EDWARDSVILLE - The 2022 Southwestern Illinois Swimming Association season got underway on Thursday night with a meet between Summers Port Swim Club of Godfrey and Montclaire Swim Club of Edwardsville at the Montclaire pool, and the emphasis, as usual during the summer season, is on fun while being competitive at the same time.
Both coaches felt that things were going well for their teams.
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"I think things are going pretty good so far," said first-year Montclaire head coach Allison Naylor, "after just having a week-and-a-half of practice, I think our team's doing pretty well."
As a first-year head coach, taking over for Porter LeVasseur, who took an internship in Washington, D.C., this summer, Naylor is looking forward to taking things she's learned over the years and applying the lessons while putting her own stamp on the Marlins.
"I have taken a lot from what I've learned doing the rookies coaches," Naylor said, "and I've tried to implement that into, like, teaching the kids like how the meets work, everything that they need to know about swimming. I've just tried to take what I've learned and what I've seen down in the past and implement that now and kind of do my own thing now a little bit."
Naylor has very high hopes for the club in the new season.
"Well, I'm hoping we can win SWISA again," Naylor said with a smile. "That's a big one. I think so far, we have a good chance of, like, winning all our meets and all that. So that's the goal. And for everybody to just have fun and enjoy the sport. That's the biggest part, too."
It's the most important part of the summer season, for all of the swimmers to have fun and enjoy themselves while doing their best.
"Yeah, of course," Naylor said. "Everybody wants to have fun, have a good time. The parents enjoy it, the kids enjoy it. That's the ultimate goal."
Along with the fun aspect of the season, Naylor has some other goals for the Marlins in the 2022 campaign.
"I'm hoping we can set new records," Naylor said, "We teach our new swimmers more races, inspire them to keep swimming after swim season. That's a big, important one. I hope that they just fall in love with the sport."
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
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