Awards and Recognition

An important part of the club's philosophy is to recognize effort and achievement in our swimmers. Swimmers are recognized in a variety of ways throughout the season.

Personal Best Ribbons
Awarded to swimmers for improving on their best times in an event at meets throughout the season. The ribbons are given to swimmers at the pool within a week or two of the completion of a meet.

Certificates
Awarded to swimmers when they achieve the Swim Ontario Time Standard. These standards start at 'E' and progress to an 'A' and 'Provincial' time. They also include achieving National Time Standards.

Excellent Swim Award
Awarded to swimmers who achieve a extraordinary improvement in their times. This is defined as reducing a best time by 5 or more seconds on a 50m or 100m event, and 10 or more seconds on both the event 200m and 400m events and 15 seconds or more on 800m and 1500m events. The swim must be accomplished within exactly three months of the previous best time.

Swim-A-Thon Award
Awarded to each swimmer who completes the Swim-a-thon.

Major Awards

Eligibility is based on birthdates as of January 1st.

Age Groups are

• 10 & Under,
• 11-12,
• 13-14,
• 15 and Over

If there are 5 or less swimmers in the category there will only be 1 award. For 6 to 10 LSC will add a 1st runner up trophy and for 11 and over add 2nd runner up

Top Competitor Award

This award recognizes swimmers who not only like to swim but like to swim fast. Every official competitive swim time has a corresponding FINA point value. The faster the time for the swim, the higher the corresponding point value. The highest FINA point value for every swim completed in the season is accumulated. The more events (stroke and distance) completed will add to the total. This process is carried out for both long and short course seasons recognizing swimmers who compete effectively in pool configurations. Winning this award is as simple as swimming fast through more and different events in both seasons of the year.

Most Improved Swimmer

This award recognizes the swimmer who has made an overall improvement in all strokes. The award is based on two or more swims. For the majority of swimmers we know the best time entering a season and can compare against the season ending best time. For this award long course times are converted to short course times based on 2%. For younger swimmers where there is no prior year result, the first swim is compared to best in-season result. The times are expressed as an average percentage of improvement. Only improvements are measured so any negative results for the year are ignored by replacing a non-PB with a 0. Winning this award is as simple as improving in all events and distances.

Coach's Choice Award

Awarded by the coach of each group to the swimmer in their group who demonstrates the most improvement from the beginning months of the year. This award encompasses not only time improvement, but also training habits, attendance, attitude, willingness to learn and more.

Mary Sheretko Award

Awarded to a 10 and Under swimmer who displays dedication to swimming. Dedication is defined as hard work, listening skills, team support, attendance and other intangible qualities. This award is named in honour of Mary who has given so much of herself to the Lakeshore Swim Club. Mary has given freely of her time, energy and commitment for over 30 years.

Fred Sheffield

Awarded to the 11-12 year old swimmer who is beginning to understand both the practice and competition sides of the sport. This swimmer has demonstrated a maturity beyond their years both in their commitment to practice and the management of their own races. Fred Sheffield coached Lakeshore Swim Club through its transitional years following the passing of Gus Ryder.

Dianne Vento Award – Memorial Coaches Award

Awarded to the 13-14 swimmer who shows not only dedication to the club but also leadership skills and the ability to motivate others (both through their own performance and by helping to enhance others). This award was named in honour of Dianne Vento who coached with the club for over 8 years and passed away suddenly in 1995.

Walter Sheretko Award

Awarded to the senior swimmer showing good sportsmanship, leadership and dedication to the club. This swimmer sets an example and high standard of achievement for the entire club. This award was created by the parents of Lakeshore Swim Club in memory of Mary Sheretko's husband, Wally.

Jim and Edith Curry Award

Awarded to the swimmer who is dedicated to swimming improvement by working hard, attending practice and performing at their peak throughout the meet schedule. Although the focus is on competitive achievement it is recognized that this would not have occurred without great practice attendance, positive attitude and the support of teammates. This award was named in honour of Jim and Edith Curry who both worked for the club for over 50 years. Jim was the head coach and Edith was the treasurer. Both Jim and Edith were with Gus Ryder from the beginning. When Mr. Curry passed away he bequethed $5,000 to the competitive side of Lakshore Swim Club.