Marlins Swim Team

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ABOUT THE MARLINS SWIM TEAM

NSWC’s Marlins swim program develops competitive swimmers of all ages in a fun and focused environment. You and your swimmer will quickly see that while swimming is an individual sport, the Marlins have an incredibly strong sense of team.

We train in NSWC’s outdoor pool facility between May and mid-August, where our athletes focus on stroke (freestyle, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke) and race (dive starts, turns, streamlines and breakouts) techniques toward continual individual improvement, within a strong team context. 

While Marlins provides high intensity cross-training for athletes, many quickly get the bug to race and swimmers are encouraged to compete in at least one meet and the Regional Championships each season. Competition allows a swimmer to showcase their progress, and to contribute to the team’s points (collected at meets), but most importantly, to create memories of a lifetime alongside their teammates in Marlinville.

Our Marlins swim team is one of the larger teams in our Vancouver & District region, and we are proud that we continue to rank highly across the province from a points-per-swimmer perspective  achieved in regional and provincial competitions – this is a direct result of our swimmers being multi-sport athletes. 

…A BIT OF MARLIN HISTORY

Two years after the 1958 opening of the North Shore Winter Club, a pool was built on site.  In 1966, our first competitive swim team, the Marlins, joined with the Empire Club (swimming out of the Empire Pool at UBC), the Capilano Winter club and the Howe Sound Club to make up the Vancouver & District Region of the BCSSA.  Fifty six years later, the NSWC ‘s Marlins is the only team remaining from the original Vancouver & District Region.

The Marlins first Invitational Swim Meet was held in 1972 and has been held continuously since then.  The Marlins are known for hosting a well run, competitive meet which is also a fun event highlighted by parent relays!

It was at our Invitational Meet in 1975 that our own Brent O’Connor, in Division 17 and over, became the first BCSSA swimmer to break the minute in 100M freestyle.

Three ex-Marlins have succeeded internationally in other sports.  In 1993, Grant Connell was ranked #1 in the world in doubles tennis and was a finalist in Wimbledon.  Paul Kariya was the fourth overall pick in the 1993 NHL hockey draft and went on to have a successful career.  Paul Houck was a member of our 1977 BCSSA Championship team and later went on to play for the Minnesota North Stars.

We continue to have multi-sport NSWC athletes train with our Marlins program each summer – including Chloe Primerano and (when he was younger!) Connor Bedard!

2024 MARLINS COACHES

Marlins coaches bring significant technical expertise and competitive swimming experience to our swimmers. What makes our coaches distinct is their commitment to developing all aspects of a swimmer’s success beyond their technical skill, strength and endurance. Coaches support swimmers in season goals, they inspire and motivate them, and most importantly, they help manage nerves and disappointment at swim meets, while being their loudest cheering squad and support.

We are excited to welcome back many of our coaching staff for another great season!  

COACHES

Coming soon!

2026 MARLINS SEASON SCHEDULE

All Marlins practices throughout the summer are held in our NSWC outdoor pool (rain or shine!). We create a schedule with multiple practices during a week so that swimmers have the opportunity to train while still participating in other sporting endeavors (attendance at all practices is not mandatory). We do encourage swimmers and their parents to work towards a schedule that will help them achieve their season goals – whether they be to work towards provincial medals, or to increase strength and endurance in our home pool.  

We encourage all swimmers to arrive at the pool in enough time to stretch and ready themselves for practice so that they are able to start on time. For our older swimmers we allot time to dryland training as well to supplement their training in the water with strength and conditioning to support work in the pool.

Once your swimmer has been assigned to a practice group, you will receive an invite to TeamSnap which will have the schedule for your group. This is also where we will update the schedule if there are changes to practice times throughout the season.

 

2026 MARLINS COMPETITION MEET SCHEDULE

The BC Summer Swimming Association (BCSSA) oversees multi-sport aquatics in the province for the season beginning May 1 and culminating in our provincial championship meet in mid-August. The NSWC Marlins participate only as speed swimmers (short-course distances – races between 50m and 200m in length). Speed swimmers train and compete in 4 strokes – freestyle (i.e. front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly. There are also medley events (individual and relay) which combine the 4 strokes into a single race.    

