Tomorrow's Olympic Champions Began Here Today

Under the squelching summer sun, more than 100 parents and other family members came out to cheer on their young swimmers, ages 4 to 16, in the Premier Recreation Services' 2012 Championship Swim Meet Tuesday afternoon at the Aliso Viejo Aquatic Center. 

The 254 youths competed in the swim meet that pitted four community teams from local Orange County cities against one another as they performed swim strokes that included the butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. 

Teams included Aliso Viejo’s Flying Fish, Laguna Beach’s Emerald Bay, and San Juan Capistrano’s Marbella and Newport Beach’s Great White Sharks. 

Teams competed by age group and gender. The boys and girls age categories were 6 and under, 7 to 8, 9 to 10, 11 to 12, and 13 to 16.  

All participants from the four teams were judged on the amount of time it took to perform the various swim strokes across the 25 meter-pool. All participants swam at least 50 yards with older participants swimming 100 yards. 

Unfortunately, a few individuals were disqualified from the competition for not swimming the strokes properly. 

Newport Coast’s Great White Sharks, with 95 members, came out the victor of the competition, with a total combined score of 503 points. The team, with Jeff Lam as the coach, excelled at long distance swimming with swimmers including Lyla Madison from the 9 to 10 group swimming 100 yards in one minute and 47 seconds. 

Though the event is competitive, the swimmers and participants were supportive of one another by calling out and cheering for one another. 

Lindsay Norman, program manager for Premier Recreation Services, which services Aliso Viejo Aquatics Center, said that though competitive, the event is meant to be fun and to emphasize swimming different swim stokes properly. 

“Our league is all about going out there and having a good time,” Norman said. “We have fun and we teach our kids how to swim properly and to swim well. Our league is not competitive. We are a fun, recreational swim team.” 

All four teams, which made up this summer’s league, practiced once a week for the past five weeks to prepare for the championship swim meet. Each team would practice with one other team from the league for dual meets at the Aquatic Center. 

The summer program ends with all four teams coming together at the competition to swim against one another. 

Jeff White a parent of two kids who competed in the swim meet said that Emma, 7, and Ethan, 5, participated in the swim teams for the first time this year. Representing Newport Coast, Emma and Ethan enjoyed the experience, White said. 

“It’s a cool activity,” White said. “It’s a team sport. They really enjoy swimming and it’s good practice for them. They are surrounded by wonderful coaches and other kids who all just enjoy doing the same thing.” 

The Aliso Viejo Flying Fish will begin practice with their fall swim team starting Tuesday, Aug. 7. This team is non-competitive and focuses on participants learning various swim strokes. 

For more information call 949-878-1451 or visit Premierrecservices.com.