Lynn YMCA kick-starts its swim team

LYNN – The Greater Lynn YMCA is in the process of re-starting its defunct swim team, but coaches say they need more interest in order to begin entering local competitions.The Lynn YMCA has been without a competitive swim team for several years, but under the direction of Aquatic Director Sarah Moore and coaches Katie and Kara Hogan of Lynn, the organization has been able to lay the foundation needed to re-institute the program.The swim team is open to anyone in Lynn between the ages of 6-18, but as of last week Katie Hogan says the team was holding steady at five members after the inaugural class on Nov. 8.”Right now we are just trying to get kids interested, learn the strokes, learn swim team terms – things like that so they can learn how the swim team works,” she said. “Right now we only have about five kids, but we are hoping to get more. The more kids we can get the more competitions we will be able to enter.”Moore said the group, which meets once a week on Saturdays for 45 minutes, would start meeting more frequently as interest in the program grows.”Over the next few months we will try and bring it up to two or three times a week and as time goes on we will eventually be a functioning YMCA swim team,” said Moore.Moore said there is no limit on the amount of students who participate, but warns that the program is not an entry-level swim class. Participants must have a basic knowledge of swimming and must be able to swim one length of the pool by themselves.Once a popular program at the YMCA, the swim team was abolished earlier in the decade and interest in reinstating it has wavered since. Moore said the popularity of Olympic gold medal swimmer Michael Phelps has helped carry some momentum into the new program as many of the participants were turned on to the sport watching him this summer.”So far it is going well the kids really seem to enjoy the competition,” she said. “We kind of took a cue from the Olympics because a lot of people seem to be on the Michael Phelps bandwagon and are getting interested in swimming.The YMCA swim team meets every Saturday. For more information on the program or program costs call Moore at 781-581-3105 x 20.