Swimmers compete in their age divisions – most as “S” or summer swimmers. The “O” or open category was introduced so that swimmers who train & compete throughout our off-season are able to compete in their own divisions.

The Marlins also participate in a series of external swim meets throughout the season as well. These are all optional to participate in – and you can opt to only participate selectively for events and/or certain days. We hold our own swim meet in the month of June and travel to other meets around the lower mainland. 

While participation in these meets is voluntary, we encourage all swimmers to give racing a try. Our swimmers work and train so hard during the week and racing gives them a chance to put all they have learned together!

[Links for meet packages and signup sheets will be shared and updated on this page as we move closer to the competitions.}

 

PARENT’S GUIDE TO SWIM MEETS

The structure of a swim meet

If you plan to attend a swim meet, expect to have a reasonably full day. There are warm-ups in the morning – these are usually early, but give swimmers a chance to learn the setup of the pool, dive off the blocks, etc which will make them more comfortable racing later in the day.  

Racing typically will start by 8am and events designated for the days will be run through in the order noted in the meet program. 

Our coaches will have sent out details ahead of time to note the format of any meet that we enter. There are a few things to note as will change the flow of the day slightly

1. Final Format – it will be noted upfront whether or not the meet will have “timed” finals or “swum” finals.  Many meets during the course of the season will be timed finals  – this means that the swimmer only swims once for a given event (i.e. Div 1 Girls 50m Freestyle) and the time that they log in this single swim is used to determine the final standings for that event. “Swum” finals means that the top 1-2 heats of swimmers (number will be noted in the meet package details) will qualify to swim in a finals race later in the day. This means in order to place in an event, a swimmer will need to swim again and their time in this second swim is used to determine their standing in the final event. All championship meets are structured this way.

2. Event Format – Our Marlins swim meet is structured as an A/B meet. This means that there are 2 events for each age/gender division and stroke (up to Div 6). This allows for swimmers who have previously achieved an “A” standard time (in a previous swim meet) will swim in “A” events and those that have no time or a slower time can opt to swim in either the “A” or “B” event.    This format allows for newer swimmers to compete in a field of their peers and have greater chance of success.

“A” standard times are determined in each region of the province and will be published in advance of meet event signups. Standards are based on regional championship best times from previous years for those swimmers advancing to provincials.

To queue swimmers up and organize them in their heats before a race, swimmers are called to the marshalling area to check in.  Parents (or older swimmers)  are expected to be following along with the day and to be ready and available when it is time for them to marshall in advance of their events.

Parents aren’t allowed in the marshalling area, but coaches are and will be there to prep your swimmer and give them a great pep talk before they dive in for their race! Once your swimmer is in marshalling, this is a great time to head to the pool to find a spot to cheer!

Meet Results

Meet results are typically available not too long after an individual event has been completed, taking note of a few things:  

– There are typically multiple heats of swimmers for each event (so touching the wall first in your heat does not necessarily mean that you will place in the overall event)

– One of the roles of the deck officials (white shirts) you will see on the pool deck is to determine if each swimmer has executed the stroke and the race as they should. This ensures that there is no unfair advantage to any single swimmer (such as leaving early before the whistle or not performing the stroke correctly).  When the final results for each event is posted you may see a “DQ” beside your swimmer’s name (we have ALL had this happen) – this means that your swimmer has been disqualified from that event. Coaches are notified when this happens in a meet and can talk to you/your swimmer about the error and give a chance to work on corrections for future training and practices.

Results may be posted around the pool deck, but most clubs/regions now use Meet Mobile and times are updated there. If you are competing in swim meets throughout the season, it is worth the investment to download the app and pay the small annual fee (believe it’s less than $10).  You can ‘favourite’ our club and your swimmers so that you receive notifications when their times are uploaded to the system.

