Port Aransas Swim Team splashes to victories
BY DAN PARKER SOUTH JETTY REPORTER
Courtesy photos by Jennifer Kidd

Blue streak Blue Shodcok, 13, charges through the beginning of a backstroke race against Odem opponents during a meet at Port Aransas Community Park on June 14.

The Port Aransas Swim Team is wrapping up another season, and some team members once again have advanced to state competition.

But, in a sense, all of the swimmers have come out winners.

"I think, no matter what level they're at, they get positive reinforcement," said Nana Ward, coach of the team. "They get rewarded for their accomplishments, no matter how small or great. At practices, we really promote positive reinforcement, cheering each other on. It's like a big family."

As for competition, the team has been consistently successful over the years, with swimmers earning the right to compete at the state level every year since the team was founded in 1999.

This year, Matt Beyer, 13, and Jenna Ward, 12, will go to the state meet July 25-27 at the Palo Alto College natatorium in San Antonio.

Up for a breath Charli Jo Meeks swims the butterfly stroke during a July 5 meet against the Santa Fe Swim Club.

This year's team was made up of about 40 youngsters, ages 5 to 18. The season began in late May, and team members have spent the past six weeks practicing about 90 minutes a day, five days a week.

The Port Aransas team competed in the Corpus Christi Swim League against the Santa Fe, Flour Bluff, Odem and Corpus Christi Club Estates swim teams. One of the meets was at the island team's home pool at Port Aransas Community Park. Ward said she's hoping to host more meets next season.

The Port Aransas team won three out of the four meets it took part in this season. That record is all the more impressive considering the fact that the Port Aransas team is not as big as the other teams.

"The kids were very successful and improved as the season went on," Ward said. "I'm very proud. They worked hard."

Ward's coaching might be part of the reason the team has won so much. It's no wonder she's a successful coach. She was a state champion swimmer and ranked as an all-American while attending Corpus Christi's Ray High School in 1981, 1982 and '83.

Coach and son Coach Nana Ward congratulates her son, Cass, 7, after his race at a meet in Flour Bluff on June 21.

Winning a full scholarship to Northern Michigan University, Ward swam on a four-woman relay team that won an NCAA Division 2 championship in 1988. She qualified for the 1984 Olympic trials, but shoulder problems prevented her from that competition.

Ward said parent volunteers have been a big part of the Port Aransas Swim Team's success. Among other things, volunteers have kept score, kept swimmers organized, assigned lane cards (telling swimmers where they are to swim); and served as stroke-and-turn judges, who make sure competitors do legal kicks and touch the pool walls correctly when completing laps.

"It takes a lot of parents doing a lot of work to pull off a swim meet," Ward said.

The swim team was started by Port Aransans Ward, Ken Dunton, Suanne Pyle and Crystal Vickers.

"We wanted the kids to have this opportunity," Ward said. "The new pool was being built (at Port Aransas Community Park), and we felt like Port Aransas should have a swim team."

Lining up In the foreground, 8-year-old Hannah May, left, and 7-year-old Allison Hille line up for their warm-up in a meet against Odem June 14 at the pool at Port Aransas Community Park.

Ward has been involved with the team ever since.

"I hope this will encourage kids to stay active and to swim their whole life," Ward said. "I feel like that's an important thing, healthwise."

Stroke! From bottom, Port Aransas Swim Team members Zach Brown, Samuel May and Wyatt Scott swim against Odem team members in a backstroke race June 14. Diving in In the foreground, from left, Port Aransas swim team members Michael May and Kai Kidd dive in at the beginning of the 6- and-under 25-meter freestyle race against Odem swimmers on June 14 in Port Aransas.