Why the Y Swim Team is Different

The following is an article written by Jim Cornforth, Chinooks Swim Team Coach, as edited by Marketing Director Vanessa Harrington.

At the Y, swim team is about more than building a competitive swimmer. It is about investing in our kids and developing them as people using our four core values to guide us: Caring, Respect, Responsibility, and Honesty.

The Skagit Valley Family YMCA has close to 100 young swimmers, age 7-19, who invested their times and talent in the Chinooks Swim Team. The team is very diverse. There are families that can afford the team and families with strains on their budget. There is a great mix of cultures and ethnic background. There are some brilliant students and some who struggle. But all swimmers are welcome and treated equally.

They also have a lot of fun.

All kids, no matter their socio-economic backgrounds, are nurtured with love, the opportunity to do really hard work, and the chance to integrate with other cultures. The YMCA swim team is a cosmopolitan collection of very good families who are having very good YMCA experiences. The Y standards are high and expectations are higher.

It is interesting to be able to meet the needs of all swimmers. The ones who have needed financial assistance received it through occasional support from our very caring parent group and through funds made available from the YMCA Step Up Campaign.

Since all this is done quietly, few know the swimmers who are wealthy and those who are not. And this is just the way we want it.

No one is turned away from the opportunity to swim competitively, make new friends, and develop character at the YMCA because they may not have the money to participate elsewhere.