There’s more than enough room in the ocean for the world’s dolphin population, but the town’s pool infrastructure couldn’t keep up with the number of prospective members of the Belmont Dolphins recreational swim team.
After 150 swimmers tried out for just a handful of spots, the community came together and established a “Stroke School.” The new program offers nearly 40 participants an hour of swim instruction every Friday evening at Belmont High School’s Higginbottom Pool to home in on critical swim skill development.
“I’ve always wanted to have something for kids who didn’t make the team,” said Megan Olowinski, the Dolphins head coach for more than 20 years and a former assistant coach and swimmer. “How do they keep swimming and learn how to swim better so they can come back, try out for us and compete at that level?”
The answer: Stroke School.
Part of the Belmont Recreation Department, the Belmont Dolphins compete with other town recreation teams from October through March. When Olowinski started as head coach, there were about 120 swimmers spanning grades K-12, a “magic number” that worked well. With increased demand, the roster now stands at 215.
Twenty years ago, Olowinski said, the town offered swim lessons to those who did not make the Dolphins roster. She’s not sure what year that stopped, but the dissolution of the program posed a few challenges. Private lessons are expensive, and it’s hard to teach swim basics while developing more advanced athletes.
“We have two pools in town and nowhere for kids to learn how to swim,” Olowinski said. “It’s just been devastating year over year for kids to come back to tryouts without developing their skills.”
Stroke School’s been on Olowinski’s mind for about four years. After two years of conversation with the town’s recreation department, a plan came to be. A full-time speech and language pathologist in the Watertown Public Schools, mother of three and dedicated coach with the Dolphins and high school teams, Olowinski needed an assist to get the stroke school started.
Hilary Forster stepped up. A Belmont resident for four years with two school-aged children, Forster had reached out to Olowinski about getting her children involved in the sport after they expressed an interest over the summer. The two enjoyed connecting.
A competitive high school and college swimmer with prior coaching experience and consistent recreational swimming through adulthood, Forster leads the new initiative alongside swimmers from the Belmont High School teams: Chaivin Moon, Dhruva Suri, Angelina Carney, Arinne Stepanian, Dylan Bresnihan, Hannah Berry and Nina Lind.
“Basically, swimming has always been a passion of mine,” Forster said. “Swimming is such a formative part of my life. Now that I’m helping with coaching, I’m seeing so many things that I didn’t see before that are amazing.”
One of those things, Forster said, is Olowinski’s “big heart” and dedication to the town’s swimming culture. Forster and her staff began coaching the participants, ages 6 through 12, with dryland basics. Starting on the deck and learning about positions helps avoid the sensory deprivation and hearing challenges inherent in working in the water.
“It’s a lot of in and out,” Forster said.
Even before the sixth and final Stroke School session, two participants progressed to the Dolphins. Not making the Dolphins this year is OK, too.
“They’ve shown such progress week after week. When they show up for tryouts or something along those lines, they have so much more experience and confidence in the water,” Forster said.
Like the Dolphins, there is a cost to the participants. Olowinski and Forster plan to continue the program, though the next steps remain in discussion.
“There’s always the question of whether or not there’s enough interest for a program to run,” Olowinski said. “If there is more interest, can we justify more pool time? Will the rec department run things on Saturday or Sunday mornings? Is there interest from the community that would make this more than just a trial program?”
