Dive into Swimming in the North State

Mark Wagner, Head Coach of the Redding Swim Team, has coached for 35 years. Swimming is “a skill that teaches you to focus,” he says. It “actually teaches children persistence.”

To anyone with an aversion to large bodies of water, swimming may seem like a sport reserved for those who don’t realize humans lack gills and fins. In a state crisscrossed with rivers and dotted with lakes, however, swimming opens a whole new world of refreshing recreation, great exercise, valuable disciplines and deep friendships. Swim teams in the North State welcome even the most water-shy to dive into learning this fun and valuable skill.

Mark Wagner, the head coach of Redding Swim Team, has spent his whole life in the water and has coached swimming for 35 years. “I think swimming is one of the only avenues that actually teaches children persistence,” Mark says. “Everything is instant these days, but this is a skill that teaches you to focus.” Additionally, unlike many team sports, everyone on the swim team gets to compete; nobody sits on the bench while the star players carry the team.

Dene Erhart, Swim Coach at Chico High School, says swimming provides a fulll-body workout for all ages, teaches kids to set goals and can even help students gain an edge in college entrance: “It’s a lifelong sport.”

One season, a swimmer’s younger brother, impressed by watching his sister calculate her swim numbers, told Mark, “I want to be on the swim team so I can be smart like my sister.” Swimming does indeed involve math, particularly at distance camp, where kids keep track of their progress toward swimming nearly three million yards in five days. Mark explains, “They learn that if they can do this, they can do anything. They can look back to swim camp and say, ‘I swam 10,000 yards that day. I can handle this.’”
Regardless of age or aptitude, Mark says becoming a “successful” swimmer depends on attitude, the same main ingredient that determines success in any venture. Those who have positive attitudes and are receptive to instruction will always gain more out of swimming than those unwilling to learn or invest.
Christine Lockhart, who has coached swimming at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, CA for over 16 years, agrees. “Everybody who listens and tries hard improves,” she says. “Each step toward improvement comes from their own effort. A lot of kids are surprised at what they can accomplish over 11 weeks.” Because swimming works muscles throughout the entire body, kids become much stronger and healthier during swim season, and their self-esteem grows too. Christine makes sure to discuss proper nutrition and healthy living. “If you’re going to work this hard, you might as well take care of your body and notice how much better you feel physically. If you’re going to have strength to swim, you can’t be drinking and smoking and staying up all night.”

On the other side of town, Dene Erhart coaches Chico High School’s swim team. Although rival schools in many ways, Pleasant Valley and Chico High swim teams harbor less animosity toward each other than other sports since swim success depends on individual improvement. As Dene reinforces, “You have your own goals, you get to improve on your own time.” The focus on personal improvement makes swimming a stimulating challenge for all ages, and, because water supports body weight instead of pulling down like gravity, swimmers get a full-body, “low-impact” workout that does not put a strain on joints. “It’s a lifelong sport,” Dene says.

Swimming can open doors of opportunity, especially for college-bound students. Swimming teaches kids to set goals, create a strategy and manage time. Dene says that many of Chico High’s most recent graduates who were on the swim team found swimming helped them get into universities throughout the state. Swimming can also provide cross-training for injured athletes. Dene recalls a student who had to give up basketball because of a torn knee ligament. As a low-impact sport, swimming gave this student the physical discipline and exercise she was used to while giving her injury time to heal.
Unfortunately, pools in Butte County have suffered years of use without significant renovation, leading to the closing of several public pools and the over-use of the few remaining time-worn facilities. Christine and Dene shared how they had to turn away potential swimmers or arrange multiple swim practices to get all their swimmers into the pool. “It’s really sad,” says Christine. “We have two of the biggest, strongest teams in the section, and we can never host league or section championships because our facilities are inadequate.”

Just a few miles away in Glenn County, meanwhile, the Orland Otters use a new state-of-the-art pool, recently installed by the City of Orland. Sean Kochems, the Orland Otters team president and volunteer official, grew up in Monterey, CA, where learning to swim was just a natural part of growing up. Sean, like Mark, Christine and Dene, identifies the self-competition nature of swimming as the source of positive relationships. “You can be good friends with your teammates and with other teams because the competition is against the clock, not others,” he explains.

The Orland Otters provides year-round and seasonal swim opportunities for over 60 kids ages 4-18. The team promotes team spirit, community outreach and volunteerism, particularly by encouraging program graduates to return as lifeguards and coaches. Sean says that almost all Orland Otter coaches are graduates of the swim program themselves. “It’s easier for the kids to talk with the coaches when they knew them as peers first.”

For any students nervously contemplating joining a swim team, Sean’s encouragements sum up the general North State sentiments. “Please just show up and we’ll do the rest. It doesn’t matter at what age you start; dive in and push yourself against the clock, not your peers. Swimming is a skill you can use your whole life.”

Christine Lockhart, Swim Coach at Pleasant Valley High School in Chico, says, “Everybody who listens and tries hard improves”.