During the winter it just looks so easy. The Washington High School swimmers jump in the pool and swim circles around their opponents as they paddle their way to conference championships and top-10 state finishes.
However, the truth is that the Pam Pack’s path to success is a long one that extends beyond the regular season and begins for some athletes as early as the age of five.
Spencer Pake has been the Washington swim coach for the last 10 years and in that time he has produced seven Coastal Conference championships, 24 individual/relay regional titles and three Coastal Conference Swimmers of the Year.
During the summer Pake doubles as the Washington Whitecaps swim coach and said that the work being done there has been instrumental in the Pam Pack’s success.
“It helps a lot,” Pake said. “Every year we have a few younger swimmers that fall in love with the sport and they go on to swim with our year-round program in Washington and almost everybody on my varsity team grew up swimming with the summer league team.
“It’s a good starter/feeder program for both the year-round squad and the high school team.”
The Washington Whitecaps are part of the Greenville Area Summer Swim League (GASSL) and the team features athletes ages five to 18 years old.
Though it is a competitive league, Pake said there is a spot for the beginning swimmer as well as the more advanced one and that there is always plenty of room for fun.
“We view this league as a fun, relaxed way to introduce swimming to some kids that have never done it before,” Pake said. “We try to produce a laid back atmosphere, but yet it’s competitive as well. Our goal is to teach all four strokes (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle) to all swimmers of all age groups. We hope they improve and find a love for the sport.”
The Whitecaps practice five days a week and compete in meets every Tuesday. The league features a total of eight teams and lasts for three months and ends with the championship meet on Aug. 3.
Pake has been involved with the Whitecaps for the past 10 years and has been the head coach of the team for the last seven.
Though the team has such a vast age range, Pake said that he makes sure to put each swimmer in the right classification.
“We group them based on ability, but I’m not going to put a 14-year old beginning with a five-year old beginner,” Pake said. “We basically just want to get kids comfortable with being in the water and teach them the right stroke technique.”
Last year, the Whitecaps placed second in the regular season and second in the championship meet, but Pake said the goal is to see improvement.
“Everybody improves,” Pake said. “I’ve got all different talent levels from beginning swimmers up to the year-round swimmers, but you see more improvement with the beginning swimmers. The goal is to just improve and have some fun.”