Hannah Esopenko received advice from a three-time Olympian last weekend.
"Having Joanne [Malar] critiquing our strokes is nice," said Esopenko. "If feels really good when she says, 'Nice job.' We respect our coaches, but she's been down the same path we're going on now."
The 11-year-old swimmer with the Prince George Barracudas Swim Club was just one of 28 competitive swimmers to take part in the 12 and under training camp at the Aquatic Centre on Saturday and Sunday. The swimmers took part in four swim sessions and had talks on nutrition and mental preparedness, while getting coaching and instruction from the former Olympian.
Malar attended the event last year and was thrilled to return for a second engagement to chat with the wannabe Olympians.
"I wish I'd had at their age what they got this weekend," said Malar, a Canadian Olympian in 1992, 1996 and 2000. "Between the mental skills training, the nutrition talks and the motivational talks and all the technical skills their getting, it's amazing really everything they can learn."
Swimmers came from Williams Lake, Quesnel, Chetwynd, Fort St. John and Prince George to take part in the event. It's the fourth time Swim BC has run the event in Prince George.
Malar is the most decorated Canadian athlete in Pan Am Games history with gold medals in 1995, 1999 and 2003 and still holds the record in the 400m IM. She said she was self driven to achieve her goals and dreams, but it would have been nice to attend a camp like the one in Prince George.
"I started when I was three and by the time I was 10 I was a provincial [Ontario] record holder," said Malar. "I did a lot of things on my own, but it would have been so helpful to have this sort of support and education along the way."
Malar swam the 200 and 400 individual medley for Canada and finished fourth in 1996 in Atlanta, her second Olympics. These days, the 36 year old is a devoted wife and mom to two boys - aged two and four - living in Summerland where she works for Parks and Recreation and was recently named head coach of the Summerland Orca Swim Club.
Next summer, Malar will head to London, England where she'll be a swimming commentator for CTV, a job she takes seriously knowing how important the video archive will be to swimmers in the future.
"I always carried around my best swim videos around to motivational talks, so I really want to do it justice for all the hard work [the swimmers] put in to really tell their stories," said Malar.
The drive that pushed Malar to achieve her Olympic dream and pushes her towards new goals, is what Chad Webb, a Swim BC coach, who helped organize the training camp wanted to accomplish with the event.
"We wanted to bring the regions competitive swimmers together to heighten the level of swimming in the area," said Webb. "And to create a depth of knowledge in the athletes and the coaches for them to take a leadership role back at their clubs and teach what they've learned."
Malar said the 28 athletes at the camp are very lucky to have all the help they need to pursue their own dreams.
"It's pretty amazing to look around this room and to know that at least one of them could be on the national team," said Malar. "We talk a lot about the desire - not everyone has goals to be on the Olympic team - but these kids definitely have the support. They have the talent. They've got the coaching and the facility. They can make their dreams happen."
