Swim camp caters to competition

The program teaches children, ages 4 to 13, the four swim strokes and other basics to competitive swimming.

By TERRY JONES

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 18, 2000

CARROLLWOOOD -- Youngsters learning to dive off the starting blocks often wind up doing a bellyflop or a cannonball. Sometimes they stop in the middle of the pool and hang on the lane ropes, or turn the wrong way or change strokes to get to the end of the lane quickly.

It's all part of "stroke camp" at the Carrollwood Village Golf & Tennis Club, where kids ages 4 to 13 learn the basics of competitive swimming.

Each summer, as many as a hundred or more enroll in the program coached by Randy Johnson and Melissa Bradbury.

"The idea behind stroke camp is to teach kids the four strokes of swimming and other aspects of competing in the sport," said Bradbury, a former Gaither High and Florida Atlantic University swimmer. "Maybe 10 to 15 percent of the kids participating actually move on into competitive swimming."

The club offers three sessions of the camp each summer. Each session consists of daily one-hour lessons, four days a week for three weeks and costs $120. To participate, a child must be able to swim 25 yards in both the backstroke and freestyle.

By the end of a session, each one is expected to learn the butterfly, freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke, plus basic starting and turning skills.

"The most difficult maneuver seems to be the turns for the backstroke and freestyle," Bradbury said. "With both they have to learn an underwater flip and kick."

Chase Mayer, 4, of Carrollwood, is the youngest participant in the current camp session.

His older sisters Tami and Gina both swim competitively, Tami with Berkeley Prep and Gina with the Carrollwood Village Swim Team.

Chase may or may not become a competitor; right now he is simply enjoying the swim.

"It is fun," the younger Mayer said. "Sometimes people win and they get lollipops. I like the freestyle stroke best, because you just jump into the water and start moving your hands round and round like a ferris wheel. Before you move your arms, though, you have to streamline and then kick. You always have to kick, because it makes you go better."

Streamlining is when the swimmers stretch out their body to take advantage of the initial thrust from the starting dive.

Not all stroke camp participants wanting to move into competitive swimming are ready after one session. They get an opportunity to race in the monthly beginners' meet at the club. The next one is scheduled for 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday.

"We look for maturity and an understanding of what is expected from the kids, more than a high skill level, when we move them up to the developmental competitive team," Johnson said. "For example, they need to know why we want them to swim four laps, when it's easier to just swim two."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.