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The past 4 days have been very fun,
exciting and successful. At Alberta Summer Games I was proud to
represent zone 3 as we won first place in points amongst the other
zones, 143 points to the second place at 91 points. From zone 3
NCSA participants, we had 3 gold medals and 2 Bronze medals in
relays and Nathaniel won 1 bronze in breaststroke. But that does
not sum up the supremacy that zone 3 had in swimming because we had
athletes winning up to 8 gold medals. In some cases we had too many
athletes in one category to all make it to finals because only 2
were aloud from one zone. This happened to me in 100 free. I had a time good enough to
make about 5th place but there were 2 other swimmers form zone 3 besides me
that were in the top 3 and we ended up winning 2 medals in that
event.
DAY 1
Today we took the bus up to Peace
River. Everyone from NCSA showed up at around the same time so we
ended up sitting fairly close to each other on the bus which was
good considering we really didn’t know anyone else on the bus
yet. By the time we got the luggage loaded and we went to get
seats, there were only seats left in the very front of the bus with
the baseball team from zone 3 in between us and the majority of the
swimmers sitting at the very back. Even though we weren’t
sitting with the swimmers at the back, it turned out to be a
blessing in disguise because during the 8 hour bus ride the small
bathroom at the back got a lot of use. When we got there, we put
our stuff in the school we would be sleeping at and immediately
were crammed onto another bus to go to the opening ceremonies. At
the opening ceremonies we enjoyed some shows put on by the local
talent that were very entertaining despite the talent being local
to what seemed like the middle of
nowhere.
Day 2
We got up early this morning to have
breakfast before we went to do a practice at the pool and the food
they served at breakfast was pretty bad. It was eggs, bacon and hash
browns except the eggs had bugs in them, the hash browns were cold
and the bacon wasn’t actually cooked, it was warm but
definitely not cooked. If you think I’m just whining, ask
anyone who ate there and they will say the exact same thing. After
we left the dining hall which was the arena right beside the pool,
we had a quick dryland warm-up while the other zones were getting
in the water. We had designated lanes so we weren’t worried
about the other zones until we went to actually get in the water
and found out that we only had one lane which meant we had 30 in
one lane trying to swim. The only thing worse than that was that
all six lanes had 30 people in them. The extent of our practice was
doing a length and a half at a time then waiting a minute to do
another length and a half, and we were all swimming head to toe.
After about 30 min of that we did starts and we quickly found out
that backstroke starts were near impossible because the walls were
so slippery they felt like they were growing algae. Even though it
wasn’t the best morning, when you were standing in line
waiting for your turn you had something to talk about with the
person beside you. Later that day we had preliminaries and even
though I didn’t set many best times I had tons of fun getting
to know everyone, cheering, and just plain enjoying being
there.
Day 3
We had finals in the morning today
and I would have had the hundred free except 2 people from my zone
were placed ahead of me making me automatically 1st alternate. But the news for
the 4x50m and 4x100m free relay was better because my team got
3rd in the
4x50 and 1st in the 4x100. Later that night after preliminaries, we went to
the dance. It was very memorable because there were so many people
there. Part way through the dance the fire alarm was pulled and we
were evacuated from the school and there were a lot of rumors
saying it was someone from zone 3 that pulled the alarm. Eventually
we were let back in and we danced and had some more fun. Just as we were leaving, we
saw one of the crowd surfers (not a swimmer) dropped on their head.
We saw them taken away in a ambulance but they looked okay although
a little embarrassed.
Day 4
At finals in the morning my team got
1st in the
4x50 by 0.7 seconds and 4x100 MR. Every time you go up for medal
presentation they put the medal around your neck and then asked for
it back after pictures were done. It turned out that we
didn’t get medals until we left. On the bus ride home I got
stuck in the back with the rest of the swimmers which meant every
time the bathroom door opened I would nearly gag as the smell was
so bad but then again It was a great conversation piece. We also
entertained ourselves with arm wrestles against the baseball
players and we dominated most of the matches. Just outside of
Airdrie we got stuck in a traffic jam which meant we would be late
but I didn’t mind because it meant that I got to stay and
talk with literally a bus load of new friends that I had made in
the last few days.
Justin Van Dewark
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