The Whitley County School District is adding elementary-level swimming to its repertoire of sports teams.
During their regular monthly meeting last Thursday, the Whitley County Board of Education voted in favor of formation of the new team. Superintendent John Siler said that there has been “quite a bit of interest” from students and the community for a swim team at the elementary level, especially following some of the recent success from swimmers at the high school level in just the second year of that program.
Krystal Miracle, who is the head coach for the Whitley County High School swim team, is expected to also coach the elementary team. Siler noted that Miracle has already developed some strategies for how to integrate swimming at a lower level.
“She has put together a plan for our elementary program to get these kids into the pool and start learning these techniques, strokes and different things and competing at an earlier level. It’ll be just like our elementary basketball and football to be kind of a feeder program to keep the entire swimming program sustainable,” said Siler. “It’s going to be an important building block.”
Agreements have already been worked out between the school district and the University of the Cumberlands, according to Siler, and lanes at UC’s swimming pool have been secured for the new team to be able to hold practices.
Miracle, who was present for last week’s meeting, said that swimmers can compete as part of the team as soon as kindergarten, though there are some caveats.
Miracle said that students who wish to compete as part of the inaugural season do not need to know the specific strokes or techniques, but they must already know how to swim 25 yards on their own. Miracle noted that the reasoning for that right now is to ensure everyone is safe while in the water.
Moving forward, Miracle said that as the program grows, she hopes to be able to be able to also teach students how to swim as well.
The elementary swim season is currently already underway, as it began at the start of the month. Other schools in the area, such as Williamsburg Independent and Corbin Independent, also recently formed elementary swim teams. The three schools are expected to compete among one another.
The News Journal was provided information on Tuesday that an elementary-level swim meet is being held this Saturday at the Corbin City Pool, where all three schools will be represented. That meet is set to begin at 10:30 a.m.
