National Volunteer Week 2025

As part of National Volunteers Month and National Volunteers Week April 27-May 3, Swim Ontario would like to thank our hard working volunteers who give their time and commitment to help our sport and community on a daily basis. We will be highlighting many of our wonderful volunteers over the next few weeks.

Parents tend to remember the first time they took their offspring to swim lessons.

A moment in time to cherish – and especially watching instructors astutely create excitement by mixing guidance and lessons with the initiation to water. Recreational fun for many. Others focus on aspirations of advancing to the competitive route.

There’s a sense of restlessness and inquisitiveness as parents focus on exercise routines, reaction from kids in the water and the communication that is shared. Also of huge importance, is the expectation and, in many instances, the requirement for people to volunteer when those lessons shift to swim meets.

There are many stories - and Mark Lukings has his own.

One of them is how that trip to the pool, with his 12-year-old daughter, would one day result in his name appearing on the Wall of Aquatic Fame at London’s Canada Games Aquatic Centre.

What makes this story fascinating is Lukings is the same person who, without using flippers, had been frightened of water. He learned to swim, but that didn’t happen until he was 12 years old.

After trying the competitive route for one year, while at the London Aquatic Club, observers liked what they had seen of Lukings. He was offered an opportunity to join the high-performance team. But that didn’t materialize as his parents couldn’t afford the expense and commuting time from their home – a farm in Dorchester, a small Ontario town about 20 minutes east of London.

Lukings, a graduate from the University of Western Ontario with a degree in Computer Science, would make a major contribution in another way – volunteering.

Remember that trip to the pool with his daughter?

Swim meets don’t happen with the blink of an eye. They require a lot of officials and others getting involved to make opportunities happen for young people.

Lukings got the itch to take an intro course for officiating. That one session led to a new way of thinking, that one day. With a bit of luck, he could become an official at the Olympic Games. He trained and studied intensely.

While the closest he has come to officiating at a world class event has been two appearances at the Canadian Olympic Trials in Toronto, he has earned the highest level of swim officiating in Canada. It’s called a Level 5 Master official. Lukings is also a Club Official Chair and Competition Coordinator, supervising all officials for the London Aquatic Club and others visiting their meets.

It can be a huge responsibility, but he’s not backing away.

Lukings launched his career in officiating in 2010.

“I like it,” said the 65-year-old whose day job is a Scrum Master and Functional Analyst working remotely out of the 3M Canada Company headquarters in London and as the only Canadian on a global team.

“There are many times when it can be very positive being a swim official. Meet preparation can onerous, but I don’t want London area teams to be in a position where kids don’t have local meets to go to. An enthusiastic thank you from coaches and swimmers counts for a lot.”

While the scene looked challenging for several years, especially as it related to a shrinking number of officials, Lukings has positive news.

“We’re seeing a growth in (swim) officials in the area,” he said. “There are times when I guess I could have gone cycling but gave it up weekends to prepare the (swim) meets and then to officiate at them. In fact, I don’t think I have missed more than a couple of sessions in 15 years.

“You need to do something and when I decided to be a higher-level official, I knew I would have to invest time to make it happen. I also see it as giving something back to the community. People need to have that giving attitude.”

Lukings was surprised when informed that his name was on the prestigious Wall of Aquatic Fame. In his case, it’s for officiating and as a builder of the sport.

“This isn’t all me,” he said. “I have had some great mentors along the way. People exuding a quiet confidence, a love for the sport and a desire to help. While I do enjoy officiating at the higher-level meets, the best ones are those where little kids can knock 10 to 20 seconds or more off a race time and be so excited and proud.

“It can be very inspirational to watch the persistence of others, who have struggled for years, to improve and overcome, and achieve great personal, or even national level accomplishments.”

Lukings has contributed to the success of two Olympians. One as the first coach of a junior age swimmer and the other as a Master Official helping to produce excellent local competitions.

April is a month when people recognize the major impact of volunteers. It’s National Volunteer Month - a time to celebrate and highlight the contributions of millions of people in Canada who have made a major impact of the lives of others by volunteering their time to improve life in communities across the country.

In Canada, National Volunteer Week is from April 27 to May 3 and the theme is “Volunteers Make Waves” – an opportunity to highlight the power and impact of volunteer efforts.

David Grossman is a veteran multi award-winning Journalist and Broadcaster with some of Canada’s major media, including the Toronto Star and SPORTSNET 590 THE FAN, and a Public Relations professional for 50+ years in Canadian sports and Government relations.