Relays

Relay events are typically (but not always) held at the end of each day.  If you have indicated that your swimmer will stay to race on a relay team, the coaches use these names to determine entries to these events. Each morning of a meet , coaches will post a list of relay teams with alternates so those attending the team can see what is planned.  Depending on the number of swimmers who have indicated they can participate, your swimmer may or may not be placed on a relay team for a given day.

 

MARLINVILLE

Our Marlins culture is the envy of many – with our beautiful outdoor pool and strong community, though we train as individuals our sense of team is strong.

You will hear references to Marlinville – both as an idea – our strength of community that has past-parents and past-swimmers returning to swim meets to lend a hand or cheer on new Marlins – and as the place where we all gather to pass down-time during a swim meet.

Our Marlins team has a trailer that you will see accompanying us to swim meets. This trailer contains everything that we need to build our tent city for the day. Tents, tarps, garbage, recycling, etc. One of the roles we ask our Marlins parents to fill is to get to a meet in enough time to stake out space on a lawn, erect the tents and create a place for swimmers and parents to relax and hang out together while not swimming (or cheering for your friends!).

 

What to bring to a swim meet?

One of the most-asked questions once the season kicks off!  This list should be customized based on the needs of your swimmers, but here are our top suggestions:

1. Suit/goggles/swim cap

  • We encourage our Marlins swimmers to wear their Marlins swim caps at all swim meets.  It’s best to race with a cap (we recommend practicing with one too – less chance of hair/goggle/etc snafus with a cap to hold things in place)
  • If you have a backup pair of goggles (or at least a backup goggle strap), it can’t hurt. Or have a friend in Marlinville that will lend you theirs if you encounter a last-minute equipment malfunction

2. Towels (not just one – bring a couple… if the day is not warm you will be happy to have a dry one at-hand as needed)

3. Warm clothing

  • Once your swimmer gets out of the pool they will likely be waiting for a bit until their next race.  You want to stay warm and dry so that you are nimble and ready to jump in the pool when you’re called next. Many swimmers will also bring along a sleeping bag to curl up in as well
  • A Marlins parka is also a great way to stay warm before and after races/practices

4. Camping chair/mat

  • Basically something to keep both parents and kids off the ground with something more comfortable to sit in/on.   Some families will bring air mattresses, picnic blankets, etc.  

5. Water & healthy snacks

  • There is food for purchase at most meets, but always best to ensure that you have LOTS of healthy grab-and-go snacks on hand so that your swimmer can keep up their energy through the day
  • Pack a cooler with snacks, picnic foods, drinks – helps keep things cool on hot summer days

6. Something to contain it all…. 

  • Many of us that are veterans and who attend a lot of swim meets, have purchased a wagon/cart/etc along the way as parking may not be as close as ideal to the day-camping area. A folding wagon can help keep everything sorted (and a place to have your kids leave things so they don’t get lost during the day)

7. Meet program/pen/highlighter/cash

  • Some meets will have paper copies of the meet program available for sale at the start of the day – and they are good to follow along with.  If there aren’t programs for sale, typically they will either be sent electronically the day/evening before (and you can print them at home if you want a copy at-hand) or details of the meet will be available in Meet Mobile (https://www.active.com/mobile/meet-mobile-app) .  We strongly recommend downloading the app- this is where you will receive updates and can view past race times, etc.

 

VOLUNTEERING

Parent volunteers are an essential part of the Marlins Swim Team. Even if it is a small commitment, we need all parents to volunteer.  Families who do not participate in helping out throughout the season may be assessed a Volunteer Fee at the end of the season.

FUNDRAISING

Fundraising is an important component to the Marlins Swim Team.

We ask that each family who registers their child in the Marlins Swim Team make a commitment to become an active, involved parent and the easiest way is to participate in our fundraising programs. The income generated from fundraising activities will enable the swim team to keep registration fees reasonable. It  is essential that all Marlins families participate in our fundraising endeavours and help us to run a successful swim season. Without the support of all our Marlins families we would not be the successful swim club that we are.

