If Ian Williams was into astrology, Pisces would be his favourite sign.
That's a natural when you can swim like a fish.
He and his four siblings grew up as part of the Prince George Pisces Swim Club family and for Ian, the youngest of the Williams clan, that set him on his path to the University of Victoria varsity swim team.
He was part of the Vikes for one year and in that time he just about reeled in a medal at the senior national championships.
Now the 25-year-old Williams is returning to his Prince George roots to take on the job as head coach of the Pisces club for the summer racing season. The Kelly Road secondary school graduate swam for the Pisces for 11 years, starting when he was five. Brothers Parker, Ross and Spencer and his twin sister Emily were all Pisces swimmers. At one point, all five of the Williams kids were racing for the club. Ian still owns 20 club records.
"We were all pretty competitive, I think. I was the only one who pursued anything (in swimming) afterwards but Spencer went into coaching too," Williams said.
"It was competitive, but it was fun. Compared to winter club it's less strenuous. People don't really see swimming as a team sport but in summer club it definitely is. You have a lot of cheers during swim meets, there's a lot of team spirit, and in practice you're working hard but a lot of the coaches understand it's more relaxed than winter club. I was really competitive and did well and broke records, but at the same time I had four or five guys my age who I met in swimming and they're still my best friends right now."
For the past four years Williams raced and coached at Pacific Coast Swimming, one of the top winter swim clubs on Vancouver Island. Last summer he was head coach of the Sydney Piranhas summer swim club, overseeing 100 swimmers. The Piranhas placed seventh in the team standings at the summer provincials last year in Kamloops,
Williams likes the direction the Pisces club is heading under the leadership of Rory Boyle and Bob Lees. They have plans to try to grow the membership of the club from its 35-swimmer membership last summer and are appealing to high schools in the city to gauge interest in creating a school swim team program.
"The main thing is we want to keep the summer club atmosphere so we want it to be fun, but we also want to be competitive again and get back to the top of the region," said Williams. "I'm just looking forward to implementing the way I coach down in Victoria. I trained with Olympians and I was coached by an Olympian (Ron Jacks) and another guy who's an amazing coach. You get exposed to all the techniques that are most efficient and I'm looking forward to bringing that up here."
When Williams was climbing the ranks as a teenager, older brother Spencer was head coach of the Pisces and Ian continued to race and coach part-time until he graduated high school. After a four-year break from swimming he enrolled at UVic, studying accounting, and was there for a year before he transferred to Camosun College. He still trained with the Vikes while he majored in athletic therapy at Camosun.
Williams was a good all-around swimmer when he left for Victoria but began specializing as a breaststroker once he got to the university team. At the senior national championships in 2015 in New Westminster he finished eighth in the 100-metre breaststroke and was fourth in the 50m event - the obvious highlight of his racing career.
"It was super-fun, everybody at that level takes it pretty seriously so you have a lot of great races," he said. "I was always pretty good at every stroke but once you get to a high level you have to specialize and breaststroke was the only one I was competitive in."
Williams had shoulder ailments at various times while he was racing and what he's learned at Camosun will help him implement a training plan for his young Pisces swimmers that he says should reduce their risk of injuries.
"I've always been athletic and have done as many sports as I can and I take fitness seriously. I've done a lot of research on my personal injuries and a lot of them have been from swimming, just overuse injuries, and I can apply what I've learned to my coaching," he said.
"You put in a lot of mileage on your shoulders especially and there is a way to take care of them, but you get tired of training all the time so it's hard to put in extra work just to stretch and roll out your muscles."
The Pisces train through the winter months but are limited to no more than two hours per week training with a coach. The summer season includes five or six daily training sessions and runs from May to late August. Beginning in June, club swimmers will be racing in regional meets every other weekend to try to qualify for the B.C. Summer Swim Association provincial championships in Surrey, Aug. 17-19.
The race season starts May 26 at the Aquatic Centre with a three-club event involving Prince George, Mackenzie and Quesnel swimmers. The Pisces will host the club's annual summer meet July 21-22 at the Aquatic Centre, which leads into the regional championships in Dawson Creek, Aug. 4-5.
