Pleasant Valley Pool Swim Teams Prepare To Kick-Off Season

School ended for the Bernards Township students this Thursday, June 24, but not all of them are now sleeping in until noon – easy to see on the drive to work if you pass by Pleasant Valley Park. The sight will be of early morning traffic trying to get into the pool parking a lot for the PVP swim team's practice sessions.

The long anticipated Pleasant Valley Pool (PVP) swim team has begun. Between the pre-team and the competition team, there are 166 excited swimmers, 19 of which are returning high school students. 17 year old Joey Patchett is one of six 15-years and older boy swimmers, but even with this small group of in his category, he feels confident for the upcoming meets.

"I think this will be a great year for all [the teams] of PVP," said Patchett, smiling. "I look forward to helping the team achieve a great season. I'm sure everyone will have a fun year." Patchett has been one of the top scoring male swimmers for over seven years and will be assisting in coaching the younger pre-team swimmers this season.

Strong competitors returning to the team also include Tyler Gibbons, brother to head coach Lindsay Gibbons, Kristyn Julian, Jennifer Moore, as well as the Wachenfeld and Glockenmier families, whose triumphs were in last year's headlines. The pre-team also seems to have a very good season ahead of them with an all-time largest member count of 35. Though the meets for the pre-team are not nearly as frequent as their older counterpart, the teams intermingle during intrasquad meets. "It's really a great community," says one pre-team swimmer's mother. "The older kids take care of the younger guys and the [intrasquad] meets are well organized."

Throughout the years, one goal has remained prevalent for the team's members; to beat rival Bernardsville. The two teams have been flip-flopping victories for nearly a decade, and as always, the friendly competition remains. Individual goals range from perfecting flip turns to making it to the Meet of Champions (MOCs), that will take place at the end of the season. MOCs take only the most elite from a summer team, and the PVP crew has been proud to offer up a large crop of talented young athletes for this event.

Whether or not these goals will be met are not nearly as important as the one things all swimmers, coaches and lifeguards have during the PVP summer swim season: fun. "I remember it [being] fun," says Tyler Gibbons. "I didn't know how much I would miss it during the school year." Everyone has stepped up to the block, taken their mark, gotten ready and is now anxiously awaiting the sound of the gun to alert them of the start of their first races of the 2010 seaon.

Editor's Note: This article was submitted by guest contributor Rachel Conklin.