Photo Courtesy: Swimming Canada\/Scott Grant<\/p>\n
With another international swimming season in the books, Swimming Canada High Performance Director John Atkinson recently attended the Canadian Swimming Congress, where he had a chance to share his vision with coaches from across the country. Atkinson also took some time for an in-depth interview as we turn the page to a new season of swimming. After a successful summer that saw Canada win 11 medals at Commonwealth Games, seven at Pan Pacific Championships and an astounding 67 at Para Pan Pacs, Atkinson answered a few questions about his first full season and what lies ahead for Canadian swimming.<\/em><\/p>\n PART TWO<\/strong><\/p>\n Q: You bring a wealth of experience from your background in Australia and Great Britain. What can you draw from that experience to bring to Canada?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Some other nations have a \u201cno compromise\u201d approach to funding and teams. If a sport is identified as not having a realistic chance to win medals at the next Olympics they receive no funding. Own The Podium is moving towards that model of absolute expectations that funding goes towards winning medals at Olympic Games. Performance at the Olympic level is expected. Swimming Canada is supporting that goal and I\u2019m accountable for it. We\u2019re working together with them and our other partners such as Sport Canada to attain Olympic success.<\/p>\n Q: What funding supports the Swimming Canada program?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: Our major funding partner Own The Podium is working with us to achieve High Performance, which is essentially about winning medals at the Olympics. Everything else builds to this goal. Standards have been considered and we believe performance needs to improve, that\u2019s why we are implementing the High Performance Plan approved by Own The Podium.<\/p>\n Q: How does Swimming Canada work alongside Canadian Interuniversity Sport?<\/strong><\/p>\n A: We are independent organizations with our own governing structures and decision-making processes. For example, CIS consulted their own coaches and universities in order to move their February championships over to long-course finals. We also cooperate with the CIS on designing selection processes for the FISU Games, for which we coordinate the team and staff. Swimming Canada encourages athletes to train in Canadian-based universities.<\/p>\n Q: There are many different training options available to swimmers today, from CIS to NCAA to Swimming Canada High Performance Centres to the many excellent clubs in the country. What are your thoughts on them?<\/strong><\/p>\n Swimming Canada is actively supporting investment in the Swimming Canada High Performance Centres in Vancouver, Victoria and Toronto, as well as the Intensive Training Program in Montreal. We support athletes when they choose to stay and swim in Canada, whether that is with centres, universities or club programs.<\/p>\n When athletes choose to train in the USA we also continue to work with them. I personally have made several visits to American universities so those athletes know they are important team members. We believe athletes staying in Canada will be well taken care of but we also respect the decision by some athletes who have moved to the USA. We actively work with those swimmers and keep in regular contact with them and their coaches. NCAA swimmers are able to access senior-level carding funding when they are back in Canada during summer breaks, and we\u2019re also able to support other swimmers training in the USA who are not bound by the NCAA financial regulations.<\/p>\n Swimmers from all types of programs had good results this summer and we will be successful by supporting all Canadian swimmers.<\/p>\n