Memories of a Gator
By Josh Stein
After finishing my last Saturday meet, going on my final coach retreat, and coming back to a lively Gator team on Monday morning, it’s scary how it all flew by so quickly. Now after the last Friday practice and divisionals. it really seems like it’s coming to an end. Thirteen long years later, Mount Vernon Park has become a much larger part of my life than I had ever expected it to be. I don’t quite remember joining the team, but I’m sure it was a combination of living so close and my parents wanting me to do something in the summer besides summer camps or just sleeping in only to sit around at the house. I don’t think it’ll be easy to fit all of my thoughts into this, but I’ll do my best.
Josh and his parents, Karen and Jim
The past thirteen years of being on the Mount Vernon Park Swim Team have been a long ride, and it’s been one that brought me from not knowing what to do after jumping into the water at my first practice, to one that’s put me in a position where I can teach the little Gators what they’re supposed do. My first practice is one that I remember vividly, as I can recall lifting my head up straight to breathe, and as we teach the eight and unders over and over again, you don’t do that when you swim (that’s the Tarzan drill, actually). I was lost and confused, but knew that the coaches would be there to help me out. That’s something I’ve learned to rely on, and something that I’ve learned to do as well. We’ve gone through a number of coaches, Mary, Jessica, Jeremy, Jamie and now Paul and Kelli, Laurel and Kellee.
Coach Paul has been a role model and someone that I have counted on for my teenage years to help me grow as a coach, swimmer, and individual. Whether it’s joking around, making fun of me, telling me I’m doing something wrong, or taking us to the big pool to play water polo, I always know we’ll have a good time. Of course the times when he’s let me drive the Prius or numerous times he’s given me his credit card have been a blast too (except for when I couldn’t tell if the car was even on or not.) Saran wrap, balloons, sticky notes, car paint, gift wrap…who knows what the 13 and overs will bring next year.
Coach Kelli and Kellee have also been there every practice, in the winter and in the summer. It’s great being able to coach on deck and have them there if you don’t know what to do regarding how to teach a swimmer how to do something or how to fix a pair of goggles. It’s pretty difficult to describe how much fun it is coaching and being on deck with the other coaches, but I’ve loved it ever since I started helping out in middle school with the little Gators.
Teen nights, campouts, coach retreats, getting big yellow Gatorades and muffins, bagels, coffee for Paul, donuts, pastries from the Hollin Hall Pastry Shop, Primo’s and Baskin Robins after the divisional relay carnival, water polo in the mornings, endless cheering of “We’ve Got Spirit,” teaching the little Gators the cheers, and so many more things that make up MVP.
Looking back on my time as a Gator, it was thirteen years of the same thing each summer, with thirteen school years in between. However, each one of these school years was either slightly, or completely different than the previous year. I went to Waynewood and Stratford Landing, Carl Sandburg, and then TJ for high school; and the transitions between elementary, middle, and high school were obviously the biggest changes in my life. This made me realize that summer swim team at Mount Vernon Park has been the only completely consistent group I’ve been around throughout my childhood. I played lacrosse since the third grade, but the team was always different. Clubs at school changed, people switched schools, and classes were different every year, just to name a few. Throughout these years in school I made different friends, but always tried to keep the old ones. Still, I didn’t see them every day, week, month, or even year.
Teen nights, campouts, coach retreats, getting big yellow Gatorades and muffins, bagels, coffee for Paul, donuts, pastries from the Hollin Hall Pastry Shop, Primo’s and Baskin Robins after the divisional relay carnival, water polo in the mornings, endless cheering of “We’ve Got Spirit,” teaching the little Gators the cheers, and so many more things that make up MVP.
Looking back on my time as a Gator, it was thirteen years of the same thing each summer, with thirteen school years in between. However, each one of these school years was either slightly, or completely different than the previous year. I went to Waynewood and Stratford Landing, Carl Sandburg, and then TJ for high school; and the transitions between elementary, middle, and high school were obviously the biggest changes in my life. This made me realize that summer swim team at Mount Vernon Park has been the only completely consistent group I’ve been around throughout my childhood. I played lacrosse since the third grade, but the team was always different. Clubs at school changed, people switched schools, and classes were different every year, just to name a few. Throughout these years in school I made different friends, but always tried to keep the old ones. Still, I didn’t see them every day, week, month, or even year.
Although I didn’t see my Gator family every day, I saw most of them on Sunday nights during the school year and of course during the summer. Even having gone to TJ, my time seeing my fellow Gators was quite limited, almost never during the school week, and rarely on weekends. But this didn’t hold anything back. That’s where the key difference is between my life as a Gator and my life as a student. I was with the same group of people on Sunday nights during the year, and every day during the summer. School changed, my Gator family didn’t. Those memories as a Gator will be ones with the same friends, the same little Gators, and the same older role model coaches—the same Sean Bourne, Carolyn Darville, Jayne-Marie and Brendan Haley, Christine Rholl, and Julia Bolger, just to name a few.
Not only has it been a long ride on the team, but I’ve been on both sides of it. When I was an 8 and under my relay team was the only Gator team to make All-Star Relays. Now, being in division three, I don’t remember the last time we won a relay. I’m not upset that we’re not the hottest 15-18 boys in the NVSL now, because it’s still fun, and that’s what summer swim is all about.
I’ve loved the people on the team, the things we’ve all done, learning to swim and most importantly teaching others to swim. Coaching has been the biggest part of my high school summers, and it’s something that I’ve absolutely loved doing and I wish I could be able to continue after this season. It’s hard to give something up that’s so enjoyable and fulfilling; because nothing is quite as nice as teaching someone to do something they never thought they could do.
Even though I haven’t gotten to them all, I have loved every Gator memory, experience, and lesson from the past thirteen years of my life. My Gators will always be there for me, and I know I’ll be able to stop by in coming years on a Saturday morning to find them at the pool. I was a Gator once, and I always will be.
I’ve loved the people on the team, the things we’ve all done, learning to swim and most importantly teaching others to swim. Coaching has been the biggest part of my high school summers, and it’s something that I’ve absolutely loved doing and I wish I could be able to continue after this season. It’s hard to give something up that’s so enjoyable and fulfilling; because nothing is quite as nice as teaching someone to do something they never thought they could do.
Even though I haven’t gotten to them all, I have loved every Gator memory, experience, and lesson from the past thirteen years of my life. My Gators will always be there for me, and I know I’ll be able to stop by in coming years on a Saturday morning to find them at the pool. I was a Gator once, and I always will be.
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