Bisons swimming coach Vlastimil 'Vlastik' Cerny has been around the sport his entire life, however nothing could adequately prepare him for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that continues to engulf the world.

"It was hard for everybody," Cerny noted.  

"A lot of the coaches were involved in sports themselves as they were growing up. We are kind of creatures of habit and our schedules are habitual. To have that disrupted was very hard on the coaches."

Nonetheless, when cases began to rise in the province's first wave, Cerny adapted.

"I kept in touch with the athletes on a regular basis, but not overly. My message to them was you can practice your independence a bit more. There were some swimmers who went back to BC who would swim – so they were with their programs and we were sending some programs to them. Everybody had their own unique situation, whether they could do a little bit more at home or not. We sent them stay-at-home programs through the strength and conditioning crew."

Typically, the team enters a maintenance phase during the summer in order to stay fit. A lot of individuals work and make money to pay for school the following year, while those at the higher level compete until July or so. If you're on the international side, that being junior or senior swimmers, there are usually national team activities and age group national championships are always at the end of the summer."

None of that happened in 2020, but there was a silver lining. Cases began to drop in the province as the summer progressed, which allowed Cerny and the local swimmers to return to the pool until October, when the province went into code red.

"We were limited in the number of swimmers we could have per lane. It was originally going to be only one per lane, which ended up being kind of crazy, but as the summer progressed and cases got a little bit better, we opened up to potentially training at three per lane and for the most part we got through," Cerny says.

"We started in July with our return to training program. There were no competitions other than simulation time trials in training. We went all the way through the summer, and then of course got shut down in October. We kept training at Pan Am Pool. We couldn't really train at the university, and then when the team moved to the university in October, very shortly after that it shut down."

Manitoba's swimmers also continued to stay busy in the classroom. Notably, fourth-year U SPORTS veteran Dora Modrcin stepped up as a tutor for the Bisons Study Hall program, along with men's golf member Anthony Leicht.

Wog makes an impact in the ISL
Without question, the swimmer most effected by the pandemic was veteran Kelsey Wog. Just prior, she'd taken home four gold medals at the 2020 U SPORTS National Championships and was in heavy preparation for Olympic trials in early April.

In the span of ten days, trials were postponed, as were the Olympics. In total, Wog was out of the pool for four months – the longest span of her life.  

But just like Cerny, she adapted. She went for a number of bike rides to stay fit and when things warmed up, Wog took to the pool in her backyard. Her coach – also an Olympic veteran – was there with her the whole way, supporting and mentoring her.

"When the announcement came that the Olympics were going to be cancelled, it took us a while to accept that. Trying to do anything structured would've been detrimental, that's how I looked at it," mentioned Cerny.

"It started with just getting back to training, like everybody, she was in the same boat and feeling down a little bit because of the loss of training and re-starting your fitness and race readiness. It took a while for her to actually really push herself 100 percent."

Eventually, Wog got her swagger back. The weekend of Oct. 16, she, along with Cerny were invited to Budapest to partake in the International Swim League (ISL), which Wog had previously competed in as a member of the Cali Condors.

Wog competed in more than two dozen races over the span of a month as a member of the Toronto Titans. The schedule was quite hectic, as there were no prelims or finals, and teams earned points for each race based on their results. Every participant spent three days in quarantine while they awaited their COVID test results and Wog then had four days of prep before her first race.

Given all of the above, Wog's results were incredibly impressive. She won the 200-metre breaststroke on four occasions and posted times that placed her fourth in the world. Once again, she proved her worth against the world's best, while the Titans advanced to the semi-finals.

"We raced three competitions inside of one week. It was two days of racing, two days off, two days of racing, two days off, two days of racing and it kind of effected everybody, and then we had a stretch off," recalled Cerny.

"What impressed me was how she was able to bounce back and return to her peak performance. I think there was a lot of learning. We're now implementing things that we learned in the race and trying to address it going forward. Her resilience and the ability of competing at her peak in back-to-back races has really gone up. That was part of the plan. That's why I saw the ISL as a really good vehicle, because I've never done that as a coach with anyone, and she's never done that."

Looking ahead
Now back in Canada, Wog is rigorously training for Olympic trials, which have been moved to June. She's in the pool twice a day and the gym once a day.

While the Bisons returned to the pool at the beginning of March, rising case counts forced another three-week lockdown at the beginning of May, disrupting training once again.

With vaccinations rolling out, now available to all 12 years of age and older, there's a light at the end of the tunnel for student-athletes across the nation. It also serves as motivation for the crew, who won't have any competitions in the traditional sense for the summer, other than the top end.

"With so many disruptions, you kind of lose track for a while, and then you jump back in. With some of them, I'll have the opportunity to get them ready for next season, because they're going to be training with our senior guys once things open up again."

Speaking of top end, Cerny is excited about his 2021 recruiting class. It includes a number of high-level swimmers who'll add to a young, but eager roster that's led by Wog and Modrcin, the only two members with more than two years of university experience.

One of the names to remember is Manitoba Marlins member Hannah Schanel, a top sprinter who's already pre-qualified for U SPORTS championships.

"She's at a high national championship level," says Cerny.

"I think our program is going to be really good for her, and she has a lot of potential to go further. It's going to take time. I've known her just from a few interactions with the provincial team. Just watching her race, she always stood out. Typically, when we get new athletes it takes about a year to get to know them and to see what their background is and their psychology and ability to train hard and maintain them academics. It's a balance."