MARLINS COMMITTEE

The Marlins is run by a Committee of parent volunteers and also has a NSWC Board liaison. You need not have ever been a swimmer to be on the Committee; we need people to fill many roles and the only real requirement is an enthusiastic, positive attitude and the ability to jump-in where the help is needed. Most sit on the Committee because we enjoy being involved, we like to know what is going on at our child(ren)’s swim program, and we like being a part of decision-making to ensure the continued success of the aquatics programming at the NSWC. 

The Committee is responsible for the short and long-term management of the Marlins Swim Team. The Committee shall always act in the best interest of the entire Marlins Swim Team. The Marlins Swim Team mission statement and team philosophy shall be the guiding principles for the Committee’s decisions. Honesty, integrity and transparency must be maintained by the Committee at all times. Members in good standing shall be provided the opportunity to meet with the Committee throughout the season. 

Roles and responsibilities of the Marlins Committee shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

  • Hiring coaches 
  • Coach Performance Evaluations  
  • Representing Marlins Swim Team at the regional and provincial level 
  • Recruitment of new swimmers 
  • Registration of swimmers with BCSSA 
  • Financial / asset management 
  • Managing Marlins Swim Team home swim meets 
  • Member communication (website, regular email correspondence and through annual general meetings) 
  • Parent coach liaison 
  • Supplying team equipment for members to purchase 
  • Coordinating fundraising efforts 
  • Providing an opportunity for members in good standing to present to the Committee. 
  • Fostering a positive environment on deck for all swimmers 

 

Roles and responsibilities of the membership shall include, but not be limited to, the following: 

  • Remain an integral part in the swimmers’ personal and swimming development 
  • Vote in a Committee capable of running the Marlins Swim Team 
  • Follow due process when any concerns are raised 

 

Please feel free to approach anyone on the committee with any question that you may have.  See our Contacts page for key people you can connect with.

SWIM MEETS

All swim meets are run by volunteers, so enrolling swimmers in a meet means that our team has to provide a certain number of volunteers at each meet to ensure it’s able to run well and on time. Many jobs do not require training and are for short periods of time – while others you can train to be a judge, etc if you have interest (see the Volunteering section for more details) .

Please expect that you will need to contribute ~ 2 hours or volunteer time for each swimmer you enter into a meet (it may be less depending on the number of swimmers who enter).  Volunteering is needed throughout the day so that there are always parents (and typically older swimmers) who are in Marlinville throughout the day to share parenting duties throughout the day.

SOCIAL THINGS

One of the hallmarks of summer swimming is that one of our goals is to HAVE FUN!  It’s summertime and it’s a great time of year to be outside and create reasons to connect across age groups, etc so that we are creating a larger sense of team as well as breaking up the time spent swimming back and forth across the pool!

Internal Fun Meets

  • These are open to all swimmers with both a goal of introducing racing to our younger, newer swimmers and to also create a fun event.  Typical themes we have run in the past are – Red/Blue (swimmers are divided into 2 groups and aim to get as many ‘points’ for their colour team), World Cup of Swimming (silly races), to note a couple.

 

Hell Week

  • Typically in mid-July, the tradition of Hell Week is to encourage swimmers to participate in as many practices during this week as possible.  This is meant to be the peak of the training season – and then ramping down to our Regional championship meet a couple of weeks after this. 
  • As part of the encouragement to encourage swimmers to log as many practices as they are able during this week, we typically plan fun events during the daytime (between practices) to encourage fun, activity and team bonding.   A schedule will be posted closer to the time of planned events.  These are all optional and parent expectations will be noted as well (if there are rides and/or supervision needed to participate).

 

Cultus Lake Waterslides day

  • As a reward for the hard work put in by our swimmers during Hell Week, the Monday following this week, we take a break from swim practice and the team heads to the Cultus Lake Waterslides for the day.    Swimmers are expected to find their own rides and parent supervision for this event.

