Having wrapped up its 45th season, the Shenandoah Sharks Swim Team is at capacity with approximately 235 swimmers ages 4-18, board President Dana Blount said.

The Shenandoah Sharks Swim Team is a nonprofit summer league swim team that was founded in 1973. The organization is taught by coaches Suz White, Jeremy Whitt and Jesse Robinson.

“This is my 11th season with the Shenandoah Sharks, and in that time the organization has grown tremendously,” Blount said. “We’ve grown from about 160 swimmers then to pushing capacity now, and we have about a 98 percent return rate, so we’ve watched a lot of kids grow up over the years.”

The Sharks’ season runs from May through June, with practices beginning in April. The team practices five days a week, Monday through Friday, at Shenandoah’s Mary Pat Case Municipal Pool and holds swim meets every Saturday.

“The good thing about a summer team is that you can still do your other activities throughout the year, and then just come swim with us for a couple of months out of the year,” board Vice President Leesa Price said. “So it’s not a huge commitment.”

Swimmers age 6 and younger compete in freestyle and backstroke; however, coaches begin teaching more advanced strokes, such as butterfly and breaststroke, as early as age 7.

In 2015 the team began a program in which swimmers age 15 and older can serve as mentor coaches for the younger teams and help during practices.

“We have an amazing group of kids, and they all hang out together regardless of their age gap,” Blount said “They’ve just formed these friendships and have become one big family.”

Through sponsorship and fundraisers, including an annual silent auction, the team has been able to maintain the same registration fees since 2013.

In the future, Blount said she hopes the organization will be able to begin a scholarship program to make the team more affordable for families.

“Swimming is an amazing sport—it’s low impact, you’re working all of your muscles and really, anybody can do it,” Price said.

P.O. Box 133031, Spring
www.shenandoahsharks.swimtopia.com