Edmonton Keyano Swim Club Swim to Win…Win at Life!

Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
Swim to Win…Win at Life!
The Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
Operational Group Structure & Transition Strategy
The Edmonton Keyano Swim Club is proud to be one of Canada’s top competitive swim clubs, with 15 Olympic Team
selections for swimmers, hundreds of national and national age group records, and a proud history of upholding the
highest standard of coaching and coach education in the country. It is estimated that nearly 10,000 young athletes
learned to swim as members of the Keyano Swim Club since 1978.
Keyano plays an important role in the Canadian Sport for Life (CS4L) model. In competitive swimming, Keyano offers
swimmers a gradual progression towards their ultimate physical potential. Swimmers enter the program after they have
a basic comfort in the water, and soon learn skills that will help them improve their movement in water. As swimmers
get older and more skilled, they progress up The Keyano Pyramid (picture below) towards their goals in the sport.
Swimmers exit every level both up the pyramid, or out of the pyramid to other activities that will keep them fit for life.
What the Edmonton Keyano Swim Club endeavours to provide, is a great competitive swimming experience for every
swimmer for the duration of their membership with the club.
The Keyano Pyramid* utilizes information from the Swimming Canada – Long-Term Athlete Development Model.
Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
#106, 9100 Walterdale Hill, Edmonton, AB T6E 2V3
Tel: (780) 432-9448 ext 223
Fax: (780) 432-1771
E-mail: officeeksc@gmail.com
Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
Swim to Win…Win at Life!
Group Structure
The Edmonton Keyano Swim Club relies on its 35-year experience of being a perennial top-10 swim club in Canada, on its
qualified and experienced staff people, and on Swimming Canada and its Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) model.
The LTAD model was introduced by Swimming Canada in 2008, and finally put in words what Keyano and many of the
other top programs in the country and all over the world were doing.
In the current structure of the Edmonton Keyano Swim Club, swim groups are organized using this combination of
experience and information. The Keyano Pyramid shows how each group is associated with the LTAD model’s ageappropriate learning stages.
In slightly more detail, here are the groups of the Edmonton Keyano Swim Club:
LTAD Stage
Active Start
Age
5&under
Keyano Group
(Pre-Keyano)
Key Competitive Swimming Development
Basic H2O Safety; Comfortable in water
Active Start
5-7yo
Bear Cubs
Basic water skills; Understanding of movement in water; enjoy
being active
FUNdamentals
6-8yo
Bear Cubs (Intro)
Bronze
Silver
Basic water movement skills; Enjoyment of water movement;
short speed effort through agility exercises
Learn to Train
8-12yo
Silver (Intro)
Gold
Further develop movement skills; Further develop swimming
skills; Repetition of skills towards mastery; Develop positive
attitude towards self, others and sport
Train to Train
11-15yo
Gold (Intro)
Provincial
Youth Development
Development & mastery of sport skills; development of
mental skills required to deal with competition; aerobic
system development; consolidation of skill, speed & flexibility
Train to Compete
14-18yo
Youth Championship
Advanced physical, technical & tactical skills; compete at high
levels under various environments; develop autonomy &
ownership of responsibilities; Lifestyle skill awareness & dev’t
Train to Win
16&older Senior National
Optimized annual training plan; compete consistently at high
levels under various environments; increase leadership role;
Lifestyle refinement – planning for career after swimming
Active for Life
Any Age
Review commitment based on physical & mental status; selfmotivated programming; implement active lifestyle plan
Keyano Masters
(Post-Keyano)
Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
#106, 9100 Walterdale Hill, Edmonton, AB T6E 2V3
Tel: (780) 432-9448 ext 223
Fax: (780) 432-1771
E-mail: officeeksc@gmail.com
Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
Swim to Win…Win at Life!
General Group Transitions (‘move-ups’)
In general, group transitions or ‘move-ups’ (i.e.: from Bear Cubs to Bronze) occur at the end of any of the 3 training
phases of the competitive swim season: September-December; January-March; April-June. Having ‘move-ups’ at the end
of a training phase ensures that swimmers will not be moving up into a group that is in the middle of a training
progression, nor will they miss any portion of a training progression from their current group.
Every season brings new levels of swimmers, different abilities, and different depth in numbers at all of the group levels
within Keyano. As such, there are no absolute criteria for moving up a swimmer. In lay terms, swimmers must:
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
Exceed the expectation level of their current group on the majority of learned skills
Have no gaping deficiency in any of the major skills learned in their group
Meet the expectation level of the next group on as many skills as possible
Meet the expectation level of the next group in attendance, attitude, trainability, commitment &
performance.
