Club Structure and History
The Laser Swim Club is a non-profit organization operated under the direction of a volunteer executive. The Club is recognized by the City of Saskatoon and is a member of Swim Saskatchewan and Swimming/Natation Canada.
The club’s competitive programs are directed by our Head Coach. The Head Coach is responsible for guiding the professional coaching staff. Administration, policy, and operational activities supporting the programs are planned and carried out under the direction of the volunteer executive. The ongoing success of our Club depends on the teamwork, dedication and efforts of all involved.
The Laser Swim Club is identified with the colours black, red and white and the LASER club logo. Swimmers are expected to wear team clothing and colours when representing the Club. This builds teamspirit and makes swimmers proud of the club they are associated with. Parents are invited to participate as well. All team clothing is available through the Equipment Manager.
History of the Laser Swim Club
The Saskatoon Lasers grew out of two clubs, the Saskatoon Y-Knots and the Saskatoon Lasers. The Y-knots were formed in the early 70's after the new YMCA was built. They were a small, family oriented team that enjoyed some success. In 1975 Al Ross moved his family to Saskatoon and was convinced to take over the club. Al had been coaching in Edmonton and had developed a strong club there. He had numerous National Level swimmers in Edmonton and most notably coached Cheryl Gibson, 1976 Silver Olympic Medalist. Under his guidance the Y-knots grew in size and in excellence. Soon the club boasted many National level swimmers who were setting Provincial records. Some of the records are still on the books.
The Saskatoon Lasers were formed in the late 70's when a group of swimmers under the guidance of Glen Williams broke off from the Saskatoon Goldfins and formed a new club. At this point, there were three clubs in Saskatoon. The Laser and the Y-Knot swimmers and coaches worked closely together, sharing pool space and transportation. The head coaches of the two teams talked and thought that it would be better to consolidate resources and join together. In the fall of 1982 the Saskatoon Y Lasers were born.
The team remained strong through most of the 80's but by the end of that decade numbers of swimmers had fallen to the low 30's. It was time to rebuild the team. An effort was made to grow the numbers around a strong core of young swimmers. The most notable were Doug Wake, who set 9 national records as a 12 year old and Rhiannon Leir, who has gone on to represent Canada in the 2000 Olympics. By the mid 90's the club had grown to about 50 competitive swimmers, including Janet Cook, who also went on to represent Canada in the 2000 Olympics.
In 1999 the club started the first 'I Can Swim' program in the province. From a small start of just over 20 swimmers this program has grown to serve over 100 swimmers a year and now consistently feeds promising young swimmers into the competitive team. The Y was dropped from the name of the team in the late 90's because the relationship with the Saskatoon YMCA changed and the teams call letters changed to LASER from YLSC. In the spring of 2001 the team had over 70 competitive swimmers on a strong age group team. The future looks bright as the team strives to build a senior and national group from the promising age groupers.
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