Wilmington Parents, Students Hope To Make A Splash With Petition

WILMINGTON, MA -- Last April Sarah Falk was inducted into the Maine Swimming and Diving Hall of Fame for her feats in the pool for Bangor High School in the early- and mid-1990s. Falk went on to marry another member of the team and they relocated to Wilmington. But so far, the Falks haven't been able to pass their love of competitive swimming onto their kids, as Wilmington High School doesn't have a swim team.

So Falk has started an online petition in the hopes of delivering 500 signatures to Wilmington Athletic Director Tim Alberts that will show community-wide interest in creating a co-ed swim team. The petition had 417 signatures as on Tuesday morning, and backers of the swim team have also been collecting feedback about the idea from parents and students through an online survey.

"Swimming is a wonderful life skill and sport that encourages team sportsmanship, while letting athletes pursue individual goals," said Crystal Kelley, who is helping Falk organize the signature drive. "It is excellent for physical fitness and has a low injury rate. Wilmington is the only town in this vicinity who does not have a swim team and we know there are kids who would love to represent their town in high school."

Falk broke league, conference and state records as a high school swimmer in Maine, then went on to swim for Tufts University. At Tufts, many of her relay times established school records.

"Let's provide the 900 students at Wilmington High School with the opportunity to pursue an activity they love and represent their high school in competition with area schools as student-athletes," she wrote in the online petition's introduction. "We believe a swim team would help our children grow in character, physical development, skill, and encourage them to be confident and healthy team-players."

Because the school budget is already closed for the 2018-19 school year, the earliest a team could begin competing would be 2019-20. Of the 12 schools in the Middlesex League, eight have boys' and girls' swim teams, while Belmont has a boys' team only. Arlington, Watertown and Wilmington are the only three schools that have no varsity swim programs.

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Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).