Mavericks Swim Team Up and Running With New Schedule

After a week of no practice of the Mavericks Swim Team at — due to what school administrators attribute to a safety issue of too many activities going on at one time at the pool — the team is now back in the water.

This week, over 75 kids ages six years and up have been practicing with the team. The program has offered competitive and recreational swimming since 1999 under the guiding hand of coach Bill Saxsenmier.

But before the team could even dip their toes in the 80-degree water this year, it took some finagling with the pool usage schedule to really get the fall swim season up and running.

The first week of the Mavericks swim practice beginning on Aug. 29 was canceled due to a scheduling conflict with the Half Moon Bay High School water polo team practice, creating safety issues in which there was overlap between water polo practice, swimming practice and lap swimming, the school said.

“The administration of the high school informed the Mavericks Swim Association that the agreement that we came to in May with the schedule was not going to work for the water polo season as planned,” said Joel Swartz, president of the swim association.

A new agreement was reached last week between the high school administration, water polo coaches and Mavericks Swim Association.

“I am happy to say [the agreement] focuses on this safety issue, removing all program overlaps,” said Assistant Principal Jarrett Dooley in an e-mail.

Under terms of the new agreement, the girls’ water polo team will practice from 3 until 5 p.m. The Mavericks Swim Association holds its practice from 5 to 6 p.m. The boys water polo team starts its practice after 6 p.m. Evening adult lap swimming sessions are canceled until the end of the water polo season in October.

“Through a group effort we now have some pool time,” said Swartz. “It is not what we had originally agreed on but many of us are happy to have what we have been given. We are glad to be getting the kids in the water.”

So far the new schedule seems to be working.

“I see it staying in place for the rest of this year's water polo season,” said Swartz. “We may have to revisit this again. We'll take it season by season.”

Another reason for revisiting the pool usage schedule is because the water polo teams have surged in student participation.

“To maximize pool time, the schedule had some overlap between all programs, unfortunately leading to an unsafe situation," Dooley said. "Due to safety concerns of our students and all pool users, we had to revisit the schedule.” 

Additional reasons for the change in schedule point to “different coaches and different goals this year,” adds Swartz. “The high school administration is trying to have the athletes not stay as late as they may have in the past. We have to work together, and it's a group deal.”

Indeed, “Mavericks is the glue that gets the pools operating costs met all year long. For years now Mavericks has paid 50 percent of the cost of operating the pool while high school sports were in season and we've paid 100 percent of the operational costs for the other six months of the year,” wrote Mavericks Swim Team referee and coach Jim Stretch in a letter written to Mavericks swim team families on the onset of the recent scheduling conflict. Stretch reassured families that the issue would be resolved and kids would soon get back in the water.

For over a decade, the Mavericks Swimming Association has helped to advance aquatics in the community, giving the high school pool its status as a year-round multi-program facility.  

“Mavericks supports swimming, water polo, learning programs, and lifeguard training. Mavericks has worked with Junior Guards, the fire department and others,” Stretch wrote in the letter to parents.

To receive news feeds about Half Moon Bay and the unincorporated Coastside between Montara and Pescadero, visit Half Moon Bay Patch on Facebook and "like" us here. Follow us on Twitter here.