 

Banquets

The Marlins typically hold two banquets during our season.  The first is held the Monday evening following our Regional championship meet and one in early September to present our season awards and celebrate successes for our swimmers at our Provincial championship meet.

  • The Regional banquet is more casual – with a goal to hold this on the lawn.  We celebrate accomplishments of all swimmers at our Regional meet and then cap it off with a swim in the pool.
  • The Season banquet is a bit more formal. This is where we hand out any awards from provincials, but also hand out season awards for swimmers in each category/practice group in the following areas
    • Outstanding Marlin (Marlin swimmer in each age/gender division who has accumulated the most number of points for the team); 
    • Most Improved (Marlin swimmer in each practice group level who has shown the most improvement over the course of the season); 
    • Best Performance (Racing performance – as determined by the coaches); 
    • Best Times (Marlins swimmers who have repeatedly beaten their best times over the course of the season); 
    • Most Valuable Marlin (Achieved the most number of points of all Marlins swimmers); 
    • Marlins Team Spirit Award (Marlin swimmer in each practice group level who best embodies the Marlins culture both in and out of the pool); 
    • Hardest Worker/Most Practices (Marlins swimmers in each age group who are the most committed to their training through the season)

 

CLOTHING & TEAM GEAR

Minimum gear that your swimmer will need is a swim suit & goggles.  All other gear is optional – but you will find details below on where we recommend you purchase.

TRAINING & SWIM GEAR

Team Aquatics carries a great selection of swimsuits & other training gear.  They have a store in North Vancouver (on Dollarton Hwy) – and with your Marlins “Shark Card” you can receive discounts on all regular priced items (in store or online).  

Your swimmer is able to train in any style of swimsuit, but we do suggest that your swimmer look at training suit options (one-piece suits for girls and jammers for boys).  They will be the most comfortable and won’t get waterlogged or create drag while swimming.

The Marlins team has fins for borrowed use during practices, but we can’t guarantee an availability of sizes.  They are not used in every practice, but are used frequently.

Finally, you may want to consider a swim parka.  If your swimmer is planning to compete – or they are great for morning practices when the air is still a bit crisp.  Warm and long, they are an easy way to go from the pool to the car ride home!

** If you have a new swimmer, you may want to ask around the pool deck, as there is typically a healthy availability of hand-me-down gear!

 

TEAM CLOTHING

Team clothing is for sale year-round.  If you would like to order any other Marlins swag (Hoody’s, T Shirts etc.) please use this link:     https://urstore.ca/nswc-marlins-swim-team  

REGISTER NFOR THE 2026 SEASON ON MARCH 1ST!

You must be a NSWC member to participate in the Marlins Swim Team program.  

Registration link: TBC

Full Marlins Requirements

  • 7 & up unless can meet these requirements
  • Can swim one full length of the pool unassisted without stopping part way or using the lane ropes – doesn’t need to be perfect
  • All new Marlins will be assessed in the pool to help with practice group placement and to confirm minimum ability criteria is met.
  • Season starts May 1

 

Mini Marlins Requirements

  • 5 & 6-year-olds (must be 5 years old by end of season)
  • Comfortable jumping in the water and swimming back to the wall unassisted, blowing bubbles with face in the water, can push off the wall on their own and swim back to the wall unassisted.
  • All new Mini Marlins will be assessed prior to the season starting.
  • Following assessments, coaches and the committee reserve the right to move Minis into
  • Regular Marlins if they can meet the minimum requirements.
  • Season starts June 3 – with 3 practices per week

 

No billing is done through Active. Your NSWC member account will be billed in installments.

Any questions, contact Shannon Samler, Marlins Registrar @ marlins.registrar@nswc.ca

MARLINS COMMITTEE CONTACTS

Marlins President:  Susan Mossing – marlins.president@nswc.ca
Marlins Registrar:  Shannon Samler –marlins.registrar@nswc.ca
Marlins Coaching: Susan Mossing –marlins.coaching@nswc.ca