• Swimming took a big commitment, both physically and mentally. But I have no regrets; Fourteen hours a week, ten month swimming season, cold water, lactic acid pain, endless push-ups, three day swim meets, pressure of finals, waiting hours for your next race, boring lengths, heart sinking 20x200m endurance practices, swallowing water, goggles filling with water, chlorine burning your eyes, swimmer’s ear, eye sockets hurting because the goggles are too tight, the thrill of winning, and the agony of losing – It was all worth it. It’s a sport only understood by those who experienced it. With commitment and sacrifice, came patience, discipline, endurance, and grit that is hard to explain to someone that has never done it before.
• Reflecting on those years of competition, I remember how hard we trained. To this day I can say I have never trained harder, and no sport since has matched the shape I was in during those seven years.
• Swimming
If you missed previous swimming posts, then click on these links:
85 – Burlington · Stelco News, Gabriel, Roman, Vlasta & Karol Dusil (BYAC, AAA Championship winners, BYAC swimming)85 – St. Catharines · Gabriel Dusil (BYAC, Brock University, swimming, fly)82.Jul – Burlington · Roman, Gabriel Dusil & Cezar (flexing, restored)87.Aug – Kamloops · Gabriel & Roman Dusil (snowball finger, restored)
Documentation
85.Feb.19 – Burlington · Post, Striking Gold, Making a Splash (BYAC swimming)85.Feb.9 – Burlington · Post, Vlasta Dusil Leads Aquatic Club in Meets (BYAC swimming)85.Feb – Burlington · Post, Vlasta Collects Medals (BYAC swimming)85.Feb – Burlington · Post, Dusil Family Dominates Meet (BYAC swimming)85.Apr – Burlington · Post, Dusil’s Pool Their Efforts (BYAC swimming)84.Feb – Burlington · Post, Roman Paces BYAC at Swim Meet (BYAC swimming)
Tags
AAAA Championship, Bruce Law, Burlington Civic Award, Burlington Ontario, Burlington Y Aquatic Club, BYAC, competitive swimming, David Darling, David Murray, dusil.com, eurostartups.tech, Eva Dusil, Gabriel Dusil, gabrieldusil.com, Gareth Jones, Grant Reffell, Linda Weston, Meg Midghall, Michelle Prendergast, Morris Vaillancourt, Roman Dusil., Sandra Moore, Steve Babiak, Swimming, Tracey Colson, Vlasta Dusil, Wayne Kot, YMCA
• Friendships developed over the years, between my fellow team mates. Friendships which initially centered around competition. We had similar goals and a competitive spirit. The veterans were Wayne Kot, David Darling, Linda Weston, Tracey Colson, and Grant Reffell. I was young for that crowd, and they were closer in age to my cousin Roman. In my age group was Paul Babiak, Dave Murray and Bruce Law. Gareth Jones left after a few seasons to pursue cross country skiing. I remember him well because he was such a nice guy, and how hard he worked at each practice.
• The duo of Wayne and Dave was a welcome refreshment in the club. At the time they were nearing the end of high school. They were truly hip, and fun to have around. Being two divisions higher in age and maturity meant that I looked up to them as positive infuence. They introduced the Daveski and Waynski nicknames for themselves. That spawned Paulski, Daveski, Romski, and Gabski. Nicknames that still hold today, with my cousin.
• Morris once told us, “Never lose to someone by hundredths of a second. If you’re in a close race then make sure you win.” At a Western Regional Championship meet at Nepean, Ottawa, Canada I was in the 100m freestyle final. The leader was way ahead of us, but I was fighting for second place with a guy right next to me. As we swam to the finish I spearheaded my hand into the board. When I looked up at the clock I saw that I beat him by 1/100th of a second. That was a defining moment, and was proud of that I could action the words of my coach. I won silver, but winning that battle was more valuable to me. In swimming it’s said that 1/100th of a second is the length of a finger nail. As much as my middle finger hurt, I made the finish count, when it was necessary.
