This weekend Ottawa played host to Swimming Canada’s 104th AGM (annual general meeting). The meeting is used to discuss the outcome of the previous year as well as to create plans for the next couple of years heading into RIO 2016. The Canadians could have a much higher medal count in Rio then they did in London with many young swimmers currently moving up the ranks in the college scene.
The meeting took place at the Holiday Inn & Suites in downtown Ottawa.
Many higher ranking members of Swimming Canada gave presentations and among those is CEO Ahmed El-Awadi. El-Awadi used to be in charge of Water Polo Canada, but took the plunge into the head office for Swimming Canada on August 19th replacing former CEO Pierre Lafontaine. El-Awadi’s presentation discussed the organization as a whole. Two other big names also be gave presentations as Swimming Canada’s High Performance Director John Atkinson and Para-Swimming coach Craig McCord took the stand.
Atkinson previously worked with British Swimming, but switched over to Swimming Canada in March. Atkinson spoke about world class performance, something he knows all too well about after working with head coach Randy Benett towards some impressive results at the FINA World Championships this summer. McCord spoke as well about world class performance, but in his case related to para-swimming. Canada recently hosted the 2013 IPC Championships in Montreal where Canada earned 16 medals at home.
On Saturday, five people were elected for a position on Swimming Canada’s board of directors to round out the nine individuals who represent Swimming Canada. Six people submitted applications to be on the board. The membership elected these the board, and the board is as follows:
Dean Crawford as a director. Crawford spent six years as the president of the SwimBC board. Crawford was also an Olympic rower for Canada.
Louise Leblanc as a director. Leblanc has a diverse background as an official, officiating high performance meets such as the Olympic Games.
David de Vlieger was reelected onto the board. Vielger, a veteran to the board, spent the last three years maintaining the position of president.
Leslie Cliff was reelected onto the board.
John Hinds was reelected onto the board.
Sean Finn
Cheryl Gibson
Kerry Mummery
Jim Shaw
The following awards were also be handed out:
Swimming Canada’s President’s Award- La Traversée internationale du lac-Mégantic Organizing Committee
The Swimming Canada Volunteer of the Year Award- Christian Blais
Ken Filippelli Award of Excellence in Officiating- Lynn Laprade
Swimming Canada Volunteer Contribution Award- André Despatie