Swimming is more than just an exercise for the nearly 100 participants at San Benito Aquatics every week. To those kids – ranging from as young as eight to as old as 17 – swimming is a stable dream and an end to a means.
To San Benito Aquatics athletes, who will participate in Coastal Valley Aquatic League championships on Aug. 10, swimming helps build discipline that can be used in school and life, head coach Christine Schafer said.
“Our goal is to get everyone at that next level,” she said referring to high school and college.
On a wall behind the pool a sign reads: “My short term goal is to get better times in all my races. My long term goal is to go to college.” And that’s something head coaches Schafer and Cathy Larson impose on their swimming students.
“We want them to let swimming impact their whole life,” she said. “What you do here betters your school life and your other choices. It sets your kids up in whatever they choose.”
And with a steady growth stemming from nearly a year ago, Schafer has been able to do just that. In June of 2011, the San Benito Aquatics program moved from San Benito High to Rovella’s Gym. After a short-term drop in active swimmers, the club started to take off. Today, the club can afford T-shirts for its swimmers, new swimming caps and an updated logo.
A little more than a year after the move, the swim club is thriving.
“We are so excited … we have finally a new logo,” she said. “When things start working everything is coming together … We are being proactive instead of reactive.”
Those positive changes have reflected in club itself. Their four swimming groups – beginners, intermediate, “tweeners” and advanced – practice separately, as the club has no time restrictions at Rovella’s. Also the club can run more smoothly during the winter months thanks in large part to the indoor pool.
Because of that, the club has become more and more popular among children under the age of 10.
“It’s always more humid in here so it works out a lot better,” said San Benito High swimmer Alejandro Dones, who first joined San Benito Aquatics three years ago. “Here, it is a lot more shallow and it make a big difference. There are a lot more swimmers that come in to either learn swimming or to get better. It’s definitely becoming more popular. And since everyone else does the other sports, swimming is one of the best alternatives.”
In the upcoming months, Schafer expects even bigger things for the club, thanks to the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Four years ago, the swim club received a boost after the Olympics – and Michael Phelps – and with the continued publicity for the sport during these Olympics, she expects the same thing.
“I think it’s very important because that’s something the kids can identify with,” Schafer said. “The older they get, the more they start looking. If they are already swimming, they will look at somebody that does the stroke that they do. They will identify with that swimmer.”
And it starts really young.
Five-year-old Mackenzie Bakke already knows what she wants to do after watching the Olympics, she said through her mother. She wants to win a gold medal in the breast stroke.
Sydney Yamanishi, 9, already idolizes Michael Phelps, she said.
“I want to try and be in the Olympics,” she said. “In the butterfly, I like how it’s hard and how the arms are.”
For Schafer, it’s rewarding to see children react to the sport and its discipline that means so much to her.
“That same discipline function, it helped me as I went through high school,” she said. “The more I swam, I learned the discipline of doing that correctly. I was also able to work and I went college. I graduated Magna Cum Laud. I swam and worked. Without swimming that would not have happened. Because it just really kicks in the whole ‘this is what you are going to do.’ It drives you forward.”
And forward is where the club expects to go during its second year at Rovella’s Gym, Schafer explained. With the skill levels split into definitive groups, Schafer – along with Larson – hopes to focus on more individual skills in the next year.
“What we are looking for is watching their technical improvement to see if the changes we’ve been making in coaching and the groups’ structure is working,” she said. “We want to make sure they are swimming legally and learning their strokes properly. Swimming has fundamentals also. Now that we have these stable groups, we are able to whittle it down.”
To join San Benito Aquatics, contact Cathy Larson or Christine Schafer at 831-245-9890 or visit sanbenitoaquatics.org. The swimming organization has been in San Benito County for nearly 40 years and offers competitive swimming and swim lessons to children of all ages.
Junior Olympics
San Benito Aquatics also has two swimmers taking part in Junior Olympics Water Polo over the summer. Caitlin Schafer, who led the high school team in goals, assists and steals last fall, is playing for two teams at age 16 and 18.
Following her father’s advice, Erin Hepner, who will be a sophomore next year at San Benito High, is improving her water polo skills playing for Monterey’s Legacy Water Polo team.
“I think I’ve improved a lot since my freshman year,” she said. “Next year is going to be a challenge but I think we are going to be okay with all the girls. I’ve learned to handle in the ball better. My shots have improved a lot.”