• Swimming
If you missed previous swimming posts, then click on these links:
84.Apr.25 – Burlington · Post, BYAC Dominates Aqua Seven Meet (BYAC swimming)84.Apr.25 – Burlington · Post, 28 Firsts at Dual Meet in Stratford (BYAC swimming)84.Apr – Burlington · Stelco News, Super Swimmers (BYAC swimming)83.May.11 – Burlington · Post, Ontario AAA Swimming Championships (BYAC swimming)83.Jul.22 – Burlington · Post, Swimming Victory Not A New Thing to Canucks (BYAC swimming)83.Feb.13 – Burlington · Post, Dusil Takes Four Golds at CASA Meet (BYAC swimming)83.Apr.22 – Burlington · Post, Dusil & Refell Go For Gold and Boys Team Takes Silver (BYAC swimming)83.Apr.22 – Burlington · Gazette, Dusil’s Lead Y Club at Nepean Swim Meet (BYAC swimming)83.Apr.10 – Burlington · Post, Swimmers Impressive (BYAC swimming)
Photo Restoration
83.Apr – Burlington · Gabriel Dusil (swimming medals, BYAC swimming)
Tags
AAAA Championship, Bruce Law, Burlington Civic Award, Burlington Ontario, Burlington Y Aquatic Club, BYAC, competitive swimming, Dave Darling, David Darling, David Murray, dusil.com, Eric Coulson, Eric Finstad, eurostartups.tech, Eva Dusil, Gabriel Dusil, gabrieldusil.com, Gareth Jones, Grant Reffell, Linda Weston, Mark Hopkins, Meg Midghall, Michelle Prendergast, Morris Vaillancourt, Roman Dusil., Sandra Moore, Sean Simms, Steve Babiak, Steve Belham, Swimming, Tracey Colson, Wayne Kot, YMCA
• My swimming career began at eleven, introduced to me by my Mom. Taci wasn’t interested in the sport so he didn’t pay much attention to my development. His hopes were in judo and soccer, but that didn’t work out so well. At the time, this was more obvious to Taci than myself. Regardless, my Mom encouraged me. She drove me to practice and attended swim meets. That support isn’t so evident until you look back at the effort required from parents. I still remember my first swim practice. I walked in with Sean Simms, Eric Finstad, and Gareth Jones. They asked me how well I can swim. Unaware of what lay ahead of me, I said that I was a good swimmer. But my first mistake was showing up with no goggles. Within five minutes my eyes were burning from the chlorine, and I was shuffled down to the last lane, with the novices. It was a reality check, and a bump to my ego, but I stuck with it and eventually learned the concept of lanes, direction, and swimming etiquette. I moved to the senior lanes after half a year. Roman joined a few months after me. He was a born breaststroker, thanks to his father, and didn’t have to start from the ground-up, like me. As the months followed, Vlasta, Soňa, and Alica gave it a try as well. Only Vlasta made a teen-career out of the sport.
• Moving to the senior team didn’t just mean moving up the lanes. It meant meeting Morris Vallencourt, the head coach. He was not much of a family man, as the parents would say, but as a coach he was awesome. He taught us discipline, organisation, leadership, passion, concentration, patience, work ethic, dealing with pain, winning and learning from our losses. His resume consisted of coaching the famous Hamilton swim team and several swimmers to national class. He was a mentor in my eyes. On the flip side, many parents had a strong disliking to him. The truth is Morris was not interested in satisfying parental agendas. He only cared about the swimmers. Besides, the political conflicts between the parents and Morris were uninteresting to me. When parents wanted their kids to swim backstroke Morris insisted on freestyle. When a swimmer complained of menstrual cramps Morris said, “Swim it off”. When a swimmer had a bleeding nose, Morris said, “Swim it off”. From my vantage point politics consisted of Morris’s salary and parental meddling into what they felt was best for their kid. Most of the swim team was behind Morris. Looking back, he was truly an wicked coach.
• Swimming
If you missed previous swimming posts, then click on these links:
81.Apr.1 – Kitchener – Morris Vaillancourt (BYAC coach, BYAC swimming, restored)81.Apr.4 – Burlington · Post, Bruce Law, Steve Babiak, David Murray, Gareth Jones, Eric Coulson, Gabriel & Roman Dusil, Grant Reffell (BYAC, AAAA Championship winners, restored)81.Sep – Burlington · Paul Babiak, Gareth Jones, Gabriel Dusil, Grant Reffell, Eric Coulson, David Murray, Bruce Law, Roman Dusil (BYAC swimming, Civic Award, restored)81.Jan – Burlington · Gabriel Dusil (swimming medals, BYAC swimming, restored)81.Apr.4 – Burlington · Post, Y Aquatic Swimmers Mine Gold in Guelph (BYAC swimming)81.Mar.8 – Burlington · Post, Dusil’s Lead BYAC (BYAC swimming)81.Mar.8 – Burlington · Post, Dusil Brothers Collect 7 Gold (BYAC swimming)81.Jan.10 – Burlington · Post, Dusil and Reffell Win Twice (BYAC swimming)81.Apr.11 – Burlington · Post, Dusil Stars as Y Boys Defeat Welland (BYAC swimming)81.Apr.11 – Burlington · Post, Dusil Paces BYAC at Y Seven Swim Meet (BYAC swimming)
Tags
AAAA Championship, Bruce Law, Burlington Civic Award, Burlington Ontario, Burlington Y Aquatic Club, BYAC, competitive swimming, David Darling, David Murray, dusil.com, Eric Coulson, Eric Finstad, eurostartups.tech, Eva Dusil, Gabriel Dusil, gabrieldusil.com, Gareth Jones, Grant Reffell, Linda Weston, Morris Vaillancourt, Roman Dusil., Sean Simms, Steve Babiak, Swimming, Tracey Colson, Vaclav Dusil, Vašek Dusil, Wayne Kot, YMCA
Gabriel Dusil • Time Is Relentless 