Kamloops swimmer Patrick Waters is ramping up his training for the Paralympic Games next year in Japan (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By Chad Klassen

PATRICK WATERS

Kamloops swimmer diving into Paralympic training — in his own backyard

Jul 21, 2020 | 8:56 AM

KAMLOOPS — Patricks Waters is taking a few laps — in his own backyard. He has set up a system that allows him to train close to home.

“This little pool here, it’s kind of like my Orca tank I say from Free Willy,” said Waters, talking to CFJC Today in his Sahali backyard on Monday. “It’s called an endless pool, so it provides a current, a constant current. You can add speed to it, so it’s much like a treadmill. So I can sit here and I can swim and I can swim and I can swim.”

With the Canada Games Pool closed for renovations and Westsyde Pool closed due to the pandemic, there is limited pool space in Kamloops.

But the backyard set-up is allowing Waters to ramp up training. He has his sights set on next year’s Paralympics in Tokyo.

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“I think we, as a national team, have said, ‘Okay, 2020 the season is done. Now it’s time to start building again,'” he said. “We have our nationals set for December. Right now, the biggest goal is to get consistent and work on some of the inefficiencies and the gaps we had last year and be ready to have some good performances for December.”

Waters is fifth in the world in the 100-metre breaststroke. He earned a silver medal at the Para Pan Am Games last year in Peru. He won gold last December at the U.S. Paralympic Swimming Trials, which is open to swimmers around the world. It’s all setting himself up nicely for a spot on Canada’s 2021 Paralympic team.

“The work I had done so far leading up to it had brought me to the place where I needed to be. I know I just need to do that work again, and I get an extra year, so I’m incredibly confident going into this.”

Patrick Waters has been training in his backyard pool during COVID-19 when a lot of the city’s pools have been closed (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

Waters was once an able-bodied competitor in Kamloops. Then in 2012, he had surgery to fix his hip dysplasia, a condition with which he was born.

He barely missed out on the 2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil. This time, he feels ready to join the world’s best. Waters is just waiting for more pool space to open, so he can be his best.

“Right now, I’m at Brock Pool three times a week. That’s a great place to start. We’re hoping that come the fall when Westsyde opens that I’ll have more access then.”

In the meantime, Waters is happy walking out his back door and jumping into his backyard pool.