The Cochrane Piranhas summer swim club is diving into its new season with a fresh energy about the upcoming new facility at Spray Lake Sawmills Family Sports Centre – and a new initiative to help swimmers further invest in the sport.
For the first time, Piranhas head coach Breanna Hendricks has created a coach mentorship program for the club, with young athletes and friends Ashlyn Parker and Mia Kruger taking up the charge.
The pair had their first session this week.
“My coach right now has inspired me,” said Kruger, an 11-year-old Grade 6 student at Mitford Middle School who started swimming when she was five years old.
Kruger said she wants to learn to be a coach that’s “not scared to talk to people, and inspires other people to try and do this.”
“That’s what I hope I can do,” she said.
A couple of current coaches in the club have already come up under the tutelage of Hendricks in a more informal way, and now she said she’s happy to have a more specialized program so kids can learn potential job skills as they grow up, as well as give back to their sport community.
“You’ve got to have future coaches to build on,” Hendricks said, adding Kruger and Parker are great choices for these first sessions.
‘“They know the program, they know how it works. It’s just a good fit.”
