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From chaos and uncertainty comes success for swim teams

Paul Danzer: Community sports

The Columbian
Published: September 21, 2010, 12:00am

The Tornadoes Swim Team was humming along. Swimmers young and old were putting in hours at Hough Pool, excited about the big spring meets on the horizon.

Then, the horizon disappeared.

In February, Hough Pool near downtown Vancouver closed its doors. The closure caught Tornadoes’ coach Kamie Christiansen off guard and left the 8-year-old swim team’s future in significant doubt.

After all, a swim team is not much without a pool. And that’s a frightening reality faced by programs near and far. Each of the three USA Swimming clubs in Clark County — the Vancouver Swim Club and the Columbia River Swim Team are the others — is stressed in some way by the limited pool space in Clark County.

When Hough Pool closed, the Tornadoes swimmers tried to stay in shape away from the water. Eventually, Christiansen and the Tornadoes Swim Team board of directors secured some time at the new Kennedy Center pool at the Washington School for the Blind and at popular Propstra Aquatic Center.

The coach is deeply thankful for the assistance from those two pools, which she figures will be her team’s home for the foreseeable future.

Pat Helt, president of the Tornadoes Swim Club board, credited the dedication of parents and the coaches for saving the team from extinction.

“Typically there’s a solution if you look hard enough and long enough,” Helt said.

The Tornadoes’ future was threatened by an unexpected pool closure, but they are not the only team in Clark County to face uncertainty in the past year. The closure of Bally Total Fitness club in Fisher’s Landing threatened the future of the 10-year-old Columbia River Swim Team. An agreement with that building’s owners allowed the CRST and high school teams to continue to use that facility’s pools last winter.

When a heater failed, the swimmers trained in cold water as the championship season approached.

But out of chaos and uncertainty, the swimmers for both the Tornadoes and the CRST turned in successful seasons.

“We had really great parents who stuck with us,” Christiansen said, explaining that while swimmers were forced to substitute dry-land workouts for pool sessions, many turned in personal-record swims to cap the short-course season, which runs during the winter months.

“We had our greatest season ever. It was very, very successful. All of our swimmers had PRs.”

Now that they’ve settled into their new schedule, Tornadoes swimmers say the chaos of last spring helped the club get stronger. The increased emphasis on dry-land training helped some swimmers post PRs.

“I think it improved it in a way,” said 13-year-old Jamie Rogers, one of the early members of the Tornadoes. She pointed to name recognition for the club, and the togetherness that grew out of the uncertainty.

“It’s made our team close,” she said. “You can see who’s committed and in it to win it.”

Rogers qualified for the Pacific Northwest Sectional meet last spring, shaking off the hardship of relying on dry-land training for fitness to finish strong.

Jonah Rodewald, a 13-year-old in his sixth year with the Tornadoes, said having two pools to train at has its benefits. The Kennedy Center at the Washington School for the Blind is deeper than Propstra.

“We can do a lot of technique drills in the deeper water, and at Propstra we can focus on conditioning,” Rodewald said.

The Tornadoes Swim Team started as a recreational team for youths at Club Green Meadows. In 2004, it moved to Hough Pool and joined USA Swimming. More recently, it added a masters team for swimmers older than 18. Most of those are parents of age-group swimmers who decided a little exercise was better than watching their kids swim.

“I don’t have anybody who wants to go to the Olympics or anything,” said Jon Anderson, who coaches the adult swim team.

He said between 25-30 adults swim regularly during the fall, winter and spring. He said about one-third of that group enters meets, and about half of the older group are parents of kids on the team.

“A lot of them just do it for fun,” Anderson said. “Everybody’s main motivation is to stay in shape and healthy.”

Natalie McMillan is part of that group. Her children Nicholas, 14, and Stefani, 11, have been swimming with the Tornadoes for four years, and inspired their mother to return to the sport.

Natalie McMillan said she was anxious about the fate of the club when Hough Pool closed, but did not doubt the Tornadoes would survive.

“We believe in the team and the camaraderie, and we knew we would pull together and find a solution,” McMillan said.

Finding pool time

The coaches for Vancouver Swim Club and the Columbia River Swim Team praise Christiansen’s persistence in fighting for pool time to keep her team in the water.

“She’s been very, very tenacious keeping the team together,” said CRST head coach Darlene Hill. “I have a lot of respect for that. I don’t want swimming to go away.”

Hill had her own tortured months last winter, wondering if there would be a new operator for the former Bally facility who would allow the CRST to continue its programs. The building re-opened to the community in June as the Kessid Center, a fitness and community center affiliated with but operated independently from the Kessid Church.

Hill and Christiansen both said their team roster dropped significantly during their facility uncertainty. CRST currently has about 100 swimmers, down from a high of 160. The Tornadoes now have about 75 age-group and 35 masters members. Both teams offer pre-competition swim lessons for younger kids.

Vancouver Swim Club, which has been around since 1966, has used the Marshall Community Center as its home base in the 22 years Vicki Gordon has coached the team. The VSC currently has about 140 age-group swimmers, and also leases time at the School for the Blind’s Kennedy Center.

Gordon, Christiansen, and Hill all believe there are enough swimmers in Clark County for three competitive youth clubs. What is lacking is enough water to comfortably support three programs.

Helt, the Tornadoes Swim Team president, is grateful for all the help his club received from both the Vancouver School District and the School for the Blind. With agreements in place for pool time through this school year at Propstra and the Kennedy Center, this season should be calmer for the Tornadoes.

But the closure of Hough will continue to be felt.

“There still isn’t enough pool time for middle school, high school and competitive swim teams in Clark County, particularly here in Vancouver,” Helt said.

Not that any of the coaches is complaining. They are happy to have secured homes for this season. Not surprisingly, the coaches are passionate about the importance of strong swim programs for this community.

Christiansen noted that with all of the water around here, swimming is an important skill for everyone. And with the rising participation fees for school sports and other programs, the Tornadoes are trying to use fundraising to keep team fees in check.

Ultimately, Christiansen said, the shock from losing a comfortable home at Hough injected positive changes into the Tornadoes’ approaches to both organization and coaching.

“We thought we had a pretty good situation at Hough,” Christiansen said. “We had a door close in our face, but two good ones have opened.”

Paul Danzer covers Community Sports for The Columbian. Reach him at 360-735-4521 or paul.danzer@columbian.com.

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