(5) Be ‘age-ready’ as per the Long-Term Athlete Development model
Thus, ‘move-ups’ will be determined greatly by the level of skill and of the target skills of a current group, and the also of
the next group. ‘Move-ups’ are also dependent on group sizes and the overall best interests of the swimmers. (i.e.: In
some cases, a group may become full and make move-ups unhelpful for all involved… in this case, all groups below the
bottleneck begin to target higher skills, and the overall group level will be higher than past seasons).
Swimmers are identified by the coaching staff as early as possible when they seem ready for a ‘move-up’. Occasionally, a
higher group coach may ask a swimmer to ‘swim-up’ for a practice. This helps both the swimmer and coach to see any
deficiencies left to work on before completing an official ‘move-up’. Eventually, a swimmer’s coach will approach the
swimmer (and parent) to discuss the readiness and need for a ‘move-up’.
Keyano’s goal in making group ‘move-ups’ is to gather swimmers with not only great abilities, but even more
importantly, swimmers with great attitudes, commitment, trainability and performances. Those qualities are what have
always led Keyano swimmers to continued improvement and performance into their teenage years and beyond.
Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
#106, 9100 Walterdale Hill, Edmonton, AB T6E 2V3
Tel: (780) 432-9448 ext 223
Fax: (780) 432-1771
E-mail: officeeksc@gmail.com
Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
Swim to Win…Win at Life!
Satellite to Kinsmen Centre Transitions (‘move-ups’)
The biggest transition or ‘move-up’ in Keyano is from the Gold groups into either the Provincial or Youth Development
Groups. This is the point where swimmers will leave their Satellite Program and join the programs at our home pool, the
Kinsmen Sport Centre.
Nearly every swimmer currently training at the Kinsmen Sport Centre for Keyano originated in one of Keyano’s satellite
programs. The Kinsmen Sport Centre is a leading-edge facility that Keyano is privileged to call home. As our home base,
we bring swimmers at a certain level of ability and skill together from all of our Satellite Programs in order to collect a
critical mass of swimmers to train at the next level together. Collecting these swimmers at Kinsmen also allows us to
pool our club resources more efficiently as a swimmer’s ability begets greater needs.
The ‘move-up’ process is more deliberate between these groups. Since the Provincial group and Youth Development
group coaches are not a daily part of the Satellite Program, we take care in communicating between coaches and having
a select group of identified swimmers ‘swim-up’ with the appropriate group occasionally on our team Wednesday
practices.
Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
#106, 9100 Walterdale Hill, Edmonton, AB T6E 2V3
Tel: (780) 432-9448 ext 223
Fax: (780) 432-1771
E-mail: officeeksc@gmail.com
Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
Swim to Win…Win at Life!
The basic movement process is as follows…
September to December
We allow satellite swimmers to stay primarily with their group coaches, allowing them to develop a consistent
program progression of skills and achieve some target adaptations. During this time, coaches are always
assessing swimmers based on attendance, attitude, trainability, commitment and performance. A select bunch
of identified swimmers may ‘swim-up’ on occasional team Wednesday workouts. These would be the first
swimmers added to an “ID” list of all Satellite Pool swimmers best suited for a move-up next season.
January to April
Begin more transition opportunities for those swimmers on our Provincial Group ID and Youth Development
Group ID lists. This may involve more practices with the Provincial/Youth Development groups and some
practices bringing the top Gold level swimmers together in separate practices. Our coaches will continue to
identify swimmers who may be improving quickly over the course of the next few months.
May to July
Coaches will work to finalize a list of swimmers who are ready for the transition and inform families to allow
them to prepare for a ‘move-up’ the following season. Depending on age and other move-up factors, athletes
will transition either into the Provincial (1st Year) or into the Youth Development group.
Achieving time standards, particularly Alberta ‘A’ times, are not specific criteria involved when looking at
swimmers for a transition or ‘move-up’. However, standards are a big part in identifying those who are
performing at a high level. Be that as it may, swimmers who achieve Alberta ‘A’ times must also display
the characteristics mentioned throughout the previous pages.
Kinsmen Centre Transitions (‘move-ups’)
Much like transitions within the satellite pools, the coaches at the Kinsmen Sport Centre train alongside each other on a
regular basis, and also see each groups’ athletes regularly. Transitions are made only after significant discussion
between the coaching staff.
References (links for more information)
The Keyano website “Parent Education” tab has very helpful resource material for those interested in learning more
about the long-term development principles that guide the decision of all top coaches and programs across the country.
Web address: www.teamunify.com/SubTabGeneric.jsp?team=cseksc&_stabid_=3272
Some of the available links on the Keyano website:
LTAD - Guide for Parents
LTAD - Recovery & Regeneration
LTAD - Figures & Tables
LTAD - Additional Documents
Edmonton Keyano Swim Club
#106, 9100 Walterdale Hill, Edmonton, AB T6E 2V3
Tel: (780) 432-9448 ext 223
Fax: (780) 432-1771
E-mail: officeeksc@gmail.com