8/16/07
Young Clarendon swimmers may be next Olympians
By Konstantin Vengerowsky

KONSTANTIN VENGEROWSKY/Manning Times

Zone swimming team coach, Kayla Matthews, instructs her young team members in proper technique in the pool. The team is still looking for additional members and there is no upper age limit. The team hopes to begin competing next year when they become state qualified.

A possibility of a future swimming champion is in the works with the emergence of the Zone Storm Swim Team, the first team of its kind in our county. The team, currently made up of 11 members, is broken down into different teams labeled by three furious storms: the Hurricanes, the Typhoons, and the Tsunamis.

“Because we’re not yet state qualified, we have to compete against each other, that is why we have three teams,” said Kayla Matthews, 19, of Manning. Matthews coaches this new squad of swimmers that currently range from ages 7-11.

According to Matthews, becoming state qualified is a long process that will take at least year to achieve. Matthews, a former lifeguard at the YMCA in Sumter, said that she got the idea of forming a swim team from watching some of the teams compete there.

“Just watching them made an impression on me and I realized I wanted to be a part of something like that,” said Matthews. “I talked to my supervisors (at The Zone) and we started putting the idea into action.”

The teams’ first race was set for Saturday, Aug. 11, and will feature the three teams from The Zone.
“Hopefully everybody will leave smiling,” said Matthews last week. “I’m trying not to make it a win or lose competition, ‘cause I don’t want any of the kids to be discouraged,” she added.

Team participants usually swim about 100 meters (2 laps) at a time. Besides increasing their overall fitness and endurance levels, they learn new stroke techniques.

Alexis Cantey, 10, took some lessons last year for a couple of weeks and has learned some new strokes since joining the team.

“I’ve learned how to do a backstroke correctly,” Cantey said.

She also added that now this is her favorite out of the four different types of strokes which also include freestyle, breaststroke and butterfly.

Kareena Hilton, 11, said that she also learned how to do the backstroke properly and has made a lot of new friends since joining the team.

“I really enjoy the practices,” said Hilton.

Quinn Hipp, 8, said that he has learned some new strokes and has had a fun time trying them out.
“I really like doing the freestyle and the backstroke now,” he said.

When asked what he enjoyed about the team the most, he said the instructor.

“She makes us go a lot, but that’s how we improve,” Hipp said.

Matthews said that even though most of the kids are young she hopes to see more involvement from older participants. “There is not really an age limit, if we could get some teenagers interested in the team then maybe we could separate the team into different age groups,” she said.

Practices for the team currently take place on Tuesday, from 5-6 p.m. For more information contact Matthews at The Zone at 435-5200.