The ripple effect of coaches and athletes guiding Nova Scotia’s swimming community
Swimming often begins as a childhood skill and becomes something much deeper for many: a place to grow, belong, and stay active for life. That’s true for Lance Cansdale, Technical Director of Swim Nova Scotia, who first got into the water as a young boy in northern British Columbia.
“We were doing a lot of paddling in the canoe and going up rivers and lakes,” he says. “My dad wanted all of us kids to be comfortable if we tipped.”
Lance started swimming around six and a half, and decades later, he’s never stepped away from the pool deck.
A major turning point for Lance came at age 14, after a year off due to Osgood–Schlatter disease. When he returned, he was posting times in the top 10 in the country for his age.
A coach later encouraged him to enter the profession, leading to a master’s degree in exercise physiology and a career coaching across Canada and the U.S. Today, he leads both Dalhousie’s program and Swim Nova Scotia’s technical development.
Coaching, he says, is “a science and an art,” grounded in understanding each swimmer’s strengths while bringing people together.
“Swimming is a uniter,” he says. “Not everybody’s going to be thinking the same, but in the moment, when you’re on the team, you’re all together.”
That sense of belonging is shared by Liam Ferguson, a recent Dalhousie graduate who spent four years on the varsity team and six years in the Next Gen Program. Liam began swimming competitively at five, moved to full-time training at 13, and eventually discovered how much he enjoyed coaching.
“It was seeing that piece of yourself give back to where you came from,” he says. Coaching younger swimmers feels meaningful to Liam, especially after years of support from coaches across Nova Scotia. Adding that sport, strengthens both mental and physical wellbeing Liam says, “You make these connections that are going to last a lifetime. With 25–30 hours a week of training, sport becomes a secondary family—a safety net.”
Dalhousie swimmer Emilie Schofield feels much the same. Introduced to the pool at six by her mom, who coached, she grew to love the mix of individual challenge and team encouragement. Making the Canada Games team at 14 deepened her love for the sport.
Now entering her final season, Emilie hopes to coach and pursue sport psychology. “Motivating swimmers is something I’m passionate about,” she says. “Sport builds such a strong community where everybody’s supporting each other.”
Their experiences also underscore what keeps the sport accessible and moving forward: strong, consistent funding. Funding like Support4Sport creates opportunity, supports coaches, and, for Lance, makes it possible to remain in the role.
Since 2006, the Nova Scotia Gaming Corporation has funded athletes, coaches, officials and community sport organizations across Nova Scotia through its Support4Sport program, administered by Sport Nova Scotia. Funded by the proceeds from designated lottery products, Nova Scotians have raised more than $68 million for Support4Sport.
With that support behind them, Lance says swimming offers something that lasts a lifetime: a low-impact, healthy, community-building sport with pathways that carry people from childhood to their senior years.
