Decorated swimmer imparts her wisdom

SUMMERSIDE - Swimmer Chelsey Gotell, winner of five medals at the 2008 Paralympic Games, had to overcome more adversity than most swimmers.
She has only 10 per cent of normal vision in each eye.
One of Canada's most decorated swimmers, Gotell dropped by Summerside's Credit Union Place pool recently, bringing her medals, including two gold.
"I used to be one of those kids, too. I came from small-town Antigonish and I swam with the Antigonish Aquanauts for my whole swimming club life," said Gottel, after meeting dozens of youngsters with Summerside's Dolphin Swim Club. She later dived into the pool to share a few tips with several visually impaired swimmers.
The 22-year-old Beijing Paralympian was joined by her coach, Andrew Cole, head swim coach at McMaster University, where Gotell is studying psychology.
Gotell said she was astonished at how much the Paralympics has grown in just a few years.
Developing the proper techniques, training strategies and discipline to be an elite athlete is important, but fun can't be overlooked, she said.
"I think when you're young, when you're still under the age of 10, it's more about having fun," said Gotell.
In 2004, when she won her first gold, her accomplishment didn't get much attention in the national media.
That's all changed.
"Now everyone knows what the Paralympics are and it's pretty exciting to the movement."
One of the things that really stood out from the visit is what she learned about how to identify every swimmer's strengths and weaknesses "and to be able to build a better swimmer" based on that knowledge.
Many of the children came with sweatshirts and scraps of paper for Gotell to autograph.
"It's an amazing opportunity for our swimmers to have a Paralympian here, to share her experiences," said Dolphins head coach Tracy Stevenson.
"It's great to have a high-profile coach and swimmer to speak to the group and to tell us a little bit about how they train and the type of things that they do."
Stevenson has coached the Dolphins for the past six years, but has noticed in just the past couple of years that enrolment has taken a huge jump - all due to the new pool.
"When we were at Centennial Pool we were hovering around 30 swimmers and now we're up over 60," she added.
Tanya Tynski, also with the Dolphins and a parent of two swimmers, a son and a daughter with the club, described Gotell's presentation as "inspirational and motivational."

jbrown@journalpioneer.com