Saturday marked opening day of the Biggar Pool for the 2019 season and it was filled with barracudas just a few days later. The Biggar Barracuda Swim Club had their first practice last night and are looking forward to a busy season ahead.

The team takes on swimmers as young as five-years-old, all the way up to seniors in high school, Kris Doering, Barracuda’s head coach, said this year, there are approximately 35 members on the team, although not all will be competing.

“In order to compete, they have to be at least seven-years-old, and then too not all of my swimmers will compete, I’m expecting to have about eight or 10 competitors this year,”said Doering.

The swimmers practice five days-a-week, with the younger members spending 45 minutes in pool and the older teammates spending upwards of an hour-and-a-half learning form, technique and improving on their speed.

The first meet for the team is already under two weeks away. Doering and the Barracuda’s will be travelling to Humboldt on July 15, they will be looking to start the season strong as provincials is slated not too far away on the last weekend of July.

Doering is no stranger to the pool or competitive swimming, she competed for approximately 12 years before taking on the position of head coach, a position she has held for 21 years.

Although Doering joked that she asks every year if she is fired, her passion and talent as a coach has made her an integral part of the Barracuda’s for the last two decades with swimmers coming back to join her program even after high school.

“I take swimmers up to high school, but even if they want to come back after they graduate, they are more than welcome. I’ve had seniors come back when they were 19 and still swam with me,” shared Doering.

One of the competitors that will be swimming in the Humboldt meet is Doering’s 13-year-old son, Cody who has been in the pool since he was six-years-old and beat his 22 year-old sisters best time in freestyle last year.

Along with the current competitive swim season, Doering is also planning on having a team qualify for the Summer Games next year.

“I’ve got a strong team and I’m sure a few of them will make it and a lot of times the swimmers I’ve had that want to go to summer games, they all make it, so I have quite a bit of faith my other kids will to,” shared Doering.

The Barracuda’s are set to compete in seven swim meets between July 15 and July 26, with Provincials taking place July 27. Last year Doering had 10 swimmers attend provincials and is hoping for another successful season.