Diving into the Hungarian invasion

n athlete exchange prompted a friendly Hungarian invasion from March 13 to 24, as eight members of the Sopron Swim Club in Hungary advanced on our city.

Hosted by the Manitoba Marlins swim club, the European swimmers were here as part of an ongoing cultural and athletic exchange between the two clubs – the first took place in 2005.

Sopron is a small city of just over 50,000 people located close to the Austrian border.

The Hungarians expressed their gratitude for the friendliness of Winnipeggers – also for being able to train with the Marlins at the Pan Am Pool.

Sopron coach Arpad Petrov said training facilities back home are somewhat less than what’s offered to Winnipeg swimmers – their club has a small pool with no place to practice diving nor any facility for running.

There’s also less time to train there than here because people are working, Petrov said.

The invaders took time out from their training to dive into some Canadiana and went curling during their stay – a sport Petrov thought looked too easy to be much of a challenge.

“I thought it would be easier, but it was really hard,” said Petrov in nearly perfect English.

Seventeen-year-old Oliver Gergely and his family opened the doors to their River Heights home for the out-of-towners – and downplayed any notion there existed a clash of cultures between Winnipeggers and Sopronians.

“It’s interesting to talk to them – they’re pretty similar to us and they like the same stuff,” said Gergely, who will be headed over to Sopron to represent the Marlins next spring.

Gergely admitted communicating was difficult at times, but said he simply tried to listen carefully to figure out what was being said.

“You listen to it for a bit, and it kind of makes sense,” he said.

Sopron swimmer Gabor Nagy, 14, said he enjoyed his stay, and meeting new people – swimmers were bounced from residence to residence in order to meet the families of Winnipeg kids involved in the exchange.

Gergely added he’s really happy to go to Sopron in 2008.

“It’s something cool to look forward to,” Gergely said.

David Brault, president of the Marlins said the exchange has been eye-opening from many levels, seeing parts of Winnipeg through fresh eyes.

“It’s opened my eyes to Winnipeg when you take people to see stuff you didn’t notice yourself,” the St. Boniface resident said.

Brault added the 2005 exchange saw his Marlins kids come back “a bit more focused” after seeing the Hungarians in their own element training within limited resources and time.

The Hungarian exchange is the brainchild of Marlins head coach Pat Temesvari, who is a native of Sopron and had coached the swim club before coming to Canada.