Marilyn King's family grew substantially this week.
As swimming team manager for Team B.C. at the Canada Summer Games she's now in charge of 32 teenagers ranging in age from 14 to 17.
One of them is her own son, 17-year-old Sterling, one of five Prince George Barracudas representing B.C. at the Games in Sherbrooke, Que. Her job is to organize activities, plan meals and make sure each swimmer knows the competition schedule.
"I'm actually having a lot of fun," she said. "I'd say all of the kids have bonded well with the team, so it's good team spirit. They've been training hard and they're ready to swim their best."
The B.C. team is made up of 24 able-bodied swimmers (including Sterling King, Haley Black, Danica Ludlow and Patricia Fortier), four Special Olympians (including David Dunn of the Barracudas) and four Paralympics swimmers.
The Canada Games swim events are open to boys born in 1996 or after that, while girls born in 1995 or after are eligible to compete. The qualifying event for B.C. swimmers was the senior national championships in Victoria in April.
Until Saturday, Vince Mikuska was head coach of the team but he has since moved on to the B.C. Paralympics team. Ryan Johns and Janusz Kabzmarek will guide the able-bodied swim team in Sherbrooke.
King has been with the team in Quebec the past two weeks when they were training in Longueuil, near Montreal. Before they left for Sherbrooke Thursday the B.C. team toured Old Montreal and took a bus trip Ottawa.
King, a native of Saskatchewan, will also get to watch her niece, Tianna Kennett of Manor., Sask., when she competes in wrestling during the first week of the Games. The swim events start Sunday. The athletes are a 20-minute bus ride away from the pool in Sherbrooke and will be there for daily morning and evening sessions during the six days of competition and that could mean long days on the pool deck. The morning sessions run from 7:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and the evening events are on from 4-9:30 p.m.
The swim events are scheduled to be webcast live on the Canada Games site, jeuxducanada2013.ca.
n Fifteen-year-old canoe racer Gemma Hansen of Prince George, who also swims with the Barracudas, will compete in Sherbrooke in the second week of the Games, starting Aug. 12.
