Pool side manner: Bowie swim teams taking aim By JAKE LINGER Sports Editor
This is the last segment of a three-part series which profiles the six swim teams in the city of Bowie.
It must be tough being the only pool in south Bowie. It almost seems like they are on the other side of the tracks while five other Bowie pools never have to explain from which direction of the city they hail. But with changing demographics and high costs of nearly everything under the sun limiting its membership, the Pointer Ridge Swim Team has shrunk in size, but not in heart.
"We don't have the depth that some of the other pools have," said PRST representative Jude Davis (and you'd better pronounce her name as Judy). "But we recognize that and compete as best we can."
Pointer Ridge has competed in the Prince-Mont Swim League since the Levitt community was established decades ago. Currently in Division D in the PMSL, Pointer Ridge has turned to a younger core of coaches - a couple who are familiar with the pool and its members.
Rachel Jennings and Jemma Cairns are veterans of PRST. Both are entering their third season leading the team into PMSL battle, and both are committed to the pool as each was a member prior to serving as coaches. Davis hopes that having younger coaches "is a good thing," and so far it has been just that. Bringing in leaders who know the majority of the veteran swimmers' strengths and weaknesses is truly a - well - strength.
"These girls are just beginning their careers," said Davis, "and we don't have a lot of money to spend on coaching, so we are hoping to build the team with young coaches."
Smaller pools such as Pointer Ridge very often enjoy more of a closeness because of how many fewer members there are to deal with versus some of the larger pools. "We're very close because we are small," Davis said, "and because our whole summer is swim team."
Many of the pool members volunteer to perform a myriad of tasks around the facility, such as mowing the grass. During meets is no different as team parents serve as ribbon distributors, time keepers and scorers. While Davis said that each adult really seems to enjoy volunteering to help make the swim experience more enjoyable for the swimmers, having less families to draw from also makes the volunteer work a necessity.
The outcome for the 2008 PMSL season is still hard to predict for PRST. They are the top seed in the five-team D division, but their team is made up more of a cross-section of talented swimmers, as opposed to having individual breakout stars.
"We're probably going to have to swim some kids up (in age groups) to avoid empty lanes," said Davis, referring to the lack of 13-14 boys in the PRST ranks. But she believes that Pointer Ridge has definite talent and if the team can find some depth, they have all the potential to climb the PMSL ladder as they have in years past.
"We're all motivated and excited to begin the new season," she said.
Davis looked back on 2007 and reflected over how the team lost several meets by single digits mainly due to instances where the team could not provide the required number of swimmers for certain age groups. They surely did not lose any meets due to lack of heart. Hopefully, she said, Jennings and Cairns will have success in bringing some of the veteran swimmers along to help offset those points lost.
Pointer Ridge begins its PMSL season Saturday with an away meet at Prince George's Council.
The Belair Bath and Tennis swim team is beginning the PMSL season as top dog in Bowie. The lone Division A team is coached in 2008 - as it has been for 28 years previously - by Patti Bayly. Entering her 29th season at BBT, Bayly is always looking for the next challenge in her coaching career.
One challenge for Bayly may be trying to find someone around BBT who can say one negative word about her.
"This lady is really the mother of all these kids," said John Scoulios, whose son swims for BBT. The mother, in fact, is so protective of her "kids" that she chooses not to single any one swimmer out as a star, but instead said that what she and her coaches are doing is a "total team effort and win or lose, we will have fun."
Bayly has a wall of fame dedicated to her, which is appropriate since her entire family has been involved at BBT over the years. On her coaching staff are two daughters: Maura, 17, and Krissie, 25. At one time, Bayly said, there were 10 Bayly family members on the BBT swim team. Chris Reed, 22, is also a coach for BBT after he defected from Severn Crossing in his teen years.
Since she joined the pool in 1984, Bayly has seen her team grow from 70 kids up to its current size at 200. BBT was in Division D in the PMSL when Bayly arrived, and not a moment too soon. "We were bottom of D, we were terrible," said Bayly, whose father, Bill Campbell, was the longtime swim coach at the University of Maryland. "I said, 'give me five years.' We were in A in five years." The team has spent time in the B division as well, but never strays too far from the top echelon of the league.
Bayly also has the title of author to add to her list of accomplishments in the sport of swimming. She co-authored Kid Sports Across America: The Kid Coach, Teaching Sports, Having Fun and Making a Difference with her son, Tom.
One of the great compliments that any coach or teacher can receive is for their pupils to take positive messages from their teachings. BBT 11-12 swimmer Dennis Witol said that Bayly provides a "nice, free environment ... with not too much pressure to do well," which he said makes competing more enjoyable.
Perhaps one of the biggest fears a teacher or coach can have is to scare the kids to the point that they actually become afraid to fail. "A lot of coaches do a lot of screaming and yelling," said BBT swimmer Kristin Keller, "but (Bayly) encourages you without scaring you."
BBT will open its PMSL season Saturday at home against Strathmore Bel Pre.
