A Williams Lake Blue Fins swimmer was honoured last week at the Premier’s Awards

A Williams Lake Blue Fins swimmer was honoured last week at the Premier’s Awards for Indigenous Youth.

Fourteen-year-old Jadyn Johnston was one of 12 outstanding athletes who received the prestigious designation during the Gathering Our Voices Indigenous Youth Leadership Training at the Alberni Athletic Hall in Port Alberni on March 19.

I-SPARC (Indigenous Sport, Physical Activity and Recreation Council), in collaboration with the Province of B.C., created the awards to highlight the incredible achievements of Indigenous youth athletes in the province and to honour their excellence in performance sport, leadership qualities, commitment to their education and role in their communities both, in Johnston’s case, in and out of the pool.

Johnston was one of 47 regional recipients selected in November of 2018, prior to becoming one of the 12 selected to receive the provincial award, which represent I-SPARC’S six regions: Northeast, Northwest, Interior, Fraser, Vancouver Coastal and Vancouver Island.

“It’s pretty cool to be nominated for it, and it means a lot to me to win,” said Johnston, who is of both Tsilhqot’in and Carrier descent.

“It just lets me know I can achieve great things with the sport I’m doing.”

Out of the water, Johnston is also close to a straight ‘A’ student at Lake City Secondary School.

Blue Fins head coach Chad Webb said Johnston receiving the award is well deserved.

“Of all the kids he’s got an incredible work ethic,” Webb said. “He challenges me sometimes, if we’re not doing enough, which is great. Jadyn’s a guy of more show than talk. He leads by example [for other swimmers in the club].”

Last summer, Johnston blew away the competition at the BC Summer Games in Cowichan, swimming to six gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal. He’s also competed at multiple provincial championships in his swimming career.

Carrying on his success in 2019, Johnston is now preparing for the Western Canadian Championships — one of three Blue Fins to qualify for what’s the largest meet hosted annually in Western Canada — coming up April 11-14 in Edmonton.

READ MORE: Johnston impressive at BC Games

At the Western Championships Johnston has qualified in seven events: 100-metre backstroke, 200-metre backstroke, 200-metre fly, 400-metre freestyle, 200-metre individual medley and 400-metre individual medley.

Johnston was born in Vanderhoof, then moved with his family to Tumbler Ridge before eventually settling in Kitimat.

There, he trained as a member of the Kitimat Marlins before their coach stepped down and Johnston was looking for a place to train.

His dad got a job working shift work in Dawson Creek, and an opportunity presented itself for Johnston to move to Williams Lake to live with his grandma to attend school, and to train with the Blue Fins, in September of 2017.

“I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished,” Johnston said of what he’s achieved in the sport since he started swimming competitively at the age of nine.



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