THUNDER BAY -- Tracy Little remembers being a young, aspiring athlete and idolizing the country’s top synchronized swimmers.
Now she wants to be a role model to the next wave of Olympic hopefuls.
The retired two-time Olympian spent the weekend in the city working with the Thunder Bay Synchro club at their training ground in the Lakehead University pool.
She travels across the country to work with the various clubs and share her passion and enthusiasm for the sport.
“I had the Olympians on my locker in school and I had the Olympics rings on my arms. I really idolized them and wanted to go,” she said after working with one of the competitive teams on Sunday.
“I would really like to keep the sport as alive as possible and growing because there are a lot of younger kids coming up that I want to keep in the sport as long as possible and make the most out of it like I did.”
Having an accomplished swimmer like Little, who was a member of Canada’s free routine combination team that claimed bronze at the 2011 world championships, giving advice was appreciated by the athletes.
Julia Villeneuve, 16, has been involved in synchronized swimming for the past eight years and said the appearance has a great impact on all the members of the club.
“It’s inspiring a lot for us and the younger athletes to see someone on her level and talk about how she got to that level,” Villeneuve said. “It brings a lot of motivation.”
This marked the second time in the past year the club brought an Olympian in to work with the club, as Little’s teammate Elise Marcotte was in Thunder Bay last December.
Head coach Lisa Butler said having the decorated figures visiting improves the program as a whole.
“It’s helpful in so many ways. She’s done so much in her career and done every synchro move possible so she can always give them an extra little bit of feedback I sometimes can’t offer,” Butler said.
Villeneuve is working on a solo routine and is competing at the junior national level with her eyes on earning a spot at the national qualifiers.
The rest of the club is preparing for their first competition of the season, which will take place in Winnipeg in February.
As for the level of swimming in the city, Little believes the building blocks for success are present.
“The girls are having fun, which is the most important thing. They were smiling and laughing while making the work seem fun, which is what it takes to get through the hard days,” Little said
“There is still a lot of work to do with elements and the main pieces of synchro but the routines, choreography and coaching is really good.”
