Sunday, May 27, 2007

Another Great Kingston Blog!

If you are a local baseball fan, check

http://ktowndiamonddogs.blogspot.com

"Coach," the blogger there, keeps fans up-to-date on his site.

Know any other Kingston-related blogs? Let me know, and let's get connected! Just think how well-informed Kingstonians would be if they check blogs, really got a handle on what's going on, and current opinion. The Whig prints only a smattering of letters it receives, so if you want your views known, check the blog, and be a contributer, not just a whiner!

On this blog we deal with sports, local, national and international.

Friday, May 25, 2007

Time to Step Up!

It's time for Kingston's bloggers and webmanagers to step up, and get their efforts publicized!

There are several great bloggers in the Kingston area. Drop over and start reading and contributing to these blogs, share the information that they contain, and support all of them!

Most are dedicated to a particular feature, issue or activity in the area. All are interesting and informative!

The most informative website that is dedicated to something in Kingston is KCAL's. There the web manager posts items related to the construction and all-related issues of the downtown Kingston Regional Sport & Entertainment Centre (KRSEC), also known as the LVEC. This website is factual. While there is script that accompanies newspaper articles and television reports. Read this website, and be informed. www.kcal.ca


Kingstonians should visit www.k7waterfront.ca to keep up to date on what's happening on and adjacent to the many kilometers of waterfront. Not all of what's happening is good, but judge for yourself.

Check out this blog for fabulous info and underwater pictures taken mostly in the Kingston and Thousand Islands areas.
http://dolphinscubaclub.blogspot.com

And, celebrate Council's decision to continue investigating an aquatic complex with a 50m poool at
http://ktownaquaticcenter.blogspot.com
Now THIS is an exciting development in Kingston!

Do you have a Kingston-related blog? Let us all know!

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Saskatoon's Blairmore Centre

Saskatoon is building ist SECOND 50m pool, plus many of the bells and whistles!

Follow this link

http://www.saskatoon.ca/org/leisure/programs/blairmore/index.asp

Note also the Public Consultation Process, the on-going community input, the widely publicized info on the website for everyone to see and keep-up-to-date on!

Download the newsletters too!

Kingston City Council Goes Ahead!

City council has forged ahead to investigate the feasability of an aquatic complex that would have a 50m pool in it.

This is cause for celebration in Kingston, where swimming should be second nature to every citizen, considering that the city is virtually surounded by water! The Cataraqui River, Lake Ontario, the St Lawrence River!

It's important to keep an open mind about what this facility might be like. It is NOT just a 50m swimming pool. Yes, we will be well-served in many ways, by having a 50m pool in eastern Ontario. We can host competitions in aquatic sports at the provincial, national and international levels. What an opportunity!

Let's include options that virtually every pool built in the last 10 years has: play features, warmer "family" type pool, zero entry pool, hot tubs, perhaps slides, a shallow toddlers' learn-to pool...there are so many possibilities! It is exciting!

Check out
http://aquatics.nb.ca/xx

where you can see many possibilities for an aquatic complex, albeit one that was built for the 1985 Jeux du Canada Games. Read all the info on the site, and play the little short video that talks about the wide variety of activities that happen in this 20+ year old complex.

Not only is it exciting that the city council enthusiastically supported this initiative, perhaps, just perhaps, it is a sign of things to come. Perhaps it is a sign that this council will be open to new ideas, and say, "Yes, let's investigate this idea!"

Previous councils have been so NEGATIVE, portraying their "No, not us, not in Kingston" mentality.

I, and thousands of residents hope that a new attitude will prevail. An attitude that "we can do this" rather than, "no, it's too hard." That negative attitude does not convey support for the community, an eagerness to get the city on the map, a positive, upbeat style of leadership.

There are up-beat councillors now on council. Let's support them in their efforts to change the mentality on council and in the city administration.

It's time to talk about Kingston, time to offer to lead, time to be proactive. Moving forward on an aquatic complex is a small but extremely signficant step. Kingstonians applaud!

Monday, May 07, 2007

Kingston & District Sports Hall of Fame & DREAMS

Last Friday evening, May 4, 2007 was the induction dinner for the KDSHF at the Ambassador. There were many wonderful and memorable moments, but the ones that stood out for me were remarks by swimmer Karin Helmstaedt. She came for the induction from Germany where she now lives, quite a tribute to the Hall.

Although she doesn't know it, her swimming career and my sport admin careers are intertwined. She competed at the World Aquatic Championships in Madrid, Spain in 1986 where I served as the Assistant Chef de Mission for the Canadian Team. She competed for Canada in 1987 at the Pan American Games in Indianapolis, USA. I was the Assistant Chef de Mission of the Canadian Team at those multi-sport Games.

To get back to her comments, though. She had a distinguished swimming career, and now has a distinguished journalistic career. Karin went to U of T and swam for the university's team coached by expert Byron MacDonald. One of her memorable observations was this: if there had been a 50m swimming pool in Kingston, she would not have had to leave Kingston to continue her swimming career.

An athlete who wants to swim on the national/international stage for Canada, cannot stay in Kingston and train in a 25m pool. It is just impossible to become a Pan Am Games swimmer or Olympian without regular, on-going training in a 50m pool. Wouldn't it be great to have our young swimmers training here in Kingston, then going on to a Canada Games, a Pan Am Games then an Olympics! Wow! What a great thing for other young people to see and strive for!

Not only will a 50m pool allow our swimmers to stay home, an aquatic centre will be a centre of activity for everyone in the community! It will be a gathering place for young parents and their small children (and babies!), offering them the opportunity to become comfortable in and around the water, and learn how to respect the water. Kingston is perfectly located for water sport activities, and respect for our rivers, lakes, ponds is essential.

Additional activities available to citizens will include diving, water polo, underwater hockey, scuba diving training, synchronized swimming, inner tube basketball (you haven't tried THAT? great fun!!), winter kayak training....Red Cross and Royal Life Saving Society lessons and diplomas, fitness for seniors, hydro-therapy for persons with disabilities or injuries of some kind, .....the list is endless!!

I wonder how many little Karins we have in Kingston, wanting to follow their dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer or diver, and not able to do it.

The new Aquatic Centre will be an exciting, state of the art facility for every Kingstonian to use, and will give those little Karins an opportunity that isn't available now.

What a thrill!