The school year may have just started yesterday, but SWAC athletics are already in full swing.
"It's always exciting," said SWAC Athletic Coordinator Valerie Gordon. "It's the start of a new year. We've had some outstanding results in our past year, and the coaches and the kids are raring to go. I always look forward to the excitement of the start of a new sports season."
Participation levels are up substantially throughout the Chinook School Division.
"Our participation numbers have just jumped from recovering from COVID years," Gordon said. "The participation has been great. Our track and field had another outstanding result at the provincial championship. We've done tons of coaching or officiating initiatives and we've got lots of provincial level officials trained now. Things are running very smoothly with all our schools and our athletic directors are doing an awesome job within their buildings."
SWAC includes over 275 teams, 565 coaches, 75 adult officials, and a huge number of student athletes for those many programs.
They had a record 72 golfers in their program last season, 56 volleyball teams, 42 basketball teams, 12 schools participating in curling, 25 wrestlers, 333 badminton players, and over 500 track athletes.
"It's just keeping kids active," Gordon said. "Studies show that especially in girls about grade 10, participation levels and activities drop off. And we're seeing increases. Lifelong sports is important for the health and well-being of our athletes.
"I've been doing this many, many years, and the connections between coaches, teacher coaches, and athletes has great dividends in your school, the school spirit, the connections that you make with athletes, and you're able to transfer that into your classroom where there are relationships built, and classroom management doesn't become such an issue."
You can follow SWAC on social media for updates on events and results.