Wilmot Aquatic Ace Brooke Davidson is among many returning swimmers to the club this year. There are a lot of new faces on the team which boasts a full registration list.

With a full club for the 2007-2008 season, the Aquatic Aces have a busy season ahead.

"We're full, we have a tonne of new kids," said coach Joni Maerten-Sanders.

Due to salesmanship of current members talking to their peers in school, there are many new faces on the team.

"A lot of kids brought friends," she said.

Some of the swimmers as young as five used their youthful energy to convince their parents joining the club would be a good idea.

Returning coaches include Maerten-Sanders and James Ferber, as well as Jackie Buehlow.

The team also has three new coaches. Mike Widmeyer of Baden, who swam competitively when he was young has returned to the team to instruct.

Also coaching this year are swimmers RuthAnne Fraser and Jaime Doucet. Both girls have been long time members of the Aces. At least 16 new members have joined the ACES this season, with swimmers overall ranging in age from 4 to 17 and Masters 18 and over.

"Swimming is starting to come more to the fore front," Maerten-Sanders said.

She said the pool looks great with so many young people enjoying the water and learning the skills of competitive swimming.

The slogan for swimming in Canada for the 2007-2008 season is "See yourself Swimming, for fun, for glory and for Life!"

Swimming is part of Canadian living, she said, and every child should be as strong a swimmer as possible, for their own safety and as a life long skill.

The Aces have a new website that members and the public can check out at www.acesswim.ca for all up to date info.

The 2006-2007 season had many great successes, she said, with swimmers reaching new standards and accomplishing their goals. The team had more swimmers at JR Provinicals (5) and two qualified for Age Group Nationals, and one for Sr.Prov and Eastern Nationals.

"We had some great success in Open Water races this past summer."

Brooke Davidson and Andrew Warr won the 1 km race in Montreal, Kris Sanders was third in the 1 km, while Jaime Doucet was fifth in the 5km and Sam Whiteside second in 10km. Master swimmer Peter Buehlow was second in the 5km race in Montreal. At the Ontario Provincial Championships, Alex Buehlow finished third in 13-and-under boys.

At the first Annual Open Water Race at Camp Chikopi, Lindsay Gutoskie won the 13-year-old girls, Erica Buehlow was third in 15-and-over, Alex Buehlow won the 3 km event overall and was first in the 12 -year-old boys, and Peter Buehlow was second in his age group. Several swimmers attend a competitive swim camp the last two weeks of August and many came home with awards.

Erica Buehlow was Swimmer of the Cabin, Alex Buehlow was Camper of the Cabin, Kris Sanders was Camper of the Cabin, Brooke Davidson won the Mileage Award with 58 miles.

Other swimmers who attended camp and represented the ACES were Zachary Sanders, Sarah Sine, RuthAnne Fraser, and Vicky Whiteside.

As the team heads into the 2007-2008 season, they look forward to creating a positive, high energy, well organized learning environment for swimmers, as the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing highlight the year.

"We have one swimmer whose goal is to make the Olympic trials this April, she is working hard and getting focused," Maerten-Sanders said.

"Let's get behind Brooke Davidson and help her qualify for this meet."

Former Ace Matt Mains has already qualified for the meet. The team also has swimmers setting goals to qualify for swimming and triathlon at the Ontario Summer Games in Ottawa, as well as more members to qualify for Age Group Nationals.

Maerten-Sanders mentioned that this past year the swimming world lost one of the best coaches, Dr. Jeno Tihanyi from Sudbury ON. She quoted him, saying "The end result is not as important as the process."