If you are interested in joining the UBC Artistic Swimming Club, we host tryouts once per year in September. To sign up for our tryouts please fill out our prospective athletes survey!

If you would like to reach out to us with any questions, you can also email us at artisticswimming.sc@ubc.ca.

To keep up to date with our club follow us on Instagram @ubcartisticswimming!

Tryouts:

Tryouts (as well as all of our practices) are held at the UBC Aquatic Centre. This year, tryouts are scheduled for the following dates:

• Sunday, Sept. 8th, 2024 at 8:00-10:15 am
• Monday, Sept. 9th, 2024 at 7:45-10:00 pm
• Thursday, Sept. 12th, 2024 at 8:00-10:00 pm

In order to try out for our club, we ask that you attend at least two of the sessions. The purpose of these tryouts is to assess your experience, skill level, and commitment in order for our coaches to decide which of our multiple teams is the best fit for you.

Try-it Sessions:

If you are not sure about coming to tryouts, come to our try-it sessions. This year we are hosting no commitment, try-it sessions aimed specifically at people who have very little or no experience in artistic swimming. They are scheduled for the following dates

• Monday, Sept. 9th, 2024 7:00-8:00 pm
• Thursday, Sept. 12th, 2024 7:00-8:00 pm

These are free sessions, where you can try artistic swimming without the stress or pressure of tryouts. Some of our returning swimmers, and coaches will be there to guide you through some beginner skills and choreography. These sessions are scheduled to be right before our tryouts.

Eligibility Requirements:

There are two categories of artistic swimming competitions in the Canadian University Artistic Swimming League: Experienced and Novice.

Novice swimmers:

• No previous experience of artistic swimming is needed.
• Must be a strong swimmer, comfortable in deep water.
• Throughout the season, novice swimmers are required to attend 2 practices a week.
• Prior to the season, novice swimmers are encouraged but not required to sign up for the free trial sessions, which are intended to introduce the basic techniques of artistic swimming.
• For the Western and/or National championship, novice swimmers may participate in the competition as a soloist, duet, and/or team

Experienced swimmers:

• Must have previously competed at a provincial or national level.
• Throughout the season, experienced swimmers are required to attend 3 practices a week.
• The tryouts held for experienced swimmers aim to assign athletes to their respective groups, depending on the athletes’ athletic ability, experience, and level of commitment. The experienced swimmers are split up into several teams depending on how many swimmers join for the season.
• For the Western and/or National championship, experienced swimmers may participate in the competition as a soloist, duet, and/or team.

(Note: A minimum of 4 swimmers are required for team routines)

Novice swimmers are required to attend 2 practices per week and experienced swimmers are required to attend 3 practices per week. If you have any questions about joining our club as an experienced or novice swimmer, please contact us via email at artisticswimming.sc@ubc.ca.

Team Fees:

Our team fees range from $600-900 for the year depending on the number of club members each season and your level of competition (experienced vs. novice). Team fees include training costs, competition registration fees, and coaches’ wages. Team fees are paid at the beginning of each term and do not typically include travel costs. However, as a club, we do fundraisers throughout the year to cover as much of the travel cost as possible. A more detailed breakdown of team fees will be provided at tryouts at the beginning of the season.

Practice Schedule:

Practices are held at the UBC Aquatic Centre from September to mid-March at the following times:

Novice and Experienced: Mondays & Thursdays at 8:15 – 10:00 PM

Experienced Only: Sundays at 8:15 – 10:15 AM

Competition Schedule:

CUASL Westerns: Calgary, AB, January 24-26, 2025

CUASL Nationals: Victoria BC, March 21-23, 2025

In the 2023-2024 season, our experienced and novice teams headed to Winnipeg, Manitoba for the CUASL National Championships. There, our defending champions, the blue-experienced team won gold in the team event with a Barbie-themed routine, marking them as three-time national champions. The gold-experienced team finished 6th with a Shrek-themed routine, and our white-experienced team swam exquisitely to Club music. Furthermore, our experienced soloists secured the 2nd and 7th places, while our experienced duet won silver. Our novice duet had an outstanding swim and placed 4th.

