Fort McMurray Swim Club

Welcome!

The Fort McMurray Manta Swim Club offers both precompetitive and competitive swim programs for Fort McMurray youth. Approximately 250 boys and girls, young men and women from ages5 through 19, carry the Fort McMurray flag in more than 30 meets annually to all areas of the western provinces. The precompetitive program follows the tenets of the Sears I Can Swim Program (SICS) as developed by Swimming / Natation Canada. FMSC strives to create, nurture and promote a life of fun, fitness, camaraderie, and community spirit, through the sport of swimming.

Interested in Joining the Club?

Does your child love swimming? Then come check out the swim club, meet new friends and a experience a great team environment!

FMSC is now accepting registrations for our ‘SICS’ Program (Our Competitive Preparation Swim Program). If your child can swim one full length of Freestyle and Backstroke then come check us out! This program runs from January ‘09 to April ‘09. Once you register you will receive a swim date calendar. Swim sessions are on Monday & Wednesday evenings at the YMCA. Please feel free to email fiveyoungs@shaw.ca for further information regarding this program.

The FMSC Vision:
A world class swim club, inspiring individual, community and national pride, through the pursuit of personal and aquatic excellence

The FMSC Mission:
A community-based competitive program, that allows swimmers to compete at the highest levels of the sport, by providing technical, social and financial resources.

FMSC History:
The Fort McMurray Swim Club was formed in 1971 and operates under the rules and regulations of the Canadian Amateur Swimming Association (CASA). Its sole purpose is to aid, support and advance competitive swimming for children showing a desire and ability in the sport. The Club is maintained through an organization known as the Fort McMurray Swim Club composed of parents acting as officials and officers on a voluntary basis. It is a non-profit organization and relies solely on the support and efforts of parent members to maintain its operation. The FMSC was incorporated, under the Alberta Societies Act on November 15, 1979 (Registration #50225697). Club bylaws were revised in 1990, 1993, 2003, 2005 and, most recently in 2007. The Club is structured to promote and foster successful swimming and the competitive desire to advance in the sport.

An exciting and proud development for the Fort McMurray Swim Club this past year was the homecoming of two Manta alumni who swam for Canada at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Jennifer Button returned home to speak at our year-end awards banquet and Mark Versfeld returned to be the first inductee into the Wood Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame. Both Jennifer and Mark began and developed their competitive swimming careers with the Mantas. Having two Olympians originate from a program such as ours speaks volumes to the quality and caliber of our program and a program that we fully expect will produce more of our future National Team members.

To be a Manta requires a high level of motivation and perseverance, involving, in the advanced age categories, between 15 and 20 hours of rigorous physical training weekly. This past season saw the Mantas experience continued success in the pool, qualifying even more swimmers for provincial and national level competitions. We also had our membership numbers climb to new heights making us one of the five largest swim clubs in Alberta with a total of 250 swimmers. All this is due to the high and positive community profile we are able to maintain and the exposure we gain at competitions outside Fort McMurray, all of which would not be possible without community support.