Into the Void

Hi everyone. It has been a long time since I have posted anything so I thought that I would check in to let you know what I have been doing.

Since late last week, 3 Blue Fins, Matt Fox, Mitchell Krafczek and Karl Massey (Known to most of the girls on the Central Region Team as "Small, Medium and Large") have been training with the Summer Games Team and me (YES, that IS a grammatically correct sentence) at the Smythe Pool outdoor pool in Etobicoke. The facilities, themselves, need some serious work (some of the lane ropes are too short for the pool)but it is an outdoor, 50m, LC pool which is only about 30min from us. With Senior Nationals and Age Group Championships taking place at an outdoor pool in Montreal next summer, I would like to look into getting some pool time here next summer to allow all participants to get some exposure to outdoor swimming (especially backstrokers). I am just blown away that I had never heard of this pool until a parent from York Swim Club mentioned it to me when we in Ottawa for Provincials.

Thank you to everyone for your feedback regarding scheduling changes and this upcoming season. I have been very busy trying to respond to most feedback personally. Please remember that I am ALWAYS available by phone or email and am open to all feedback. Thank you to everyone for your time.

A very special thank you to Russ Horton and D-Moos radio in Georgetown for following us and reporting HHBF news every 30min. Please tune into their radio station and listen for updates. Music is also pretty awesome! Support the local guys!!!


This upcoming season is going to be an important one for HHBF. LOTS of teams have burst onto the Swim Ontario and Swimming Canada scene over the years, but few of them have been able to follow up their successful season with something just as important. I intend HHBF to be one of the first... and certainly the first in the last 4 years (RHAC has really been the only one to do it recently).

I am really looking forward to the new season and the progress we are going to make. I hope this is shared by everyone.

I do not have internet access at Ontario Summer Games so I will not be able to do detailed updates, but I will be able to update from my phone. I apologize in advance for auto-text on my blackberry. I'm more than likely to type "age" instead of "she" and other type-os. Bare with me.

Mike Thompson
Head Coach
HHBF

* Indecently, I looked this up and moving from Div III to Div I in 2 seasons has only been achieved one other time in history. Milton Marlins did it in the late 1990s when Emil Demitrov was still coach and Jen Porenta was still swimming. Big deal, but we need to be prepared to follow it up in Sudbury next season at Division I by not finishing in the bottom 3. Not going to be easy.