In the 2022-2023 season, at Westerns, our advanced teams were awarded 1st, 2nd and 4th, and our novice team achieved 2nd. Our advanced extra routines also swept the podiums with our solos placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd and our duet placing 1st. Both our novice and advanced teams traveled to Markham, Ontario for CUASL National Championships where our advanced teams placed 1st and 6th and our advanced solos took home 2nd and 5th.

In the 2020-2021 season, all three of our UBC Artistic Swimming duets swept the podium taking home the gold, silver and bronze at the 2021 CUASL National Championships. Our soloist also placed first at the 2021 CUASL Nationals taking home the gold.

In the 2019-2020 season, our Advanced Team placed 1st at Westerns and 4th at Nationals in front of a home crowd. Additionally, both of our Novice teams placed on the podium at Westerns taking home the silver and bronze. The Novice Yellow Team also placed 3rd at the 2020 CUASL National Championships. 

In the 2018-2019 season, our Advanced Team placed 1st at Westerns and 3rd at Nationals which are now the highest rankings ever recorded for UBC Artistic Swimming. Additionally, our Novice Team placed 1st at Westerns for the last six consecutive years, as well as 3rd at Nationals. The Advanced Team also qualified to compete at the Canadian Artistic Swimming Championships where they placed 1st.

The UBC Artistic Swimming Club was founded over ten years ago by experienced swimmers and students as an AMS club. Over the years, the club has grown in numbers to include a novice program, as well as expanded to include soloists and duets.

In September 2015, the artistic swimming team, which is now composed of four teams including 2 duets and 5 soloists in the 2022/23 season, was one of the first clubs selected to become a part of the newly formed Thunderbirds Sport Clubs Program. At the 2015 Nationals Championships, the Advanced Team won silver in the Combo category. While the Novice Team has consecutively placed first at Westerns for the previous six years, they have also recorded second-place finishes at the 2014 and 2016 Nationals.

As the club has grown, swimmers have also competed in the solo and duet/trio categories. Notably, Olivia Zawadiuk received the gold medal for her solo at the 2016 Nationals, and Olivia Zawadiuk and Katie Stirrat placed first in duet at the 2018 Nationals.

In the 2017-18 season, UBC Artistic Swimming made club history by having both their novice and advanced team place first at the 2018 CUASL Western Championships and UBC was able to replicate this at the 2018-19 Westerns. Following these performances, both the advanced and novice teams took the bronze in the team category at the 2019 CUASL National Championships  – another all-time best for the club.

In the 2019-2020 season, the Advanced Gold Team once again placed first at CUASL Westerns and both Novice Teams also placed on the podium taking home the silver and bronze. UBC Artistic Swimming also hosted the largest competition of the year, CUASL Nationals 2020 where the Novice Yellow Team placed in 3rd and the Advanced Gold Team placed in 4th.

In the 2020-2021 season, all 3 of our UBC Artistic Swimming duets placed on the podium taking 1st, 2nd, and 3rd at the first virtual CUASL Nationals. Our soloist also placed first at the 2021 CUASL Nationals taking home the gold.

In the 2021-2022 season, UBC Artistic Swimming had their first CUASL National championship win in history and were also awarded the Gerry Dubrule Trophy for the top overall university as well as the John Drake Trophy for the top experienced team.

In the 2022-2023 season, UBC Artistic Swimming travelled to their first in-person competition in Markham, Ontario after the pandemic and brought home the John Drake Trophy for the top experienced team for the second consecutive year.

In the 2023-2024 season, UBC Artistic Swimming headed to a competition in Winnipeg, Manitoba and brought home the John Drake Trophy for the top experienced team for three consecutive years and one of our experienced swimmers brought home the title of the Top Experienced Athlete.