Yorktown Has Plenty of Swimmers and Divers

Yorktown once again will field both a swim and a dive team in the Northern Westchester Swim Conference this summer.

Between the two teams there are aproximately 170 participants within the ages of 6-18, with some of them competing on both squads.

"The purpose of this is to learn to swim better and have a great summer," said Lynne Anderson, Yorktown swim coach, "All the older swimmers come back after their practice and help the younger swimmers at their practice. There is a real sense of community on this team."

Anderson's assistant coaches are Sara Misenas, Ana Misenas and Nick Charriez.

"They all swam for the team before and Nick actually still swims with us as an 18 and under," Anderson said. "They know all the swimmers. I delegate to the kids and they know what to do. It's a very well oiled machine even though we have been only practicing for a week and a half."

Charriez just completed his freshman year swimming for Kenyon College, a school that has won the past 31 consecutive Division III national championships

"We have had assistant coaches in the past who have done the same thing, coach and swim," Charriez said. "Usually, the people who coach and swim at the same time are club swimmers like myself who practice on the side at another facility and then coach the team at the Yorktown practice. Usually the only time you are doing both is at the meets when you have to make sure your swimmers are at the right place and you are where you need to be as well."

Anderson also added that the organization of the team from parents Michele Charriez and Ginger Smith is vital.

The diving team also through the years has had its older members assist its younger ones.

"We look to involve the older kids with helping the younger kids," said Yorktown dive coach Beth Kear, who has been coaching the team since 1992. "That keeps the interest of the kids up in diving as they get older and can play all kinds of different sports. It really helps the camaraderie of the team too, to have the older kids help the younger kids. It's like a mentoring program. The camaraderie of team is built that way."

Having that camaraderie is necessary to succeed in a sport like diving.

"The divers really seem to succeed as they get older," Kear said. "When you first get on that diving board, it takes you awhile to get over your fears. When you have the trust of the coaches and the team that really helps that, especially the older divers."

Kear has two assistant coaches who once dove for her in Amanda Caputi and Abbi Schenkel.

"They aren't just two people I coach with, they are friends and since they dove for us when they were younger they know what the expectations are," Kear said. "They understand the sport and the program from the inside out. They understand what it's like to be on the diving board and overcoming that fear."

Yorktown has its first Division I meet 5:30 p.m. Thursday, July 8 when it travels to Birchwood. The team will have four more divisional meets after that.

The NWSC diving championship will be 5:30 p.m. July 28 at Yorktown and the swimming championship 9 a.m. July 31 at Mount Kisco Memorial.

The diving all-star meet will be held 5:30 p.m. July 29 at Pocantico Hills and the swimming all-star meet 9 a.m. Aug. 1 at Briarcliff Manor.

Yorktown practices and has its home meets in the Brian J. Slavin Facility at Shrub Oak Park.