New coach welcomes challenge

Michael Stewart knows he has really big shoes to fill but, at the same time, welcomes the challenge of replacing institutions like Bill and Jean Sakovich as coach of the Saipan Swim Club.

Stewart arrived on Saipan last May 8—the same day Jean left the island for Hilo, Hawaii. At the end of this month Bill would leave and Stewart would be left charting the path of the CNMI’s most successful sports program.

“I definitely have huge shoes to fill when Bill finally leaves at the end of the month. Thirty-one years is nothing to sneeze at, just being with him the past two days, driving around, and meeting all the people and finding out what he does for this community it’s just awesome,” he said.

The graduate of Marshall University in West Virginia also said he relishes going back to grassroots coaching and is not at all disheartened by Saipan’s lack of an Olympic-size pool.

“Crude at best but it’s OK. Back in Sarasota we built a state-of-the-art facility but my kids were spoiled. I remember back when I was coaching in West Virginia and Cincinnati we were training in dumps. But my kids reveled at the fact that everywhere we go, it was better than what we had. So, all of a sudden they automatically had a mental uplift. It was easy to coach those kinds of kids. They’re always hungry when they swim. I hope to get that kind of feeling back again here on Saipan.”

It’s exactly that type of attitude Sakovich found in Stewart that convinced him that he was the perfect guy for the SSC coaching vacancy.

“I think he’s going be real good. Of course, he came in highly recommended. He applied and several people I know said he was quite good. In the end, he won out from over 55 other applicants,” said Sakovich. “He seems to know his stuff well. He kind of did part of a workout with a couple of kids yesterday and he’s going with me in Oceania so I could introduce him to the coaches I work with around the region.”

Stewart got his start in coaching 24 years ago. He said he didn’t know what to do after college until his swim coach asked him to become his assistant coach. Stewart stayed on and has since plied his trade in Cincinnati and Florida before packing his bags for Saipan.

He said he saw the Saipan opening during a job search last December and he immediately took a chance at being chosen. After several phone interviews and a talk with Sakovich’s son Jon, who is also based on Florida, Stewart was hired.

Sakovich noted that more than anything else Stewart’s biggest adjustment in his new job would be getting to know the swimmers.

“Fortunately he’s coming in during a slow time and it makes it an ideal situation to make the transition. As always, one of the biggest challenges would be just getting to know the kids. Starting from scratch and trying to carry on right where we left off would be difficult. I should know, it took me years to get things going,” he said.

That’s why Sakovich has written things up for every little swimmer so his replacement would have an idea of every kid—what their strong and weak points are—so Stewart doesn’t have to spend months trying to find out by himself.

It’s a favor coming from one grassroots coach to another.

Hopefully, it’s something Stewart could easily pick up on and pass to the rest of the club.