Community Corner

Whiz Kids: Weber Brothers Love to Swim

You can find Max and Toby in the pool five days a week, competing for the local Y team.

The Weber Brothers: Max and Toby

  • Ages: Max is 10, Toby is 9

  • School:
  • Accomplishment: Max and Toby swim competitively year round, averaging five days a week in the pool. Both boys swim all events, but excel in the breaststroke. They have even swam long distances in meets; both have competed in the 500-yard freestyle and Max swam the 1,000-yard freestyle twice (that's 40 lengths!). They just wrapped up their third season with the South Oakland YMCA YPAC Piranha Swim Team (dual affiliations with YMCA and USASwimming). At YMCA Districts, Toby placed third in the state for the 50 breaststroke and his medley relay team came in first. His brother, Max placed 11th at YMCA States in the 50 breaststroke and 50 backstroke. Max also swam at USA Swimming's Junior Olympics and got a ninth place finish in the state of Michigan for his 100 breaststroke. In addition, Max qualified for USA Swimming's state meet in the 50 breaststroke and was just a half-second away from qualifying in the 50 breaststroke for the YMCA zone meet for the Central Region.
  • Key to awesomeness for Max: "I practice five days a week and work as hard as I can. No matter what happens in the pool, I never give up. I try to have a goal for every meet, but if I don't make it, it's fine. I can always try again."
  • Key to awesomeness for Toby: "I pay attention to my coach, but I also have fun. Sometimes I am too goofy in the pool, but I always try my best. Swimming is really fun."
  • Each week, Ferndale Patch seeks suggestions from readers for individual  kids, youth groups, teens and even sports teams that wow us with their accomplishments. We want to hear about these amazing children and teens and select one each week as the Ferndale Patch Whiz Kid.  Submit your nomination in our comment box below or e-mail the information to Terry.Parris@patch.com. Be sure to include all of the following information:

    • Nominator's name and e-mail address
    • Whiz Kid's name, age and school
    • Whiz Kid's accomplishment
    • Whiz Kid's key to awesomeness (what made him/her successful?)

    Know of a Whiz Kid? Send us your suggestion by telling us in the comments or email Terry.Parris@patch.com.

    Find out what's happening in Ferndalefor free with the latest updates from Patch.

    Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.