swimmers swim faster."

"The renewed partnership between Acadia and the Wolfville Tritons will set a solid foundation for both swim clubs to build upon and continue to grow," said Mike Boudreau, President of the Wolfville Tritons Swim Club. "Not only will the varsity swimmers give the younger Tritons swimmers something to aspire to, they will undoubtedly be a natural fit as role models for the younger swimmers. This has been a missing piece of the puzzle in the valley swimming community for some time now, and we all excited about varsity swimming returning to Acadia."

Special thanks to Swimming Canada for contributing this report.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x