Olivia Schlamp (far left) and Olivia Harris (far right) have received an early gift from Santa in the form of an invitation to the Sask. winter games. (Submitted/ Shannon Schlamp)

By Nigel Maxwell

Swimming

Prince Albert swimmers ready to make splash at winter games

Dec 24, 2021 | 10:00 AM

With the Saskatchewan Winter Games less than two months away, excitement is beginning to bubble to the surface for the athletes receiving invitations.

Olivia Harris, 15, and Olivia Schlamp, 11, will help represent Team Lakeland in the pool for artistic swimming. Both are members of the Prince Albert Pikes. Club President Shannon Schlamp explained to paNOW the past year has been challenging on their members, given that their normal training at Marion Aquatics was forced to end when the facility closed last summer.

“Our club actually folded in August for about two weeks. We decided we weren’t going to move forward with the season,” she said.

Faced with the option of driving to Saskatoon for training, a number of members dropped out. The two Olivia’s however remained committed and successfully adapted to some creative training methods.

In addition to training at Frank Dunn three times a week, they travel once or twice a month to Saskatoon to access a deeper tank. They also do quite a bit of dryland training to work on their routines.

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“They have both been working extra hard and both are very excited about the games,” Schlamp said.

Her daughter Olivia Schlamp confirmed this.

“I think it’s an amazing opportunity and I’m very glad I can go with one of my close friends and experience that,” she said.

The younger Schlamp also confirmed the past few months of training had been challenging.

“But now that we have now more of a stable routine and we are going in the pool three times a week, it is getting better,” she said. “We’re training as hard as we can.”

The winter games are scheduled to run from Feb. 20 to Feb. 26, 2022. The athletes competing in gymnastics and figure skating have also been announced.

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nigel.maxwell@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell