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Show B1 Life Is Castle Valley Review, March 2009 Swell Emery and Carbon Counties, Utah u Living in the San Rafael Swell Area u Dino of the Month Photo by Kathy Ockey Marilyn Collard, an avid swimmer and lifeguard instructor at the Emery County Aquatics Center, looks forward to the challenges of creating Emery County’s first swim team. a Splash in the pool Emery High hires its first swim coach and prepares to give its students a new sport to dive into Kathy Ockey I f the students at Emery High School get as excited about a new swim team as the new swim coach, they will have an awesome team. Marilyn Collard was recently hired as the swim coach for Emery High School and to say she is excited about it is an understatement. Marilyn said she has always loved swimming and was voted most valuable swimmer on her team when she was a freshman. She said she always had good coaching and this helped to improve her swimming skills and style and she wants to pass this down to her students. “We’ve never had a swim team before and I’m pretty nervous, and proud to be part of the new program so ‘Swimming Spartans’ here we go!” she said with her characteristic enthusiasm. The first season for the swim team will begin Sept. 21 and the meets will run until the first of February. The Emery team will comprise both boys and girls teams with one coach. They will be competing in different events and will both earn total team points. It is similar to competing in track and field events. Marilyn hopes the students will get excited about joining the new swim teams. She has worked with many of the students in the Emery County youth swimming teams and hopes they will want to continue competing on the high school team. She said Tammi Oliverson is the Emery County youth swimming coach and has an excellent program but the swimmers can only compete against each other. Marilyn is hoping to draw from these experienced swimmers to compete on the high school team. She said she knows there are other sports the students are interested in but she hopes they will consider the challenge of being on the new high school swim team. She wants them to know this is available to everyone and something they may want to consider. “Swimming is a sport you will always benefit from. You will probably swim more in your life than participate in any other sport,” she said. Marilyn is also concerned because swimming is a long season and there are not many students to draw from, but it is an option that is available for all students. She mentioned that the community enthusiasm for the new and modern swimming pool may help get the students excited and want to be part of the swim Continued on Next Page. |