Youth swim club serving Edmonton's Ukrainian community fights for chance to compete

A swim club serving youth in Edmonton's Ukrainian community, including newcomers to Canada, is fighting to become affiliated with the sport's provincial governing body.

About 70 young athletes between the ages of five and 17 train multiple times per week with the non-profit Race-Pace Swim Club, but despite the club's name, they can't race at swim meets because their team is not affiliated with Swim Alberta.

Head coach Pylyp Zvonkov said the club also struggles to book pool time almost every month, waiting for cancellations since affiliated clubs are prioritized at city pools. 

Zvonkov said he has been fortunate to book a few lanes lately at Kinsmen Sports Centre and the Eastglen Leisure Centre, but scheduling is unpredictable, constraining the club's growth.

"We don't know if we're going to have swimming lanes for the next month," he told CBC News.

The club applied for affiliation and presented its case in person to the Swim Alberta board of directors in 2019 but received a letter saying the board had decided to deny its application "based on the fact that the sport of swimming is currently well serviced in the Edmonton/Sherwood Park area by existing club programs."

"We do not see this changing in the foreseeable future," continued the letter, which was signed by vice-president Baerach Anderson and then-executive director Cheryl Humphrey.

After Race-Pace requested a meeting with the Swim Alberta board to discuss the decision, the same officials wrote back, saying they did not believe a meeting was necessary and there was no avenue to appeal the decision, since the appeal policy was for members only.

The club has contacted Swimming Canada and the provincial government but both referred the group back to Swim Alberta.

Race