Pickerington’s youth swim team heads for the water

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You’re gonna need a bigger boat.

On June 7, the Pickerington Tiger Sharks swim team kicks off its 30th season. The team, which hosts home meets at the Pickerington Community Pool in June and July, was established in 1988 by John Church, Charlie Beecroft and Cathy Brady.

The team’s 2016 roster had a grand total of 68 swimmers, and Julie Larson, president of the team’s board, expects the team to double in size over the next few years. In fact, this summer, the Tiger Sharks will still be accepting new swimmers into mid-June.

“We have plenty of room to grow the team,” Larson says. “We just have this great facility that the city shares with us. … The pool is kind of an undiscovered gem in the community.”

The pool has 10 lanes and is heated, providing the perfect space to teach new and experienced swimmers alike. And the team works to be just as accommodating as its home base.

“The team as a whole is just very fun and loving,” says team member Delaney Burns, a recent graduate of Pickerington High School Central. “Everyone’s always really welcoming and wants to actually be with each other, so it makes it very exciting. I always want to wake up for practice, even though it’s early.”

The swim team’s summer wake-up call is quite early indeed for the average student. The Tiger Sharks practice every weekday morning, starting at 7:15 a.m. By the end of the summer, each swimmer will have had the chance to compete at seven meets, giving some the opportunity to race for the first time.

“It was really cool to see them all improve,” says Head Coach Noah Worobetz, a varsity swimmer at The Ohio State University. “The great ones got better, and the ones who never thought they could swim a lap down the pool could swim three or four, no problem at all, and would compete at a championship meet and do really well. It was awesome seeing the growth of them, both inside the pool and as a team.”

But in the spirit of summer, the most memorable race of last year’s season wasn’t for the record books. Instead, it was an impromptu mascot relay against the Granville Stingrays.

“We’re trying to kind of create a rivalry,” says Larson, “We bought some inflatable tiger sharks, and then Granville… purchased inflatable stingrays, and in the middle of the meet, we had relay races with the mascots. Not only did the kids do it, but some of the coaches (too), and I even swam.”

Larson’s daughter, Kolya, and her teammate Joe Phillips refer to the mascot relay as the most fun they had ever had at a swim meet. It has potential to become a team tradition.

“I would absolutely do it again this year,” says Worobetz. “The kids last year kept talking about it and they loved it. We had two inflatable tiger sharks by the end of last year, and we would always bring them to the meet. They were like our new mascots.”

These summertime swims wouldn’t be possible without the team’s three dedicated coaches, says Larson.

“We feel really fortunate to have a young, energetic coach that happens to swim for OSU, and our other two assistant coaches have 30 plus years of experience coaching,” she says. “They honestly, truly love the kids. That’s why they do it.”

The Tiger Sharks swimmers will hold a car wash fundraiser June 3 at the upper parking lot of the pool. Home meets are slated for June 17, June 25 and July 1. The team’s Champs meet, its last competition of the season, is July 20 and 21 at Denison University’s Trumbull Aquatic Center.

For more information on the team, visit www.tigersharks.us.

Valerie Mauger is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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