Tsunami Saipan coach boasts Dream Kids Project

Tsunami Saipan’s U8 swimmers pose for a photo during a break in one of their training sessions last week at the Kan Pacific Swimming Pool. (Contributed Photo)

Tsunami Saipan head coach Hiro Kimura has established a stable of promising swimmers under his Dream Kids Project.

“The program is recruiting children in the U8 age group and training them to become ‘super’ swimmers and win in off-island competitions,” Kimura said.

So far, 18 swimmers are under the program and Tsunami Saipan is still accepting interested children. Kimura’s pool includes Ocean Kang, Rooney Gil, Stephen Yeom, Selina Salim, David Khadka, Henry Yeom, Kouki Watanabe, Nagisa Litulumar, Sakura Hara, Keisuke Asakura, Sunny Kang, Maria Batallones, Arwen Bartolata, Fiona and Cassle Regan, Mizuki Suzuki, Tellei Rechucher, and Aasish Dangol.

Of these swimmers, Dangol and Batallones have managed to produce quick results from their training sessions under Kimura. Dangol was the high-point winner in the boys U8 division of the 2016 Saipan International Invitational Meet held in March, while Batallones finished second in the girls field. Both swimmers along with Watanabe also qualified for the Guam Championships which will take place next month

Kimura is hoping that his current pool of swimmers and others that will soon join the program will follow the footsteps of Tsunami Saipan bets, who are either CNMI national and age group record holders or have won in off-island tournaments.

He added that Aasish sister, Ashley, Isaiah Aleksenko, Nanaka Watanabe, Anthony Camacho-Deleon Guerrero and Hans Xu were the testaments to the pains and gains of his program as majority of the swimmers began plunging into the pool when they were still five years old.

“I started coaching Ashley and Isaiah when they were just five years old. Both had no potential to become super swimmers when they began swimming. They cried during practices and even moved out of the water whenever practice was hard. Sometimes they don’t listen to my instructions. However, both never give up and keep coming back to the pool so little by little, their results get better. Today, they can compete against swimmers from other countries,” the Tsunami Saipan coach said.

Aleksenko and Ashley both represented Tsunami Saipan in this year’s Tokyo Junior Sprint, while Xu was the high-point winner in last year’s Guam Championships.

Kimura said seeing this young generation of swimmers improve and represent the CNMI in off-island competitions makes all the time and effort he spent with them during training sessions worthwhile.

“It’s very challenging to coach a lot of kids, especially doing the introductory course. However, I am the happiest man on the pool every time I see them improve. I am honored to help these kids make their dream of becoming great swimmers a reality,” Kimura added.