Kirby Feng - Speed Swimming Coach
Hello! My name is Kirby Feng, and this is my third season returning to Nova Artistic Swimming as the speed swimming coach. I have been involved in competitive swimming for 39 years and been coaching in Alberta since 1998. I have coached at all levels of swimming from high school to summer club to year-round swimming, and have worked with synchro swimmers, triathletes and open water swimmers as well. I am certified as a Level 2 Coach with Swim Canada, Skills Coach and for the past 14 years been a Learning Facilitator for Swim Canada teaching coaches how to coach. I believe in Safety First - keeping our athletes healthy through proper swim technique, and FUN second - as I find that athletes who have fun stay in sport longer! It is my privilege to return to Nova Artistic Swimming to work with all the amazing athletes and coaches again! :)
Claire Kjeld - Registered Dietitian
Claire Kjeld, is excited to act as the Registered Dietitian for Nova Artistic Swimming. Having been an artistic swimmer with Nova Synchro in her youth, Claire is thrilled to support the club that she loves so much with optimizing their nutrition.
Claire has worked as a Registered Dietitian for over 15 years, both in the United States and Canada, in a variety of settings including sports nutrition, primary care, health and wellness, and clinical nutrition. Claire currently specializes in the following areas:
- Working with sports teams and athletes to help optimize sport performance through nutrition.
- Supporting children with feeding and nutrition challenges due to medical conditions, special needs, limited food repertoire, picky eating, feeding related trauma, and food sensitivities and allergies.
- Helping individuals with nutrition management of their chronic disease such as heart disease, diabetes, and obesity.
Claire strives to take the stress off of her clients that so often develops due to concerns related to diet and eating. Being able to develop trusting relationships with families, children, sports teams, and athletes, is the backbone of Claire’s practice. Claire is available to provide tailored workshops, nutrition analysis, supplement assessment, in-office and at-home visits, and nutrition coaching for individuals and teams to help clients meet their nutrition needs.
Claire Kjeld is the Registered Dietitian at Alberta Therapy Co. Bookings with Claire can be made at www.albertatherapyco.com/dietetics. For workshop or sports team inquiries, send an email to: hello@albertatherapyco.com. Follow Claire on Instagram: kids_achieve_nutrition
Flexibility is an important part of artistic swimming. Most skills require a large range of motion in the body’s joints. However, it's important to find a balance between flexibility and strength to perform skills optimally and help prevent injuries. A combination of flexibility and ballet sessions allows swimmers to learn different passive, dynamic and active exercises to increase flexibility, while increasing strength so swimmers can safely demonstrate flexibility in the water.
Artistic swimmers require full body strength to perform their routines. A dryland strength and conditioning program allows our swimmers to gain overall strength improvements, work on weaknesses and help prevent injuries. It also provides swimmers with weight-baring activities, which is important in the healthy development of athletes' muscles and bones.
Athletes must be both mentally and physically fit to be successful. Our athletes work with sports psychologists who coach them in using mental skills and techniques to help prepare them for optimal performances. From visualization to confidence building to pre-competition routines, they give our athletes tools that help them be successful in practice, competition and life.
An athlete can train their hardest but proper nutrition to fuel their bodies for practice and competition is key for optimal performance. Our athletes receive guidance from a registered dietician to help them learn what types of foods, snacks, drinks and meal plans will be best for them in training and competition.
Our athletes receive stroke improvement sessions from a local speed swimming coach at the beginning of each year. This gives our athletes a chance to learn, improve on, and try out new strokes and skills that their coaches can use throughout the year!
Although many people forget about it, recovery time and techniques are just as important as training. For example, maassage is a great way to help rejuvenate muscle function, improve range of motion, and help prevent and treat injuries.
We highly recommend that our athletes see a sports medicine doctor, chiropractor, masseuse, or physiotherapist that specializes in working with athletes if they require further recovery techniques or help with an injury.