Cassis and Rennes attend first international swim meet

The Lindsay sisters’ love for water runs deep. It’s in their blood.

The siblings grew up in the water, spending most of their time either in or near the pool. They inherited their mom’s love of swimming. She was a strong swimmer in Australia.

“We love the water. I’m not kidding,” says Rennes, 13. “There were times mom had to drag us out of the pool.”

That love of the water quickly translated into an aptitude for racing. The sisters both started club swimming at young ages: Rennes was five, while Cassis was seven.

While they both swim out of the Canada Games Centre with the Whitehorse Glacier Bears, they aren’t directly competitive in the water. Rennes is a long-distance specialist and Cassis excels in sprint.

“Rennes and I are opposite,” says Cassis, 15. “For me, a 400 (metre race) is long.”

The life of a swimmer means hours logged at the pool and the Lindsays are no strangers to early mornings.

“I am not a morning person,” says Cassis. “When I wake up I hit my alarm, I lay in bed. I could just go back to sleep.”

But the desire to go to the pool and work out wins over a few more hours of sleep.

“I’m a morning person,” says Rennes. “But five is even too early for me.”

They arrive at the pool. Cassis, dressed for comfort in sweat pants and a hoodie. Rennes is already dressed for the day with a nice outfit and bag.

The smell of chlorine greets them as a familiar friend when they step out onto the pool deck.

“The pool is like our second home,” says Cassis.

They’re never sure what the workouts will be – that’s up to coach Malwina Bukszowana. But they jump into the pool ready to work.

“They enjoy being tired and they learned that nothing comes easy in the sport,” says Bukszowana. “Working with them is a pleasure because they always give their best every day.”

As the year-round club competitive season nears its end, the girls are logging up to 18 hours in the pool a week. They also spend time doing dryland training and exercises to prevent injuries.

The main goal this season is to go to Calgary’s age group nationals in July and win some medals, but to get there means meeting qualifying times in three different events. Rennes has already qualified, but Cassis still needs one last time.

She’s close – about two-tenths of a second off in a couple times and is hoping to secure that final time and her place at nationals at this weekend’s race in Vancouver.

Cassis knows that the smallest details could make or break her race and has been focusing on honing tiny parts of her stroke and start.

“My fly has gotten a lot better. It’s really my best shot,” she says. “If you have a bad dive, that can take a second off a time. Every detail is really important.”

The Mel Zajac Jr Invitational will be the sisters’ first international swim meet.

They’re familiar with the University of B.C. pool, having swam races at it a few times before.

They’ll be dusting off their fastskin swim suits as well. These are paper-thin race suits that go down to your knees, compress everything and take about 20 minutes to put on, says Cassis.

Have to pee before a race? You just hop in the shower and hope for the best.

The Mel Zajac meet will also be different for the Lindsays as it takes place in an Olympic-size pool. The pools they’re used to swimming in are all 25-metres long, while this will be 50-metres.

That means that there’s fewer flip turns to do and fewer laps to count, something Rennes is thankful for.

“Since I do the long races, for the 800 (metre race – 16 lengths of the Olympic-size pool)it’s easier to count,” she says.

Race marshals will ring a bell to signal the last 50 metres of a race, but swimmers keep count to pace themselves for the long-distance races.

The qualifying times are also a little longer, compensating for fewer flip turns to accelerate off the wall with.

Rennes is still recovering from a foot injury and will only swim three events: 400-metre freestyle, 800-metre freestyle and 100-metre freestyle.

Cassis will swim six: 200-metre freestyle, 50-metre butterfly, 50-metre backstroke, 50-metre freestyle, 100-metre freestyle and 100-metre backstroke.

She might have a harder time adjusting to the longer pool.

“It can be confusing sometimes when you’re doing backstroke you get to the middle and you’re like, ‘where are the flags?’” says Cassis. “It’s definitely hard when we go straight to long course, but you adapt pretty fast.”

The sisters are no strangers to high-stakes swim meets. Last year they both attended age group nationals. Rennes swam in five finals and won two bronze medals, while Cassis placed ninth in a final.

“I was really proud with that,” says Cassis. “It is all of Canada.”

They’ve both already had a full season. Rennes swam open-water for the first time and Cassis has been whittling away at her placings in a competitive age category.

While the girls enjoy working hard and competing, they also love the camaraderie of their sport and spending time with their team.

“When you’re at a swim meet, there’s such an adrenaline rush,” says Rennes. “When you’re in a club with such great people there’s such a great atmosphere.”

When they stand on the start block blocks this weekend in Vancouver, muscles compressed in their racing suits and eyes sealed behind goggles Rennes will be mentally prepping for the long distance slog ahead.

“I know deep down it’s easy for me,” she says. “You have to get over the mental toughness of the race.”

And trust that as you push through the pain, your body knows what to do.

Cassis will be thinking about putting her head down and not breathing. “It’s faster,” she says.

Because once the start buzzer goes off, all bets are off.

“Once you dive in,” she says. “You don’t think at all.”

Then they let the training take over and race to touch the wall first.