Island Getting Into the Swim With
Events Set Up by Marlins Team
by Corinna Kell

Roosevelt Island’s Marlins Swim Team sponsored the first-ever Roosevelt Island Open Swim Championship two weeks ago. Thirty-one contestants participated.

It was one of a series of events that are putting Islanders into the water, both as competitors and as learners, at area pools and, on the Island, at the Westview and Sportspark pools.

In the February 24 event, swimmers were grouped by age from five-year-old through those over 40, for a series of races: freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, breaststroke, and individual medley events. For some enrolled in the Westview Pool learn-to-swim program, it was their first time in a standard 25-yard pool. For those who’ve had practice in the pool at Sportspark, there were opportunities to burst into the ranks of the swim team’s elite, and many children did.

The Roosevelt Island Swim Team (RIST) was represented in four city-wide meets in 2006, and competed in January at the Fran Schnarr Memorial Swim Meet at the YMCA in Flushing, swimming among 678 representatives of 12 teams that showcased hundreds of the best swimmers from the metro area’s strongest teams. Marlins Coach Igor Shoukhardin said Islanders acquitted themselves well. "Our 16 kids showed that we are ready to withstand other teams. We found our places in the middle, despite the longer experience and more extensive practice of the other teams. I was surprised and pleased at how our Marlins supported each other, showing team spirit." The Marlins staff consists of Shoukhardin, instructor Christopher Johnson, and teaching assistant Monalisa Ribeiro. A number of Island teens work as lifeguards.

Members of the team have participated in two additional events in the past week. There are about 80 kids in programs at Westview and Sportspark.

Coach Igor Shoukhardin and his swimmers

The learn-to-swim program takes place at the Westview pool on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 5:00 p.m., and on Saturdays at noon. Competitors practice at the Sportspark pool on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at 5:30 p.m. and on Sundays at 9:30 a.m.

Information on a planned summer swim camp is available by e-mail request to RIMarlinsSwim@yahoo.com, or call 917-518-9004.