Earlier this school year, the Whitley County, Williamsburg and Corbin school systems all voted to approve swimming as a sanctioned elementary school sport. This past Saturday, a championship meet held at the Corbin City Pool marked the culmination of the inaugural elementary swim season. It also served as an encouraging sign for the future of the sport in the local community.
The Corbin Elementary swimmers were crowned the champions of Saturday’s meet, but truly, all who participated should be considered winners as they were able to take part in a history-making event that came as a result of many years of hard work from several dedicated supporters.
Among those who have played an integral role in creating these new opportunities for young swimmers is Dara Carmack. She is the owner of the Cannonball Swimming Academy, which operates out of the Corbin Wellness Center.
“I found that there is a huge need for swimming lessons in a very tailored sort of way,” Carmack said of the academy. “The only requirement to join a team is being able to swim an independent lap (without help), so I knew that if we had a solid lessons program for kids to go through, they could then feel confident enough to join a team.”
“Every child should have the knowledge of how to be safe around the water and be a good swimmer,” Carmack added. “That is the initiative with Cannonball Swimming Academy.”
Carmack also has a long history with the Knox County Piranhas, a club team that has grown so much over the years that it is now being split up to create the brand new 606 Summer Swimming Association.
“I was in the swimming world starting at age ten with the Knox County Piranhas,” Carmack said. “What we’re doing with 606 Summer Swimming is taking the Piranhas, which at one point was a massive team, and splitting it into different teams in order to start a new league in the tri-county area. We hope that it will expand throughout the entire 606 area code.”
Carmack said that another hope is to use the 606 Summer Swimming Association to get kids interested in joining their respective school teams, and vice versa. “It is a cyclical thing, and I am privileged to be a part of it,” she added.
The 606 Summer Swimming Association is set to launch this summer. To find out more, including additional details on the teams, coaches, and how to register, go online to www.606swim.com.
To learn more about the Cannonball Swimming Academy, visit www.cannonballacademy.com.
Local coaches talk successes in year one
Swim coaches at Corbin, Whitley County and Williamsburg had to hit the ground running (or hit the pool swimming, if you will) during the last half of this school year. As Corbin Elementary Head Coach Missy Black explained, it was off to the races as soon as the school board gave the go-ahead to begin organizing official team activities.
“It has been a really fast season,” Black said. “We came up with the idea of beginning to develop swimmers early, and build a foundation through a feeder program for kids going into middle and high school. We approached the board, and had everything laid out. They accepted it, and said it was something that they would like to pursue.”
Black said that she has been thrilled with the initial response to elementary swim not just in Corbin, but in neighboring communities as well. “The kids have taken on this challenge,” she said. “They will tell you that it’s hard work, but we’ve seen so much growth in them in such a short amount of time. We’re all just really excited for next season, because we will get an earlier start and have that foundation to build on.”
Sarah Bush is the head coach for the Williamsburg Elementary swim team. A native of Scotland, she knows firsthand what kind of an impact the sport can have on young people. First coming to the U.S. nearly ten years ago to compete as a swimmer at Union College (now Union Commonwealth University), she said that she is happy to now be in a position to pass on her expertise to the next generation.
“It has been really awesome to see the schools working together in order to benefit the kids in this area, and to show them that there is another sport out there that can change their lives and take you around the world if you allow it,” Bush said.
“Swimming changed my life, and I want to help give the kids in our area that same opportunity,” Bush continued. “It has been a quick season, but we’ve come a long way. It has been a lot of fun to watch it evolve into what it has become. I’ve loved every second of it.”
Finally, Kystal Miracle is leading the charge for the Whitley County Elementary swimmers. She said that she is excited to see how beginning to develop these student-athletes at a younger age will pay dividends later on at the varsity level.
“I would like to see it continue to grow, and to see that success translate to the varsity-level swim teams,” Miracle said. “Kids really need to start earlier than high school, so establishing this feeder system will allow them to get introduced to swim much earlier and learn how to do it competitively.”
Miracle commented on how much improvement she has seen out of her elementary swimmers over the course of the past several weeks, stressing that the main goal is always to get into the water and chase after those personal records. “You can’t focus on everyone else, just your own performance,” she said.
Looking toward the future
Considering the level of success that elementary school swimming has seen in its first few months of existence, one can only assume that there is a bright future for the sport here in the southeastern Kentucky region. In order to facilitate growth and encourage other schools to join in on the competition, a new organization is being formed that can establish official rules for competition, provide oversight, and most importantly, offer helpful resources to administrators wishing to adopt elementary swimming at their school(s).
“There is a lot of opportunity for growth,” Black said. “We have gone from just the local level to forming the Kentucky Elementary Swimming Organization, which will serve as the governing umbrella for these teams. We are still working on it, but it is kind of like the Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA), but for elementary swim.”
Black said that the idea behind launching this organization is to eventually grow elementary swim into a statewide competition. In order to help make that a reality, she said that current members of the organization are making important resources available to anyone who might be interested in learning more about how a school can go about advocating for the addition of competitive swimming for elementary students.
“We have all of the forms, and everything that we used to promote and approach our local school board,” Black said. “We have ideas for fundraising, and basically just a resource bank for other schools if they’re interested in being able to do this.
Black said that there will be no charge for anyone wishing to obtain this information, encouraging those who are interested in learning more to send an e-mail message to kentuckyelementaryswimming@gmail.com.
Another important point when considering the future, specifically some of the issues that could come as a result of too much growth too soon, is the fact that pool space is extremely limited in the tri-county area right now. All of the coaches interviewed expressed their sincere gratitude to the City of Corbin for the use of the city pool facility, but if the sport is to continue growing in this area, other options will become needed sooner rather than later.
The University of the Cumberlands has graciously allowed the use of their pool facility in Williamsburg when able, but availability is limited due to Patriot swimmers who need to be in the water for practice and/or competition. Of course, the former Stiver’s Aquatic Center in Barbourville has been utilized by several regional swim teams in the past, but with the facility’s future once again hanging in the balance, one must consider the very real possibility that it could be effectively eliminated as a viable option moving forward.
For these reasons, Black said that advocates in the local community are actively working on a proposal and exploring options for what it would take to bring a multi-sport athletic complex to this area. While she admits that this is a “lofty goal,” she said that she feels the need for such a facility has been adequately demonstrated. Not only that, but she is also very confident in the potential for positive economic impact that would come as a result of constructing a complex that could not only host swim meets, but also any other type of athletic contest(s) that the designers wished.
Only time will tell if such a project will become a reality, but one thing that we do know for sure is that year one of elementary swim has been a huge success, and if the inaugural season is any indication, parents can expect plenty of requests for goggles and swim caps come next school year.
