What’s Up With the Rapids – September 24, 2025
Welcome to the 2025-26 swim season! It’s great to see so many returning swimmers, and to see some new faces, too. As always, an awful lot seems to happen right at the start of the season, and it can be a bit overwhelming. Let me try to sort out some of the main points for you, so important information doesn’t get lost in the shuffle.
Information found in this email:
Practices
Coaches
Contact Information
Pool Closures
Swim Meets
Team Gear & Equipment
Fundraising
Practices
Classes 1, 1.5, 2 and 3 should do their very best to be changed and on deck at 3:15pm – provided there is a coach on deck already. If the coaches have been delayed, swimmers are asked to wait in the change room or the lobby. Once on deck, please get your boards and fins and sit along the wall.
Mini Rapids – please wait with your parents in the lobby until 4:23 or 4:53. Once on deck, fetch your board and fins and then sit along the wall in the MiniSpot for your practice to begin.
Coaches
Let’s put some names to those faces you see on deck, and who you’re likely to see them coaching. We switch it up sometimes, but in general this is who works with each group.
Chris Street – head coach (Class 6, 5, 3, 1, morning Masters)
Cheryl Paavola – assistant head coach (Class 4, 2, 1.5, MiniRapids, evening Masters)
Lauren Blechta – assistant coach (Saturday practice, and whenever Cheryl or Chris have to be away)
Kate, Kaylie & Rachel – junior coaches (Class 1 and MiniRapids)
Contact Information
(250) 624-8023
prasc.poolq.net
The best way to get ahold of somebody is to email the club, as more than one coach and board member receives those emails and checks them regularly. You could leave a voicemail, Coach Chris will get it eventually. If you are at the pool, Cheryl or Chris are here on deck every weekday 3:30-6:30.
A lot of information can be found on our website, especially under News, Blog, and Events. If you log in you can send emails to members through the website, as well as “declare” for swim meets.
We also post information on our public Facebook group “Prince Rupert Amateur Swim Club”.
Pool Closures
All practices are canceled on statutory holidays because the pool is closed. Swim club still runs on school ProD days, because the pool is still open. These are the upcoming days when practices will be canceled;
Tuesday September 30 – Truth and Reconciliation
Monday October 13 - Thanksgiving
Tuesday November 11 – Remembrance Day
There will also be no practices October 24 evening because Prince Rupert will be hosting the first Regional swim meet of the year that weekend.
Swim Meets
The Rupert Rapids are a competitive swim club, and as such we encourage all our swimmers to attend swim meets. As a club we host and attend several different types of swim meets, and as swimmers progress they are eligible to attend more types of meets.
TriDuel Meets – in house fun meets held on a Saturday or Sunday morning here in Prince Rupert. All our swimmers from Minis to Masters are welcome to attend. Sign up by “declaring” on our website.
Regional Meets – our Northwest Region includes Prince Rupert, Terrace, Kitimat and Smithers. Swimmers in Class 2 and up are expected to attend Regional Meets, and Class 1.5 are encouraged to try to attend, especially the two meets held in Prince Rupert in October and May.
Qualifying Meets – as your swimmer progresses, they may get fast enough to qualify to attend Divisional, Provincial or even National level swim meets. Swimmers usually begin to qualify for Divisional meets in Class 4.
Upcoming Meets
TriDuel Meet #1 - Saturday October 4, 2025
- all Rapids swimmers are eligible to participate - even if you just joined
- We HIGHLY ENCOURAGE our Minis and Class 1 swimmers to attend
- This is a wonderful opportunity to hang out at the pool with your friends and get a taste of how much fun swim meets can be
- On Deck 8:45am, done by 11:30am (ish)
- Sign up through our website
- More information coming soon for our newest swimmers
Prince Rupert Regional Meet October 24-26, 2025
· Open to swimmers in and above Class 1.5.
· We highly encourage all our eligible swimmers to attend this meet as it is here in our home pool.
· Please feel free to ask Chris and Cheryl about this meet. More information will appear shortly, but we’d much rather you asked than missed out.
Team Gear and Equipment – Jean Marogna, Equipment Manager
Please text Jean at 250-600-0705 for information.
Our club is lucky enough to have a supply of boards, fins and other gear that our swimmers can use. If you wish to purchase your own gear, check out the Team Gear tab on our website for links to Team-Aquatic, the supplier we mostly use.
Swimmers in Class 4 and up are expected to purchase their own snorkel and mesh bag to store their gear in, and most begin to buy their own paddles, pull buoys and fins once they aren’t changing shoe size every 6 months.
Rupert Rapids swim caps are our team “Uniform” for swim meets, and can be purchased from our equipment manager Jean Marogna. She always has a supply available at every meet, and you may ask to have the cost billed to your account.
Jean is also the person to contact regarding Rapids t-shirts, hoodies and deck parkas so you can rep our team on deck and out in the world.
Deck parkas – place your name on the order list by October 5, 2025
Hoodies – deadline to order is October 15, they should arrive October 22
t-shirts – can be ordered at Stuck On Design on 3rd Ave; stop in to try sizes and let them know exactly what you’re looking for (short sleeve, long sleeve)
swim suits and jammers – Jean has the sizing kit here in Rupert for a few more days if you want to try them on, and the suits can be purchased from her rather than mail all of them back. But be quick! They need to be gone by September 26. Otherwise, you can try Sportchek in Terrace, buy one when you travel, or order a suit online (again, Team-Aquatic is a good bet).
Goggles – the club sometimes has a limited number of goggles for sale at swim meets. Otherwise, the ones sold at the front desk of the pool are pretty good quality. Speedo is a great brand. “Recreational” goggles are not really adequate for anybody but Minis.
Fundraising – Carla Kroeker, Fundraising Coordinator
Please contact Carla at carla.kroeker1@gmail.com for information.
We have numerous fundraisers throughout the year, and the various fundraisers are spearheaded by lots of different members. Carla keeps track of them all and who the contact person is for each one.
Fundraisers are generally posted on our Facebook group, and emails sent out as well. I also heard a rumour that Carla was going to try to put them up on our website in some form.