The County of Hawaii Novice Swim Team Championship was held at Pahoa’s 50-meter pool on Saturday, with several participants from county pools throughout the Big Island.
To the surprise of many, the Kohala Riptide swim team was declared the winner of the 2024 season with a runaway total score of 1100 points. For reference, the second and third place teams had scores in the 700s and 800s.
Cheers and shrieks filled the air as team members jumped for joy, laughed and cried at their unexpected win. North Kohala is a small town with a population of less than 7,000 and has a 25-yard pool built in 1973 — while Pahoa, Kailua Kona and Hilo have well-kept 50-meter pools.
It had been a long, hard road to victory, and according to senior lifeguard and coach Spencer Coakley, “this Championship trophy is the result of the Kohala community pulling together to make this awesome swim team possible.”
In 2020, pool usage was severely restricted during the pandemic to only lap swimming, and the keiki’s “Learn to Swim” program was canceled. Subsequently, the pool pump broke and the county decided to not replace the pump — closing the pool indefinitely until it could raise $4.5 million to build a new facility.
The “Friends of Kohala Pool” raised nearly $38,000 from the community to repair the pool, and new filters and a new water pump were installed by volunteer pool techs. With the pool staff, county administrators and the Kohala community contributing their time, efforts and money, the pool was ultimately reopened in August 2023.
Taxpayers did not contribute to these efforts. Hawaii County Parks and Recreation Director Maurice Messina stated that “we are immensely grateful for the determination, resilience and unity shown by the ‘Friends of Kohala Pool’ and the local community during this challenging period.”
Mayor Mitch Roth also expressed his praise and gratitude for the pool staff and community for the fortitude they had shown in completing a seemingly futile task.
As soon as the pool was up and running, Coakley started implementing his plan to make the pool a fun place by introducing pool games and starting up swimming programs.
“A lot of kids suffered under COVID when we were closed, so I wanted them to have fun,” he said. “My priority is the kids.”
Coakley and co-worker Tristan Francisco adjusted their schedules toward making the pool user-friendly, servicing the after-school keiki and after-work adults. Currently, the pool is open from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. for lap swimming, volleyball, water polo, basketball and recreational swimming.
“We’re here to serve the community, as they were here to help us,” Coakley added.
The Kohala Riptide Novice Swim Team was organized on February 15, and more than 40 swimmers signed up. As luck would have it, several of the swimmers’ parents were competitive swimmers themselves during high school and college and imparted their knowledge to help train the team.
Coakley even enlisted the help of his father, U.S.A. Swim-certified coach, Jeffrey Coakley. The elder Coakley trained his other son, Daniel — who was known as the “Asian Sprint King” that swam in the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Daniel Coakley’s time made him the fastest 18 year old in the world in the 50-meter freestyle in 2008.
Parents then began fundraising to purchase goggles, swim caps, swimsuits and fins. One parent designed amazing t-shirts, hats and parkas with the Riptide logo which unified the team. The Riptide team also received a sizable donation from the Kohala organization “Suits and Seats for Swimmers”.
March 30 was the first swim meet — just two months before the championship. Most of the team members were beginning swimmers, as there were no “Learn to Swim” programs for almost four years due to the pandemic shutdown and pool breakdown.
So how could an unlikely team from the little district of North Kohala win the coveted trophy?
Spencer Coakley had planned to win the championship title against all odds. He believed that if the kids could learn the proper way of swimming from the beginning, then they would have an advantage. Learning and swimming the different strokes would not only help them use different muscles, but also build confidence in their swimming ability.
Sure enough, even if they didn’t all have blue ribbons, their placement scores earned them the whopping final score. While faster swimmers of other teams were disqualified due to improper strokes, the Riptide team moved up a notch and also logged fewer DQs.
Interestingly, the first and last time Kohala ever won the county novice championship was nearly 30 years ago, when Ben Fisher was the senior lifeguard and Coakley and his brother were on Kohala’s winning swim team. Coakley was a blue-ribbon winner in all strokes, but he balked at swimming the different strokes, as he feared losing.
Now as a coach, he understands his swimmers’ fears and hesitation, and often shares his challenges as a young swimmer to his team.
The Kohala Riptide Swim Team of swimmers, parents, volunteers and coaches agree that this championship trophy is a massive win for the North Kohala community.
It is through the love of one’s community that a seemingly impossible task can be accomplished.
