Thursday, July 19, 2012

A Prince George’s pool builds an African American swimming powerhouse

MITCHELLVILLE, Maryland - They drive their kids to swim team practice at 5 a.m. And bring them back to the pool at night for more. The Kingfish parents buy everything in orange, the team color. Sandals, shoes, purses, pants, hats. And they wear all of it, even to practice.

They create spreadsheets, newsletters, bar graphs and a Web site, which began counting down the days and hours to the first swim practice sometime back in February. They even have a team sandwich — The King Fishwich.

Five years ago, the Kingfish swam in the least competitive division in the Prince-Mont Swim League.

“We’d set out a table by the Giant (Food Store), trying to recruit swimmers,” said Calvin Holmes, intense swim parent extraordinaire and president of the swim club. “And people would just walk by us. Or think we were selling fish.”

This summer, after going undefeated for three consecutive years, they are swimming in the league’s most competitive division. Now the swimmers come to them, from miles around, to the Lake Arbor pool in Mitchelleville.

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