Previous Story
Stewart proud of his ‘kids’
|
Posted on Apr 04 2006
Saipan Swim Club head coach Michael Stewart spends most of his time mentoring the CNMI’s youth at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool in Marpi, and while he takes great pride in watching the youngsters attain personal bests and reach new levels of poolside proficiency, the 2005 Coach of the Year finds solace in his more mature athletes as well.
Since taking over the SSC reins a couple of years ago, Stewart has developed the SSC Masters program and has developed a crop of talented individuals into the lovable group known as the Nadadores.
A number of adult tankers tell the tales of making the transition from splasher to swimmer under Stewart’s watchful eye, and the coach said that he got a little emotional watching some of his newcomers test their pool-found skills in the open water during multi-sport events.
“It really does [get emotional]. I remember last year—the first time I was there and I saw Stephan [Samoylof] and Dirk [Sharer] because I only had a couple of people who were really working with me. Literally, when Stephan came around I couldn’t say anything. I wanted to say “Go Stephan” but I get choked up with that kind of stuff,” he said.
Stewart said that he is used to seeing the swim clubbers attain their goals, but that there is a special place in his heart for those who overcome a lack of “water safety” to become masters of the aquatic domain—something that happened when a couple of his Nads hit the beach during Saturday’s XTERRA Saipan Championship.
“With the swim meet, I’ve been doing that for a long time and the kids are expected to do A, B, and C, but it’s kind of like the Masters has been a thing that I kind of built and they’re kind of like my kids almost. I’m just really proud of what everyone has been doing and when Lewie [Tenorio] gets out of the water and when Shan [Seman] gets out of the water it says that we’re doing something good. Gayle [Berger] and Laila [Qudasi] were next to me and they said ‘You’re crying, aren’t you?’ and I’m like ‘Shut up,’” he said.
