Wolfville Triton swimmers continue to improve
With swim meets for the youngest swimmers and for the most experienced swimmers during the past two weekends, the young athletes at the Triton club are showing no hesitation in going faster.
The youngest group of swimmers, novices to the sports of competitive swimming, swam at Church Point in the third of the Nova tech meets, competing against clubs from Yarmouth, Clare, and Greenwood. Swimmers at this level improve so quickly, it is a joy to watch them and see the thrill they get with knowing how well they are doing.
Liam Edgar (9) was the star of the show for Tritons, scoring high in all his events and he succeeded in winning his bronze medal, moving him through the program to intermediate level. Payton Mills (10) took third place in his 50 Butterfly and Lucas Singleton (16) did himself proud in the 200m freestyle.
The senior age group meet, held at Dalplex, was once again swum at the Olympic length as required by Swim Canada. Training in the shorter distance pool makes the transition to the longer pool a bit of a struggle, but the Wolfville Tritons swimmers showed no fear as they headed in to the second of the meets at this level.
Gabriel Graves (14) showed good form as he swam close to his Wolfville Triton swimmers. In front, Nicolaas Groeneveld and Ava Vial. Second row, Oliver Cadrain, Bo Stokesbury Price, Gabriel Graves, Maggie Graves, Eliese Groeneveld, Jenna Guy and Scotia Broome.
best in the 100m breaststroke, an event he excels in and this early in the season he is on the mark. He also improved his times for the 50m butterfly and 200 IM. Bo Stokesbury-price also was on form, and while he has been working hard on his freestyle events, he showed that the hard work is paying off with best times in the 200, 800 and 1500 meters.
Maggie Graves (12), Eliese Groeneveld (13), and Eliza Stokesbury-price (12) all showed that the club has a good depth of girl swimmers developing. These girls all managed multiple best times. Jenna Guy (14) and Scotia Broome (14), both newcomers to the club this season, also did best swims which shows the club is beginning to have some senior depth. Ava Vial (15), the young veteran of the girls team, showed that she was number one in the province for breaststroke and medley events.
Those swimmers who have not swum at the events mentioned get their chance when the club hosted the winter juniors this past weekend.
This is an event that swimmers look forward to with prelims in the morning and the excitement of finals in the evening.
Wolfville Tritons is gearing up for this event as they prepare to host clubs from all around the province.
A Kings County woman is among the hand-picked appointees chosen as the first members of the provincial Accessibility Advisory Board.
“Many Nova Scotians face barriers that prevent them from fully participating in society. The board will be working to address these barriers and to help make the province an accessible place for all to live and work,” said Attorney General and Justice Minister Mark Furey in a recent press release.
The advisory board is tasked with developing a plan that outlines how Nova Scotia will achieve accessibility by 2030.
Kings County-based board member Cynthia Bruce is thrilled to be a part of conversations that will lead to important recommendations regarding accessibility standards and legislation.
“It’s really important that this legislation be robust if we want to make real progress around accessibility, so we need a real breadth of expertise that will allow us to think, and move, beyond ramps and elevators,” said Bruce, who self identifies as a blind activist and educator.
“We need to think about accessibility in the education context and employment context, and that made me really interested in contributing to the conversation in a formal way moving forward.”
Elaborating, Bruce said it is important to consider that buildings housing public libraries must be accessible to users with mobility challenges, and there should also be reading materials available on site that are accessible for users who are blind or partially sighted.
“We have to think really broadly about what it means for our public institutions to be accessible,” said Bruce, a part-time instructor of disability studies at Acadia University.
Bruce studied inclusive education for her PHD focusing on post-secondary disability access. She’s excited to be counted among the diverse group of individuals selected for the Accessibility Advisory Board.
“Access looks different to all of us and, if those voices aren’t at the table, we won’t get this right,” she said.
For more information about the board members and the group’s mandate, visit https://novascotia.ca/ accessibility/