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The Whitehorse Glacier Bears had their swim season cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic in March.

However, that hasn鈥檛 stopped the swimmers from pursuing their short and long-term goals, said head coach Carmen Escobar.

鈥淭he swimmers have been active all summer doing dryland training and other things outside the pool,鈥� said Escobar.

鈥淲hen the pool opened July 1, a month later in August they were able to rent a lane for one hour as a member of the CGC so they could swim on their own.鈥�

The club officially began training again on Sept. 8. Escobar said it was hectic to get things going because of the restrictions but the swimmers and coaches are just happy to be back in the water.

鈥淚t was absolutely crazy, a gong show, getting a schedule together with COVID restrictions,鈥� said Escobar. 鈥淏ut, we managed to get the entire club started except for our beginner Teddy鈥檚. The goal was to have everyone in the pool doing activity. They need to be active.

鈥淕roups are smaller, our club capacity is below what we normally hold. We also have double lanes, so we are swimming more distanced away from each other.鈥�

Escobar said when they are in the water the risk isn鈥檛 great but they are careful when the athletes are on the deck receiving instruction.

The older athletes鈥� schedule changed from a full week of training to four days. The caveat is they are practicing for three hours at a time.

鈥淚t is a lot of time in the pool, holy smokes,鈥� said Escobar. 鈥淚t is new. I was a bit doubtful about whether they would be able to put up with this. But, the swimmers are adapting incredibly well. I am pleasantly surprised they are holding down the double the distance, double the time.鈥�

Escobar said for the swimmers who have aspirations of swimming collegiately, this training setup will only be a benefit to them.

鈥淲e are doing 9-10 kilometres a session,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen they go to university and they swim their sessions it will be easy or when they go back into a two-hour session it will be a piece of cake.鈥�

Before training resumed after the long break, Escobar said she was concerned some of the athletes would drop the sport in lieu of something else.

鈥淚t was long enough for them to think 鈥榦h my god, back in the pool,鈥欌�� said Escobar. 鈥淚t was enough time to think social life is more fun or other sports are less demanding. I was confident we would get most back but I knew that was a chance.

鈥淏ut they are doing it happily. I love it. It gets really tough when you hit the second hour, that鈥檚 the hardest. It is happening and we are accomplishing things and pushing each other. We are trying to swim fast and fast is fun. It is powerful.鈥�

COVID has shuttered most of the meets the Glacier Bears would attend, but there is still an outside possibility provincials could be held. That is one of three ways Escobar is trying to keep the athletes motivated.

鈥淚 spoke to a Swim Canada person about the reality of holding meets come January,鈥� said Escobar. 鈥淭he answer to that is we still don鈥檛 know. So we are talking eight months with no formal competitions. That is devastating. How do I keep them going three hours hard if we don鈥檛 have anything to look forward to? It wasn鈥檛 a firm no.

鈥淭echnically, as of now, provincials in March in B.C. are planned with a new format for the meet that would allow less competitors at a time. They divided provincials into four divisions. All those clubs that belong to those divisions will compete. Instead of a 1,000 swimmer meet it would be a 300 swimmer meet.

鈥淚 am using that. It is a possibility, we cannot assume it is going to happen, we can鈥檛 assume it isn鈥檛 going to happen. We have to work with the possibility.鈥�

Swim Canada could potentially be doing time trials and Escobar said she has been using that as 鈥渁 little carrot to help them through.鈥� As well, the club is holding its own time trials to give the swimmers a taste of a meet鈥檚 atmosphere.

鈥淲e are also doing in-house time trials,鈥� said Escobar. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 competed since March so we are going to go for it. I鈥檓 going to have the swimmers suit up, they will time each other but it will be a mock scenario so swimmers get into the mindset of racing.

鈥淚t gives you the opportunity to dive from blocks, have their own lane. In this, everyone lane group is in, you have your block, a referee, a starter. We have to limit people on the deck so we are having the essential elements that make it feel like a swim meet.

鈥淭he swimmers will feel I have to go, I have to race. The more you swim, the more you race you get into better practices.鈥�

The time trials will be held this Saturday and Nov. 7. Escobar said it is also important for her to see the athletes compete so she can adjust the program.

鈥淚 cannot go further into the new planning I鈥檓 doing without seeing where they are at. We are doing one mid-distance, one IM (individual medley), and one sprint to see speed, endurance, and development of the four strokes.

鈥淚 will also see if the dryland training they are doing is working. I want to see that. Then we can change this as needed.鈥�

Although it was a long layoff for the swimmers, Escobar said everyone is getting stronger, smarter, and better as training resumes.