It’s not every day that a child gets the opportunity to train under a former Olympian – albeit a former Olympian with three gold medals. For the Reynolds Rapids swim team at Reynolds Lake Oconee, it is a daily routine. And this year, that routine is really starting to pay off.
Angel Sims, coach and former member of the U.S. women’s swim team, has helped put the Rapids team on the map this year as they come home from the 2010 Georgia Recreation & Parks Association Class B/C State Championships with some awards of their own. “I am excited about our potential,” said Sims, whose team already is into its fall/winter season workout schedule. “The sky is the limit. But it happens gradually. I see a lot of talent and we have the facility. And we have parents’ support, which is crucial.”
Reynolds Rapids may be receiving a great deal of notoriety for recent accomplishments, but it certainly is nothing new to the residents here at Reynolds Lake Oconee. The program has existed for over 20 years in delivering quality swimming instruction to youth. The team is comprised of children ranging in age from 4 to 18 who hone their skills in the water through competing at both a local and state level.
This season Sims, who joined the Reynolds Rapids in 2000, initiated a significant transformation. From kids participating in a mostly recreational activity once a week, the Rapids became a year-round competitive team that by this spring was in the pool four times a week.
And while there are only 40 members of the Rapids – compared to most teams that have 100-plus swimmers – the emphasis at this point is on quality, rather than quantity. That translated into several swimmers earning firstplace honors at the 2010 Georgia Recreation & Parks Association Class B/C State Championships, held in July in Tifton.
“It has been a good transition,” Sims said. “We have gone to the next level. And I think there is a lot more in store.”
Sims, a former U.S. Olympic champion from Americus, was brought in to coach the Rapids in 2000 by Ruth Hendrix, who started the original youth swim program in the summer of 1990, at the four-lane outdoor pool at the Plantation clubhouse. At that time, Hendrix had 35 swimmers, which included Reynolds members and guests, focusing on developing their skills in the water. “We introduced a light competitive program at first, so the kids would understand correct strokes and advance their skills,” says Hendrix, who coached the Rapids for ten years. “And it has just kept going from there.”
It appears to Hendrix that the Rapids are in good hands as they point toward bigger things, competitively. “Angel brings so much to the team,” Hendrix said. “And she’s a mother. She knows and understands kids. She has a great personality that the kids enjoy.”
Sims, now 43, can relate to kids from a small community in Georgia, swimming on a small team against teams with two or three times as many swimmers. She was just like them, when she grew up in Americus. “It’s easy for me to relate,” she said. “I let them knowthat just because we are small doesn’t mean we can’t be competitive.”
As a competitor, Sims (then Angel Martino) swam the freestyle, butterfly and relay legs in both the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona and 1996 Games in Atlanta, when she was captain of the U.S. women’s swim team. During an illustrious career, she captured three Olympic gold medals and three Olympic bronze medals, also piling up gold medals from the World Championships, Pan- American Games, Goodwill Games and prestigious Pan-Pacific Championships. Those accomplishments resulted in her being inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
But to the Reynolds Rapids, she’s just “Coach Angel.” That is, except for a couple of Rapids who call her, “Mom” – sons Michael Martino, 13, and Mark Martino, 9.
Sims’ family influence on the Rapids does not end there. Her assistant coach is the woman who has been behind her since her days on the Americus Blue Tide, setting more than 30 Georgia state records: her mother, Theresa Myers, who lives at Reynolds Lake Oconee with husband Kirt Myers, who also coached Angel. Not only do Angel and Theresa handle the kids, they also oversee instruction and competition for the newly formed masters swim program.
“It’s great to have a program for all ages in the community,” Myers said. “Being part of a team is great for the children, working together. They love to work, to learn and get better. The competitive part is fun, but it’s only a sidelight to a sport that will keep the kids healthy their whole lives.”
The Rapids need look no further than their own pool to find a shining example of that: Bill Dudley, a member of the masters program at Reynolds Lake Oconee who recently competed for the United States in the FINA Masters World Championships in Sweden. Dudley, who has lived at Reynolds Lake Oconee since 1999, swam in the 50 free, 100 free, 50 fly and 100 breaststroke.
“I would like to develop the adult program just like the one we have for the kids,” Sims said. “Some of the adults are really starting to improve, which is what masters swimming is all about – self improvement.”
Sims, who coached the Milledgeville Aqua Dragons (a youth team with 120 swimmers) from 1991 to 2006, tries to make the Rapids workouts as much fun as possible.
“I don’t want to run a military operation,” Sims said. “The goal is for these kids to have a good experience and to do it for a very long time. When you do too much too young, you are burned out at 13 or 14. Our kids have excellent strokes and do well at their events. That’s always what I am looking for.”
She also is looking for more swimmers, so the Rapids can eventually compete in big events like the state meet on their own. (This year they joined the Aqua Dragons at the state meet in order to compete in relays – and brought home a couple of firsts and a couple of seconds.) “This year was hard for us to compete against teams that have three relay teams in every age group, when we have to work hard to find four kids the same age,” Sims said.
Once she finds them, however, good things happen.
“We’re excited about the team,” Sims said. “The kids have great attitudes and I love working with them. We’re expanding, but we’re still a new club. I like what we have with the kids at Reynolds Lake Oconee.”
